Jay Angler

In climates that are warm, people often think that insulation isn't needed. The reality is, good insulation helps keep summer heat out, and then it's there when you need it if Mother Nature throws a curve ball.

The year we moved to British Columbia, over the New Years period we got 3 ft of snow - considered the storm of the millennium. People used to heating with electricity were in trouble if theirs went out. But even if it stayed on, their inefficient houses left them with heating bills of hundreds of dollars.

We had come from Ottawa, Ontario, so our kids still had warm clothing and we had lots of warm blankets. The house came with a very inefficient wood stove, but at least it could burn wood. Rather than being "open concept" the house was of an age where the kitchen had walls and doors that closed. When we had power, the baseboard heater, or the stove if I was cooking, could keep this one room warm.

This was also not an extremely cold storm. Not like Ottawa cold! However, anything below freezing can result in hypothermia, particularly if you get wet shoveling snow. My understanding is that areas not used to cold, are at risk of significant cold arriving soon. It wasn't that long ago that people died in Texas when they got atypical weather.

Read Pearl's advice above. Consider which direction the wind is coming from. Air gaps with stagnant air are your friend, and this thread, ones she's linked to, and others on permies will tell you ways to slow the air down and keep you warm.

Beware of candles or any open flame! They will devour your oxygen and risk deadly fire. If you can create a sheltered area outside using tarps, tables, boxes etc, then a camp stove or similar will give you a place to heat water to bring inside. Stack up the snow to windward and that alone may give you a spot to cook.

Good luck to everyone in the path of this storm - stay safe!

There looks to be some nastier weather than typical for many areas of North America that's on it's way. My sister, whose region is referred to as Canada's "Banana Belt," is currently shoveling out from a major snow dump.

There's tons of good info in this thread and others here on permies, so everyone please prepare yourselves for what might be coming!

We've got bad cold snaps forecast for several areas of North America on there way. Atypical weather patterns increases the risk of a power outage, so I am shamelessly bumping this thread containing many ideas for simple ways to stay warm.

Not sure it mentions borrowing a dog or 3 for the duration...

thomas rubino wrote: If Chickens are like pigs, they will huddle together to stay warm.

From an incredibly young age, you can trust chickens to be heat seekers. I had to move a young chick into a Muscovy duckling shelter and I was relying on the Muscovy mom + 5 half-grown youngsters to keep the chick warm overnight and he did just fine.

We have moved to rubber buckets for freezing weather. They tolerate having hot water poured into them, and they're easy to flex to get any ice that forming out of them. Size matters - it is easier to keep some water unfrozen in a larger container than a smaller one.

Using old sheets to trap heat in a smaller area than the whole coop will also help. We're more likely to find birds sleeping in nest boxes instead of on their perches when the weather is fowl foul (yes bad pun... couldn't resist), so if you're really worried about the young birds, a large cardboard box with bedding and a chicken-sized entrance will help them "cuddle up". Just cut a few extra holes for air! With my last group of pullets with an adult "mom," I used a dog crate to accomplish this.

Hopefully it will all go well.

Do you know any one who would loan you a large dog crate for a few days?

Prop the door open, start bribing the chickens with something they love - worms, bits of bread, bird seed.

When they're used to you bribing them, put the bribes in the back of the crate. Every chicken you catch, you can give to new, responsible owners, or build your own coop in your back yard, and be that responsible owner.

I hesitate to blame the chickens for their irresponsible owner. The chickens are only doing what chickens do - scratch in the dirt for seeds or bugs.

You might want to do the research for the new home before you catch any of them.

Tereza Okava wrote: It's storm season and I'm seeing lots of junked umbrellas.... I'm thinking that may offer a frame solution.

I don't think you want a pendant as in this picture, but starting with a salvageable umbrella frame, and covering it with a mix of paper/thin fabric and basket weaving out of local material would certainly have potential.

far too expensive example is from here: https://www.amazon.com/YGZPALH-Inverted-Handwoven-Suspension-Spotlight/dp/B0DJ1XF6M3?th=1

Leigh Tate wrote:What about biochar?  

This is a great example, and a good basic article you've linked to. There are many simple ways to make biochar at home or on a homestead. There are fancy methods, but a metal container in a wood stove or the basic barrel method for larger quantities does the job.

We have lantern festivals here with awesome creations made with a light wooden frame covered with paper - particularly something like the paper used for  Japanese shoji screens. The downside of that is that they won't be easy to clean.

I have made covers using commercial metal frames, hand covered with very light drapery fabric. In fact 2 of the table lights in my living room and 1 in the bedroom are made that way. The advantage of upcycling a broken shade with a functional frame is that they're designed to go over a light. Not sure what the odds would be of finding a suitable frame at your local charity shops.

Attaching it to the bulb or fixture is the sticking point, but your idea of attaching it to the ceiling has merit! If you plan the design to accommodate it, 3 or 4 cup hooks in the ceiling that you gently wiggle the finished shade onto, would be what I would try. That also gives you lots of room for making a creative wooden or wire frame to support whatever material you choose to use.

I would make sure there's an air gap near the ceiling. Lights last a lot longer if they don't get too hot, and enclosing them too much will tend to cause that overheating.

Good luck and please post pictures!

Thanks for the update. As typical, my area is in the "green", but that means a maybe, and at least the forecast is for "a few clouds" rather than socked in with rain!
Fingers crossed!

Here we are a month later and ready for a little update:
1. Yes, the wool sweater seemed to help hold another 1/2 degree C or so. We were still hovering around 20 to 22C which is below the minimum 24C target temperature, but fingers are crossed.

2. Downside is that the seeds are pretty much in the dark. Remembering to check them, and actually being able to see the little critters when they do pop is an issue.

3. With the lower temperature comes slower germination - thus more patience and more checking.

4. But patience wins. Four days ago I spotted baby #1. The stem didn't look ridiculously long compared to the example in a video I watched, but I quickly got it into a pot and on my front window ledge where plant lights give some extra light morning and evening.

5. Today, there were two more babies. The cotyledons really do look sufficiently like the ones in the video that my confidence has risen. It's not like I need 20 of them - 3 is plenty redundancy in case I loose any. They are self fertile according to the web.

6.  I have put the tray back in. More babies are always welcome. I know people locally who like having "house plants" although it seems this will be on the large size as houseplants go. I noticed that all three that have germinated have been right at the back of the tray, closer to the center of the water heater and with lots of insulation from objects behind the little area I cleared. I need to take my chick candling/hatching flashlight down there to make spotting babies a bit easier. We will see what happens....

Unfortunately the video wouldn't let me post it here. I don't know if the URL alone will allow any of you to watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlJpyKEpTek
There doesn't seem to be a lot of info on the web about starting from seed instead of cuttings.

I will update again as things progress.