January 2021 is making its appearance dramatically.  Overnight rains, combined with temperatures around 30-32 degrees allowed us to awaken to a true winter wonderland.  The ice we get in southwest Missouri is beautiful, but demands respect.  It can cause power outages, sometimes for days or weeks on end, falls, traffic accidents and other challenges.  Fortunately for us, this time we were spared a power outage and the roads were warm enough that ice accumulation did not accumulate on them.  I only met one or two other cars, so travel was easy and pleasant.  When it got light enough to see well, I had to snap a few pictures with my phone to record the beauty Mother Nature had shared.  The forecast indicates a possibility of more accumulation over the next 36 hours, so it remains to be seen whether we will keep clear roads and safe travel.

While the weather is beautiful, I am thankful that it will be improving later this weekend.  On Sunday, we have some butchering to do, and while we can make room to move most of the process inside, it is much easier to be able to do the bulk processing outside on the tables on the porch of the Canning Kitchen.  We will be processing some pork and beef this weekend, along with completing three deer that were killed with either bows or muzzle loaders.  Processing deer has turned out to be a great service we can offer our locals, and teaching others how to prepare their meat for long term storage is also important.  If 2020 did not teach us anything else, I hope we all remember the lessons we learned regarding the fact that there may not always be an endless supply of items at the stores.  To be prepared for the worst of times, we must make sure we know how to provide the basics of life for ourselves, without relying on mass transit and big box stores.