E-Mail 'Preparing for Winter and What It Can Teach Us About Prepping, by Erik' To A Friend

9 Comments

1. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.148869/page/n5

2. Good article as well as a great place to add to JWR’s lists of lists . I find spring, summer, fall and winter preparation lists to be most helpful as they keep me focused and it is quite rewarding to have all the basics done. I have noticed that one is almost never done as stuff keeps cropping up, but getting the basics behind you allows time for a more leisurely approach to new things. The more you have taken care of the more time you have to stop and smell the roses.

3. Grand Solar Minimum Update 10/20/18 – Winter Blast Early – Asteroid Close Encounter – Space Debris
   (YouTube Video)
   Oppenheimer Ranch Project
   Published on Oct 20, 2018
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMpQ80-gR9U
   Duration – 17:05

   Warning: The presenter can be a bit irritating…

   This channel was mentioned previously in this SB article, https://survivalblog.com/brace-severe-winters-ahead/

   I’m thinking about one of these as a non-electric backup heating resource,
   Mr. Heater Buddy Indoor-Safe Portable Propane Radiant Heater,
   https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002G51BZU/

   1. I have one Anon and it has served me well. However there is a glitch with using an adapter hose from cheap propane tanks like under barbecues to the heater. This can contaminate them with bits of rubber or something. So it would seem to me it would be better to refill the little ones like the paintballers do to get out of overpaying for greengas. That would be a concept though; not something I’ve hiked up and over the learning curve on.

      I have 3 wet seasons with moss damage likely on the roof and about 100 day drought. So near the end of the dry season I get up on the roof sweep the chimney and apply a moss killer product. If I were a little richer living in this climate I would have a metal roof with some copper zinc and/or lead flashing up high for a low labor anti-moss effect.

4. I’m in the process of building a house… in the mean time my wife and I have been living in a 35 foot trailer. We have propane heat, and a water heater (and refrigerator) that can run on either propane or electric. We do have electric service to the property, so if we had to (and we have) we could run electric heaters. The water is supplied by a well, which has a hose coming off the frost free hydrant. The hose has to be fully drained each time its used in freezing conditions.
   The trailer is not a four season type, with additional insulation underneath. When the outside temperature reaches about 24 degrees we run a small electric heater underneath to keep the pipes unfrozen.
   This experience has vividly illustrated how tenuous simple things like heat and power are. We have experienced electric blackouts in the middle of the winter. The coldest we have experienced was 2 degrees in January, although the last winter was relatively mild. The necessity for back up systems, and back ups to the back ups are essential if you don’t want to huddle in a freezing dark igloo. The heating system and 12 volt lights can run for a very limited time on a 12 volt battery, but we have resorted to a “little buddy” propane heater a few times.
   Getting a large propane tank and a generator to run the heater in the house (and the well pump) will be big improvement. I plan on getting a propane fueled generator too. I’ve thought about getting a wood fired water heater as a back up. Of course a wood stove is a must. One of these days it would be nice to have a solar array with a bank of nickel-iron batteries to run a few lights and a computer or radio. I think I need an underground cistern.

   In any case, I have looked at this experience as a mini-course in preparedness… I often ask myself “what if” questions… what if the car stopped working and I couldn’t repair it… what if the power was off for a week or a month or 6 months… what if I couldn’t get water from the well… what if there was a raging wildfire and no operating fire department… what if we had to depend primarily on rice and beans, would we have to fall back on the old adage of “hunger makes the best sauce” or can we do better… how long would those wild rabbits and quail and doves last once the neighbors started hunting them… how terrible is the taste of a coyote or a crow… what if I couldn’t get propane AND electric power…- what if we couldn’t get to doctor in an emergency… what if the hospitals were either non-functional, or overwhelmed with the injured or a mass epidemic… how would we contact our kids and relatives who live in other states if phone and internet systems went down? … ad infinitum.

   1. Try to use bales of hay stacked about three rows high to enclose your underneath of the trailer. It will keep you nice and toasty. It will separate the outside cold air from the warmer underneath air. We do it all the time.

5. Here, life is in three stages; preparing for winter, in winter, recovering from winter.

6. Professor Wagstaff – Actually crow and coyote are quite good. Crow taste like dove and coyote tastes like squirrel, at least to me.

7. I can attest to the straw bales insulation process. We use them around our camp trailer too. Only thing I do now different is to put a tarp under them and cover them with a tarp. Once spring is here they will now weigh more than twice original weight. If you wait for them to dry out rot has set in and get broken down unusable for the coming year. Also the buddy heaters worked well for us too. Except we have a dog who’s hair gets up into the grill in front and clogs the air sensor. It starts to flutter, and not stay lit. Take a straw and blow into the grate below the pilot light and around. Usually does the trick. If not disassemble to do a through cleaning. We just got a 1000 gallon used propane tank delivered. We’ll use it to fire the cook range, genset, and incenerator toilet system. We use wood heat now in the cabin we built just the two of us. No septic because the well is to close , which we just drilled at 100 ft and is a mild artesian running 2.5 gallons a minute over the top of the casing. What a blessing that is after 4 years of hauling water from the neighbor 1.5 miles away. With every task I too ask, what if? And try to build it to work assuming no modern facilities are available.

Comments are closed.