It looks like we are in for a big one here in New Hampshire. The weather forecasts for our area are calling for from 24-30 inches of snow. (That’s roughly the height of 3 chickens standing on top of each other.)
The kids are all excited because they think it means there will be no school. I don’t have the heart to tell them that the most recent forecast has moved out the start of the storm to Friday afternoon – I’m going to let them sleep with spoons under their pillows and their pajamas worn backward tonight.
There’s not much we can do in preparation for the storm.
We’ve got food and plenty of water set aside for the chickens. We even have a comforting seed block to for when the winds really howl.
As far as my other chicks? If we lose electricity, we lose electricity. It’s not like it hasn’t happened before – this is New Hampshire remember? We’ll just pull out the paper plates and heat our food on the grill.
The only thing is that when we lose power our old house can get cold and I’m talking bitter cold. It’s not so bad for the occupants (that’s what polar fleece was invented for) but it’s brutal on the pipes. This time, though, if we lose electricity, I’m going to line our fireplace with a reflective space blanket and I’m going to fire up two of these things – Kandle Heeter which bills themselves as an “energy conservation device.”
Apparently, through an ingenious design of graduated clay flowerpots, the heaters can get VERY HOT from the heat of a candle and they “collect, retain, and radiate” that heat. Sounds good right? We’ve tested one on our dining room table and I can assure you that those clay pots do get hot. Now, whether we can direct that heat is another story, but I’m willing to give it a try.
If Kandle Heeters help to heat the house enough so that pipes don’t freeze, I’ll be one of their biggest fans. And you know, me, I’ll definitely be reporting back how it goes.
(I know, if we have a fire place why aren’t we building a fire? It’s because we have kids with severe asthma aggravated by smoke – we’ve never been able to use our fireplace and we’ve also never been able to justify a generator when we only lose electricity for a few days at a time. Hardy people we are. )
So tomorrow, when you hear about the crazy snow in the Northeast, keep not only our flock, but the flocks of all who live in the Northeast, in your thoughts.
It looks like we’re all in for a bumpy ride.
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Wendy Thomas writes about the lessons learned while raising children and chickens in New Hampshire. Contact her at [email protected]
