West Midlander checking in

[Constantine]

Howdy.

I'm from the West Midlands. I'm 25. I'm married. Got two kids. I live in a council property in a rough area, and dislike living there. I want to live in a self-sustaining way as much as possible and learn skills related to surviving in a world without electricity or an end-of-the-world style world -- just in case something does happen, I'd rather be prepared for it, rather than something happening and not being prepared for it.

In short, I want to live like a bad-ass Amish man who doesn't turn the other cheek.

We in the UK who're interested in prepping have different situations to Americans, which is why I decided to join here. We don't really have access to knives, guns, or anything like that for example, and we have different places to go, smaller houses usually lacking in basements, and so on; I'm also not allowed farm animals and my garden is probably a bit too small for any serious self-sufficiency.

Things I'm interested in in relation to prepping: survivalism, how to preserve foods, where to buy in bulk, farming, grow-you-own, purifying water, waste management, good places one should leave to in order to get out of the cities, and so on. Basically, prepping in general.

I have other hobbies, too, but this is a prepping board.

But, ideas and so on are welcome.

[preppingsu]

Hello and welcome to the forum
Fantastic mindset you have, I hope you'll find what you are looking for here, any questions just ask.

[Maddie_cat]

In short, I want to live like a bad-ass Amish man who doesn't turn the other cheek.

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!

[tigs]

hello and welcome , sounds like you have made a good start

[junmist]

Hi and welcome

[Arzosah]

Welcome! And good for you! Strikes me, that since you have a garden, even though it isn't enough for real self sufficiency (and not many of us have that here in the UK, certainly not me!), you have enough land to practise on - if you can grow 3 courgette plants, you can grow 30 (as long as you've got the water, oops). Anyway, good luck, see you on the boards.

[TwoDo]

Hi and welcome

I'm also not allowed farm animals and my garden is probably a bit too small for any serious self-sufficiency.

I once lived in an urban area without much space and put some thought into various ways of how I might "acquire" space on the sly. The criteria for a suitable location were basically that it had to be accessible on foot and could not look like a veggie garden so that it would not get cleaned out by foragers post SHTF or destroyed by the land owner before that.

One idea I came up with was to use the far side of canals and plant them with edible perennial plants that look like weeds. Tow paths usually run along one side of the canal and the other side, at least at the margins of urban areas, are usually scrubby brush and disused land, difficult for casual access and largely ignored by the passerby. Something like jerusalem artichoke tubers planted there would grow (and expand) year after year. Jerusalem artichokes don't look like much - just tall weeds and their roots would form a pre-positioned food supply in times of need. 99 out of 100 people that saw them would think nothing of it. They are exceptionally tough perennials too - so even if British Waterways came by and cut them down they would quickly grow back.

Other ideas were to plant a supply of berry bushes in odd out-of-the-way places where they will not be noticed. For example, Aronia berry bushes look just like the normal anonymous inedible decorative round black/blue coloured berry bushes that grow all over the place - yet are stuffed with vitamin C. Just the sort of thing a vitamin poor post SHTF diet might need. They tend to be expensive though so perhaps purchasing one for the back garden and propagating more with cuttings or air-layering might be a good idea.

[Dr_zoidberg]

Welcome to the boards.

I'm also living in the west Midlands, I live in a built up area with many gangs. Although my garden isn't that small, i don't really have the time to turn my garden into a vegetable patch due to work commitments. Although i do have fairly green fingers. I plan to have the necessary supplies to grow one should the need arise. You should also take into consideration that there will be a fairly large die off and/or exodus when the worst happens. You may very well find that most of your neighbours aren't around any more and you can borrow their gardens.

While it is more difficult to acquire knives or guns here than across the pond. You can own an air rifle or air pistol below a certain power without any of the fuss of firearms certificates. As long as you take steps to keep under 18's from gaining access to them (a gun safe). Useful for hunting small game, controlling vermin. There's nothing wrong with having a collection of sharp and shiny knives as long as you don't walk around with them. You can also own a crossbow without any certificates or anything. Useful for certain hypothetical situations.

[Ferricks]

hello and welcome!

[skippy]

Hi and welcome to UKP


Skippy