Monday, October 5, 2015

Bantering at the Collapse Cafe

Last night I hung out online with the Doomstead Diner for a chat at the Collapse Cafe. We talked about the state of the UK, what Jeremy Corbyn means for politics here, and a few other things too. If I'm looking a bit ruffled it's because I spent all day making cider on a farm and had just got in from the stormy weather outside.



7 comments:

  1. Totally agree that attempted fracking will become the biggest issue over the next 4.5 years and the people will get very angry about it. Enough to put Cameron and Osborne back in their box I suspect. Another big difference between us and USA apart from the population density is that our police forces per capita are much fewer and para militaries are absent. I suspect we are in for some civil strife in the country and the urban areas too as the class war from the government on those on benefits and low pay hots up. War on two fronts is always a bad idea. I have no confidence that any political opposition will capitalise on this, just a few more steps down the ladder.

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    1. The only way that I can see the UK have some kind of soft (it) landing regarding energy is if we immediately start making friendly noises towards the Russians i.e. leave Nato and sign a lot of trade agreements.

      Being a client state of a country that can't offer much any more is not really a god strategy. Of course, this will be a tectonic upheaval, and most people don't even realise we are a client state.

      That's assuming Osborne end pals don't give everything away to the Chinese first.

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  2. Hi Jason,
    I totally get the cider farm dishevelment! Absolute 100% respect. How good is cider and how easy is it to make. That was a statement rather than a question. Enjoy your cider.

    Just for your info, I received the book Friday and look forward to reading it, although I'm still battling my way through the truly massive Complete Conan Chronicles. I promise you some comprehensive feedback at the end of the read.

    Incidentally, things have gone way off normal down here as an unprecedented (in recorded history) heat wave has just finished a few hours ago. And oh yeah, the northern (more sunny and drier side of the mountain range), but in the elevate plains rather than the forest, has gone up in smoke... Live blog: House lost in Lancefield-Cobaw fire in central Victoria.

    Gotta run. Cheers.

    Chris

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    1. We made 90 gallons of cider between 12 of us (2 of the workers being my kids) and plan to make up to 50 gallons more later this week. It's a bumper year for apples and I've been using the power of social media to contact people who have trees but don't know what to do with all the apples.

      We have our own hand-turned presses, a few oak barrels and a friend with an outbuilding on his farm that functions as a brewery. This year we invested in an electric scratter (that you feed in the apples to mash them before pressing) which at least doubled our productivity. Possibly not viable in the long term (last year we used hand-cranked scratters) but great for now.

      We're hoping to build a community cider barn where people can bring their apples and we will process them for a cut. If you have Facebook you can see some pics from last year's efforts here:

      https://www.facebook.com/jasonhep/media_set?set=a.10152680531104350.1073741845.540774349&type=3

      Glad the book got to you - and keep away from those fires!

      (when you say 'Gotta run' I hope you don't actually mean that!)


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    2. It was a bumper apple year here as well. We've a couple of scrawny old trees that I have never seen make apples before and this year, they did. We had to force people at gunpoint to accept them in 5 gallon buckets. But seriously, we not only gave them away, we made deliveries.

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  3. Hi Jason,

    100% pure awesomeness! Great work and excellent ideas about the cider, particularly the social media. I don't have Facebook sorry, but no worries I'm sure the setup is good. I'm sure next year you will make even more again! It sounds like a lot of fun and it is a good preserving technique (the old timers used to add cider to water to kill of the nasties in it).

    I usually have at least 60 litres of country wines fermenting in the demi-johns all of the time and even then, it is only enough for one glass for myself and my lady four nights per week. I've had to put some serious thought into the storage too, and even ran out of screw top bottles at one stage and had to go out and buy them in bulk from the wholesaler. 60 litres usually sits in the demi-johns for about 8 weeks.

    It was a turn of phrase, but I did update the blog to include a map at the bottom showing where I am and the extent of the fire. it is big and seems to be getting bigger... I'm a little bit worried.

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  4. Now up on the Diner also.

    I also dropped Links on r/unitedkingdom and r/globalcollapse. :)

    RE

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I'll try to reply to comments as time permits.