"The air was so cold that it froze your nostrils with each inhale. Morning chores were icy, but the combination of dealing with the weather followed up by warming up in front of a roaring fire got your blood pumping. It was like night and day, or good and evil - the bitter cold made you appreciate the warmth all the more."

We had another stretch of chilly days this week. It was a little warmer today, and Duncan thought he might be able to open the pond for the ducks, but repeated blows with the Fubar shot off sharp ice chips and did little else. It looks like the crew is going to be stuck with water basins for the rest of the winter.

If you are not familiar with a Fubar, they are a heavy duty pry bar - smashing implement that's great for demolition. Because sometimes, you just need more "oomph". We don't use it a ton, but it's perfect for certain applications, like helping neighbors tear out their old kitchen for remodeling, busting ice, or fighting in a zombie apocalypse.

I was thinking this week about the various items we've accumulated over the years (and how I would make a terrible tiny house person). The thing is, once you start tackling more projects - like food production and preservation, or household repairs, or making or repairing clothing - you need the equipment to do it.

As we move through life, sometimes we can do more, sometimes we need to do less. To cultivate a resilient mindset, we need to pick our battles, and reach out for support when we need it, and offer it when we are able.

This leads us to our last Rule of Ikigai:

Find your gifts, and share them with others. The world is a more beautiful place when we connect with positive purpose.

Helping you create resilience and abundance,

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

This week's featured articles...

$19 billion a year globally - that's what drug companies make on statin medication. That's a tidy sum for something that didn't exist until recent decades.

I'm not a big fan of Big Pharma, so I put together a list of 15 Ways to Reduce Cholesterol Naturally, plus two companion articles about Why Cholesterol is Important in the Body, and Statin Side Effects.​

The more we can understand about how our bodies work, the better our odds of taking care of them. It's so important to realize things like magnesium acts as a natural cholesterol reducer, plus it helps with muscle soreness, headaches, and better sleep.

The new group of pullets has started laying, which means that in spite of the short winter days, we have plenty of eggs. We purchased Whiting True Blue layers from Murray McMurray hatchery, and they lay the prettiest blue eggs. One of the young hens has a wild feather, and she keeps sneaking out of the chicken area to go lay in one of the duck nests.

This easy cheese quiche recipe is great for brunch or a simple supper, and is a good way to use those eggs.

​Raspberry ribbon cookies are one of my husband's favorites, and very popular this time of year.

One of our readers shared:

"I am living with a couple. The man, Tony, came down with this intense cough. He was not able to get rest from it for he was coughing every few minutes.

I was looking on line for a recipe to help Tony’s predicament. (I felt so bad for him that he even was at the point of hurting in his ribs.). I took to the internet. You were one of the first sights that I came across.

I found the recipe for the chocolate cough drops!

I needed him to feel better quickly therefore I made him this recipe. He mentioned that he was able to feel it working as he began to eat these!!! I ended up making another larger batch the following day, now his cough is practically gone! Two days!"

I'm glad we could help.