Have you ever sat down and thought about the things that make you happy? I'm not talking about big things like new cars or expensive jewelry. I'm talking about those small moments of joy.

This has been a topic I've pondered a lot lately, especially after reading Fabian's extremely thought-provoking piece on keeping your head on straight and finding moments of comfort even when things are all going to hell around you.

I also came across this other article about 11 ways to live a fuller and happier life as recommended by a psychologist which I found to be inspiring.

This year has been incredibly hard on many people, so I try to be gentle to those around me.

My happy places are pictured left - in my Jeep with an iced coffee in hand, hair a mess, headed to parts previously unknown and someplace where I can be barefoot in the water. (This is in a little tide pool on the Pacific coast.)

I wrote a little piece on Facebook about all those moments of joy you can't catch on a camera that you might like. (You don't need an account to read it but if you're on FB, feel free to shoot me a friend request.

I receive a puzzling amount of criticism in my inbox whenever I write about things like happiness and adventure and travel and fun. My friends, living a prepared life does NOT mean that you can't enjoy yourself.

If you're just grimly stacking one can of beans on top of another while listening to doomsayer podcasts at double speed, well, more power to ya. I'm going to have fun. Heck, I wrote a whole article about it years ago.

Times are hard and getting harder. I urge you strongly to find every little bit of happiness that you can, while you can.

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.