Staying warm this winter 2022

[Straight Shooter]

With the onslaught of a predicted hard winter this year ( the prediction will eventually become reality ) this year we will also have to deal with (predicted) power outages , fuel shortages, natural gas shortages , supply chain and distribution problems and just to top it all off food shortages along with price increases of everything ! .

There has been a steady uptake in wood stove sales and installations around my area , a new near neighbour is refurbing a old farmhouse has just had two fitted …..a cooking range and room heating stove ..they are now predators for the wood supply on a local level ! I can be sure of that but I do not blame them or their foresight .

I have mentioned in previous posts , that there are more and more people looking for firewood , car boots , trailers , and vans are being filled more frequently and it’s getting obvious that the supply of firewood will become scarce as time moves on …..that’s the way it is ! ……some collect for their homes , others for financial gain either way more predators that I will have to deal with …….and so will YOU .

Most all people have been made aware of fuel price increases and the probable grid outages coming this year and beyond ,and still they do nothing to mitigate the coming events , they just wait thinking the gov is going to save them , boy are they in for a big surprise ! Not only are they not prepared but have no inclination to even start to get prepared and many can not afford to prepare anyway.

Most on this forum are very well prepared and have several methods to heat and cook and lighting arrangements , which suggests we will do a lot better than most , growing food will become normal for us as we do it everyday anyway and having a stockpile of food is our insurance policy along with other meaningful supplies .

Forum activity has become slow these days …..I put this down to members are as prepared as they can be and have not much to say or talk about survival issues in general , it’s not a loss in interest ! It’s more lack of participating newbies to help along the road .

As MB pointed out Most people now use Facebook and other social platforms to gain the information they seek to get what they need in an instant ……our forum and ones like it may be old hat , but still remain relevant …..to us old farts anyway .

[bigpaul]

I do not need to go chopping down trees, I wouldnt at my age anyway, there is more than enough scrap wood lying about locally, most people are all electric- no gas mains out here in the sticks- so any power cut will affect them directly and personally.
its not just power down in the home, any power cuts will affect things like filling station pumps, anything that relies on a computer-which is most things these days, lifts-getting stuck in a lift in a power cut isnt a nice experience I am told- havent been in one myself for 20 years, automatic doors wont work and probably traffic lights will shut down so expect some traffic accidents- when they can get fuel that is.

[Straight Shooter]

Sounds as if you have things nailed down tight BP .

[bigpaul]

(14 October 2022, 13:56)Straight Shooter Wrote: Sounds as if you have things nailed down tight BP .

cant say I've got everything covered, but as far as heat, light and cooking, yes I think I've got it covered, both short power cuts and longer term power down.

[Mortblanc]

You say it is going to be a bad winter. Cold, storms, ice, cold fronts? I think I heard that last year, and the one before, and the one before that.

And yes, it will get cold, there will be storms, ice and bitter winds, it is called winter. And if the grid goes down there will be people without enough sense to put on a nice thick jumper and some good socks. They will stand in front of a TV camera in a track suit and trainers with no socks and whine about their misery.

And no, they are not here on the forum. They never were and they never will be. We come here to preach to the monks in the monastery, passing information among the 5 of us about how to avoid the pollutions of the outside world.

SS do you have a good dog? I hear they are a good deterrent to them that nose around other peoples homes.

I am hearing from some German and Austrian friends that people are being arrested for roaming about picking up windfall wood in the forests and parks. Being charged with trespass and theft.

People are installing wood stoves in spite of some EU ban on such devices in urban areas and they are locking down their pile of sticks to prevent theft.

Firewood theft is a serious problem in some areas. Less so where I am, but I have dealt with it in the past.

We had a rash of situations where some fool in a pickup truck would back up to a wood pile while the homeowner was at work and nick his stove-wood!

Not as much a problem when you are retired and hang about the house most of the time.

Last time I bought wood it was $35 US per rick. It is three times that now, not due to lack of wood, just increase in labor cost and fuel.

My supply is low this year, due to me never needing it and the pile going rotten with time. I don't care and I am not worried. I have a thick fence row, you would call it a hedge I suppose, that needs cleaning out. There is easily a winter of heat in that thicket, I'll march out the back door and down the hill to collect it if the need arises. I now find it best to preserve the wood by keeping it alive until needed rather than stacking it by the door to rot.

And yes, the internet is filled with "how-to" articles about emergency heating, blackout situations and how to heat your home with a candle and a flower pot.

There are also some serious "how to" articles about constructing wood burners from salvaged materials and setting up your living space to use them. Some are pretty good designs.

Over here things are not as intense looking as GB and Europe in general. We are still pumping our own natural gas and heating oil and pushing it through the pipelines as always.

Blackouts are always an issue to deal with but that is the case every year. It's winter, things break. Happens every year and every year the media acts like it is a new thing.

[bigpaul]

it is always said that if we have a hot summer, like the one just gone- in the UK then the following winter will be cold, I live in a mild part of England and the last time I actually saw snow was the winter after we moved in 13 years ago, we generally just get frost and ice down here, we didnt even get much of that last winter, I keep a stock of car deicers and I hardly used any last winter, climate change maybe?
every time there is a winter storm and there is a power cut we get some idiot in front of a camera bleating about "its like the middle ages" when the power is only off for a few hours, makes me laugh every time, I grew up on power cuts, its no big thing.

[Skean Dhude]

All news nowadays is doom and gloom. Is there ever any good news? If there is someone needs to point it out to me. So I tend to take the news as a minor intelligence as to what the sheep will be worrying about today.

Myself, I've been prepping for a very long time i have enough to keep me and mine going whilst all those around me don't. The issue I am most concerned about is that some of them will notice, the kids will say something and living in a Disney country like the UK I am not able to defend myself as I would like. I just don't know any bad guys.

Besides that concern I'm comfortable on my situation. Unless it turns into a Nuclear war I'm in a much better position than most.

Although tbh I did expect it to kick off a long time ago. The lethargy of the sheep was much much stronger than I thought it would be. Their ability to put up with everything they have and still support those clown in charge is beyond me. Bunch of pussies we have few real men here now.

[bigpaul]

the only thing I havent prepped for is nuclear war, in a country the size of Britain its just not survivable, not even out here in the sticks, pretty much everything else I am prepped for, or rather I am prepped for what comes after the event or events.
Sheeple- what happens to them I couldnt care less, the vast majority will be lucky if they survive a few weeks a month tops.
even if we dont get a nuclear attack most people are going to freeze this winter in the UK especially if the power goes off, maybe even if it dosent as most seem to be panicking that they cant pay their energy bills, those on pre payment meters will be the worst off as it will affect them first.

[Straight Shooter]

Yes I can remember my grand parents small holding , no power at all , the only link with the world was the (wireless) which ran off the accumulator (battery) which was charged up every week , this was done by the local flour mill one battery of charge one running the set , as I have posted many times it was my job every Saturday to take the spent battery to the mill and collect the charged one plus a bag corn for the chickens (for balance grandpa said) a four mile round trip …..sometimes Jonny the farm would give me a lift in the link box “ you keep your arms n legs inside the box young un “ and hold tight mind ! He would tie the battery .

Lighting wise , a oil lamp hanging on some rope from the rafter which could be pulled up or down , there was another oil lamp that could be sat anywhere when they had special friends or posh types called in or special occasions such as Christmas , cooking and baking was done on the black range , hot water for bathing was done on the range in a metal enamel bucket and emptied into the steel bath which lived hanging off a six inch nail outside ..I remember jumping out and wrapped in a clean towel and rubbed dry till my skin nearly come off in front of the fire ……and the smells of supper wafting the air , then the final inspection was carried out “ hands out ! Turn over ! “ sit quite boys! Eat your supper ! It was always something hot soup or stew and a chunk of homemade bread .

So I could fit right in without power no problem but I have also prepared well for it .

[bigpaul]

most UK country properties didnt have residential power until the 60s some even later, some farms had a generator for the milking parlour but nothing for the farmhouse.
I myself used Storm Lanterns(paraffin) off grid and a paraffin boiling stove for cooking.