What have done towards your prep?

[sethorly]

Sorted out a routine for my kids to learn fire making using ferro rods and feather sticks. We're going to practise every day. We did some of this before winter but we're learning in earnest now.

[Straight Shooter]

Been thinking of growing mushrooms for ages, so i am going to have a go...i intend to build a growing box outdoors which i will insulate , heat wise ...i am still working on it ..not sure yet ....anyone have any tips ?

[harrypalmer]

Just Google mushroom plugs SS, very easy to grow mate.

[Straight Shooter]

Cheers Harry ...i have had a look, but sometimes getting info from members already having a go can bring experience and good advice first hand make things easy .....the trick is getting them to respond to a thread....fuck me ....is there anyone out there ? if you'r not careful i will be forced to tell another joke....

[harrypalmer]

A mate of mine set up a couple of logs in his garden shed and had great success growing mushrooms. They dehydrate very well too.

[MaryN]

Yes, SS, I've grown shitake mushrooms on a log. It's really easy. You can either buy logs already implanted with mushroom spawn or set up your own little mushroom farm. I did a spell of working for Chesswood Mushrooms eons ago - they used horse-manure impregnated compost and kept the stuff in dark houses.

[Straight Shooter]

The place i buy wheat grain is STILL OUT OF STOCK ! given the USA has lost 30% of grain production due to snow and bad weather it should come as no surprise along with shortages in other parts of the world will most certainly mean the price WILL go up ....so i had to order 25Ks of flour instead .....it arrived yesterday and today put into 30ltr plastic kegs and ready to plant ....two off .

[Straight Shooter]

Just thought ....back a few years ago Barclays Bank bought into wheat grain ???? Hello....i did post this back then .

[Mortblanc]

(18 May 2017, 17:05)Straight Shooter Wrote: The place i buy wheat grain is STILL OUT OF STOCK ! given the USA has lost 30% of grain production due to snow and bad weather it should come as no surprise along with shortages in other parts of the world will most certainly mean the price WILL go up ....so i had to order 25Ks of flour instead .....it arrived yesterday and today put into 30ltr plastic kegs and ready to plant ....two off .

The actual production is down 25% from the record overproduction bumper crop of 2016 (which was up 12% from 2015) and is a reaction to the lower prices produced by the overproduction and not so much a crop failure.

A year of lowered production often follows the lower prices of a bumper crop. Overproduction looks good in the statistics but is often terrible for the grower, who switches to soy beans or maize the following year.

Over here we have several states that devote their entire production to wheat, (North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas) while other areas, and wheat is grown in every region, rotate production to other crops based on supply and demand. When those marginal wheat regions switch to other crops it affects the annual yield of wheat but increases other crops.

The way the growing season works here a bad spring and lower wheat crop, mostly winter wheat, means the farmers trash the wheat crop and plant over it with maize or soy beans.

[Straight Shooter]

Many thanks MB.