A friend wrote to me the other day saying that “2017 was quite the year, almost impossible to summarize and filled with many successes and many challenges.” I can so relate! In the blink of an eye, 2017 went by and although I had goals of my own, there were times they had to be put on the back burner so that my family could grow into better versions of themselves.
My Greatest Blessings
One of my greatest blessings is my sweet husband, Mac. While many of you know him as the man behind SHTFPlan who gives his take on economic and financial happenings, he’s my amazing husband (of almost 15 years!) who works tirelessly and will bend over backward to make sure his family is cared for. I gotta say, I’m such a lucky lady!
My children are also counted as some of my greatest blessings. I am so lucky to have these little kids in my life. I have overwhelming pride in the individuals they are growing up to be and thank God for blessing me with them.
I am also blessed that my dear friend, Jeremiah Johnson has been writing so much for Ready Nutrition this year. As a veteran and long-time prepper, he offered valuable, out-of-the-box wisdom that no doubt helped you in your prepping endeavors. The time he spent sharing his indispensable knowledge freed up time for me to focus on the backend of Ready Nutrition and allowed me to launch a long-time dream of starting an heirloom seed company, Ready Gardens.
What’s New for 2018?
What I want to focus on, and something I believe that many of you are interested in is finding more sustainable ways of living. I live on a small homestead with a garden and acreage – everything we preppers say we must have to thrive in long-term disasters. But it takes a lot of planning and energy to get your land to work for you. A big success I had this year was my garden. After years of working the soil and finding the right areas to plant, we had an amazing summer harvest and our chickens laid so many eggs we didn’t know what to with them. It’s nice to be able to gift produce from your homestead to friends. That said, I’m still learning, still growing and still searching for living a self-reliant lifestyle.
I want to take the things that thrived this year and make them better. Some things I want to accomplish in 2018 is more success with our homestead, expanding our medicinal garden, fortifying the livestock area so that it is more protected (If you haven’t seen on my Facebook page, we’ve had a bear visit us) and spending more time training with my firearm and continuing on with self-defense classes. As I’m writing this, I’m wondering how in the world there will be enough hours in the day of finish everything in a year’s time, but, like I always say, focus on one small area until you’re proficient and move on to another. Small steps!
Top 10 Articles in 2017
I’ll be writing about what I’ve learned along the way, so keep visiting Ready Nutrition. In the meantime, here are Ready Nutrition’s Top 10 Articles of 2017:
- 10 Foods You Should Not Feed Your Chickens
- When Grocery Stores Go Empty, These Four Foods Will Help You Survive
- 5 Ways to Make Candles From Household Items
- Vacuum Sealing Could Be Hazardous to Your Health
- 25 Must Have Survival Foods: Put Them In Your Pantry Now
- It Ain’t Just For Smoking: Known But Beneficial Uses For Tobacco
- 6 Critical Items That Have Disappeared in the Immediate Aftermath of Hurricane Harvey
- Never Drop Your Guard: 7 Tips To Improve Your Situational Awareness
- Survival Food Series: 3 Ways To Naturally Make Yeast
- 15 Tips to Get Safely Home Following an EMP
I wish all of you a very blessed and happy new year. Thank you all for allowing me to keep you informed and for visiting Ready Nutrition. You are all wonderful and it gives me peace of mind knowing how many good-hearted people are out there.
Tess