4 Lessons From Nature in being Prepared for Winter Storms, Extreme Cold & for Better Enjoyment!- Part 1
Part one of this post will focus on lessons from nature in being more cold hardy, adaptable and prepared for extreme cold, winter storms and bomb cyclones.
Part two will cover "8 Less Know Winter Preparedness Tips" (scroll to the bottom for the link) that people often do not consider. These can take you from surviving to thriving!
More...
Introduction:
A few weeks back I sat in a tree from before sun-up to late morning, several days in a row. It was below -20 Celsius on a number of those mornings.
Not only was I out in these temperatures, I also was not moving or overdressed, and it was beautiful.
One morning I had five deer walk underneath me. I literally could have jumped on any one of them.
Have you ever watched Bluejays dig in the snow looking for buried acorns or had chickadees singing less than 2 feet from your head? It was beautiful and recharging to my soul.
I spent a lot of time contemplating how I have built my relationship with the cold to the point that it is no longer a barrier to my enjoyment of winter.
Lessons from nature teach us about being resilient beings and how all the other creatures of the woods deal with the cold.
Here are a few reflections and tips.
Natural Strategies & Lessons from Nature
- Dealing with the Cold -
1) Eat like the Deer, Squirrels & Birds
Why do Chickadee's prefer sunflower seeds from your winter bird feeder? For the same reason, I put butter in my coffee.
The morning I sat for over 3 hours in -25 Celius weather, I put butter and coconut oil in my coffee.
For breakfast I ate nuts and bacon (Vegans, replace the bacon with avocado's and more coconut oil and nuts).
It makes a HUGE difference and was what allowed me to sit still for so long and remain warm.
That morning I also witnessed Bluejays & Squirrels digging in the snow for acorns doing the same thing.
A great analogy I have heard around how fat keeps us warm is to consider how we build a fire.
We start with kindling (tiny little twigs), which burns hot and fast but leaves few coals.
Then we ad medium size sticks. They take longer to get hot, burn a little longer, and leave a few coals. Last we add our logs.
Logs take the longest to light and generate heat but they leave a bed of coals that can last for hours.
"If you want to be more hardy to the cold and winter, learn from nature and feed your body like a fire" #Nature #Resiliency
Consider sugar and carbs to the kindling. They give us almost instant energy and heat but it will not last long. If your cold, eat some sugar and it will help with short-term warmth. Remember to add the medium sticks and logs too!
Protein is like the medium size sticks. It takes a little longer to digest but gives us sustained energy and heat along with supporting a ton of other bodily functions for longer than sugar.
If you want to stay warm in extreme cold temperatures, you NEED fat, the logs of our fire, for sustained heat and energy.
Nature has many perfect synchronicities. One of these is the way that the plant parts containing the most amount of fat (seeds and nuts) start to fall as the temperature begins to drop. If you are looking for wildlife in Southern Ontario in the fall, find the Oak trees dropping acorns.
2) Study how the grey squirrel builds it's home.
That cold morning I also reveled in how comfortable the grey squirrels seemed when they had such small bodies. Have you ever really looked at a grey squirrel nest and considered how it works?
This simple architecture is a brilliant feat that encompasses core principles of shelter and warmth.
When I teach shelter building I like to focus on the "principals" of shelter over the intricate details of the design. At least as a starting point.
Once you fully understand the principles of shelter you can apply them in any circumstance. Hot, cold, wet, dry, and any ecosystem, forest, desert, urban, arctic, etc.
There are two general places heat comes from
1) Internal heat that our body generates through burning calories.
2) External heat from the sun, fire, furnace, etc.
When you build a shelter, you either want to design it to capture external heat, such as a furnace in a well-insulated home. Or you want it to store and maintain our bodies own internal heat efficiently.
A Grey Squirrel nest uses the second method. A giant pile of leaves (insulation) creates thousands of tiny pockets of air within it. These air pockets are insulated from the outside.
The interior is small, thus the squirrel's internal body heat radiates into the leaves. It heats the tiny pockets of dead air space which in turn helps maintain the internal shelter temperature. This is similar to how a down sleeping bag or down jacket works.
Like mentioned in strategy one, the squirrel chows down on a bunch of good fat and oil before bed. This allows it to radiate internal heat for a longer period during the night.
So we can emulate this ourselves in a winter power outage or survival situation. Here are a few examples:
- Create a squirrels nest in your house. Build a simple frame out of mattresses or tables and chairs. Then pile blankets, pillows, stuffed animals clothes, etc., both on top of and inside the pile. Stick a couple of people inside of this. You are likely to be toasty warm inside even in minus temperatures. This is how to build a squirrels nest inside your house.
- Another trick is to tuck your jacket/sweater into your pants. Then stuff the layer in between your coat and body with clothes, stuffed animals or even crumpled up newspaper creating your own improvised down jacket.
3) Move like the deer and chickadee's, work with nature!
I could write a whole book on this topic, or teach a month-long course.
We can learn so much from how wild animals move in relation to their natural environment. So many things today are based on these lessons in nature. Martial arts moves, military and sports tactics, architectural design and more. Nature is nothing short of brilliant!
To summarize a few observations from my morning sit, deer, chickadee and wildlife behavior in general changes with the weather.
During the fall, the majority of deer activity I witnessed and tracked was between sunrise and early afternoon. There was another spike around dusk.
As soon as it dropped below -20 the deer seemed to be moving significantly more during the night. They were then bedding down to sleep midday in the afternoon sun.
If you are interested in learning to track deer and other wildlife, check the, Natural Born Tracker eCourse.
The key lessons from nature here are, consider keeping moving during the coldest periods. Especially when there is no sun to warm you.
Movement creates energy which in turn creates heat. Then like the squirrels and chickadees, consume a high-fat meal before bed to maintain heat the longer while you sleep.
If you can sleep in the afternoon sun with a full belly, you will likely sleep longer without getting cold. This allows you to be more energetic to keep moving during the coldest part of the day.
Your cycle does not have to look exactly like this. If you have adequate shelter/insulation, it may be best to hunker down for the coldest part of the day or night.
How to most efficiently use your calories throughout the day is something to ponder and observe nature to learn.
4) Spend more time outside and consciously acclimatize with the changing seasons.
People frequently comment on how little clothing I appear to wear in the winter. At the same time, many others are dressed up as bulky as the marshmallow man from Ghostbusters and are still cold.
I attribute my cold tolerance to the following:
Building a relationship with the cold and understanding how cold I can get before I am in a danger zone. This is a VERY practical life lesson.
Knowing how to warm myself quickly and when I need too. Many people may think they do this already. I will challenge you in saying I believe most people can allow themselves to get a lot colder than they do and still be safe and healthy.
**Some medical conditions and other factors could change this, but most people are likely hardy than they realize.
This valuable life lesson happened by mistake and as a consequence of my time as a dog sled guide.
I was constantly managing others in the outdoors who were often not appropriately dressed.
At the same time I was also untangling dog chains and navigating through the wilderness trails at a fast-pace. This left me little time to manage myself.
While guiding I would be out in -20 with no gloves because I needed finger dexterity frequently.
This allowed me to learn how cold my hands could get before it was a risk of frostbite or damage. I also learned I could warm my hands by sticking them up against my belly or in my armpits in less than a minute and keep going.
This led to me just getting used to being cold and consequently the cold just didn't bother me anymore. Yes, I was cold, but my mind no longer associated this as a bad thing or pain. This allowed me to enjoy cold weather better and now I love winters.
I realized how much more comfortable I became as a consequence of my job. Then I started considering if I could consciously train my body to be more cold hardy. This is when I began to look to nature for advice.
Wildlife live outside year round, they grow thicker coats for the winter because they slowly transition with the seasons. To some degree humans can do this as well.
In the fall I now intentionally underdress.
I also swim in lakes well into the fall and even take cold showers. You may think this is crazy and not for you, fair enough; I get it.
Do you want to be able to enjoy being outside in the winter and be more hardy to a winter emergency's? If so you may find this is well worth the sacrifice and time put in.
I have come to greatly enjoy the cold. Does that not sound better than dreading it?
Midwinter when it drops to the low double digits I finally put on a warmer sweater or jacket. I am quite comfortable because I have slowly been adapting all fall.
If you want to dig deeper on this topic I suggest you research the two topics:
- The role of brown adipose fat in our bodies. Hibernating animals and babies have lots more of it them, adults. This is that fat the converts to heat.
There is some research suggesting that adults may be able to grow their brown fat reserves to become more cold hardy. Brown fat is a lot healthier than white fat (the bad fat). Unlike white fat, brown fat does not increase your waistline from my understanding.
- Do some research on the health benefits of cold exposure. I Highly recommend checking out this video on the Wim Hoff Method. It is highly researched and fascinating. You can also check out his online school.
I Hope you enjoyed some of my observations and lessons from nature in cold hardiness. There are countless more.
** If you have other observations and lessons from nature related to the cold, please share them in the comments below!
If you found this valuable, please SHARE!
READ PART TWO - 8 LESS KNOW TIPS TO THRIVE in the Cold
These can take you from surviving to thriving!
Such a valuable post, thank you!
Thanks for the feedback Emily, I appreciate it and am glad you enjoyed!
Great website resource, inspirational for students/staff and community..
Have followed many of these lessons and planning to incorporate more next year!!!
Danick Clavel
Principal
Bimaychikamah School
Slate Falls Nation
Glad you enjoyed Danick and are finding ways to integrate it in your work and community up North. Thanks again for your offer to send the fire blower my way as well.
You inspired me to conditions myself to handle the cold better. While spending 7 years living in a tent in the Yukon I got an appreciation for how much the human body can adapt to the cold. But now after 18 years back in the city I am at the other extreme. After a bit of mindful conditioning, I’m already more comfortable in the house in a t shirt at 15 degrees than I was with a sweater in 19 degrees just 4 days ago. And it wasn’t even painful. I can already appreciate my time outside more.
Thanks
Hey Paulo, thanks for sharing your efforts. It is amazing what we are capable of when we shift our mindset and commit to being a little uncomfortable to be more resilient and comfortable in the long run. Have you checked out any of Wim Hoff’s work in cold training?