We are under our first frost warning of the season. That’s always my signal to square some of the preps away, getting them ready to face the cold.
Wood – I straighten the wood pile, and get the cover re-tied securely. Wood is my back up cooking and heating fuel, it’s used more in summer for camping, but I like to have it squared away and available during the winter in case it’s needed.
Water – I have a rain water capture barrel. Tonight’s frost of 29 degrees won’t bother the barrel full of water, but it is a reminder to me to decide what I want to do with that water. I usually choose to use it on the last of the garden. If there was ever a time when I thought I might need that 50 gallons of rain water over the winter, I would siphon it down into the basement. We get far too cold to leave the water outside, it would freeze solid and bust the barrel.
Food – Gardens need to be covered against the chill. Tomatoes and basil and peppers all need protection from frost. I use a combination of floating row cover and old comforters to cover what I want to save. I also try to harvest as much as I can before the frost. The basil for instance, I just harvested everything else I want to dry/eat and I’ll let the rest of it fend for itself, that seems easier to me. The tomatoes with pounds and pounds of green fruit, deserve a shot at some more ripening time, so I spend the time to cover them, and I hope for a few more sunny days. Frost also means I need to start watching the soil temp. I need soil temp of 60 to plant garlic. Here in Iowa, the agriculture focused university (ISU) keeps track of soil temp and kindly posts it online. Right before frost is an excellent time to glean. If you have the ability to preserve it, you can stock up on storage food quite cheaply by pre-frost gleaning.
Cold Cellar – Now’s the time to start funneling some of the nice chilly air down into the cold cellar. I have apples and potatoes needing some cooler temps in order to store well. If you’re having trouble getting the cold air down to the cellar, make sure you have allowed a place for the warm air to escape to.
BoB/BoV – Different scenarios become more likely as we head into the cold weather. First frost is a convenient marker to make sure that the blankets get in the car and that the BoBs have sufficient numbers of hand warmers.
House – It’ll be another month or so before we relent and turn on the heater, but now’s the time to think about insulation. If you’re in a new place this winter, you need to start thinking/making now if you know that gap at the bottom of the side door is going to draft, (for instance.) I’ve made some easy and awesome winterizing gear for our house, I’ll post a how-to soon.
Busy day here, so I’ll leave you with that to mull on. Anybody got any great tips for winterizing preps?
– Calamity Jane
Guarding Preps From Cold
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Ma’am, are you attempting to make me cry? Its a hundred degrees down here in south Texas for cryin’ out loud and you are speaking of frost – you fiend! :^)
Wal-Mart had a sale on the hand warmers about a month back down here, you might try and see if yours might still have some. $1.50 for three, iirc.
Make you cry!? I have sooo many tomatoes that are green and mocking me. I am NOT ready for cold weather to be here.
Sure enough though, I woke this morning to 29 degrees and frost on the car. Glad I took the time to heed the warning.
We got a piece of that cold front this morning. It was in the 60s this morning when I woke up and it felt fantastic.
Winters here aren’t that bad – if it gets below 30 it’s considered extremely cold by the forecasters. Usually we just do the basics:
– Check antifreeze in cars, might trickle a battery up to full charge if it needs it. Replace blankets and towels (they usually start to stink by this time). Add jackets and a pair of thermals to BoBs.
– Check insulation on pipes and weather seals for damage. Do P.M. on heaters.
Will probably put the solar cover on the pool sometime this month. If it gets real cold (by our standards), I have some black plastic I can wrap around it to absorb more sunlight (don’t know if it helps or not). We haven’t had any problems with solid freezing using this setup. We’ve had slush on the surface but that’s about it.
Storing water from a 55 gal drum here wouldn’t be hard to accomplish. A 2x2x4 hole in the ground cold hold a little over 100gal of water and is small enough to construct a cold frame over to keep from freezing.
We still don’t have a wood stove in this house. I’d like to build one using 55 gallon drums and keep it in the shed until needed. Does anyone have any experience with these and know if they work decent enough? Just need enough heat to keep a 10×20 area above 40 degrees or so. Our screened back porch can be modified into a temporary heated space/green house in about an hour.
They do have kits that help you make stoves out of barrels. I actually just got my hands on one and probably won’t be using it. Too bad you don’t live nearby or else I’d give it to you.
It’s an older stove and needs a couple of welds and a new door, but it would work fine for what you’re talking about.
Some years ago, I used a 2-barrel stove to heat a 14 x 70 mobile home. We live in western NY were below zero is very common in the winter. That baby put out so much heat that we had to leave a window cracked all the time. Typically those aluminum window frames would ice up so you couldn’t close it if you wanted to. Our stove was made with a kit that included the cast iron door, legs, connectors and refractory liner (it mixed up like mortar). It wasn’t beautiful but it worked like a charm. Just make sure to install the chimney properly and have proper insulation and clearance between it and combustibles. For a 10 x 20 area, I’d go with the smaller 40 gal barrel and maybe just a single one. They also have an add-on so you can have a flat, cook surface on the top. Good luck.
@Jarhead – Only a thousand or so miles. Freight charges shouldn’t be that bad haha.
@Mel – Thanks for the insight. I believe I’m going to try one of those kits that yall are talking about. The prices are reasonable (especially when compared to a complete wood stove).
Calamity, I live a bit north of you and agree it’s too early to fire up the furnace yet. I did haul out an electric heater to take the chill off the house last night before bed & this morning.
Thanks for the reminder about hand warmers. I should get a couple packs for the vehicles.
Steelheart
What is frost?
signed Phoenix AZ
I’ve busted a hole in the ice in my rain barrels to get water out during a winter pipe freeze/power outage. A hatchet works fine… If there’s no lid, the water has an area to expand. (depends on the speed of the freeze!)
Planning this year to prevent them from freezing, via solar and wood heat.
Currently working on a prototype of a “Dakota Hole”/”Rocket Stove”/”Rocket Mass Heater,” to heat my house. It requires a lot of floorspace and refractory bricks and is pretty cheap & easy to make.
Uses less than 1/2 the wood of a regular wood stove! But, it must be smaller wood too.
It creates NO SMOKE. All heat is absorbed and radiated later. At the exit area it will seem like a foggy breath! (Easily shielded)
I have no idea how great it will work, but I’m tired of reg wood-stoves… Requires too much wood, smoke and ashes everywhere. With a rocket-stove the smoke is burnt!
I will try to describe my prototype in the future, perhaps as a guest post… 😉 😉 But you can get a good idea of the basics on you tube.
I too want my ‘maters! If I have to, (southern area) I can make a plastic teepee/cold tent to protect them a bit.