Ponds and Swales
Any methods of catching and holding water for later use that are simple and reliable will be just that much more of a bonus for you. Everything that simplifies your day will be valuable. You will work harder during the cold and spend more time working because everything takes longer when you are bundled up and having to struggle through deep snow or keep your balance on ice.
A swale is, effectively, a low spot that collects and holds moisture: a swamp, ditch, or low level in a hillside contour meets the definition. In the Ozark hill country during the 1930’s, Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) workers dug – by hand – long trenches over hilly farmland to reduce erosion from gully washer rainstorms. Many of these swales directed water flow into natural or dug ponds, as well, which allowed the collection of water during spring rains for use during the summer dry spells. There’s no reason the same can’t be accomplished today using a tractor with a plow attachment or even with a small backhoe.
In regions with intensely dry periods, swales can be utilized as naturally moist areas for growing thirsty crops, say, fruit trees. More on this in the next chapter. Swales freeze during the cold if they have moisture in them.
Ponds are simply low collection points for water. Natural or manmade ponds also end up harboring all sorts of wildlife, many of which can contribute to your food supply. The larger and deeper a pond is, the more water and growing food it can hold. A deep pond can overwinter fish, at this time, even during regular cold whereas a shallow pond might freeze to the bottom and cause the wildlife to die off. Frogs and turtles and some fish burrow into mud at the sides and bottoms of ponds, and they can often make it through severe freezing.
Never walk on a partially frozen pond, even a shallow one. That’s an invitation to drowning. Livestock need to be monitored so they don’t slip onto the ice and into the pond; they won’t last long in that cold water. Consider fencing livestock away from the pond itself, and setting up a small drain that leads into a watering trough or hole. That’ll protect the water from disturbance by the animals, and prevent winter ice accidents.
In periods of very extreme cold, an entire pond can freeze solid, making it almost impossible to get liquid water from it. Wood fires set in a metal container atop a pond will thaw the ice around it a little for livestock to use, until the fire goes out. I have not tried one, but a Fresnel lens (basically, a large magnifying glass) might be used to melt a small part of a pond on a sunny day. Wear a dark WELDING HELMET if you do this. Don’t let anyone even look at either a Fresnel lens in use, or even the spot it is hitting on a sunny day; it is bright enough to permanently damage vision.
Any pond fed by a natural spring is worth its weight is gold. Underground springs may help keep the pond from freezing completely, especially around the in-feed point. Because the water in a spring fed pond generally “moves” from the flow into it, the water is often less likely to develop issues related to low oxygen than a static collection pond might. If it is cold enough, even a spring fed pond can freeze solid.
If you have a pond, stock it with fish. The type doesn’t matter, because all fish are edible, although some taste better than others. Catfish and carp such as goldfish are hardy in cold weather and can live in cloudy water.
During the awakening phase, consider putting in a moderate size children’s swimming pool. For a couple hundred dollars, you can store over 2500 gallons of water in an above-ground 12 ft x 3 ft pool. A cup of chlorine bleach stirred in the water every 10 days or so will keep it in good condition. Cover with a dark or black cover when it starts to get cool in the fall. The dark cover will act to heat the water a little and reduce the risk of it freezing. If it does freeze, the expansion of the water may ruin the pool liner, though. After we have entered the Zen-slap stage, the kiddie pool can still be used to collect water in the warmer months off your roof. Use it to water livestock and the garden. For human drinking use, water needs to be boiled or filtered. Take it down during the fall and store it over winter.
A kiddie pool can also be used to raise frogs. Collect any tadpoles or jelly-like masses of frog eggs you find in the spring, and put into the pool. Don’t use any bleach in this water. Keep the top open so that bugs get in. They feed the frogs. Toss some good garden dirt in the bottom. Float a few dry tree branches and make a pile of rocks in the center that rises above the water level, so your frogs can get some sun when they want it. Frog legs are a delicacy at this time, but can be a wholesome food at any time. It takes a lot of frog legs to make a meal, so grow lots of frogs. Empty your frog pool when weather starts to cool off in the fall, and store it for use the next year.
Water Facts
Gallon = 231 in3 (cubic inches)
= 128 fluid ounces
= 8.3 pounds
12” snow = 1” water
1000 gallons of water = 8,300 pounds
6 Food: PRODUCING Your Own
Obtaining and storing your food is going to be a primary consideration during the coming ice age. The ability to grow and hold your food will be a defining feature of you and your family’s survival. Expect to see prices going up in the next two years, along with shortages of some items. Being able to bring your own food to the table may be a literal lifesaver.
If you are a beginning gardener, you will have a very steep learning curve, and you risk losing everything because you are inexperienced and will miss something that might be obvious to a more skilled grower. That’s why you’ll need to have as much stored basic food supplies as possible – to allow for the inevitable mistakes. Start right now growing something, and keep adding on.
If you are already an experienced gardener or food producer, you are miles ahead of the pack. But you will have to unlearn and relearn food growing in cold and unstable conditions, so don’t expect what you know today to always apply. That’s why you need backup food supplies, too. Don’t assume you’ll always be able to grow as much as you have in the past – and you may even have entire years when you can’t get much more than turnips. And you’ll be glad you have those.
Once again, this is an enormous topic and cannot be covered in detail in one chapter. I will hit some critical aspects of growing your own food – including: choosing plants that can tolerate cold conditions, fast and long producers, saving seeds, corn and wheat as home grains, fertilizing without chemicals, dealing with insects, old tech such as fruit walls, in home and underground greenhouses, as well as ancient storage techniques. But you’ve still got to collect information, paper books, to help you figure things out during those situations when you can’t contact outside assistance. Most importantly, you must do this, not just read about it. You learn by doing, not by thinking.
Here are the two “must have” books for both beginner and advanced growers:
Gardening When it Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times, by Steve Solomon. Published by Mother Earth News Wiser Series. About $21.95, less if used.
Backyard Winter Gardening: Vegetables Fresh and Simple in Any Climate Without Heat and Electricity – the Way it’s Been Done for 2000 Years, by Caleb Warnock.
Published by Cedar Fort, Inc. $18.99 or less on Amazon.
Choose Plants that Tolerate Cold
There are few things more tasty than a fresh-from the garden tomato, picked and eaten within minutes, right from the vine. Tomatoes are relatively easy to grow, productive, and have multiple uses in salads, sauces, salsas, and even as a sweet jam. I adore tomatoes, and will grow them as long as I can – but tomatoes cannot tolerate cold. A single 32oF frost will wither an otherwise heathy plant and ruin green tomatoes on the vine.
During the Maunder Minimum Little Ice Age, crops growing in mid-summer were decimated by sudden and unexpected snow – costing the entire harvest. The result was famine, starvation, and death. We have history, now, as our guide. We must not only plant warm-season foods in summer – we must keep cold tolerant plants in the ground all seasons. When the cold comes in unexpectedly, you may lose your tomatoes and squash, but you’ll sti
ll have plenty to eat.
Here is a list of garden plants that can tolerate some cold to intense cold:
Chinese cabbage (Michihili)
Heading cabbage and Broccoli (tolerant to frost but not deep cold)
Choi
Mizuna
Turnips*
Brussel Sprouts
Kale
Beets*
Carrots*
Radishes*
Parsnips*
Rutabaga*
Horseradish*
Onions (green sprouting ones)
Garlic*
Mustard greens
Mangels (sugar beets)*
Leeks
Salsify*
Peas, especially Tom Thumb and Lincoln
Lima beans, Henderson Bush, grows best in cool but not freezing weather
(Items with a * grow their main crop under the soil surface.)
Ideally, a serious grower would plant these in spring, then replant a second crop in mid-to-late summer that would stand in the garden into the fall and winter. That way, there’s always something growing that will survive a sudden cold spell or hail storm. You’d have some to eat and store in the summer, and still have plants you could leave in “cold storage” in the ground for the winter.
Root vegetables, including beets, rutabagas, potatoes (Irish, not sweet “yams”), radishes, carrots, and parsnips are critically important to have in your garden, even if you don’t particularly enjoy eating them. All of these will survive unexpected hail and freezes that destroys the above-ground tops, and will start growing again after the storm passes. Some food is better than no food.
Additionally, plant your usual summer garden with tomatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, melons, squash, whatever you like and could potentially can or preserve for winter use. Try to find ones that mature “early”, in case you don’t get a full growing season. Valencia Melon (a football shaped muskmelon), and Winter King and Queen Watermelon also have the added quality of being able to hold in storage for several months. Have “fresh” melons at Christmas!
For perennial plants, consider varieties that originated in Siberia, China, or other chilly places. Three that I can recommend from experience are the berry bush Aronia, Sand Cherries, and Manchurian Bush Apricots. Aronia is highly productive of a purple berry that is just loaded with antioxidants. Ads for this bush describe the flavor as “tart”, but “sour” would be a better descriptor. This means that birds aren’t all that excited about it, either, which is good news for the gardener. Plant 5 or 10 of these to assure lots of cross pollination and plenty of berries -- even if you have to sweeten the juice, you’ll still have some nutritious fruit.
Sand cherry is a hardy bush plant, with two primary domestic varieties: Hansen’s Bush, and Nanking Bush. They are both members of the cherry tribe, but not quite the same as the luscious sweet cherries you might find in the supermarket. Bush cherries are more like the tart sour pie cherry, but half the size. The plants are highly productive of small fruit, and begin to fruit when quite young. Plant a long row of these, because birds like them, too. These plants can come through when other domestic fruits do not.
Manchurian Bush Apricot is a type of hardy apricot that can tolerate nasty cold and come through. The fruit is virtually the same as a tree apricot, but about half the size. Makes a wonderful jam or pie. Plant a half dozen or more bushes to allow for cross pollination.
Critical Crops Not Adapted to Cold
There are two primary crops that are critical to our usual Western diets, which are unlikely to do well during Cold Times: wheat and corn. Historically, both require about 90 non-freezing days to come to harvest. A regional failure can be catastrophic if you are as dependent upon them as we are….another reason for holding back a two-year supply of these important items.
At this writing in early 2017, cold and wet weather has triggered an outbreak of wheat diseases in the Middle East and in Europe. This may, in part, be because of the mono-cropping of commercial varieties there. Or, perhaps we are entering a new situation where harvests will be hampered by wheat diseases as well as the weather. By mid-2017, nearly half the wheat crop in Kansas was lost to the weather.
That said, your particular region may still be suitable for growing one or both of these, at least some years. Because these are so important, I’m including more information here.
More About Wheat
The typical American eats about 130 pounds of wheat and wheat products annually as bread, cake, pasta, cookies, cereal. That is down from 225 pounds in the 1880s, a change attributed to the interest in low-carb diets. Wheat also makes a decent livestock feed, with anywhere from 7 to 14 percent protein depending on variety and where it is grown. Wheat products add calories, variety, and “fill” to meals, important when food is limited.
Wheat can produce remarkable amounts of food for small planting areas – a 12’x12’ plot of good garden soil sown thickly and well-managed, can give you 60 pounds of wheat harvest – that’s enough for a one-pound loaf of bread every week for a year! That is a small enough space that most backyard gardens could accommodate growing wheat. Double or triple that space, and you can feed a family with bread, cake, and pasta.
Varieties and Seasonal Growth
Wheat has been bred to produce best in specific areas, and is either planted in spring for fall harvest, or fall for harvest the following late summer. The fall-planted wheat is called “winter” wheat, and can be lightly grazed by livestock during the late fall and early winter. It goes dormant during cold weather, and starts regrowing in the spring.
Hard red winter wheat, used for bread flour, grows in Montana through Texas, fall planting.
Hard red spring wheat is usually blended with soft white wheats to increase the protein level; it’s good for breads. It is grown mostly in Montana, North and South Dakota, and Minnesota. Spring planted.
Soft red winter wheat, is good for pastries, cakes, cookies and crackers. It is grown in the east and along the Mississippi River. Winter planted.
White wheat is used for noodles, cereals and softer less-glutinous breads. It is grown in Idaho, Washington and Oregon. Winter and sometimes spring planted.
Durum wheat, one of the best for pasta, is grown in the colder regions of Montana and the Dakotas. Spring planted.
How Much Will it Produce?
It takes about 100 pounds of grain to plant an acre, about 1-1/2 bushels. A bushel of wheat is 60 pounds. In the 1940s, 20 bushels, 1200 pounds, per acre was good production. Today with intensive planting, fertilization, and herbicides/pesticides, 150 bushels--9000 pounds--per acre are not uncommon. Consider, if you are harvesting by hand after SHTF, that 20 bushels is great production – more than that is just gravy. Plant more than you think you’ll need to allow for growing difficulties.
Starter Seeds
If you want to try wheat, buy your startup seeds at your local feed store, or ask your county extension agent to suggest a regionally-adapted variety. Keep in mind that wheat has been highly adapted for modern industrial agriculture, and will likely grow best with chemical fertilizer and may need herbicides to deal with weed issues.
As of 2015, no GMO wheat was grown commercially, but there are at least 2 GMO wheat varieties awaiting a more positive regulatory environment. Wheat has been modified by techniques of purposeful genetic mutation (not the same as GMOs), which has added genes to the original wheat plant type. I suspect these issues contribute to why so many people find themselves unable to digest it, or have health issues related to wheat-product consumption.
A source of livestock manure such as chickens, hogs, rabbits, cattle, horses, can provide “natural” fertilizer for your seeds. Just make sure it is well-composted and spread evenly to avoid burning the young plants.
If you prefer to grow heirloom wheat, look for sources NOW. They will disappear after the Zen-slap. Grow a small plot to decide if this is what you really want. Heirloom varieties tend to produce smaller harvests, but are hardier and more disease and
weather resistant crops. Ancient varieties, such as einkorn, kamut, or spelt, are lower in gluten as well – meaning they won’t produce the light, fluffy “air bread” to which we are accustomed – but may be tolerated better by folks who are gluten-sensitive. You can save seeds from year to year, too.
One wheat which might have some ability to survive colder weather is RED FIFE, an heirloom variety originally grown in the cooler parts of the American northeast states. I have never grown this one, so I can’t provide personal experience. It’s at Baker Seeds.
Sowing and Harvesting
Planting wheat by hand is fairly straightforward. A growing area is selected, and the soil is turned or broken by raking or light tilling. Weeds should be cleared out as much as possible. Then, you can “broadcast” that is, throw out, the seeds. Work toward even coverage, seeding heavily enough to get about 1 or 2 per square inch. It’s not necessary to be exact.
Next, cover the seeds with a little soil – use a rake or just walk over the area to force the seeds into the ground. Birds will eat any that remain exposed. Water lightly to stabilize the soil, if possible, and then leave it alone. Water only if it gets dry. Like grass, it does the rest on its own. Winter wheat stops growing when it gets too cold, goes dormant, and starts growing again when it warms up. Spring wheat should be planted when frosts are less likely to happen. It can tolerate some light freezing once it is growing well.
Cold Times — How to Prepare for the Mini Ice Age Page 11