Welcome to the first Survival Sunday of the new year! I hope that things are going well for you so far.

I've mentioned a few times that I think we're in for a stressful year ahead. Looming war. A contentious (to say the least) election. Ramped up divisiveness between citizens. Soaring inflation and cost of living. And heaven only knows what the folks pulling the strings have planned for us. That's why I'm ramping up my preps this year.

But with all that going on, we have to somehow keep our minds healthy. And I think it starts with fun.

"Fun? What are you talking about, Daisy? I visit The OP for my daily doom fix!"

Well, on Saturdays, I want to try something a little different. Once a week, I intend to do a post that's just prepper-related fun. It might be a short fiction story. It could be a review of something related to popular culture. (I know lots of readers swear they never watch television or read anything besides the Bible, but the comments in my movie and book reviews make me think that isn't true for everyone.) This week, it was a really fun show I was invited to record with some prepper friends, "predicting" the New Year. We had a blast making it, and I hope so much you have a good giggle watching it. Please do let me know what you think of it when you watch it!

Before someone starts grumbling that they do not come to a prepping site to be entertained and that this totally undoes any effort I've made to be taken seriously, I invite those of you who don't want to read things on the lighter side to skip these weekly posts. You don't need to come and tinkle in my Cheerios in the comments.

My point is, laughter is the best medicine. Taking a break from the doom is important. Doing it with like-minded friends, even of the online variety, is even better. And I want to do my part this year to help with that. I hope this is something you'll look forward to as the year goes on!

This week, look for the third physical book in our Organic Prepper Anthology series to land on Amazon. These books are a great way to keep a physical copy of The OP on hand.

If you have bought these or any of my books, please know that a great way you can help us out without spending a dime is by leaving a positive 5-star review. And if you got them as PDFs but have an Amazon account, you can STILL leave a review or rating! (The Freedom Isn't Free coloring book is in desperate need of reviews!) Five-star reviews are the lifeblood of books on Amazon - they help us appear higher in searches when people are looking for products like ours. Thank you so much for doing this for me!

I hope that your stress is small and your smile is big during the week ahead!

Having something to eat isn't guaranteed.

We're facing threats to our food supply from many different angles: supply chain breakdowns, drought, food facilities being ravaged by fires, skyrocketing inflation, and outright shortages. No longer can we live in the comfort of unthreatened abundance. We're learning exactly how delicate the system really is.

Prepping and putting back supplies is incredibly important but what we're seeing now goes beyond that. You have to be able to produce and acquire more food. You have to be able to put back your harvests to eat during the winter. You have to be able to prepare items that once were as convenient as popping open a can or little plastic container.

You need a paperback copy of How to Feed Your Family No Matter What, our Organic Prepper anthology with ALL of our content about food. You'll get more than 500 pages of content that are all about food when you can't just go to the store and buy whatever you want.