Good morning, friends!

The cold weather has hit North Carolina, with nighttime temps hovering around the freezing point in the lowlands, and up in the mountains, staying there and dropping below.

I have kind of a strange rental situation in a duplex without control of the heat. The person who turns on the heat is away. So it's pretty doggone chilly in my apartment. I'm not complaining - things like this are interesting and a good test.

I've been spending the morning hours snuggled up under blankets, working and reading books. I use the oven to make lunch, which gets things warmed up a bit, and by lunchtime, things are comfortable, though far from cozy.

My ankle is very displeased with the conditions, however. I was told to expect some arthritis, and boy, was that an accurate prediction!

I find myself unable to stop obsessing over the things going on in the other half of my state. Whenever I think, "It's chilly in here" I feel guilty because the people in Western North Carolina are living in tents during conditions far colder and less comfortable than mine. I have at least one more article unraveling the situation there. I want to thank everyone who has sent donations and helped out these families.

The resilience of that area is incredible. People are helping one another, keeping each other safe, and surviving regardless of how many government agencies fling red tape in their ways. Since my first visit to those mountains, I've always wanted to retire there. I know now that my instincts about the type of community there were correct. These are the folks you want as your neighbors when bad things happen.

We're getting ready for a small Thanksgiving gathering at my place, and there is so very much for which to be grateful. We have our menu planned and are looking forward to a couple of days of just hanging out together. I used to feel like we were missing out, not having a massive gathering with tons of cousins, aunts, and uncles, and tables groaning with food. But now I really have grown to appreciate the low stress and delightful companionship of our cozy holidays with the people we love the most in the world.

I hope that your Thanksgiving is filled with tasty food and lots of love.

Daisy

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.