tails
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Post by tails on Jan 27, 2016 11:03:07 GMT 10
If you want to start composting quickly, speak to your local green grocer and supermarket and ask for any spoiled produce, as well as trimmings, outer lettuce leaves, etc. A day of scrounging can get you a decent start to a great compost pit. True that... however, over here the local pig farmers have first dibs as they are more reliable in collecting the waste stuff each day. An alternative is restaurants, I personally collect between 30 and 50 kilo of used coffee grounds each week for my compost heap alongwith a small amount of vege waste... this added to my own scrap waste has proven to be a bonanza... (currently have 5 compost heaps on the go (2 metres by 1200 each)) Restaurant owners are happy as they do not have to pay to have it taken away.. |
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tails
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Post by tails on Jan 27, 2016 11:08:23 GMT 10
speaking of denaturing human waste, anyone has any good articles on that? I heard that diluting human waste or mixing it with soil or something helps but thats hearsay. watch a utube video about a chap in the UK a while back... He dug a big hole filled it with bales of hay and had his liquid waste (pee) running into it... left it for 6 odd months dug up the bales and used it on his garden.... as for me.......... Hell no...... that's right up there with bear gryls drinking his own pee........... |
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Post by Peter on Jan 27, 2016 12:17:25 GMT 10
If you want to start composting quickly, speak to your local green grocer and supermarket and ask for any spoiled produce, as well as trimmings, outer lettuce leaves, etc. A day of scrounging can get you a decent start to a great compost pit. True that... however, over here the local pig farmers have first dibs as they are more reliable in collecting the waste stuff each day. An alternative is restaurants, I personally collect between 30 and 50 kilo of used coffee grounds each week for my compost heap alongwith a small amount of vege waste... this added to my own scrap waste has proven to be a bonanza... (currently have 5 compost heaps on the go (2 metres by 1200 each)) Restaurant owners are happy as they do not have to pay to have it taken away.. A valid point about the pig farmers - not something I've ever encountered in the metro area. I'd forgotten about scrounging coffee grinds - they're a great addition to compost. Worms love them, and as you say - along with kitchen scraps - restaurants (and cafe's) save their time, money & effort. Thanks for the reminder. I see a visit to my favourite drive-through coffee shop coming up soon... |
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tyburn
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Post by tyburn on Jan 27, 2016 14:01:28 GMT 10
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2016 20:17:39 GMT 10
The Humanure Handbook is a great read and makes a lot of sense so I wouldn't go poo-pooing the idea of using our dirties as a fertiliser.
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Post by Peter on Jan 27, 2016 23:16:54 GMT 10
... I wouldn't go poo-pooing the idea...  |
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shinester
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China's white trash
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Post by shinester on Jan 28, 2016 4:16:20 GMT 10
Yeah, I think if you've got the space, prepping might very well include growing a good deal of your food. To 'know' how to grow enough and what's required. Even harder if you've got to do it with hand tools. Any soil can be enriched given time and enough organic material. Having experiments trying to grow when it's not optimum [and having failures that go along with that] teach valuable lessons that you might need in the future. Having enough seed stored might also be part of that.
As tails was saying he's having trouble with growing enough in winter and that's very much the case throughout history, people stored food for the winter, because they had to. There's some things that grow all year, [had some cabbage and lettuce through last winter] though their growth is also quite reduced during winter. So plan for that, that is, 3 months of food is to get you to the next crop, assuming it's not winter. 6 months of food in case it's winter and 12 months if you're not used to growing enough food and don't have supplies. Just a thought.
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tails
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Post by tails on Jan 28, 2016 9:42:13 GMT 10
Perhaps a green house might help extend the growing season. certainly does over here... probably the same in your southern states... Bare in mind that I have never been over there or know what the land is like in your BOL's etc but it would seem to me you chaps have the makings already... I understand that some of you clear the land away from homes sheds of all combustible materials etc etc (to help in the prevention of spreading wild fires...) This will be the brown material needed in making a compost heap Have you considered stacking this or storing it on any proposed vege plot so that in the event of something serious happening and you have to take up residence then at least your part way there... Also chuck green waste as you go.. Even though you are not intending to garden in the short term at least you have prepared the ground to some extent... place dirt on top of it to keep the brown stuff flying away in the wind. If you have stinging nettles growing in the area, use the dirt from under them as this is high in nitrogen... apparently they (nettles) love the it.. If I am talking fecal matter in aerosol form through the hole in my bottom then say so, but it seems that a 4 year supply of food as Gaz said above is probably out of the reach of a lot of people, and a garden or prepping for a garden seems a logical move. This should solve some of the problems I have experienced over the last year with infertile soils. and if your not into gardening and want to cross that bridge afterwards then the back breaking work has been done ..... just a thought... |
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myrrph
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Post by myrrph on Jan 28, 2016 12:44:52 GMT 10
think a green house might solve that problem.
IKEA sells mini green houses and rather affordably. IF you need to be portable, these might be a good idea to include for small items like spring onion, dill, basil, mint etc.
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tails
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Post by tails on Jan 29, 2016 10:08:23 GMT 10
Mrs Frostbite worries they would attract mice and hence snakes. hmmmmm snakes.... an alternative food source... maybe... maybenot... I read somewhere else on here that people are running chickens and ducks... these would attract mice rats etc as well... and the snakes surely would follow... or is it a case where it depends on what area you live... |
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Post by Peter on Jan 29, 2016 11:52:20 GMT 10
I'm with frostbite on that... Our tigers and dugites are bad enough. And the buggers are already all over the place.
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tails
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Post by tails on Jan 29, 2016 12:55:45 GMT 10
yep you fellas definitely have a "unique" set of circumstances over there..
and here is me thinking of taking a trip over there for a month or so, to have a good look round your paradise....
and with my kids telling me about your spiders and creepy crawlies you have I am thinking.... Hell no...
Yeah I am a sook...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2016 14:52:04 GMT 10
Our winters in Oz are mild compared to those in the Northern hemisphere climes where winter storage was a real requirement due to temps and snow, so we should be able to grow a decent amount of produce ourselves year round here. All the root veg, brassicas, spinaches, and tubers are the usual candidates. Making suitable 'micro-climates' and altering day length (use you imagination) are all simple ways to produce nutrient dense and tasty meals through winter without resorting to your 'stores'.
An American market garden guru by the name of Eliot Coleman has written a valuable tome titled "Four Season Harvest" that details a number of very good strategies.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2016 15:37:41 GMT 10
Actually, some veg relish and improve in taste in just such a winter scenario that you have shown us in above pic. Even some fruits need a certain 'chill' before fruiting.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2016 15:51:36 GMT 10
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Hoopy
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Post by Hoopy on Jan 29, 2016 19:01:48 GMT 10
With frost like that down your way I would recommend throwing a few thousand at a green house and make it big and solid even just for winter veg a 20m long and 15m wide area would cover a good harvest.From what I seen you don't get much in a store bought hot house and the cheapest way to get the most might be 50ml poly ribs over star pickets with a pole in the middle of 'em for extra support and you can buy top-hat at $7 per 6m lengths for purlins(How many purlins you put up would be determined by snow load factor) then good second hand corro cut lengthways will be ample enough height for around the base. That tree in front would be ideal for chickens as there isn't much frost under it.  |
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Post by rrodscott on Jan 22, 2019 14:14:04 GMT 10
If it wasn't for Jinny's garden skills, I would live on meat, beans and rice...LOL I think we need to take our eyes off what we are doing at the present and look at the difference our gardens and skills would be like if we had the time. WTSHTF we will have time to garden , hunt, fish etc. We would have the time to cut wood for the winter. The time we have at present is for PREPARING!!! making sure we have what we need for the long haul. Learning the skills, buying the books and tools we need. So don't worry about tomorrow as we have enough problems for today. Use what time and resources we have to prepare wisely today for tomorrow! Our soft lifestyles and local supermarkets and Hardware stores and takeaway shops and all the modern facilities have taken away from our roots as Australian. The desire to keep up with the Jones!!! and have all the latest gadgets and comforts have taken away our independent living skills to the point that we are a nation of useless wimps!!! Reliant on the Government and the credit card. The ANZAC spirit and national pride and family values and self-reliance, the heart of Australians has been replaced with Cultural,Political,religious and monetary minority pandering. Those of us with the heart to be prepared and not bow to that which is not right will survive and live a good but maybe hard life. Like any great Athlete, preparation is the key! Not living for today but the goal that is ahead!!! and as said in my favorite movie!!! " YOU CAN DO IT!!!" I read a little about how the British responded to the German blockade during WWII, and was surprised to learn that they only produced about fifty percent of the food they consumed before the war. They did research on how to feed the most people using available land and mainly decided to turn lots of folks into near vegetarians. I've always wondered if the government would take over food production and initiate rationing if there were some global event that caused exponential increases in transportation costs and severely restricted trade. Being blockaded and bombed would seem to be a rough equivalent of a modern SHTF event. |
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Pion
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Post by Pion on Jan 22, 2019 16:59:02 GMT 10
Frost lol...heres an Otago frost...  |
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Post by SA Hunter on Jan 22, 2019 17:34:21 GMT 10
  My house in the summer |
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cindy
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Post by cindy on Aug 6, 2020 22:19:55 GMT 10
I'd like to try it, feel I need to learn a few more skills. Being alone not so bothersome the monthly check in to see if I'm alive would suffice for outside world contact. As to if I'd last who knows id like to think so. On a side note I have been doing experiments at home lately, so I went without turning the heater on for a week just for kicks. This week it's no t.v ( I'd happily throw out ours but Mr would not appreciate it). Also will go without eating meat for 7 days ( got heaps in supply) but I'm amusing myself with prep projects. |
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