Talk:Tent City/Winterization

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Donated clothing list- wants/ideas

 * User:Cmax1088 Today 9:47 am

There are a lot of things that would be helpful and brainstorming and asking for them may spur people to donate things they didn't think were useful or didn't think of themselves.

Scarves, hats, gloves.

All types of material, not just poly pro is useful. Wool!!! Fleece, down.

Gortex/nylon.

Also, not sure how people would respond but fur lined clothing is obviously very warm.

Tips for staying warm
Can we get someone knowledgeable in long-term winter camping to give advice on staying warm? I can provide a few starter suggestions:

-Stay well fed. Your body needs fuel to heat you. Hot food also takes less energy to digest.

-When nature calls, answer. Holding your bladder uses lots of energy and makes you colder.

-"Cotton kills". Wet cotton will make you colder than not wearing anything. This includes sweat, so cotton socks are particularly bad.

Good Idea, Greenmountain Colledge in VT would be a good place for advice. Our sons went there. We live in a geodesic dome every weekend all year. It has a woodstove but when it is out there is no heat. Here is what we have learned:-

1) Hot water bottles. The old fashioned british kind, not drinking ones. Very hot water in them will last almost all night,but empty in the morning so they don't freeze. You can buy for $10 to $15 amazon. You don't want the little ones used for enemas!

2) Keep layers you are not wearing inside your sleeping bag with you so they are warm in the morning.

3) Never get cold, or even close if you can help it. Take action at the first signs by jumping up and down, arms swinging, putting on more layers etc. Once you are cold it's much harder to warm up again.

Please add to the list. Farkas.aj 12:13, 25 October 2011 (EDT)

Rodents
Rodents hate mint. We live outdoors year round at the weekend and after years of experimenting the only thing that worked, and totally got rid of mice, was mint oil diluted in a spray bottle,sprayed around the inside of our kitchen.