"In dark times, we hold onto hope, and do what needs doing to get through the day."

We've been watching the situation unfold in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. So much devastation - but so many people stepping up to help others in need. It's heartening to see those with old fashioned skills like working with mules and horseback riding working right along with the helicopter pilots to reach people cut off by the storm.

We've ordered supplies to send with a friend who's going to volunteer in the disaster area. I figure every bit helps, and he'll make sure it gets to those in need.

I'm sharing an anonymous post from one of the preparedness groups that I'm in at the bottom of the newsletter. The poster was in the impacted area, but not in the worst hit area.

I'm sharing some of our preparedness articles this week. Hopefully they will help you prepare mindfully, avoiding panic buying like The Toilet Paper Hoarders.

Helping you create resilience and abundance,

Laurie (and August IV, August V, and Duncan)

P. S. Don't forget to sign up for the Herbal Solutions Summit, which starts on Tuesday. It's free online, but you need to register to attend.

This week's featured articles...

Many areas are without power. This makes it harder to prepare food. The article "Emergency Cooking - How to Cook Without Electricity" shares 10 options for heating meals, some for inside, some for outdoor cooking.

Water is another concern. Even in areas where service has been restored, they're dealing with boil water advisories due to contamination from the storm.

We have the details on what a boil water advisory means, and what boiling clears (and what it doesn't). There are also instructions for making an emergency toilet.

We also have an article about non-perishable foods, with shelf lives and storage tips. Having food storage that doesn't require power is an important part of being prepared. The article includes a printable PDF chart.

This is the testimony from the Hurricane Helene survivor in Georgia. I've added some links to related content on the website.

UPDATE: power and water have been restored after 6 days.

Some thoughts from living through this event:

I've read that in 72 hours after an incident, the grocery shelves would be empty and people would be fighting and looting. It took less than 48 hours until I saw the first altercation at a gas pump, fights, people challenging sheriff's deputies trying to keep the peace. Stores doors busted, stealing and looting.

Things I need to improve on:

Water storage. We are on county water, and have no alternative source of water. I will buy more storage solutions such as water bricks, etc. I am considering digging I hand well once I check water table depth in my area.

We have a small above ground pool that wasn't being used pre hurricane. We used that water for toilets.

I will also purchase a water filter such as life straw or other, something to filter many gallons of water, from the pool or rain collection.

Gas storage: I will triple my gas storage for my generator due to finding gas after the hurricane due to power outages.

Cash: Debit cards don't help in a power outage. Cash is king. I will keep a certain amount of cash at home just for an outage event, to buy gas, groceries, etc.

Needed items: will stock up more quantities on items such as charcoal, candles, lamp oil, matches, firewood,

Food, in this event, we were able to keep our frozen food cold until power was restored, so food wasn't a big problem THIS time. However, if the outage has outlasted our perishable food, I would barely have enough dry food, MREs, etc. for the amount of people that were staying with us. Will up quantities on all dry goods and can goods an enormous amount.

Hygiene: I made a makeshift camp shower out of some gallon milk jugs, but will be purchasing a camp shower setup soon.

Communication: we were cut off from the world for about 72 hours due to no power, Internet, and I was unable to find my battery powered radio... I will be purchasing a solar charge/ crank radio so we can get information from local and state authorities.

It's easy to check the boxes and say I have ample amount of this and that, but once you have to start using it, it becomes apparent about how long your supplies will last.

There are other things such as security around the house, there were reports of people stealing gas and water from people's yards. I am armed well, but need to work on a defense plan for those problems.

I hope this helps, feel free to offer suggestions and ideas for better prepping. I appreciate the input and your thoughts.

Idk where you live, but here in Georgia, we're as close to an EMP as you can get. No power, water, infrastructure, gas shortages. I have been prepping for several years and this disaster has shown me I have much more to do. I will post when things get back to normal several things I learned from this "not a drill" experience.