What Preps are you doing this week

[Hamradioop]

Wade Davis (born December 14, 1953) is a Canadian anthropologist, ethnobotanist, author and photographer whose work has focused on worldwide indigenous cultures, especially in North and South America and particularly involving the traditional uses and beliefs associated with psychoactive plants. Davis came to prominence with his 1985 best-selling book The Serpent and the Rainbow about the zombies of Haiti.

for info of those interested.

[rik_uk3]

Spent a couple of hours yesterday sorting out some of my remaining stove collection in my new shed/radio shack at the new house. Got around forty in there and the rest are going into the loft.

Gun cabinets are being fitted on Thursday, solar panels for the shed arriving Friday.

[Arzosah]

Ooh, lots of good news about preps! Though, junmist, sorry about your health - *so* horrible to be ill.

Hamradioop, thanks for the info on Wade. But looking at the other posts, I now have stove, ash box, shed, radio and gun cabinet envy

Focus for me has to be on getting the house watertight, unfortunately, and now that the bees lodging in my deteriorating mortar are gone (euphemism for you-know-what) the builders are angle grinding the whole wall, and it will soon be peachy for another 75 years.

[jansman]

Because I grow a LOT of food, I am looking at digging/building what the Yanks call a 'Root Cellar'.I have a sheltered spot I could put one, mainly for storing my apples, buckets of salted beans,sauerkraut(we love it),beetroots and carrots. It doesn't have to be huge, but it will give me more appropriate storage space.
Increasingly I am basing my storage on my own sustainable sources. It will never be 100%,I am aiming for a quarter of that over the next 5 years on the land I have available. Adequate storage is key to that. For me, the idea of fresh food storage in the years to come has to be as low energy input as possible.
Anyhow,off to water all the greenhouses.

[Plymtom]

Because I grow a LOT of food, I am looking at digging/building what the Yanks call a 'Root Cellar'.I have a sheltered spot I could put one, mainly for storing my apples, buckets of salted beans,sauerkraut(we love it),beetroots and carrots. It doesn't have to be huge, but it will give me more appropriate storage space.
Increasingly I am basing my storage on my own sustainable sources. It will never be 100%,I am aiming for a quarter of that over the next 5 years on the land I have available. Adequate storage is key to that. For me, the idea of fresh food storage in the years to come has to be as low energy input as possible.
Anyhow,off to water all the greenhouses.

I don't want one of those ! haven't you seen "The Evil Dead" ? but yes constant temperature, like clamping, old school preserving, given up for convenience and imports.

[jansman]

Seen the 'Evil Dead'?,YOU BET!! Brilliant!
But yes, it is like a convenient-lift-the-lid-clamp. That is the plan anyhow.

[Briggs 2.0]

I dragged myself out of my recent lazy, non-prepping mood early this morning and I'm pleased to say I split wood all day. I ache but it feels good to have three to four months fuel in the store. Thank you for all the motivational PMs telling me I was a good for nothing lazy a*sehole who was letting the side down.

[jansman]

I enjoy splitting wood, and it IS satisfying to know there is plenty there. In my case, I keep plenty cut in case I am unwell, so my Wife can warm the house with no hassle. Also, I can be lacking in motivation at times, so you are not alone.
In fact, it does not hurt to have a holiday from 'worrying' about what might be.

[2ndRateMind]

Agreed on holidays! If you feel really bad about 'taking time off', you can always eat some of your stores, the ones near expiry date, and see if it really was a good idea to stock, say, 24 cans of chicken in white sauce, and figure out what spices you might need to render them acceptable as fodder stuff!

Best wishes, 2RM.

[Briggs 2.0]

I enjoy splitting wood, and it IS satisfying to know there is plenty there. In my case, I keep plenty cut in case I am unwell, so my Wife can warm the house with no hassle. Also, I can be lacking in motivation at times, so you are not alone.
In fact, it does not hurt to have a holiday from 'worrying' about what might be.

I agree, there's nothing like working hard and seeing the log store filling up.

I've revised the way I process timber. I used to fell a tree and immediately cut it into 500m trunks, then split it. This was a tidy way of doing it, but it blunted saws and blades quickly, due mainly to the timber being wet. I now fell a tree and leave it lying for a month or so. Then I cut it into manageable 1800mm trunks and leave these for another few months to dry. I then cut them down to 500mm and leave these to stand. In total, the timber is seasoning for about six months before I split. This has proved to be a much better method and easier on me and my tools. I'm felling Douglas Fir at the moment, this might change when I switch to Larch, although Larch does appear to dry quickly when left as trunks. I'd love to use the timber for more than firewood but processing it is not possible when I factor buying a proper saw and my location makes taking it to a sawmill nearly impossible with the transport I have. This will change when I am felling Oak, because I do plan to turn this quality hardwood timber into items not fuel!

From a bushcraft point of view, Douglas Fir is your fire-starting friend. The lower twig like branches at head height, about 10mm to 15mm thick are very dry and snap off without damaging the tree. These are ideal for rocket-stoves as the heat given off from Fir is high and burns well when it's going. They are also perfectly sized for the pencil-sharpeners I know you all have in your fire-starting kit. A few winds of these and bingo, there's your tinder. You don't even need to snap twigs off the trunk, if you walk through a row of Douglas Fir, you'll be stepping on hundreds of dry tinder sticks and thousands dry pine cones and needles.