Thread 1 - Lifeboat Muster Point for TalkExiles

[Kucinghitam]

Gather here all ye refugees from the foundering ship of JTT, if ye be in need of "How the heck do I format my post?" "Why can't I edit my typos?" "What do those acronyms mean?" and most importantly, "Where is everybody that I used to know?"

Or just to chat randomly.

I say "convince", but "badger" probably describes it better.

Tass, have you read Gabe Brown's 'Dirt to Soil'? I really enjoyed that book. A local farmer where we are is just getting into regenerative farming, with good results.

managed to convince Monbiot

Nice one!

Damn, forgot the italics...

I would really like a bigger garden so I could have a proper vegetable patch but I’m also very aware that I have done very, very little in the garden this year so maybe I’m underestimating my laziness levels. In my defence, my time was taken up with a block of teaching that took loads of prep from February to the end of June and then there were heatwaves. But even so, I am very lazy.

Thanks Kuc, so threads here are perhaps a bit more ephemeral/ throwaway than the old gaff?

Which of course fits in with (or may be partially a product of) the 1,000 post limit.

We lived in a village where the electrical cables ran through woodland and the power would go off often if there were high winds.

Ah yes, exactly that scenario! I've always lived in cities, so not had the fear of power cuts due to that kind of bad weather.

Although at work our local area once lost power for a whole day because a squirrel got into the substation and barbecued itself - we got the day off! The other thing that stuck in my mind was the Blizzard of 2002: we were driving from Cambridge to London (a journey which took us 8 hours instead of the usual 1) and going through the villages, the ice freezing on the overhead power cables brought them down in alarming showers of sparks.

I've got Gabe's book, but find it a bit too anecdotal. I got another one on regenerative ag that he recommended, but have yet to read it. Same with Monbiot's Regenesis.

There's a lot you can do in a smaller garden, artant. With less space, grow climbers like beans, peas and squashes, though you need a sturdy frame for the latter. Even if you just grew salad stuff and herbs it'd be worth it and growing them yourself is probably less effort than going out to buy them.

Yes, I'd say so.

Yes, it's anecdotal, but it presents a good picture of what can happen once you get started and I found that encouraging.

I love Gabe and have watched all his stuff on YouTube. I was just expecting something a bit more structured from his book.

The one thing that kept on putting me off in his videos was his weird way of pronouncing "roots" as "rue-its".

I haven't seen any of his videos so have missed the 'rue-its' thing, which sounds odd, but then some American pronunciations are odd to British ears. Will have to check them out.

and growing them yourself is probably less effort than going out to buy them.

but more effort than having Ocado bring them to my door!

Last year I grew a few tomato plants in bags plus some dwarf beans and a handful of broad beans (the runner beans objected to the lack of light where I’d put them). I also had some pea shoots on the kitchen window sill. Very limited success all told but enough to make me think I’d like more space where the sun can get to stuff. But this year was a total non starter. I’m hoping to muster up the enthusiasm to try again next year…

more effort than having Ocado bring them

It feels different when you actually taste what you've grown, though. Home grown salad stuff has far more flavour than the shop bought.

The drought and heat this summer were an issue, mind you.

If that it the RS Archer story, am afraid he's a long running hoaxster thecritic.co.uk/the-curious-case-of-rs-archer/

David Beckham sportswashing his credentials on the Earthshot Prize. Some great projects though.

The prepping thread sounds good, I also stocked up on things pre-Brexit/covid and now pre-hyper inflation.

I just got a de-humidifier for upstairs courtesy of Swears By section here.

Interesting re Arse Archer, but did anyone really believe he existed?

So how long have you been running with this Archer persona, tass?

"If that it the RS Archer story, am afraid he's a long running hoaxster"

Thanks for the correrction Winterborne.

I actually have no idea what people are talking about.

Plus ça change...

12 years today since the love of my life died. This is the photo I want on the back of my funeral service card.

So sorry for your loss @MavisMcMinty. What a beautiful photo

That's a great photo. I remember when s/he died.