Last Winter's Projects

Now that spring is finally here and since this is a year that many people are going to be
interested in survival preparations, it is a good idea to evaluate how well your last winter's
projects performed. Those projects that performed well should be retained and utilized
again for the coming winter. Those projects that didn't pan out will be either modified or
discarded. Winter climates will not be the same for everyone, so each will have differing
winter projects for survival and the homestead. My winter climate is long, cold, dark, very
snowy and it is either coming or it is already here, so winter is important to prepare for in
my part of the country. Count on winter in North Idaho to last from the middle of October
through the end of March and sometimes extending into April. Your climate may be
different, but you will still want to maintain a homestead and survival operation.
Your projects will likely be different and tailored for your own preps. I will examine a few of
mine here to give you an idea of how to evaluate the projects you may have undertaken.

First, I wrote about growing Duckweed as a green to feed to the chickens over the winter.
This only partly panned out. My intention was for the Duckweed to propagate, be harvested
and allowed to propagate and be harvested again indeterminably. Eventually, several tubs of
Duckweed would be grown inside and Tilapia fish would be added to provide meat for
chickens, dogs, cats and humans on the homestead. The Tilapia would eat the Duckweed,
both would be harvested and allowed to re-populate in the tubs. In practice, the Duckweed,
even when inside was not very hardy. Duckweed is a tropical pondplant and will die off over
our winters which is why I attempted to grow it inside. It lasted through December before
dry and cooler air did it in. Overall it was not a bad experiment, but good for only supplying
greens through half of the winter. In evaluation, I will scrap this project to grow a
conventional potted plant like clover or possibly dandelion to provide greens for the
chickens through the winter. I will need to add a grow light or sun lamp into the logistical
equation.

My second project was an experiment in making new garden patches easier to work in the
spring. Learning from a neighbor that one could cut the grass and plants down to the sod,
then cover with black or opaque plastic sheeting. This would insulate the soil and allow the
worms underneath to stay active over the winter. The worms would, then eat the grass,
pulling the blades under and tilling the soil for you. This would make the soil loamy and
ready to plant inthe spring saving the gardener a lot of work. While this did not exactly work
as intended, I still count the experiment as successful. I clipped my new garden area right to
the ground and covered with green colored fiberglass panels as that was the material I had
available. While this did not keep the grass from growing, it did help the worms stay active
and kept the soil drier and easier to work in the spring. Comparable to the last few springs,
the drier soil was much easier to work and till with only a spade. I will continue this practice
every year.

Experiment number three has still be be evaluated as not much experience has been gained
at it. I moved my blacksmithing operations into the chicken coop for the winter. This was to
keep the chickens warm in the coldest part of winter and allow me to work at smithing
projects. Unfortunately due to a couple of injuries I was unable to really get at any projects.
So far, however, it appears the noise and bustle is going to bother the chickens for too much
work. I will try again next winter and hope for zero injuries.

The new Survivalist Magazine has been mailed and I am looking forward to reading it. This
one has two of my articles in it. If you are interested in survival, self sufficiency and
homesteading you should subscribe at http://survivalist.com/ . Check in at
http://northwoodstraders.ecrater.com/ for new products for blacksmithing coming soon.