Octopodial Chrome

When he was 18, a fellow went off to Alaska to become a trapper. He learnt a few lessons about overwinter survival the hard way—and thanks to his notes, we can learn those same lessons the easy way. Some good insights into the nitty-gritty details of living a primitive life.

I want a little hobbit cottage like this.

Today I learnt about something I’d never heard of: the springhouse (sometimes written with two words, as spring house, others with one). It’s a small structure you build—generally of stone—over and around a spring. At its simplest, it just fills a cistern and keeps it in the dark so that algæ doesn’t grow. But it can also be used to fill a trough running the perimeter of the building; the cold spring water constantly running up from the spring, around the room and out of the springhouse yields a constantly cool room; a low-tech refrigerator. If you’re lucky you can even use the coolness to chill another room where you can work during the summer.

If I ever buy a piece of land, I think it definitely needs to have a spring. I’d love to build a springhouse.