We’ve been super busy and whilst sitting here writing this blog entry, I’m thinking how quickly these two months have passed.  My dreadmaking diary has been wonderfully, fully booked, feeling grateful.  The minus temperatures didn’t stop people committing to their appointments, on the contrary, their contagious excitement for the journey into the Wiltshire wilderness, trooping a sparkly frozen towpath to the boat, seeing the canal frozen and our houseboat frozen in, to stepping into our home and being greeted by a warm burner-stove, was an enchanting adventure.  Has been great catching up with familiar faces and wonderful to meet new faces, of which there have been quite a few.  

A little about our nomadic life these past two months.

The necessity to successfully living off grid is all in the preparation.  Be prepared for all eventualities.  We’re efficient at preparing for winter, tis something we pride ourselves on.  Observing the earthway around us, we’re accustomed to sussing out what weather is coming, however, we still check in with weather forecasts and I’m glad we do; as we were so prepared for the extreme minus temperatures.  

The canal froze over more than once, the first freeze was the most extreme, we were frozen in for several weeks.  We have ready, a couple of 25L containers should we have a water situation.  This winter our extra water butts froze, so did the water-point taps located at the convenience stops along the canal, which we couldn’t cruise too, because we were frozen in.  So Philip had to take the 25L containers to work everyday, fill them with water, bring them home, so I could keep the internal water tank topped up.   Wood foraging has been stepped up and I’ve been out most days sawing and splitting logs.  The burner-stove, which is our only source of heating, has been keeping us safe, warm and toasty, day and through the night; so for those of you, who might have wondered how we were doing in -13, -11, -6 freezes, we were comfy-cozy.  Taking Mia out for walks during the freezes were also restricted, it was too cold for such a young dog, so outdoor activity had to be short and sweet.  Instead of playing outdoors, we had fun and games indoors. Oh and Mia is 1 years old on 28th February.

We have enjoyed every moment of this winter, the extreme cold put us to the test, finding out what we are capable of and I’m proud of what we’ve achieved this winter.  I’ve come to favour the winter season much more, I’m almost a little sad to see it pass into spring.