Felicia: All right, so in case you've been living under a rock, we're kind of dealing with some food issues at the moment. ⁓ the main one being the egg shortage crisis, whatever you want to talk, whatever you want to call it. Put on your tinfoil hat. Huh, it doesn't really I'm sure we're all thinking the things. But I want to encourage you because I want to talk about in this episode that sometimes the bad things that happen in life. Can actually sometimes result in some very great things happening. So welcome back, y'all. This is an an extension of the Grains and Great YouTube channel. And this is more of the unedited, unfiltered version and basically just thoughts that are in my head. ⁓ so if you are new here, ⁓ do know that I'm predominantly a YouTube channel. So be sure and I teach you all about real whole grains from a biblical perspective. I teach you how to be milling your own wheat, consuming whole grains. The reason why you need to be doing that and more. So be sure to hop on over and actually check out the regular videos on my YouTube channel. I post videos every Friday. So let's talk about the crisis that we sometimes have in life. Crisises that we have in life. Because let's face it, they pop up sometimes. But ⁓ it's it definitely is whenever you come through it and you look back. You can actually kind of see a lot of times, like, ⁓ you know, in a way I'm kind of glad that happened because XYZ, you know, was able to be achieved. And I kind of want to ⁓ this is gonna be more of an encouragement podcast because I know right now times economically speaking are a little crazy. Okay. No matter where you are on the political spectrum, I'm pretty sure that we're all just kind of hanging on and wondering what's happening. Right now, the main crisis, in a way, is the egg shortages, you know, that avian bird flu that's coming through, and just the price of eggs, I know, are high. And we've already been experiencing inflation for the past few years, gas prices, higher prices for groceries. Who knows what's going to be happening with these tariffs? That keeps going back and forth. And so it's just kind of a time of uncertainty. But let us reflect and think of ways that we can basically see. The silver lining. And I'm gonna throw it back a little bit to 2020. Because this is an excellent example of how crises like this can lead to some really, really great things. And this is the biggest example I know is that with 2020 and all of that mess and fiasco that happened, ⁓ the biggest thing, or one of the things, is food. Shortages basically people having difficulty finding certain types of food on the market shelf. And I know like chicken was a big one, and then also flour was huge. More people were now stuck at home, and that's why the sourdough baking craze took off. People now were home and you know, baking and cooking, and then lo and behold, you can't find flour ⁓ you know, on the grocery store shelves. And that definitely caused issues for people, but a huge silver lining from that was then more people came to realize about milling your own grains, making your own flour at home, how it was far more nutritious, the fact that you can do it, the fact that you can store grains for a long period of time. And if you if you have a grain mill and wheat berries on hand, you don't have to worry about flour in the store. ⁓ and that was kind of my case, where at that time people were all freaking out because flour was now off the shelf and they couldn't find it. And meanwhile, I'm over here been milling my grains for almost a decade at that time, and I didn't I wasn't bothered in the slightest. And in fact, that's actually what helped create this YouTube channel is because I was seeing people ask these questions about milling their grains. How do I bake bread with this? What do I do? With these grains, how do I store them? How you know, all the things, like what grain mill do I get? All the things. And because I'd already been doing it for a while, I decided my husband suggested, you know, start a YouTube channel to help people on their milling journeys. And here we are, four years later. So I do see and I saw a huge amount of people. The interest in milling your own grains definitely came about at that time. I was pretty much to my knowledge. The first one on YouTube who focused solely on milling their grains. And this is me almost whenever I've been milling wheat for a decade. And YouTube had been going strong for a while and no one, no channel was fully dedicated to this. Yes, you had you had other channels that would mention it, but not actually that was all that they were about. And so I kinda came on the scene and was kind of one of the first ones. I know Sue Becker, the breadbeckers, they had they would post their cooking classes on YouTube, but those are two and three hour long videos and can be quite overwhelming for the beginners and weren't, you know, and they're just not answering the very specific questions like how do I choose a grain bill? ⁓ and so that's why I came on and then since then there have been other channels that have popped up that are all about whole ⁓ you know, milling your wheat. And there's now more information available for people. I think now easier to start milling your own grains all because of the craziness and the crisis of 2020. And so I think, you know, looking back and a crisis happened, but it once again showed people hey, you know, I can be more self sufficient in this area. And that also is a case with meat. ⁓ you know, you can rate if you're able to. Raising your own meat birds, processing your own chickens, raising your own meat. More people became aware that they could be doing that, how you don't need as much space. ⁓ homesteading the interest skyrocketed because of 2020. People were wanting to get out of those cities. They were wanting to become more self sufficient. So while I see COVID as like, I mean, let's face it, our world was rocked during COVID. Again, doesn't matter. which side of the political spectrum that you were on, everyone was affected in some way. And I think that one good thing is I think more people woke up to the fact that how can I be more self-sufficient in pick your area of choice? and you know, that's also the case right now, I think, with the egg shortage. You know, get you some chickens. And if any crisis leads to people being less reliant on the government, more reliant on themselves, on the Lord, you know, that's a good thing, in my opinion. and I hope that, you know, right now more people are are interested in chickens. And great thing about chickens is you don't need a lot of space. You don't need a rooster to get eggs. The roosters are the loud ones, you know, just get you some hens. And be able to have your own eggs. And good news, they can also eat your chicken scraps. And they are wonderful little guys. And nothing, nothing is more enjoyable than sitting outside and watching your chickens peck around. I love it. I'm a little obsessed with my chickens. But that's me and I'm weird. But ⁓ but this is another example. So I want I say all this, you know, to to encourage y'all that good things can come out of crisis. Crisis is you know, good things can come out of bad situations. And I'm sure if you look back on your life, because I know I do the same, I can do the same thing where I look back on times where I'm like, wow, that was a bad time, but how the Lord used it for not only his glory and his honor, but you know, because I trusted him and that he was in control, something good actually came out of it. ⁓ and I think right now with the economy being so crazy. And who knows what's gonna be happening over the next few years. ⁓ the f the the point is is I think we all need to start looking at ourselves. ⁓ you know, look and figure out, okay, you know, what can I do so I'm not so reliant on this system. So in case that system goes wonky, you know, I'm I'm in a good spot. And I know that can't be for everything. Okay. We don't live in a perfect world. You're You know, not everyone can grow all of their food and even then, you know, you might want sugar or something like that. ⁓ but as as far as, you know, if we just look at situations like this and then determine, well, we can sit here and we can complain about it, or maybe I can learn from it, and maybe I can learn some better skills so I'm more self sufficient and not having to rely on other systems, on government, all the things. And this is in so many different areas of your life. ⁓ so this is definitely a shorter podcast. ⁓ just some thoughts that I've had, especially with all the egg shortage craziness. I mean, to see eggs at $7 a dozen at Aldi is just insane. But yet I'm so grateful that I have these chickens and I don't have to worry about it. And you know what? That's nice. That's nice. But do know that, you know, you may not have land. You may not be, you may be an apartment in a city, but I guarantee you there is something that you can do to be more self sufficient. It may be just growing some basil in a pot by your kitchen window. ⁓ aloe vera. So if you have burns or something like that, you know, that's a treatment that you can give. Or, you know, even milling grains. That's a grain mill. And you just need some grains, and you don't need to be on a homestead to mill your own grains and to bake bread. You just need to have a way to bake the bread and to mill the grains. And and you can do that anywhere. And these are ways that you can become more and more self-sufficient and just take it one step at a time. ⁓ even if you just get better at knowing how to sharpen your knives and to learn good knife skills, so you're not reliant on things like food processors. ⁓ you know, something like that. So if the grid goes down, it's okay. You have mad knife skills, and you know how to cut up a chicken, you know how to butcher your meat, ⁓ you know how to do these certain things. You you can whisk things by hand. You don't need a mixer. So there are just so many skills that I just suggest you pick one, start with that, move on to the next one whenever you get that one down, and eventually, over time, you will get better and better and more self. Sufficient, which I am all about and believe that everyone should be a bit more self-sufficient than you were yesterday. ⁓ so again, hopefully this is helpful for y'all, and that at the end of the day, do not fear God is in control, things are crazy, and I'm I'm pretty certain this will not be the last time that they are crazy and unsure or where whatever it is, you may be excited about what things. things how things are going right now, you may be absolutely dreading it. But either way, at some point, that that's gonna flip on you. ⁓ and we can just learn from it and do our best and not just sit around and complain about things, but find the silver lining, trust the Lord, and do and just do your best with what he's given you. Hopefully this was an encouragement to y'all and as always I will talk to you again soon. And y'all have a wonderful day. Bye.