In my early 20s I purchased every back issue of Mother Earth News. I devoured every article written by Helen and Scott Nearing, back-to-the landers who lived in Vermont and Maine. The authors of 50 books, Helen and Scott (they both lived long lives: Helen 91, Scott, 100) cleared brush, built stone structures, and raised most of their own food in gardens that were amazingly productive for New England. Today, their lifestyle continues to inspire and teach, like how to grow lettuce when it's freezing arse cold outside!

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Like me, the Nearings loved salads and they strived to grow lettuce year-round. Once, when the forecast called for a hard freeze, they went out to their unheated greenhouse and watered the lettuce seedlings, thinking it would protect the plants. The next morning, the seedlings were quite dead. The next year, with a hard freeze looming, the Nearings held back on the water. By noon, the lettuce stood upright, crisp and edible.

Inspired, I was determined to give it a try. So, several years ago in October, I transplanted 40 oak leaf lettuce seedlings -- the Nearings found that thin-stemmed lettuces worked best -- in a 5 x 10 foot raised bed in the middle of the garden. I pushed PVC hoops into the soil and covered them with reinforced plastic.

From October to March, snow, rain and sleet pelted the plastic. Temperatures sank into the teens. In March I opened the tent for the first time and to my surprise, 32 of the 40 seedlings had survived. Today, thanks to Helen and Scott Nearing, I continue to experiment with different varieties of cold-hardy kale, lettuce and other greens.

What crazy experiments have you tried?  (My email address is marion@ptialaska.net)