If it was a Thursday morning and I was at home, I could get the neighbours bins in as well as my own.
Can’t have standards slipping even in the face of thermonuclear death.
What Preps are you doing this week? Part 12
Re: What Preps are you doing this week? Part 12
Commendable community spirit. Nuclear blast may help to dry up the bin juice too.
Re: What Preps are you doing this week? Part 12
Bought a small bag of flour. Date on it is BBE May 2026. The larger bags seemed to all be March or April. You can make SHTF flatbreads with a bit of water and salt. Make golf balls and flatten between your hands, fry for about 3-4 minutes. You don't necessarily need oil. You can coat them in dry flour. You can get dough off your hand by rubbing them together, and you can clean the container by rubbing with dry flour. I think a mug or bowl would do, or you can even use a plastic bag. You need a small lightweight frying pan that has no handle that can sit on a camping stove. You use a separate handle that has jaws that grip the pan. A handle would get hot, and would also make it unstable, so you only attach it when lifting the pan. All the above can easily be carried in an evacuation.
Re: What Preps are you doing this week? Part 12
50mph wind gusts expected today. Not a major concern, but getting there. Prevailing wind hits my gable wall, so a stronger gust could lift an end slate. I don't know if they have one or two nails. Will try to do a visual check in a few days. The front is difficult to see, as I can't get far enough away unless I walk down someone's drive. Back is easier, as my garden is long. Could do with some decent binoculars, but I do have a monocular. Also I'll look on the ground for broken slate. The previous next door neighbour had a drone, which could take good pictures of the roof.
Re: What Preps are you doing this week? Part 12
This week it's time to get the chimney swept (Wednesday) and have the boiler serviced (Friday). The boiler is in a useful shelved cupboard but apart from the ironing board, step stool and carpet washer, I also keep quite a lot of my non-perishable preps in there. They will have to be temporarily rehoused as I don't want to be outed. Also took the electric blanket to the local laundry to get it washed before winter. That caused some amusement until I showed the assistant the care label and, yes, you can wash it. I usually put it in the bath but have decided I'm getting too old for that lark and will spend some of my pension sensibly.
Re: What Preps are you doing this week? Part 12
Done most of my winter preps a bit early. I don't really have autumn and spring preps.
Maybe it's my age, and Reynauds, but I'm feeling the cold already. Had to use hand warmers earlier. I'm already finding cotton long sleeved t-shirts not warm enough this year. I have some EDZ All Climate tops that are perfect for now, until winter, but unfortunately they don't make them anymore, so I need to find an alternative. They sell merino now, but it's expensive and can be itchy.
Maybe it's my age, and Reynauds, but I'm feeling the cold already. Had to use hand warmers earlier. I'm already finding cotton long sleeved t-shirts not warm enough this year. I have some EDZ All Climate tops that are perfect for now, until winter, but unfortunately they don't make them anymore, so I need to find an alternative. They sell merino now, but it's expensive and can be itchy.
Re: What Preps are you doing this week? Part 12
Started slaughtering the surplus goats and various birds to get down to next years required breed groups. Still harvesting from the field and preserving (made a large batch of tomato and chili paste today). Started cutting and quartering the winter firewood. Bred some rabbits and set a few of the incubators going for the last time this year (Ducks for canning, Chickens for replacement layers and canning, Turkeys for egg production and meat). Removed the last frames of honey from the hives and started feeding the bees along with ordering the winter food slabs and cutting and preparing the winter insulation for them. Finally put the posts in the ground to attach the snow netting to as and when required over winter. Roll on winter, I need a break!
Re: What Preps are you doing this week? Part 12
That is *so* impressive! What length of time does that cover, Adjee, if I may be so awful as to ask?Adjee wrote: ↑Mon Sep 15, 2025 7:40 pm Started slaughtering the surplus goats and various birds to get down to next years required breed groups. Still harvesting from the field and preserving (made a large batch of tomato and chili paste today). Started cutting and quartering the winter firewood. Bred some rabbits and set a few of the incubators going for the last time this year (Ducks for canning, Chickens for replacement layers and canning, Turkeys for egg production and meat). Removed the last frames of honey from the hives and started feeding the bees along with ordering the winter food slabs and cutting and preparing the winter insulation for them. Finally put the posts in the ground to attach the snow netting to as and when required over winter. Roll on winter, I need a break!
Re: What Preps are you doing this week? Part 12
Not really impressive (but thanks for saying so!), just our way of living, if you do not do it yourself, plan and prepare months and years ahead you go hungry and get cold as we live on what we produce and procure by bartering and selling any surplus. The tasks listed are for this week though most are now done except the slaughtering and wood which are on going. The slaughtering as all the meat is left to rest (not sure if that is the right word) for a minimum of 24 hours before butchering then we have to preserve it and the wood as after quartering I move it from its outside location and stack it inside the barn next to the house to be accessible when the snows come.
These tasks are on top of the routine things such as the feeding, mucking out, walking out of all the animals and obviously the garden maintenance and harvesting (which is now slowing down). Though I did manage to reseed the lucerne area today but it was too dry to rotavate the ground we will be extending it into. I have the sprinklers set to run in the early hours so I can hopefully do that task tomorrow.
For interest our days begin @ 6 am and finish as and when, currently it is 11 pm here and I am waiting for the two pressure canners to finish whilst enjoying a glass of wine and my partner has just finished clearing up after making a batch of sausages and burgers so will be joining me soon.
So that is a brief insight to how we live, prepare and survive. It is not for everyone but...............