Cold Times — How to Prepare for the Mini Ice Age

by Dr. Anita Bailey

  Ideally, wastes should feed into a septic system with a drainage field. The septic system consists of a waste holding settling tank that has been “started” with beneficial bacteria and yeasts (such as a product called Rid-X) which digest the waste material and allow relatively ‘clean’ fluids to feed out into the drain field. Most regions, right now, enforce permit programs on new septic systems, so if you are installing a septic tank you’ll need to investigate your area’s requirements and unnecessarily large permit costs. You’ll also need a backhoe or many strong backs and shovels to dig the tank hole and field.

  The alternative, a historically proven method, is the pit toilet AKA outhouse, pit house, cesspit, and back house. There are several reasons for preferring an outhouse over a septic system. The primary one is that an outhouse requires no water for flushing. In Cold Times, and “hard times,” there’s lots of other things a person could do than haul 7 gallons of water into the house every time you need to flush the toilet into the septic system. With several people in the home, repeated flushing – even if there’s a well-fed water system – is an enormous use of precious water, just to swish away wastes.

  An outhouse is, effectively, a five foot deep by approximately 3 foot square hole, over which a small covered closet-sized (about 4’x4’ x 8 feet tall) space has been built. The interior seat should be a tightly closed box with a 10”-12” hole in the top. Place a tight toilet seat on top for all the comforts of home. The doorway should also close tightly. A high set screened window can provide ventilation and light. Tight closings and screens help keep out insect pests. The building itself needs to set very close to the ground, perhaps on an unmortared concrete block or stone base, to keep out rats, mice, and other animals.

  Inside the outhouse, you’ll need a bucket of ashes, hay, lime, wood chips, leaves, or other organic material, and a cup. After using the outhouse, toss a cup or two of this over the waste. That helps eliminate odors and reduce insects. Also, store toilet paper or whatever substitute you have chosen and handwashing supplies (bottled water and soap) in the outhouse in covered containers. Handwashing should be done into the pit itself, with a small quantity of free-flowing water, NOT into a sink or basin which can become contaminated with bacteria. Wet hands, turn off water, soap up for 20 seconds, rinse hands and soap with a small amount of water. Dry hands on a small towel which goes into a basket to be washed. Try not to share or reuse towels until they have been boiled/washed to prevent spreading any residual fecal bacteria.

  Set your outhouse above any possibility of infiltration from heavy rainwater or flooding, and berm it so runoff goes around it, because it will overflow if it is swamped. When the outhouse pit looks like it is getting full, dig a new pit and move the house. Cover the old pit with soil from the new hole. In a year, plant a fruit tree where the old pit was. It’ll grow like crazy.

  One consideration to keep in mind with an outhouse is that you do have to go out to use it. If a blizzard is blowing, people still need to relieve themselves. What then? Well, you can tie a guideline from the home door out to the outhouse, so people can feel their way out during the terrible cold, hopefully not freeze while in the outhouse, and then feel their way back along the guideline. A better approach is to keep a couple covered 5 gallon buckets in the bathroom, that can be used during those events and then hauled to the outhouse when the weather has lightened. Use a cup or two of ash, hay, wood chips, sawdust, or other organic material over the fresh waste and put the cover on the bucket between uses.

  Personal Hygiene

  Many people have the belief that they must shower daily to maintain good hygiene. If you’re not doing heavy, sweaty, hot, and filthy work, daily bathing is simply unnecessary. Clean dry underclothing is a necessity, as we’ll see shortly, but healthy skin bacteria THRIVE on normally clean skin. A person doing average work, indoor work, anything that doesn’t makes them excessively sweaty, rarely will require full-body bathing more than once a week. Daily bathing in urban chlorinated water actually strips away healthy bacteria, and leaves our skin vulnerable to invaders.

  Our great grand-parents maintained the “Saturday Night Bath” whether-you-needed-it-or-not custom. In a bath room – a small room set aside specifically for the bath – water was heated and placed in a low tub, not big enough to sit in, but large enough to stand in. A large cup or small pot was used to pour water over oneself while standing unclothed in the tub. Then the person used a wash cloth and bar soap to soap up, wash and lather hair. Finally, the cup or pot was used to rinse off using the water in the tub. After drying off, more hot water was added to the tub and the next person hopped in – yes, into “used” water. As horrifying as that sounds to we modern germophobes, there’s no record of anyone getting sick or dying from bathing is pre-used water.

  When it is more difficult to bring dozens of gallons of water into one’s home – today’s typical leisurely shower can cost 25 gallons of heated water – methods for staying clean and getting clean become quite a bit more challenging.

  For basic hygiene, a daily soap and rinse of face, armpits, and groin hits all the “hot spots” and makes you feel and smell clean. Rinse the wash cloth thoroughly and hang outdoors in sunlight to dry, or over a hot stove. Ladies having their menstrual period will require more frequent washing, but this can be done with only a small amount of water. Remember handwashing as discussed previously, and use a small brush to scrub around fingernails daily. Store extra nail brushes or recycle old cleaned toothbrushes!

  When deodorants run low (and it’s a good idea to stock up three or four per person), a quick pat down with baking soda in the armpits will control odors as good as any commercial product. The fancy version of this deodorant powder is half-and-half baking soda and corn starch, with the addition of a few drops of your favorite essential oil or even vanilla flavoring.

  Washing Clothes

  Along with keeping oneself clean, maintaining reasonably clean clothing helps prevent skin rashes and irritation that can come from dirty, gritty, grimy fabrics. If you have laundry detergent, use it sparingly on the assumption that you may not be able to get more at a reasonable price. Most modern fabrics are designed to be washed in commercial detergents but you can use homemade soap, as well. Heavy cotton fabrics, such as jeans, can be briefly boiled to really clean them out. Man-made fabrics such as nylon and polyester simply take some agitation since they tend not to hold stains. Wools and other animal fibers require cold water and NO agitation, just a mild soap.

  Assign specific clothing to specific tasks. For example, a set of old clothes for painting or working in the garden, ones that you don’t mind getting dirty and staying permanently stained. Not many of today’s household cooks still use an apron, but that will help protect clothing from oily splashes and foods that discolor clothing. It’s a lot simpler to clean an apron than to wash a set of clothing. Similarly, a set of clothes designated specifically for the arrival of visitors or going to town allows you to have a clean outfit ready on a moment’s notice.

  Clothing can be soaked in a large dark-colored trash can that has been set in full sun for several hours. The sun will warm the water. Add soap or detergent, and use a stick or plumbing plunger to agitate the clothes for about 10 minutes. Pull items out one by one, wring or gently twist, then place in a second tub to rinse. Swish in the rinse water, pull out, wring or twist, and hang up to dry.

  Clothes pins make hanging wearables on a line easy, but if you don’t have them, then hang clothes over a fence (not metal as it may leave a rust stain), over bushes, or indoors over a shower curtain rod or even on lines strung inside the house. Sunlight UV rays are very helpful for killing bacteria, and a bit of wind outside will dry clothes quickly. In cold or wet weather, you’ll have to dry washed goods indoors where there is warm airflow. A few hours of clothes hung in the living room is a small price to pay for clean duds.

  The most critical clothing to keep clean is underwear – pants, bras, long johns and socks. These are the items closest
to your skin, most likely to soak up excess skin moisture, and get stinky and crusty fastest. You’ll need at least 3 sets of everything. Most of us already have more than that in a drawer, which is probably half forgotten. Ideally, you’d wash underwear after two or three wearings, more often if you get really sweaty. It’s not necessary to change every day, and it’s hard on underwear fabrics if you do wash them daily. If you’re changing every second day, you’ll need 4 pairs of everything (4 pants/panties, 4 bras, 4 pairs of socks, 4 sets of long johns). That way, you’ll have enough to last and won’t have to do laundry more than once a week. As with everything else, don’t let yourself get down to the last set of underwear before you do laundry.

  Skin Care

  Cold weather is particularly hard on most people’s skin. The very best protection for skin is natural oils – lard, olive oil, coconut oil and even butter are some of the finest. These can be consumed and rubbed directly into the skin. Coconut oil is particularly nice on the face because it is light and quickly absorbed. Clearly, should weather get extra cold, coconut oil will be hard to come by and probably quite costly, so use what you have. Exposed skin needs to be treated before going outdoors, and again in the evening. Everyone’s skin. Cracked skin on the hands are a sign of dehydration AND dry skin, so drink more water and lather on the oils. During the warm weather – and there will be hot days during the coming years – skin still needs to be protected. Once again, a layer of good quality edible natural oil is the best.

  In my opinion, there is NO NEED for sunscreen; these prevent the body from absorbing solar rays that generate the critical vitamin D3. There is, in fact, an epidemic of low vitamin D3 among Westerners who spend too much time indoors and who slather up whenever they go outside. Low levels of this important vitamin can contribute to bone loss, depression, depressed immunity, fatigue, some types of cancer, and a host of other unpleasant symptoms. Children raised without sufficient vitamin D can develop rickets, a condition of severe bone weakness that results in the obvious sign of bowed legs.

  On a sunny day, 10 minutes of exposing your arms and face to the sun between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. will give you a full daily dose of vitamin D3, about 10,000 units. On an overcast day, you may need to expose more skin surface to achieve a good dose or stay out longer. It’s comfortable to work in a greenhouse in the winter in short-sleeves and pants, and helps you get sufficient sun exposure. Some cases of SADD (Seasonal Affective Depressive Disorder) may be worsened by lack of sufficient vitamin D.

  Keep in mind that there are some indications that ultraviolet solar radiation, the type of sun ray that causes the skin to tan or burn, will increase during the Cold Times. There are two types of solar radiation that we need to be aware of: ultraviolet type A (UVA) and ultraviolet type B (UVB). UVA is the solar radiation responsible for tanning and sun burns, and is low in Vitamin D3-forming properties. It is fairly consistent throughout the daylight hours, without peaks or troughs.

  UVB, however, is less-responsible for tanning and burning, but is critically important in Vitamin D3 formation. UVB is at its daily high between about 10:00 in the morning, and 2:00 in the afternoon. That’s when you need to expose your skin to the sun – not all at once, but a little bit more surface for longer times each day.

  That means that even though our bodies must have daily sun exposure to keep healthy, too much exposure during the wrong times of the day could result in rapid burns without the benefit of building Vitamin D3. Always wear a large-brimmed hat that shades your face, ears, and neck, whether it is sunny or cloudy, during the early and late parts of the day. Avoid excessive exposure of arms, back, and legs as well.

  Sun exposure during the critical Vitamin D3 forming hours between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. may still risk a burn because UVA continues at the same level, so build up to longer exposures slowly, perhaps 10 minutes at a time. That way, you’ll be getting the important Vitamins in your system, as well.

  Sun screens, by the way, effectively reduce the UVB our bodies receive, but don’t reduce the UVA very well at all – so sunscreen actually may be detrimental to health.

  Sunburns need to be treated quickly by cooling the area with chilly water. If you have Silvadene (silver sulfadiazine) crème, apply some to the burned area. Should the skin blister, the condition becomes more serious and should be treated with a cooling poultice of herbs such as comfrey or cucumber. Don’t puncture blisters.

  If the spots become infected, treat like any skin infection with antibiotics or antibiotic herbs added to the diet (for example, garlic and elderberry), and gentle washing with clean or antibiotic soap.

  Eye Care

  Ice and snow reflect sunlight intensely, so do not assume cold weather means the sun won’t be too bright. Ancient Inuit, the Eskimo people, even wore a type of sunglasses – basically, a wrap-around sunglass-shaped eye covering carved from drift wood that had a thin open line carved through the horizontal midline.

  They could see out, but the intense eye-damaging sunlight coming off the snow and ice was largely blocked. Acquire several sets of ski goggles right now to protect vision when there is snow or ice glare present. Standard sunglasses aren’t sufficient. Excessive exposure to UV rays can result in cataract formation in the eyes and eventual blindness.

  Sunburned eyes get reddened and feel gritty and dry. Don’t rub them. Lay down and keep the eyes closed. Cool packs of eyebright herb may help relieve the discomfort. Eyes heal quickly and should recover in a few days.

  Skin Critters

  Fleas and lice are the bane of humankind from as far back as anyone knows. There is a specific species of lice that only lives on people, and it requires contact with another person’s body, clothing, bedding, or hair in order to move from one to another. Fleas actually spend most of their time off the host, hiding in bedding, clothing, flooring, furniture, and on pets, livestock, and wild animals.

  The sign of lice are tiny white eggs attached to hair shafts (head lice), or scurrying ones in other body hair (also known as body lice or “crabs”). Head lice can be smothered with thick oil applied to hair and left on for several hours, then washed out. The “nits” (eggs) will need to be picked out individually – time consuming and seldom very effective.

  In the modern era, there are over-the-counter pesticides that can be applied (“Rid” is well known), but these may be harder to come by in the Cold Times. Best alternative treatment is to shave off all body hair including on the head, coat the person with a thin layer for lard for 30 minutes (oils smother the parasites), and then wash everything off thoroughly. All clothing and bedding then needs to be washed in super-hot water, line dried in sunlight, and packed away for at least a month before the next use. Check regularly-used furniture, too, and remove any that show lice or nits to the outdoors for a month. A covered shed, barn, or place in full sunlight is ideal.

  Fleas are a bit more challenging. Most fleas today are resistant to pesticides. That’s why companies have to keep inventing new flea remedies. People typically pick up fleas from their pets, so keeping the flea population down on Fido and Fluffy helps prevent their migration to us, as well. Treat all pets now and keep the fleas under control. Dust all pet bedding with insecticides specific to fleas. Dogs and cats should have their own beds, not sleep with their people unless it is horrifically cold indoors, the proverbial “three dog night”. Change the animal’s bedding once a week, leaving the bedding in sunlight or in the snow to kill fleas and eggs.

  If you are infested with fleas, the remedy is similar to removing lice from the environment. Wash all clothing and bedding in very hot water, dry in full sun. Remove furniture outdoors for a month or so. Scrub floors, particularly floors with indentions or cracks, and flush with Lysol or soapy water. If you’ve got it, use a few “flea bombs” (stock up!), and vacuum floors and furniture paying special attention to crevasses.

  The traditional herbal remedy for fleas is to “strew” pennyroyal herb in bedding and where ever pets lay down. Pennyroyal is a member of the mint fami
ly, and tends to repel but not kill fleas. Use pennyroyal cautiously because it has been implicated in causing deadly miscarriages in pregnant women who drank tea made from it.

  Modern pet owners aren’t fond of it, but both Fido and Fluffy really should have their own outdoor homes, and not be permitted into the human dwelling. The risk of infesting yourself with fleas is one of the primary reasons for this.

  Quarantine

  Quarantine is the act of isolating any person or group of people who have a contagious disease in order to reduce the spread of the disease to the healthy. When I was a child, any kid with chicken pox, strep throat, scarlet fever, measles, mumps, whooping cough, or rubella was placed in at-home quarantine. A representative of the health department was notified by physician or school officials that the child was sick, and showed up to put what was effectively a KEEP OUT sign on the family’s front door. Sometimes, the adults had to stay home, too, until the health department took down the sign, typically about two weeks after it went up.

  Quarantine wasn’t fun, but it did help alert healthy folk that there was a health risk in entering that residence. It probably also slowed the spread of the disease, especially since every sick kid had to stay away from the modern petri dish known as public school. Now, with antibiotics, we have all but forgotten about how effective quarantine could be with some diseases.