What Preps are you doing this week? Part 10

[Frnc]

Ordered Nomex overalls. Nomex is what most racing drivers suits are made of. Only cost £26. They are normally a lot more. The ones I ordered are lightweight. Basically to wear if I have to light wood fires on a long term bugout, because my clothes are all stuff that melts if burning embers hit it. Might come in handy if the house caught fire. Apparently firefighters collapse their trousers around their boots, so they just step into their boots and they've automatically stepped into their trousers, which they then pull up! They wear Nomex as well. It's a synthetic fibre related to nylon.

Trying to save money though. But I had a roofer round today who is in a council approved organisation, reckoned my roof is OK. I still might get it done, depends on the cost. I think at least the top of the gable wall needs some pointing, and the chimney. It's not end terraced, but the rest of the houses are about a foot or so lower.

[GillyBee]

I take a fairly simple approach to composting. It is a 90cm cube so i struggle to get it hot but it still makes OK compost. Once a year I turf it all out. The good stuff goes onto the garden beds or into buckets to use as part of the compost mix for my bucket tomatoes. Anything that is still recognisable goes back into the heap and gets another year of rotting.

[jansman]

This has been a bad week with focus on hospital visits and time in A&E. Mr JJ has been particularly diverted, so I've given him a break from pallet carpentry duty and in a spare few hours, I wielded a hammer and screwdriver myself. Comical. I'm not a natural
After a few false starts and swear words, I've bodged 3 big* pallets together to make our 3 sided compost heap enclosure. It's a bit wonky, but I discovered that by removing just a few strips of wood, the corners made themselves by slotting them together and banging in some screws and nails. I haven't decided whether to fill in the fourth side.
I've been bringing home all the green waste from a cafe for a few weeks, and tonight, I Christened the new composter by emptying 20 big carrier bags of cafe waste into it: A deep and colourful layer of kitchen waste and coffee grounds. Lots of egg shells and peelings. Some of the full bags showed signs of visits by critters (rats?). I do hope my new heap doesn't upset the locals with pong and rat infestation.

*It's pretty big. About a 4 foot cube. I'm blagging cafe waste at a great rate of about 10 carrier bags per week. I reckon I can already fill it to about 6 inches deep. I'm also blagging lots of cardboard, wood chippings, manure and grass cuttings, too. This will be the best heap on the site. I wonder if there are prizes

I wouldn’t worry about ‘pallet composting bins’. ...No pratting about,work had to be cut as far as possible. . .
But cut the work. . .you have to be ruthless with energy expenditure.Your energy.

Noted Jansman. My pratting about with the pallets was a stress relief exercise and I don't consider that wasted effort. I took on board the energy expenditure angle. No leaf shredding and I will JUST DUMP sh**-loads of stuff in without any concerns about shredding leaves or card or smashing eggshells etc. I'll let time, the worms and whatever, do there stuff. I'm layering a bit but not being pedantic.
Objective. To fill it this year and get it HOT HOT HOT.

Hospital visits are stressful. I hope all is going in the right ‘direction’. As for enjoying doing a job,such as your compost bin,then fair enough!

Take care.

[jennyjj01]

This has been a bad week with focus on hospital visits and time in A&E.

Hospital visits are stressful. I hope all is going in the right ‘direction’. As for enjoying doing a job,such as your compost bin,then fair enough!

Take care.

Thanks Jansman.
I'm not going to discuss the hospital situation here. But thanks again.
Stay safe and sane.
JJ

[Mad Scientist]

Well done on the compost bin, Jenny!

Feel better really soon, poorly preppers. Keep going and do what you can with what you have. I managed to hurt my back so work on the garden is at a standstill but I got the car fixed up. New spark plugs, then an oil change in the very near future. Keep my 15 year old car going!

[jennyjj01]

Well done on the compost bin, Jenny!

It was all I could do to stop myself posting a picture of it. Pathetic, really
Maybe when it's full of good stuff.

Tomorrow will be an extended allotment day. The spuds and some more onion sets are going in and I'm starting on clearing the next section.

[Arzosah]

Well done on the compost bin, Jenny!

It was all I could do to stop myself posting a picture of it. Pathetic, really
Maybe when it's full of good stuff.

Tomorrow will be an extended allotment day. The spuds and some more onion sets are going in and I'm starting on clearing the next section.

Yes please to the photo of the compost bin

[jansman]

It’ll be an active day today- when I decide to start! My health treatments change this week,and I have been put back on certain drugs that certainly make me feel like me! So today I want to re- place two infra red panels. My wife is a big fan of the one next to her. Cheaper to run too. We put them on when the stoves are not lit.
I have lettuce plants to put into a frame in the veg garden. I’ll set some pots and trays with compost too. Ready for seed sowing in the next couple of weeks. I like trays to be warm and damp enough before carrying on planting. Whilst outside I will sort a couple of axes for my brother in law to use in his new woodland.I have quite a collection! I have a lot of ‘outdoorsy’ kit he can take too.
Got to sort my micro brewery too! I am allowed a moderate drink,depending upon my current drug taking programme - every other day. I just don’t need a lot of the gear,so I will ‘Freecycle’ it.

[jennyjj01]

It was all I could do to stop myself posting a picture of it. Pathetic, really
Maybe when it's full of good stuff.

Tomorrow will be an extended allotment day. The spuds and some more onion sets are going in and I'm starting on clearing the next section.

Yes please to the photo of the compost bin

Just a few hours today, because my back's playing up.
Spread some ingredients into the compost and spread some rotted muck into my previously dug area, then sowed 50 Centurian onion sets, 15 Pentland Javelin Spuds, and 20 Desiree spuds. I still have about 7 sq m prepared and ready to sow, but now I need to prep another area for pulses.

Meanwhile, by popular demand... Note how, by pulling a pallet base off, I was able to neatly slot pallets together. Yes. one is too high. So bite me

Arzosah made me do it...
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.
.
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Here it is with two weeks cafe food waste...

Added a layer of Autumn Leaves...

Next a bit of weedy soiland a couple of bags of horse apples ...

And finally some more Autumn Leaves to keep the pong down.

I have much more horse apples and leaves set aside in bags, just pending more cafe waste and some 'brown', probably sawdust and cardboard.

[jansman]

You’ll get some compo in that bin for sure.