I came across these videos this weekend while griping about the cold in our 64 degree house. Now I don’t think I have it so bad. The vids are about life in maybe the coldest continually habitated location on Earth, in northeast Siberia.
I thought it particularly interesting with the statement of “the children of Yakutia will go to school when it’s warmer than -65F. Today it’s only -40F, which means Arian (boy in video) must go to school”.
The second vid is about a guy who’s lived in a shack in the Siberian wilderness for 20 years.
Guess it’s whatever you’re used to.
I’m curious, what is the coldest temperature members of the forum have experienced? For me it was -14F (-25C) here in NE Kentucky in February of 2015. Last time it was below zero here was December of '22.
Apples : Apples are a popular fruit in Siberia, and they are grown in many different regions. The most common type of apple grown in Siberia is the Antonovka, which is a hardy variety that is resistant to cold weather. Cherries: Cherries are another popular fruit grown in Siberia.
That may not apply to NE Siberia. Perhaps works in the southern or costal regions ?
there are z1 hardy apples that can be grown all the way to the tundra with some protection. probably not the tastiest but its a hardy fruit source. honeyberries, lingonberry, chokecherry, serviceberry, improved mtn. ash and sask. hardy cherries are at least z2 hardy. some pears z3 hardy and could make it if protected in colder zones and early fruiting.
A few years ago a post from a girl in Yakutia went viral, it was a -57 F selfie. In the picture, her eyelashes were frozen completely solid.
They also get blazing hot summers. The same girl went viral again the following summer when she took a selfie when it was in the 90s, and she was completely covered in mosquitoes to boot. Looked miserable. Pretty crazy that annual temperature swings over there are like 150 F. Apparently, it’s the combination of being pretty far north and of being extremely far from any ocean that causes the crazy highs and lows.
-50f actual air temp is the record from 09’. 3 winters ago we had 3 days of -40f and a little colder. been fairly mild since then. -20f occasionally now seems to be the norm but when it spikes to real cold when it’s been unusually warm that’s when the trees/ plants can’t cope. only thing that’s helped with these swings is our deep snowpack. if we didn’t have that in a winter and got those normal cold spikes it would be bad for everything. im finding that plants/ trees marginally hardy here survive better than the 1 zone hardier plants because a mild warm ups won’t take them out of dormancy like a z3 hardy one will. so in actuality its beneficial to slightly zone push nowadays.
We get that effect too here in z8. Subtropical stuff that’s only just barely hardy sometimes does better here than down in the deep south closer to the gulf coast. While the lowest of the lows are about the same for both of us, their winters are shorter and warmer on average and a lot of subtropical plants just don’t stay dormant enough.
You may already know this, but the Herzog version is actually an edit of a much longer documentary in the original Russian. IIRC, it was made by a relative of none other than Andrei Tarkovsky.
I’ve not seen either myself, but I’ve heard about them a lot. Really should get around to watching it.
Ok, did a bit of researching and I think I got a detail or two off, but regardless, here’s the original. You’ll probably need a VPN because it looks like YouTube is blocking some of these for whatever reason ($5 says whomever published the Herzog version had YouTube do a DMCA takedown on this channel, which would be supremely ironic since this is the original).
you’d particularly like it I imagine @TNHunter. The protagonist is a trapper who fashions all of his own snares and implements, including skis with little more than an axe. Trapping is the mainstay of the economy in that region, it seems, with Soviet era allotments of something like 60 sq miles to each individual trapper. They spend the spring summer and autumn out in the bush and then return to “town” in time for the harvest festivities. Pretty amazing way to live, and indeed they do come off as quite “happy”. Even though its so tooth and nail, I imagine life is seldom wanting for purpose.
Im watching Happy People: Altai from the link you posted above. Its great. Seems to be the only English subtitled one on there. The Herzog film takes place far north of Altai in central Siberia.
Yeah I felt really sorry for the guy, had cellophane for a window instead of a proper one. No wonder it was so cold in his house. Hope the film crew was able to at least get him a real window. But the guy seems happy where’s he’s at. Can’t say I could stand it, but like I said earlier, it’s what you’re used to.
