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Hey y'all, and welcome back to Peaches and Pigs. As you can tell from the title, it has been COLD down here lately, especially for South Georgia. I've lived in Florida for most of my life, so my tolerance for cold weather is already pretty low. Under 65 degrees and I am likely layering up and slipping on thick fuzzy socks. Whether you are a homeowner or renter, or even living in an apartment, there are going to be certain tasks you'll want to do when a hard freeze rolls around. If you are not from below the bible belt area of the country, this post probably won't be anything groundbreaking for you. We don't even salt the roads down here! We do experience more than just mildly cold weather, though. Here are my top five tips to help you prepare for a hard freeze. 1. First and foremost, if you have any outside pets or livestock, make sure they have shelters set up properly to keep them warm and a place to escape the elements. If you can't change the shelter outside, you may need to bring them inside if able. Some animals are more sensitive to cold weather than others, so prepare accordingly for the animals you have. 2. Cover up any exposed pipes and wells. We have a well for water, so we got blankets to wrap around the well to help protect it from the freeze. Eventually, we will build a well house around it to provide better protection from the cold weather and other elements. 3. Most of our plants were already inside once the temperatures started to drop for the season, but we brought in the other plants that were still outside. You will need to research your plants to see which will need to be taken in. I have a lot of tropical houseplants, so they do not tolerate the cold well. 4. You may need to leave a drip running to help reduce the risk of pipes bursting. We typically leave one outside tap and one inside tap running at a slow but steady drip. 5. Lastly, if you haven't run your HVAC system on heat yet, now is a good time to check those filters. If they are really dirty the air flow will be slowed and it will take longer to heat your home - leading to higher electric costs. Nobody wants that! These are just a few key things to help prepare for the weather during the cold months. This can look very different if you are in areas prone to snow, but down here in South Georgia it's more likely we see pigs fly. Let me know in the comments if you found at least one of these helpful. Until next time - bye y'all!

Not Another New Year's Resolution Hey y’all! Welcome back to Peaches and Pigs. I wanted to share my New Year's resolution with ya’. insert eye roll I know I know… we are tired of hearing about everyone's weight loss and diet goals, saving money, not getting Starbucks coffee, and whatever else people may have vowed for the year (and possibly already quit by now). This one is different - I swear!! Let me paint the scene. It was New Year’s Eve and I had a few moments to myself, and I was missing my best friend who wasn’t able to come to our little shindig this year. She has come to every 4th of July and NYE get-together that we have put on for as long as I can remember. So her presence was notably missing from me. At that moment, I kind of had an epiphany for my resolution for the new year. I looked back at everything that brought me joy and happiness for 2023 and decided I wanted MORE. More time with friends, more moments baking with my kids, more celebrations with family… the real things that brought true happiness and contentment. All are relatively simple to achieve, they just require you to set the intention and move forward with it. So this isn’t your normal resolution, where I set a specific goal of how many coffee dates I have with my girlfriends, or how many loaves of bread I am going to bake - but instead being more intentional with my relationships. If they brought me so much joy last year, I want to strive for more of that. So, no matter if you are reading this in January or June, cheers to MORE JOY!