WINTER Survival

Keep your land, animals and yourself in good shape this winter with this helpful advice.

- JESSE FROST

Winter can be a relief for many farmers, who welcome the much-needed rest after a long growing season, but it can also be a trying period. Freezing temperatures, snow, sleet and ice can wreak havoc on your land, home, outbuildings and animals, and make you feel isolated from the rest of your community. However, not all has to be lost during the cold season. Here are some ways to survive until spring’s thaw arrives.

1. COVER PLANTS AND USE COVER CROPS

You may be surprised to see how long your fall garden can hang in there with a little bit of row cover. This material is designed to keep the cold off of the plants and to keep heat around them, and it comes in a variety of thicknesses. In ­really cold spells, place row covers directly over the plants, and then another section over hoops for double protection.

The parts of your garden that don’t have edible crops for harvest should have crops that nourish the soil. Cover crops cover the soil and provide root systems for the microbiology below the surface to gain and retain nutrients. Bare, wet soil in the winter loses soil nutrition, but cover crops keep the soil alive and healthy until spring.

2. AVOID ICE WATER

Keeping water from freezing is one of the biggest and most important challenges when overwintering livestock. Livestock need a lot of water in the winter; snow is not enough. Fortunately, many affordable devices can help lift that concern off your shoulders—some that float, some that heat the container itself and some that circulate the water like a creek.

If access to electricity is an issue, you can use some tricks: Larger tanks, for instance, have more thermal mass, and thus the water will retain more of its own heat. You can also insulate the tank or place it in a shed protected from the wind, so long as the animals can get to it.

3. BLOCK THE WIND