This looks to be the coldest winter of my life, at least since I can remember. Not because climate change isn't real, but because I'm living farther north and because I'm outside every day.
But it's really not that bad. Yes, I did go and buy all the 100% wool sweaters at Salvo (there were three, plus a sweater dress with shoulder pads that I left on the rack; I am a fiber snob, but I need warmth); yes, I'm wearing two pairs of socks, two pairs of pants, three shirts and two sweaters every day; yes, I finally finished knitting a hat that actually fits me (woot!) - but now all of this is routine and I'm usually warm! Good times.
The trouble is keeping my hands warm. They lose heat pretty fast because they're extremeties and I'm outside handling cold/freezing things. Insulated work gloves are awesome, but for harvesting we have wet-suit-type gloves. Hosing them off reliably cleans them - important when handling food - but if they get water in them, it stays until you can leave them out to dry properly.
We also have a wood stove that we use for some of our cooking and heat (the gas stove has more fine-tuned temperature control for baking and frying, but propane is more expensive than wood at this point.) E said to me that firewood warms you four times - when you cut it, when you split it, when you carry and stack it, and when you burn it. I proposed that we could just stay warm all winter by carrying the firewood around and not bothering to burn it, but we'd probably freeze at night.
Friday, November 28, 2008
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2 comments:
I don't know how feasible this is, but I'm told that some people heat up sacks of cherry pits by the fire, to be put under blankets when going to bed for warmth. If this actually works, you could conceivably do something like this and put some in your gloves to keep your hands warm? Cold hands really suck.
-Tom
Sweet. There are also these awesome bean bag things you can microwave and then put on your shoulders after a stressful day - it sounds like a similar thing. Having extra weight and things on your hands sounds like it would slow down work, though. And having cherry pits in your gloves sounds a lot like having stones in your shoes. The hardest is when work requires dexterity and you have to take off your gloves - frequent hand-warming breaks are the only solution there.
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