What Preps are you doing this week? Part 10

[jennyjj01]

I used the fork and dragged it out. As for spuds; dug into trenches,moulded up into ridges,remove weeds at the same time. Constant movement of soil.

Cheers,
I'll work that into my plan, albeit there are bits of soil I can't move just now, such as where my carrots and peas and beans and beetroot were sown.

[jansman]

I used the fork and dragged it out. As for spuds; dug into trenches,moulded up into ridges,remove weeds at the same time. Constant movement of soil.

Cheers,
I'll work that into my plan, albeit there are bits of soil I can't move just now, such as where my carrots and peas and beans and beetroot were sown.

You just have to get top side and stay there. Old style gardening,such as growing spuds means work. Modern non- digging ( and I am a big fan ‘cos I have bad back and knees) means more weeds in my experience. Right now my problem is bindweed. It’ll never go away,and non digging won’t help. I just drag the worst when I can. My other is chickweed. An irony really,as it is edible,and I used to feed it to my rabbits and fowls before I became ill. Whatever you grow to eat though Jenny, you will get a proportional yield!

[jennyjj01]

You just have to get top side and stay there. Old style gardening,such as growing spuds means work. Modern non- digging ( and I am a big fan ‘cos I have bad back and knees) means more weeds in my experience. Right now my problem is bindweed. It’ll never go away,and non digging won’t help. I just drag the worst when I can. ...
Whatever you grow to eat though Jenny, you will get a proportional yield!

I'm sure you know that bindweed can be killed by letting it grow in specific places and then spot painting it with glyphosphate. I have a bit of that but it's under control.

I'm starting to worry about my proportional yield as I've gone a bit nuts with spuds If they all come together, I'll be needing to open a chip shop. Seriously, I have to re-research preserving spuds. I might be buried under onions, too. Tomatoes are slow to grow this year, but I'm getting a good survival rate so far. Fingers crossed.

[jansman]

You just have to get top side and stay there. Old style gardening,such as growing spuds means work. Modern non- digging ( and I am a big fan ‘cos I have bad back and knees) means more weeds in my experience. Right now my problem is bindweed. It’ll never go away,and non digging won’t help. I just drag the worst when I can. ...
Whatever you grow to eat though Jenny, you will get a proportional yield!

I'm sure you know that bindweed can be killed by letting it grow in specific places and then spot painting it with glyphosphate. I have a bit of that but it's under control.

I'm starting to worry about my proportional yield as I've gone a bit nuts with spuds If they all come together, I'll be needing to open a chip shop. Seriously, I have to re-research preserving spuds. I might be buried under onions, too. Tomatoes are slow to grow this year, but I'm getting a good survival rate so far. Fingers crossed.

When spuds come up,lay them and dry them. Dry them well in the sun. Then into paper or hessian sacks. Not plastic. Onions the same. Dry then hang in a garage perhaps. No plastic. Tomatoes still have tons of time. Still the chance of a frost. Mine don’t go out in the yard til first week in June.

[jennyjj01]

When spuds come up,lay them and dry them. Dry them well in the sun. Then into paper or hessian sacks. Not plastic. Onions the same. Dry then hang in a garage perhaps. No plastic. Tomatoes still have tons of time. Still the chance of a frost. Mine don’t go out in the yard til first week in June.

Thanks. Got to be gentle with the spuds when harvesting.
I might be counting my chickens, but Wickes Sandbags purchased at £2 each, It's an expense, but they will hopefully get re-used a lot.
https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Natural ... g/p/132017

[jansman]

When spuds come up,lay them and dry them. Dry them well in the sun. Then into paper or hessian sacks. Not plastic. Onions the same. Dry then hang in a garage perhaps. No plastic. Tomatoes still have tons of time. Still the chance of a frost. Mine don’t go out in the yard til first week in June.

Thanks. Got to be gentle with the spuds when harvesting.
I might be counting my chickens, but Wickes Sandbags purchased at £2 each, It's an expense, but they will hopefully get re-used a lot.
https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Natural ... g/p/132017

As long as you can reuse them ,then great.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Car fully prepped ready for MOT. Next week

Checked among other bits

All the lights
Cleaned the wiper blades and checked for splits
Horn
Brakes (cleaned and pads greased at the relevant points )
Front and rear suspension & steering system visual checked and a crowbar used to check for play they don't use force any more to inspect I'd rather it be right and safe...

Tyres checked whilst they were off and back of the rims cleaned and got rid of the accumulation of mud and filth

All levels checked screen wash brimmed

All wheel arches and components that live in there deep cleaned (degreaser/ all pourpose cleaner ) scrubbed out with a stiff brush and rinsed . all brake pipes greased , rubber bushes lubricated with silicone oil plastics dressed with trim dressing.. cleaning all components means I can inspect them easier and it's nice and clean for the mot man ergo it's being well looked after

Chucked some red X in the fuel tank and will give it an Italian tune up this week going to and from work

Once the summer heat comes it'll be getting a touch up of under body wax..... And a good polish up top

Friday after work it'll be getting a good wash and inside mucked our ready for MOT Saturday morning....

Oh and replaced the clutch pedal rubber as it was about worn through which if metal is visible it's a fail on the brake pedal but no fun your foot slipping off the clutch.. ...

[jansman]

This week has been - for me anyway- rather hectic. Since being told I am somewhat life- limited now ,I have spent a lot of time organising paperwork,pensions,savings etc., just so it’s less stressful for wife and family later on. Had a short spell in hospital,and my organisation proved its worth too!

And I am working upon surviving until later on ,not the estimate by my doctor!

It is prepping too. For me anyway. Real life,real sh*t. I don’t over -concern myself about climate,politics, financial cr*p and computers taking over the planet.Our house,our comfort and security, and living day to day is what matters . It’s taken serious illness of both of us to see that. I don’t clutter my head with never- ending cr*p on the news. Media news has always reported exactly the same issues for my 60 years,and will continue to!

So. In the next week or so our kitchen revamp will be completed.Just odds and ends to complete . I’ll have taken 8 weeks instead of two ,but it’s nice and fresh ,and bang up to date. Plumbing especially. Glad I am able to do it ,and fortunately our son in law can,so when I’m not here,my wife has the handyman she is used to when stuff goes wrong! The new kitchen has a set of drawers dedicated to any emergencies too. Lighting and cooking basically. I suspect that power cuts will become more common in the future,so that will do the required job. The update will also mean that the house is very marketable too,so if wife wants to sell,then she can,bless her. Also,

Today. Well the weather forecast tells me that rain is due by noon. So after breakfast I will put out runner beans,and squashes. Rain is better than hosepipe! Then I’ll tidy the workshop and put stuff back from tool trays. I like organisation.It’ll be ready for the final ( current) DIY. I’ll have to have a sit down by then,but after that,I will be dealing with more approach lighting in the house. It’s perfect for emergencies ( we had a very brief cut last week) but saves electricity,and is less harsh than our LED main ( approach) lights too. At anytime at night,our dog and cats wander about ,and we don’t the main approach lighting going on on the stairs. Wakes one up!
The solar panels are now operational too,keeping batteries ( for above lighting) and power packs charged. Phones and pads are charged with the packs and it saves a little in leccy costs. Also, being used regularly means that my wife is used to using them ,so an emergency isn’t one,if you know what I mean?

Another issue is heating. Anthracite coal is not an issue- it’s delivered. Well as long as we can get it - and that will be an issue I am sure ,whether it’s because of actual supply or the Eco- Police. So wood is always the alternative ( and a main load of our fuel anyway). However,it takes work. We have enough to last the next two Winters. Ready to go. It’s how we have always done it ( and with modern electric heating back-up). Fortunately,our other son in law burns the same,and is a practical guy ( Farrier/ Blacksmith), and he will ensure supply in the future. It’s all expensive,whatever . The solid fuel is non- mains though,so means that a powercut will not be a Winter problem here at Chez Jansman.

The food storage is now where Mrs J wants it. Everything in the pantry ,not there and outside too. Stuff is being turned over properly,and frankly now the kids are gone,we don’t need that much. As long as there’s a bucket of pasta,rice,dried and tinned spuds,then meals can be made with what is available. In fact our supermarket delivery yesterday didn’t supply onions! No problem. We have a garden full of perennial onions,so we will use them. That’s prepping.

It’s all taken a good six months to arrange,but it’s done. Now it’s the fishing season!

[Arzosah]

jansman, enjoy your fishing!

Weirdly (weird because I don't have any sort of diagnosis like you do) I'm reacting exactly the same way to the news - I used to switch on the tv news when I stumbled out from the kitchen with my cuppa tea, but now I don't - I'll watch something light hearted on a free streaming service - Race Across The World, Matt Baker in the USA, Magpie Murders, anything that catches my eye and isn't too demanding.

My preps are much less advanced than yours, but a lot of what I'm doing is
- decluttering. "Just in case" stuff: for example, I bought bamboo toothbrush holder, its impossible to open, but I've kept it JIC. It's going to a charity shop, and there's lots more stuff like that.
- chucking stuff. T shirts and underwear with *any* hole in them. It can feel a bit too grim sometimes, so I've stopped with the holey t shirts, even for working in the garden, I still have a whole drawer stash of my mother's, I can afford to wear t shirts that haven't been wrecked.
- in the garden, when I've pruned shrubs, I've often kept stems that are four foot long or so, to train plants up them. Once again, this has passed me by: so they're all going in the green bin.
- I just decluttered a fire the same as one I bought new, I'd found it at a neighbour's, she was throwing it away. I didn't do anything with it over the whole of last winter, so that went by my bins too. Hey presto, my radio ham neighbour took it. He also offered to recycle the rusty, seized up wheelbarrow accompanying it, as well as some old cans of paint, so I fished out some of the cartridges for the fire, and took them over to him.
- now I've stopped freaking out about my awful neighbours next door, I'm focussing again on buying a car. Eye test booked (first time, the optometrist was a no-show, thanks awfully).
- I *am* eating down the stores slightly - I had a fetish of pickled beetroot, there was a year's supply. Six months is still wildly optimistic but that's my aim.

[jansman]

I will enjoy my fishing Arzosah,thanks.Not just me that looks for light hearted TV then? I too started clearing clutter when I became poorly. One thing I did was to clear my bookshelves of grim and tragic novels,and survival books!