Food is the lifeblood of a Production District. It is absolutely necessary that anyone who is in charge of a district ensure the granary is sufficiently stocked.

With each day it gets progressively colder, the blizzard worsening with each passing hour. The granary is has been picked clean, and people are starting to feel hungry. Without food, people are getting desperate.

Children can be seen on the streets chasing down rats while their parents boil down leather into a digestible shape and ripping apart cotton to fill their stomachs with the fibers. When a family can not afford to feed one of their pets, they try to butcher it so their children do not starve. Many sign their children up for tessare, and all we can give them is a promise that we can give them food when it comes.

When the mines reopened, people flooded to them in the hope that work and the payment offered by it would be their salvation. The mines were modified to fit more employees, over six times as many as previously held, but this the rules of supply and demand meant that we had to pay them less for their work. Since we were already two weeks behind the coal quota, they all had to work much longer. It is not that it matters; there is no food for them to purchase with their payments.

As the deadline looms closer and closer, I continue to send requests beseeching that the grain shipment be sped up. Each time, I got the same response: "You'll have to wait until next year".

Losing patience, I decide to visit District 11 myself to see what is causing the delay.

In desperate situations, you will need to take a hands on approach to problem solving.

When my hovercraft lands, I am greeted by Headpeacekeeper Clark.

When I was first stationed at District 11, Clark was just a standard Peacekeeper guarding a granary. However, I noticed that she had leadership qualities necessary to run a District smoothly. By the time I was transferred to be Headpeacekeeper over a different District, she had risen to the rank of Commander. It is no wonder the person who was Headpeacekeeper in District 11 after me decided to appoint her as his successor.

Remember to be on the look out for anyone in the ranks who appears talented or promising. The Armed Peacekeepers Forces promotes people based on merit, and Panem will survive only if this fact remains unchanged.

"Thread, good to see you." We salute each other, and then shake hands.

She continues. "We can talk in my office."

After walking there, we sit down and I decide to be direct.

"I'm here about of the grain shipments."

"Thread, I already told you they're delayed."

"But you didn't tell me why."

"Because we don't have enough grain yet."

"Listen, because I'm only going to say this once. I need the grain urgently; District 12 is on a knife's edge and if there's no grain on Parcel Day than there will be food riots and probably another rebellion like the one in District 8."

When I mentioned the rebellion in District 8, Headpeacekeeper Clark seemed to grasp the urgency of the situation. The rebellion there was quite brutal, and it serves as yet another reminder as to why District 12's two newest victors are dangerous. Some of my friends died in District 8, getting murdered savagely by rebels. This is part of the reason I placed machine gun turrets on the rooftops in District 12; it will ensure a similar uprising will not work two times in a row.

Remember to follow international events, as Districts do not exist in a vacuum. What happens in one District has an impact on all of them.

When Headpeacekeeper Clark responds this time, there is genuine concern in her voice. It is clear she does not want an uprising any more than I do.

"I am sorry, but President Snow himself ordered that the surplus harvest be sent to District 8 to the emergency stockpile in the Capitol. Since the barley crop failed, so now we don't have anything to spare."

This is turning into one big disaster.

Sometimes you will need to take desperate measures to ensure unavoidable damage is minimized.

"You said the barley spoiled?"

"Yes, now there's just a pile of rot in storehouse 3."

"Well, it will have to do."

We have some farm hands salvage what we can from the rotting barley, separating out the absolutely inedible grains before loading the somewhat-almost-maybe edible barley grain onto the train.

While it is in no way ideal, it should hold District 12 over until the end of winter. Hopefully by then we can stabilize everything.

I ride the train back, just to make sure nothing goes wrong.

It is a boring ride, but when I finally arrive I feel proud for having solved this problem.