Well written books, British not American!

[preppingsu]

http://www.survival-medic.com/

Thinking of our new members who are new to prepping. There are a couple of good books on this site that you might find interesting and helpful.

Happy reading!

[metatron]

How to Live Off-grid by Nick Rosen is a nice British book, the start is an intreating look as how he got into it the rest is a guide.
Vegetable Growing Month-by-Month: The down-to-earth guide that takes you through the vegetable year by John Harrison is another useful British book to have.
SAS survival guide is a classic
Collins Gem - Food For Free by Richard Mabey
Collins Gem - Knots by Trevor Bounford
Collins Gem - Mushrooms by Patrick Harding and Alan Outen
How to Store Your Home Grown Produce by John Harrison and Val Harrison

All above are well written British books.

[Arzosah]

Su, thank you for that linkie - thats brilliant!

I have another book to suggest, The Thrifty Forager by Alys Fowler - literally about foraging, in parks, along roads, in the countryside, and what to do with the things you find. She's brilliant. The list price is high, £17 or so - but last year there were a lot of copies in The Works, that chain of discount bookshops. And her book The Edible Garden is in several libraries.

[moocher]

Su, thank you for that linkie - thats brilliant!

I have another book to suggest, The Thrifty Forager by Alys Fowler - literally about foraging, in parks, along roads, in the countryside, and what to do with the things you find. She's brilliant. The list price is high, £17 or so - but last year there were a lot of copies in The Works, that chain of discount bookshops. And her book The Edible Garden is in several libraries.

My grandad always taught me not to forage along roads so would love to know what does the author says about her views on it.

[Arzosah]

Hi moocher! Erm, turns out I was summarising a bit too much she has a page on it. I'll give you the highlights:
- supermarket food is no cleaner than things you forage for, it could possibly be more polluted, its definitely more unknown. Supermarket labelling is just that, labelling.
- current global farming is a bit of a mess and relies on all sorts of less desirable practices and is less than transparent about what the end product is.
- if you want to know how something is grown, ask the growers, at farmers markets and CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture). Or forage!
- as a competent forager, I know about the land management practice of where I can pick (mostly parks). I make choices about what and when I pick.
- I believe that often what I pick from around me is far more beneficial to me adn my surroundings than anything I buy out of a packet.
- fruit, particularly tree fruit, is perhaps the safest urban food - they sequester minerals and toxins into their heartwood or bark, not the fruit, which is after all the seed, the future.
- in 2000 MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food) studied heavy metal pollution in wild blackberries, and found more pollution at urban sites or on busy roads, but none at significant levels that might pose a risk to human health.
- the sensible route is to pick your blackberries away from roads (or at least on the far side of the hedge), to wash them before eating them, and not eat them for breakfast lunch and tea every day of the month.
- leafy greens, such as fat hen, nettles and brassica family greens, are likely to accumulate the most toxins so you want to pick these from the cleanest sites and stay away from roadsides or old industrial sites.

Turns out she agrees with your grandad, more or less I certainly don't pick on busy roads. I foraged a lot last autumn, for leaves to add organic bulk to my soil, which is so heavy it can be sliced like potter's clay and I made sure I was always about 30 yards away from a road. And the roads round here aren't dual carriageway or anything.

[moocher]

Hi moocher! Erm, turns out I was summarising a bit too much she has a page on it. I'll give you the highlights:
- supermarket food is no cleaner than things you forage for, it could possibly be more polluted, its definitely more unknown. Supermarket labelling is just that, labelling.
- current global farming is a bit of a mess and relies on all sorts of less desirable practices and is less than transparent about what the end product is.
- if you want to know how something is grown, ask the growers, at farmers markets and CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture). Or forage!
- as a competent forager, I know about the land management practice of where I can pick (mostly parks). I make choices about what and when I pick.
- I believe that often what I pick from around me is far more beneficial to me adn my surroundings than anything I buy out of a packet.
- fruit, particularly tree fruit, is perhaps the safest urban food - they sequester minerals and toxins into their heartwood or bark, not the fruit, which is after all the seed, the future.
- in 2000 MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food) studied heavy metal pollution in wild blackberries, and found more pollution at urban sites or on busy roads, but none at significant levels that might pose a risk to human health.
- the sensible route is to pick your blackberries away from roads (or at least on the far side of the hedge), to wash them before eating them, and not eat them for breakfast lunch and tea every day of the month.
- leafy greens, such as fat hen, nettles and brassica family greens, are likely to accumulate the most toxins so you want to pick these from the cleanest sites and stay away from roadsides or old industrial sites.

Turns out she agrees with your grandad, more or less I certainly don't pick on busy roads. I foraged a lot last autumn, for leaves to add organic bulk to my soil, which is so heavy it can be sliced like potter's clay and I made sure I was always about 30 yards away from a road. And the roads round here aren't dual carriageway or anything.

Thanks I also never pick near ground level I case an animals cocked it's leg up the bush

[jansman]

Anything by John Seymour. Self sufficient living.

[junmist]

Practical Self Sufficiency by Dick and James Strawbridge tells you loads of stuff like how to make a water wheel how to make boi diesel, sand and reed bed filters- Preserving smoking your own food makeing a sola dryer plus all the normal stuff to do with solar and wind power. I ordered it from the libary and then went and brought it from Amazon.