lol.. the horses are fine thanks Annie,
we aren't having bad weather down this way for a change .It has been like spring for a couple of weeks now . The grass was even growing for a while , still is just moving a bit I think ? I hope so as I am running out of money fast ...lol. I hope you get some nice weather to soon , it will help you forget the cold and snowy stuff soon enough , well it works for me anyway mate.
Now , seeing as i sort of took the thread off topic (god forbid that should happen ...slap, slap, slap. ), I will get back to the point .
What am i doing in preparation for the end of the world ?? F*CKALL !!!!
Ok , sorry ..couldn't resist .
No the fact is I am not doing anything really . I really do just do the things I do because I want to (did that make any sense ? ). All the self reliance stuff, I do because thats how I choose to live my life . Loads of boring reasons, and somewhere down the bottom is 'because the end of the world is nigh ' .
If TEOTWIN ? then the things I do will come in handy to say the least ( now there is a fact !!!) .
I am getting the veggie plot up and running again , after a nearly 3 year unwanted break . Lots of digging getting done now , and each day adds to fitness to allow more to get done , if you see what I mean .
The plot is about 30'x85' with another 4 beds for grain each about 10'x 85' , maybe a bit smaller , all depends on how much digging I get done !!.
The veg will feed me easily if TSHTF on a big scale , plus I can extend the plot to whatever size i need to , if family were to come to stay on the land due to some collapse .
The grain will almost keep me in bread for a year from the wheat , approx 60lb from about 3lb of seed sown . The oats about the same amount , would keep me in porridge and supply enough to use in cooking for a year , and the barley would provide animal feed and some to use in cooking . The rye , completing the 4 grains, would supply grain for rye bread , which keeps longer than wheat bread , crisp bread and other uses in cooking .
I also keep a turn over of growing small amounts of seed such as linseed , hemp, alfalfa , sunflower , rape seed etc to provide fresh clean seed to sow the following year . Things like the linseed and hemp will provide fibre for cloth, sacking and string as well as rope , as well as seed for eating and for oil production . The sunflowers also provide oil for cooking or for fuel , plus any waste after oil extraction can be used as animal feed. The same applies to the oil seed rape.
I hope this year to grow amaranth and quinoa seed , along with some other millet type seeds . These produce huge amounts of seed per plant , that can be used to eat or to feed animal stock .
I hope the the cotton seeds I have are still viable , I can then grow all my own cloth !!! Just about got my spinning wheel ready to complete , and the loom is next on the list to do ,at last .
I will also be sowing some tea plant seeds ( camellia sinensis)http://www.tregothnanshop.co.uk/ShowDetails.asp?id=257 , although it will take a few years to grow big enough to supply me with enough tea for a year.
I also have some (well a few million actually )papaver somniferum seeds . These are in fact opium poppies . No I don't intend to start a heroin supply route up , you can buy opium poppies in any garden center and also the seeds that you buy to put on/in your bread are mainly opium poppy seeds. ( quick sad FACT here ; if you eat a poppy seed roll a day and you are tested for drugs , you will possibly test positive for opiates !!) . I will grow them because I like the plants and if things did go tits up , I will have the seed to grow any opiate medicinal drug that may be needed ie morphine , but that would only be IF TSHTF .
I also have willow growing that will supply all my basket making needs as well as fuel, converted into charcoal , for the forge and the small foundry I have . I can then make/repair any metal tools I may need . The bark will also supply a natural substitute for the pharmaceutical aspirin .
I have a large bed of comfrey that will supply healing creams gels etc as an aid to any injuries that may occur in the future , I have used this before and it does work .
I could go on for hours , but would just bore the pants off you all .
All in all , if SHTF and TEOTW does occur , well if our way of life were to end anyway !! then I would be pretty well ready for it . In fact apart from the PC and wellies , it wouldn't make that much difference to me really , I live the life already in many ways.
cheers
Russ
