"Life as a duck can be confusing. One day, you're splashing in puddles and mud, and the next day everything is hard as a rock."

This year, it was an overnight switch from Fall to Winter. The poor Duck Patrol members are disappointed now that all the "snacks" in the yard are frozen. The grass is still green, and hasn't been buried in snow yet, but the worms and bugs are either stiff as a board or in hiding.

It's funny, because this is the first winter for the youngest members of the flock, and they were quite confused by the ice when it first appeared. The older members of the flock were sitting back, giving them "The Look", as if to say, "We told you this was coming."

The small pond iced over quickly, but the big pond still had a little open water. Unfortunately for the duckies, the edge is iced up, so it's not safe for them to try and reach the open water. Usually Duncan can use the Fubar to keep the pond open for a while, but with day after day of lows in the teens or single digits, it's a losing battle.

We do have a tub and buckets set up for the ducks in the greenhouse so they have somewhere to bathe, but it's just not the same as the pond. They're spending a lot of time napping in the sun, curled up in little duck bundles.

The chickens are somewhat less disturbed, as they seem to have set out to dig up every inch of their deep litter in the coop. I sprinkle some scratch grains and meal worms each morning, and they keep themselves entertained for hours. When they get bored, they dart out for while, until they get too cold, and then they come back in and dig some more.

The feline members of the household have identified their favorite hot spots on the floor from the radiant in floor heating, as well their favorite spots by the masonry stove and next to the south facing windows.

The human members of the household are wearing extra layers and doing some more baking. We had a not so fun "surprise" on Friday when the boiler started acting up and the main heating went out. Thankfully, we have an HVAC repair place just a few miles away, and they were able to get someone out to clean the igniter, which fixed the issue.

I have to say that I can no longer recommend Triangle Tube Prestige boilers, as this has been an ongoing problem. We had their "fix" installed a while back, which helped for a while, but eventually the igniter clogged again.

This was a good reminder of how important it is to have some sort of backup or plan to deal with heating issues. Whether it's equipment failure or power outages, they do happen. If you don't have a backup system or ways to at least keep the humans warm till it's fixed, that's something you need to address.

Our ICF "concrete bunker" holds heat well enough that we didn't immediately realize the heat was out, and we have backups, so it was only a minor inconvenience. Still, showers would have involved cold training or heated sponge baths.

I hope you're staying warm and ready to enjoy the rest of 2024. It's crazy how fast the year has flown by.

Helping you create resilience and abundance,

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

This week's featured articles...

Kitchens tend to get a workout during the holiday season, including your cutting boards. I haven't quite crossed the line into cutting board collector, but we do, I suspect, have more of them than the average household.

Two came with the house, one from our last home, one is a family heirloom, and several were product samples. (We have a small Boos Block board and large Teakhaus board and use both regularly.)

We share how to clean your cutting boards, with odor removal tips, plus what happens with wooden cutting boards and bacteria. (This is why we only use wooden cutting boards in our home.)

These old fashioned raspberry ribbon cookies have been popular on the site recently. The buttery cookie combined with our homemade seedless raspberry jam is one of my husband's holiday favorites. I've been making these for him for around 30 years now. (It's crazy how time flies.)

My neighbor's been filling my Signal chat with questions about garden seeds. We often order some seeds together, or swap seeds if we have extra. A lot of seed companies are running sales right now, so it's a good time to restock for next year's growing season.

These are some of our favorite heirloom seed companies, plus reader recommendations.

If you're not familiar with heirloom seeds, check out, "What are Heirloom Seeds? (And Why it Matters)".

Seasonal Specials

Some specials currently available from our referral partners:

​15% off Holiday Gift Guide items at True Leaf Market​

​10% off your $50 or more order of organic seeds with discount code GOURDTIMES at High Mowing Organic Seeds​

​Nutrimill has some nice discounts on their Classic grain mill and Bosch Universal Plus Mixer. These have been real workhorses in our kitchen for years.

​Chelsea Green Publishing is running their Holiday Sale, with 35% off everything. You're sure to find some good winter reading material for yourself or the book lovers on your gift list.

​Kombucha Kamp has a 20% off sale on their home probiotic brewing supplies. Kombucha and kefir are great for boosting your immune system, and once you have a culture, you can use it again and again to make your own ferments at home.