Preppers: Dealing With The Winter Lull
Kevin Felts 12.19.17
From the middle of December to mid-February, there is a lull in outdoor activities. Expect for those late-season hunters, hunting season is pretty much over, and the winter weather is cold and wet. Short days cause people to be low on energy and the holidays mean we are often short on time and money.
Around Christmas and New Years, a number of people take vacation time. Teachers, for example, usually get around two weeks off. Various companies and state agencies force people to use their vacation time or they lose it when the new year rolls over.
What do preppers do when the winter weather is cold, we are low on money, and may have some free time?
Read
Grab a book on a topic you are interested in and read. Any topic that expands someones knowledge is acceptable.
On a personal note, I just finished “Technology in the Ancient World,” by Henry Hodgins. This is an older book I found at a used book store in Beaumont, Texas. Topics range from stone age tools all the way to forges and ironworking.
How could “Technology in the Ancient World” be related to prepping? It is studying how people developed new technology and things that prevented cultures from moving forward.
Personally, I do not read fiction; everything in my prepping library is non-fiction. Since this is real life and we are supposed to prepping for real events, I look to the past for guidance. An example is “The Black Death: A Chronicle of the Plague” by Johannes Nohl details problems faced by people during an outbreak of the plague in 1348-1350. The book is based on factual events and the information came from documents dating to the time period.
Organize
A lot of my gear is spread across several backpacks. There may be a water filter in one pack, a knife in another, hammock in another pack, etc.
To remedy the gear being disorganized, I take all the backpacks out of the store room, put them in the living room, pull all the gear out, put the packs up, then organize the gear. This is one of the few times that my most used gear is in one location at one time.
Everything that is not used on a regular basis is sorted and put in boxes. Even though the gear may not be used regularly, it will be used throughout the year.
Clean
Take the guns out of the gun safe and give them a good cleaning.
How do the water filters look? Do they need to be cleaned? After a hike my filters are flushed with a bleach water solution then left out to dry for a couple of days. Once the filters are dry, they are assembled and put up.
Clean the storage room. Take everything off the floor, dust and vacuum.
Go through the storage boxes and make sure mold is not growing on cloth items. I had some military surplus ammo pouches that developed spots of mold. They were washed in the sink, dried and then put back into storage.
Winter Lull
Enjoy the winter lull while you can. Once February and March arrive, it will be back to full steam ahead.
Starting in January is usually when I cut and split firewood. Then there are the plans to fence in a few acres, plant a garden, go fishing and hiking, etc.
