This is a different sort of book from what we usually review, but one that is worth calling attention to. The Awakening of Jennifer Van Arsdale: A Political Fable for Our Times is a dystopian novel set in the all too near future, with a contemporary settings and political/cultural themes. Our interest was piqued by the central role of a citizen hero who wields a firearm in defense of others and is key to a woman developing insight into the deterioration of her country develops. More than that, she learns how she has contributed to the media’s bias against all that had made America previously so outstanding.
This is not a screed against “liberals”. Leef clearly distinguishes honorable liberal values from the radical statism he is criticizing which has sullied the identities of those of us who grew up as classical liberals. And it is a powerful critique.
The protagonist is a single, successful book and magazine writer who is valued for her reliable mainstream (i.e., “progressive”) slant on everything, just right for the major media she works for. Jennifer hasn’t ever questioned her received beliefs. That’s why she got the plum job of writing recently retired two-term President Patricia Farnsworth’s authorized biography, a pol who achieved the progressive “Final Solution”—her “National Unity Project”.
Farnsworth’s government harassed nearly everyone who disagreed out of the public space and packed the courts with co-travelers and reformers. The enlarged Supreme Court decided it would thence issue corrective decisions on any subject it finds necessary rather than wait for matters to rise through the system of law and lower courts.
Farnsworth rose via a leftist Ivy League education through radical California politics from Attorney General to Governor. “Bellicosity”, ad hominem attacks and a lifelong refusal to admit error got her to the Presidency. During her two terms of national “progressive” dominance, Universal Living Wage laws were passed assuring workers a minimum $20 per hour with guaranteed twice-yearly $1 raises. Of course, Government Guaranteed Jobs eliminate the need for welfare payments (lowering unemployment but make private hiring prohibitive).
No more gig economy: all workers receive federally mandated benefits, and all Americans now have national health care. Federal licensing of all activities (such as piano instruction) protects the public. But college is free now for everyone, with grateful schools teaching the importance of modern social and economic justice.
Meanwhile new Price Stabilization Board controls prices to slow inflation, while the Federal Office of Innovation limits corporate opportunities to make unfair profits from new technologies, while taxing their “excess profits” for federal use. For example, federally run food stores are sweeping the land because private grocers cannot compete with subsidized prices. The Business Social Responsibility Office ensures that enterprises of all sizes put the environment first as a central piece of the Green New Deal. High tariffs on cheap foreign goods assure that Americans must buy American.
Reparations for slavery were paid to African Americans. Anti-Hate Speech Law empowered the National Commission to Prevent Hate Speech and the Commission on Statues, Names and Arts worked tirelessly to cleanse the thoughts and symbols of the past (culminating with dynamiting Mount Rushmore—badly). The Star-Spangled Banner was replaced by Our Beautiful Home, “celebrating diversity, security and togetherness.” Universities all have rapid response Bias Response Teams working closely with Offices of Academic Excellence. The District of Columbia and Puerto Rico were granted statehood. Eminent domain takings of private property ballooned. And thanks to “emphasis on mandatory” gun ‘buybacks’, confiscation and destruction, the media no longer found it necessary to report on the nation’s urban violence even while it rose to new heights.
Then, thankfully, Jen meets the hero of the story. Will Collier, an older, sturdy Black man rescues her from a pair of rapists and murderers who grab her in a far more rundown Laguna Beach than she remembered from years before. Will carries a now-illegal handgun and makes it his business to patrol the city he lives in and still cares about. His other “business” is running a website, ‘FreePeople’, and hosting a group of ordinary citizens who discuss how times have gotten worse for them and whether they can do anything about it.
Whew! And that’s just the beginning.
Thanks to Will’s mentoring and what she learns from real people whose lives have been ruined by Farnsworth & Co.’s idealism and viciousness, Jen gradually recognizes the protected false life she’s been fortunate to live. Capitalist opportunity is being destroyed, and statist feudalism for elites now reigns. Takers outnumber Makers. Free government-approved news and entertainment available to all has become the opiate of the masses as “people fixate . . . on symbols [and] forget about reality.”
She discovers how her own work has enabled the group-oriented “equity” myth to overwhelm reason, human caring and individual dignity. Her solution to the conflict that develops between her new values and her commitment to write President Farnsworth’s hagiography comes to a brave and surprising resolution.
These are 265 pages dense with ideas, which the author tries to convey conversationally. But be prepared to pay attention—this is not light reading. You’ll learn what “liberal” once meant and should still. You’ll read about Murray Rothbard, Frederic Bastiat, Alexis de Tocqueville, Dinesh D’Souza, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Lord Acton. I loved the name Leef gave to a thorn-in-their-sides conservative columnist, “Frederick Douglas Garrison”. He didn’t rename The Wall Street Journal, which he sees as somehow continuing to thrive as a rational, conservative voice amid the angry media.
There are other writers daring to confront radical dogma in fiction and non-fiction. These deserving books don’t always get wide readership. Leef’s may not either but should.
This depiction of America’s potential near future is frightening, and not optimistic. It’s a call out to regular Americans who grasp that the Constitution’s and Bill of Rights’ support for personal and economic liberty is our only way out of the quagmire in which elitists would submerge us. Leef recognizes that we are accelerating down a very slippery slope in all ways political, economic and civic.
In his book Barbarians at the Gates, economist Thomas Sowell said (among many memorable observations): “I have never understood why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money.”
Leef seconds that, about money, civil rights, personal accountability, mutual respect and all the other bases of a society in which everyone can rise to their potential. This could be an “Awakening” for many readers, just as for Jennifer Van Arsdale.
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— DRGO Editor Robert B. Young, MD is a psychiatrist practicing in Pittsford, NY, an associate clinical professor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
You are probably sick unto death of food articles from me. But here’s the thing – food keeps you alive. Without it – you die.
I’ve talked and talked (and talked) about growing food, preserving food, and storing food. But I haven’t talked an awful lot about how to USE the food that you have stored in your shelf stable supplies.
Forgive me if this post sounds a bit too basic and “Mom-ish”, but my concern isn’t for those who have loads of cooking experience on campfires and backpacking stoves and who fend for themselves in the kitchen department every day. My concern is for those (especially young people) who are like the woman in Texas who posted on social media during the winter storm and blackouts last year asking if there was any fast food open because she had nothing to eat at home.
Assuming that at least some of you are of the persuasion who live by take-out, Door Dash, and the microwave I thought it might be useful to provide some mom-ish, simple (or just plain frugal) recipes to make at home from your shelf-stable food stash.
Supplies/Tools
Because in a grid down situation you will have to cook sans microwave over a flame of some sort – be it camp stove, Sterno, etc – and because you can’t cook over flame with plastic, I’m going to assume that you have at least the basics like a skillet, a pot, a few heat proof utensils. I’ll also assume that you have some some basic staples and spices like cooking oil, dried onion flakes, garlic powder, salt, pepper, soy sauce, taco seasoning, etc – is that a safe assumption?
If not, then some of you need to step up to the adulting table and get yourself these things. You can find utensils and pots/pans cheap at second hand stores, the dollar store, or even your grandmother’s basement. Fancy and “matching” are not required. You’ll get no judgement from me. I’m still using mixing bowls and a few utensils that came from my grandmother’s kitchen when she passed away in 1986.
The Basics
I’ll also assume that you know how to do the basics like boil water, and scramble an egg, right? If not, you need to do some adulting again and get on YouTube and teach yourself a few kitchen skills BEFORE the grid goes down. These are things you should have learned before you ever left home, so if you didn’t, you need to do some catch up.
What follows are not truly “recipes”. They are more like assembly instructions and ideas for using various components of your shelf stable food stash. You can spice them up as you wish.
Nutrition
It’s also important to think about nutrition here. You may make it a few weeks or months just on beans and rice, but you’ll likely need to take a multivitamin in order to stave off nutritional deficiencies. Planning on adding fruits and veggies to your daily cooking will help keep you healthier longer even if the world around you is in chaos. Scurvy is not just for British sailors and pirates.
Fiber
In addition to staving off nutritional deficiencies, fruits and veggies provide dietary fiber which helps to keep the GI tract moving. If there is an emergency and you have to use other than the usual sewage system for waste disposal, you want to get the deed done and over with quickly. You don’t want to have to sit there in a makeshift latrine for half an hour while expelling a brick. Is that TMI? Well sorry, but I’m a doctor, remember? These things are important considerations. I’m sure some of you have deployment tales to tell …
Carbs
Let me say a word about carbs here. Rice, Potatoes, Pasta and other carbs have become “the devil” in our modern overweight keto-dieting society. But in an extended emergency those carbs mean life-sustaining calories in addition to being fortified with basic nutrients like thiamine and riboflavin. Calories keep you alive. Rice and noodles are an excellent meal extender if you need to stretch your supplies to accommodate more people. (Or make meager supplies for one person stretch for more days.) So do not hesitate to serve your chili over rice, your beans over rice, your scant meat and veggies in gravy over noodles or mashed potatoes, and your tomato and meat sauce over spaghetti (obviously) – you get the idea. There is a reason our grandparents and great-grandparents ate the way they did. Potatoes also kept entire populations alive in previous centuries. In a grid down situation carbs are your friend. Utilize them accordingly.
Fats
Let me say another dirty word in today’s dietary lexicon – fats. Many people do not have enough fats stored in their shelf stable supplies. In addition to being an essential for stir frying, sautéing, and being a general flavor vehicle, fats are concentrated calories. You are going to need something to do actual frying with – in an actual frying pan. Olive oil, ghee, Crisco, lard, bacon drippings – all of it has a use in grid down cooking and keeping up your caloric intake. If the weather is cold you are going to be burning calories to keep warm. If you are bugging out, you need calories to keep up your mileage pace on foot. Even if you are “bugging in” you may be doing more physical labor than usual for clean-up after a disaster, or building fortifications for a man-made disaster. Labor requires calories. Fats provide them.
So with all that said let’s talk about a few ways to assemble your shelf stable foods into meals.
Fried Rice
Fried rice is in regular rotation in my weekly food prep routine even in a non-emergency. I make fried rice often and freeze individual portions for work lunches. I use my home dehydrated homegrown veggies for this. In an emergency you can use canned veggies, but pour off the juice and save it to cook the rice with. There is nutrition in that juice that you don’t want to waste, plus it will save your fresh water supply.
While I used the last of my home dehydrated chopped onions with this last batch, you can also use store bought dehydrated onion flakes which keep on the shelf for years. Use fresh eggs if you have them, otherwise, try out that package of Mountain House scrambled eggs you’ve been hoarding or open that package of dehydrated egg crystals. Eggs “make” fried rice and they add protein to an otherwise vegetarian dish. You can add canned meat if desired (I often use my home canned turkey), or leave it vegetarian and garnish with some nuts for extra protein.
Directions: Start cooking rice ahead of time per package directions (Usually half the amount of rice as water – for instance 1/2 cup of rice to 1 cup of water or saved canned veggie juice.) Bring rice and water (and salt and a dab of oil) to a boil and simmer covered for about 15 minutes until all the water is absorbed. Set aside.
To rehydrate dehydrated veggies, I pour boiling water over them in a heat proof bowl til the water covers the veggies. Stir, cover and set aside for 5-20 minutes depending on how big/thick the pieces are. You can do this while you are boiling water to cook the rice with. In a large frying pan heat your cooking fat of choice and stir fry the veggies you are using (onion, garlic, peas, carrots, cabbage, zucchini, green beans or whatever you have). Toss in a small amount of canned meat if you are using it and stir fry to heat.
Add a little more oil, and then put in the cooked rice and sauté some more. Add whatever spices you are using – soy sauce, ginger, garlic powder etc.
Push the mixture out to the sides of the pan and in the center add whatever eggs (2 to 3) you are using – fresh or liquified dehydrated eggs. Cook/scramble the eggs in the center of the pan, then gradually stir into the rest of the mixture. Add additional seasoning to taste and then eat.
Rehydrated veggies into the skillet.Garnish with nuts for extra protein and trace minerals.
Southwest Skillet Meal
You can assemble this pretty much the same way as the fried rice. You can use cans of (drained) beans and corn, dehydrated tomatoes if you have them, taco seasoning, rice (or pre seasoned packet of yellow rice/Spanish rice/taco rice, etc). You can add a can of “fajita beef”or not as you prefer. Eat it all wrapped in tortillas if you have them, or straight out of the pan.
Skillet meal fixings.
Fried Spam and Potatoes
You can used dehydrated potatoes or canned potatoes for this. Here is another place to use your bulk canister of dried onion flakes – or wild onions if you can find them in your yard. I personally would also throw some of my dehydrated shredded zucchini or spinach in with this for extra veggie power. At this time of year you can even go pull up some newly sprouted dandelion leaves and red clover from the yard and toss that in to the sautéed mix also for some extra nutrition.
Directions: If you are using dehydrated potatoes you will need to boil water to rehydrate them about a half hour ahead of time. Same too for any dehydrated veggies. I love shredded potatoes, tomatoes, and zucchini for this because the small pieces rehydrate so quickly.
Put your fat of choice in the skillet, fry the cubed up spam first to brown it a bit, then add the potatoes with onions and whatever veggies and spices and fry for five minutes or so depending on how small your pieces are. Eat.
Take your pick of potatoes.Add some extra nutrition.Brown the spam while the veggies rehydrate.Fry and eat.
Cheesy Potato Soup
I made this as an experiment using a package of dry mashed potatoes, some of my home dehydrated potatoes for texture, some ham flavored bouillon, some spices, a can of table cream, and a tablespoon or two of “Big Daddy” cheese powder. I was blown away with how good it turned out! You could even make this with some canned clams or canned baby shrimp to make a chowder or “seafood bisque” or anything else for variety. The point is – it can be done, and it can be tasty even though it came from shelf foods. I didn’t have a recipe, I just made a plan in my head and went with it. I also tasted as I went along and added what I thought it needed.
Directions: Boil enough water to rehydrate your potato cubes, your mashed potatoes, and to make some broth besides to thin it out. You will have to play with this depending upon how big a batch you want. Basically you are dumping it all together, adding spices and cheese powder, and your canned cream at the end and cooking it for maybe 30 minutes to let the flavors all blend and finish rehydrating your taters. It’s not difficult – it’s soup after all – but you may have to play with it a bit to get it how you like it.
I need to stop and say a word about this cheesy Big Daddy powder I got from Hoosier Hill Farm at the beginning of the pandemic. I originally got it to go with the case of rotini I ordered from Amazon. While I ultimately decided that I preferred to buy Mac and cheese boxes with the pouch of plastic cheese to obviate the need for fresh milk and butter, this powder is a great flavor booster for potato dishes, dehydrated broccoli, etc. I know it’s not “real” cheese, but when we are eating non-refrigerated food in an emergency, the extra flavor of something tasty really helps the mental and emotional outlook.
Taters and canned cream.Add spices and flavors.Cheesy Potato Soup – Tada!
Fried Spring Greens and Noodles
This is a variation on Eastern European Haluski. I recently pulled up the last of the cabbage I planted last fall -it never made full heads and looked like it was getting ready to go to seed – so I decided to eat it instead. I added one of my last garden onions that was hanging in the basement and I threw in some dandelion greens and some wild onion/garlic that I pulled from my gravel driveway. It’s easy – just cook and drain some noodles ahead, then sauté the greens and onions in butter, bacon grease, or oil, spice to taste, and serve over the cooked noodles, or just stir the noodles into the pan. With or without some crumbled bacon or diced spam it is delicious. The noodles give you carbs/energy, the greens give you vitamins and minerals, and you get some protein from the bacon or spam.
This is a generic term for almost any combination of meat, tomatoes, vegetables and macaroni. Virtually everyone in middle America has a family goulash recipe and either loves or hates it. Even if you hate it this is a good and easy one pot meal that you can make with shelf stable food. Again, I’m not offering specific recipes but merely assembly options for what you already have. You need a can of some sort of meat, a can or two of veggies, maybe a cup or two of cooked elbow macaroni (or noodle of choice) some dehydrated onion and spices, and a can of tomatoes or even tomato soup. Assemble as desired. Add some canned or powdered cheese if you have it.
Portions and Leftovers
A word about portion sizes. For those of you with large families, you likely already know how to cook and in what proportions to do so. So this is more for the singletons out there who don’t cook much.
Granted, cooking for one can be challenging. But not if you use your head a little. When I’m cooking for myself everyday I routinely cut a recipe in half before I even turn on the stove. On the other hand I also often make a standard size recipe and freeze it in individual portions for work lunches.
Food Safety
The real challenge will come with a grid down situation. What do you do with leftovers that you can’t freeze? Especially in warmer climates food poisoning is a real risk. For food safety per the CDC, leftovers need to be kept above 140F or below 40F. This is where there is a huge advantage to having dehydrated veggies and such. You don’t need to use up a whole can of whatever. You can just measure out a handful what you need for a single serving and leave the rest dehydrated in the jar. Dump out your veggies, tomato powder, squash powder, onion flakes etc – plus however much loose pasta or rice. Cook only what you need and no leftovers. Ta-da!
If you do have leftovers and it’s wintertime and cold you are golden. Just put the leftovers outside the door in a sealed container. Putting it on an outside elevated balcony might be even better if you have neighborhood animal problems. Or fill a cooler with snow and use that as your “refrigerator”. Our ancestors used spring houses to keep things cool, but unless you have running water on your property that likely isn’t an option.
Vacuum Bottle
Another option I want to try out for an emergency is to use a wide mouth thermos jar. I bought a couple to try. My thought is that I could cook the main meal at midday, then put the leftovers in a wide mouth vacuum bottle to keep them warm until supper time. Then I’d just eat out of the thermos for a second meal. It would theoretically save on fuel, as though I might need to heat water for coffee or tea (or not if I used a second thermos), I wouldn’t need to cook an entire meal for a second time that day and wouldn’t need to start another fire or light up the grill again. I need to set aside a weekend to try out this idea and see how it goes. It shouldn’t be any different than carrying a hot lunch to work. I just need to see how long the hot food stays hot (and safe).
It would be nice if we all had a group of friends to gather with during hard times to share the burdens and supplies. We wouldn’t have to cook by ourselves and for just one that way. But a core zombie fighting group might take some time to assemble. So cooking for one – at least temporarily for short term emergencies – should be a consideration. If you plan for it ahead of time (and acquire the skills) it shouldn’t be a big deal.
In the meantime these few “recipes” will give you a place to start if you want to learn to cook for yourself with your shelf stable foods. With the way inflation is going many people would be wise to learn to cook at home anyway. It’s major dollars cheaper than paying for take-out or door dash. It will also give you some practice in case something bad happens and you need to do it “for reals”. Bon Appetit!
This pistol is a rule beater in the sense that it is far easier to shoot well than most handguns this size. The Smith & Wesson CSX 9mm shoots like a big gun, or close. It also packs more rounds into the magazine than most pistols this size did, while maintaining good handfit.
Smith & Wesson – affectionately called Smith by many of us – went back to the drawing board on this pistol. The CSX is a single action pistol with exposed hammer. It is similar in operation to the long defunct Star Firestar Plus.
The Firestar wasn’t a bad gun, and many of us owned one. The Firestar Plus was a high capacity single action compact. Spare magazines were practically impossible to come by. While some of the pistols were softer steel than I like, they held up well with modest use in concealed carry.
The CSX is a single action pistol featuring an aluminum alloy frame, unusual in modern production. The pistol features polymer grip inserts. There is an ambidextrous safety, ambidextrous slide lock, and a reversible magazine release. The CSX is supplied with two magazines. One is a ten round flush fit type and the other a twelve round type that is only slightly longer than the flush fit magazine. There is no real penalty in carrying the longer magazine in the pistol.
The metal parts are finished in Armonite. This finish has proven durable in many handguns and rifles. The sights are white three dot types. The sights are a good feature as they allow a good sight picture but they are snag free. The trigger is surprisingly good breaking at just over six pounds. Reset is rapid. The steel magazines are well made. I could not load the twelve round magazine past eleven rounds. Perhaps it will break in later.
A word on the safety, the safety does not lock the slide when applied. The slide may be manipulated with the safety on. This allows loading the pistol with the safety applied. The proper state of ready is hammer to the rear and safety on. There is a half cock notch to catch the hammer if you slip cocking the hammer. Never carry a single action pistol on half cock. This isn’t as strong a notch as the full cock cut out in the hammer. Only one pistol I am aware of – the Tokarev TT 33- was specifically designed for half cock carry. I never carry a High Power or 1911 hammer down. It is simply fumble prone and slow. With the CSX we have a much smaller handgun with easy leverage. I would carry cocked and locked in a proper holster. If I carry the pistol in a pocket then hammer down with this pistol is reasonable. The trigger features a blade type safety that prevents lateral discharge. While not as effective as a grip safety I like the blade type safety as an addition to the traditional thumb safety.
The pistol’s cocking serrations are easily grasped. The grip treatment is very good, allowing a good balance of abrasion and adhesion. The front strap is especially well done. The polymer inserts are a good feature. A tool is supplied to depress the plunger type lock that allows changing the grip insert. For me the supplied larger grip swell resulted in high shots at 20 yards which I corrected for when aiming. The flat insert was ideal for my average to small hands. The pistol locks up on the slide and barrel hood like most modern handguns. Take down is Browning type and simple with the slide lock punched out to allow disassembly.
When testing a pistol I know I will not keep I am miserly with ammunition these days. I test it the best I am able, and do accuracy testing to confirm reliability and general accuracy. After a few magazines I knew the CSX would find a home in my battery and I continued to test the pistol and finally sight it in with a carry load from my carefully hoarded reserve.
The pistol isn’t difficult to control with a twenty ounce weight. This is a shooter. The pistol will allow a trained shooter to keep his shots in the ten ring at seven yards if he does his part. You would not be helpless to twenty yards or more. The pistol isn’t tiring to fire. There were no failures to feed, chamber, fire or eject. Most of the loads used were the least expensive 9mm ball I could obtain. Results were good. I sighted the pistol in with the Black Hills Ammunition 115 grain EXP. At 15 yards the pistol demands a dead on hold rather than a six o’clock hold, fine for defense shooting.
I like the CSX. This is a handgun with a good balance, ideal weight for controlling the 9mm cartridge, and good practical accuracy. It isn’t for everyone. If you don’t like single action pistols this isn’t the gun for you. If you do this is an ideal hideout or daily carry 9mm.
KU 12615
Model S&W® CSX™
Caliber 9mm Luger
Capacity 10+1, 12+1
Length 6.1
Front Sight Metal White Dot
Rear Sight Metal White 2-Dot
Action Single Action
Grip Interchangeable Backstraps
Barrel Material Stainless Steel with Armornite® Finish
Slide Material Stainless Steel with Armornite® Finish
Improvised weapons are, without a doubt, one of my favorite subjects. If you’re stuck in a situation where you’re unarmed, and you see a violent situation developing, you likely don’t want to remain unarmed. Today we are going to talk about how to build a weapon out of nothing more than a newspaper and a violent mindset. The weapon is known as a Millwall brick, and it’s a simple but effective stand-in for the ole fisticuffs.
History of the Millwall Brick
The Millwall brick gained its name from the fans of the Millwall Football Club. Specifically, the hooligans who liked to brawl during the football matches. As you’d imagine, anyone who likes to fight likes weapons. Well, after a few stabbings, concussions, and general hooliganery, the police began confiscating weapons and dang near anything that could be used as a weapon.
Hooligans had that prisoner mindset and began making weapons from everything. Police didn’t confiscate newspapers, and those hardcore soccer fans found a way to produce a weapon. It became known as the Millwall brick, and it’s the subject of today’s improvised weapon lesson.
How To Make the Millwall Brick
Making the Millwall Brick is easy. All you need really need is a newspaper for the most basic version. There are two ways to produce the brick. One is a basic side-to-side fold, and the other is a diagonal fold. There are strengths and weaknesses to both designs.
The fastest way is to lay the newspaper out and just fold it from side to side. You want to fold it tight and make the smallest folds possible as you fold the newspaper towards the opposite end. The tighter, the better. Once the newspaper is folded from edge to edge and is nice and tight, you fold the newspaper in half, and now you have your Millwall brick.
The advantage of this fold style is its range. The brick is a bit longer and gives you more reach when you strike a threat.
It’s more baton than a cudgel. It’s also faster and easier to fold. The only downside is that it’s less dense than the diagonal option.
Folding the Millwall brick diagonally is slower and tougher to keep tight.
Still, tightness matters, and folding diagonally can be a little more challenging. Once folded diagonally, you bend the brick in half.
It’s a fair bit tougher to fold the brick in half when folded diagonally. The end result and the main benefit of this fold is density.
The denser Millwall Birck hits harder and the lack of range. The shorter, thicker, and denser weapon hits. It also tends to form a slightly sharper edge that breaks the skin as it hits.
Slapping and Slamming
The Millwall Brick can be used in two different ways. The first is like a baton with the edge facing outwards. This works best with the longer weapon. However, with the shorter weapon, you have an improvised sap.
The second method is in an ice pick-like grip. This allows you to bring the brick downward and strike with an overhand technique. This works best with the shorter, diagonally rolled weapon. It works better at closed ranges.
How To Make the Brick Better
The Millwall brick by itself is brutal enough when formed correctly. However, it can always be better. There are a few ways to make the tool a bit more punchy.
The simplest is to just add water. Get the paper wet. This provides more weight, and more weight provides more force. Water or liquid is available almost everywhere, and heck, you can even pee on it if you really want to get serious (or are a Kel-Tec ad aficionado).
A second method is to add weight to the weapon. You can roll in coins to add a little weight or add something heavy or sharp to it. After the Millwall brick is folded in half, you can add something weighty between the two sides. I added a large rock, but you could add an office stapler, a can of soda, or anything else to give the tool some heft.
When you add weight, strike with the newspaper face. If you strike with the face of the added weight, it will likely fly out the other side. If office tape is available, you can add a layer close to the top of the weapon to better retain the weight.
Does It Work?
How effective can newspapers be when rolled up?
Well, I rolled one up with the diagonal method and handed it to my 110-pound petite wife. She has no combative skills or fight training. I asked her to hit me in the arm as hard as she could. She did, and it deadened my arm pretty freaking good. The pain radiated from my bicep into my elbow, and my arm was stunned.
She didn’t even swing with her hips or rotate to put much force behind it. Still, it stung and stung for several minutes, with pain radiating in waves. I’m confident in saying the Millwall brick would ruin your day pretty quickly.
Knowledge weighs nothing, so having the skills to make weapons when none are near can be quite handy. Here’s one more tool you can add to your toolbox.
I have to hand it to Josh and Henry with this video intro, exceptional music selection. It sets the properly somber tone for talking about bad news (Unless you’re Ukraine, then it’s only bad news for loot drops).
The AK12 is not the rifle Russia wanted to build, it was the rifle they ended up building.
We’ve seen that here several times in the United States. The XM8 was a product of the XM29 OICW, and while the XM8 worked well, it was not enough improvement with several oddly ambitious items that wouldn’t work out in the long run. It had negative space mounting long before KeyMod and M-LOK, but it was H&K’s for H&K. That isn’t a problem so much in a closed logistics systems, but open systems are easier to service.
A more accurate development story to the AK12 here in the states though is probably the ACR. The Magpul Masada rifle that stole the show back in 2007 at SHOT. A futuristic lightweight rifle that would do all-the-things as well as, or better than, the M4. The M4 was catching quite a bit of heat from its anecdotal failures and very real limitations during the raging combat operations of GWOT. The M4 would end up going through a product improvement program that would max the stats of the rifle rather nicely for much less money.
But the ACR was supposed to be the fix. The next rifle. The future. It was even on Future Weapons.
Then Bushmaster and Remington Defense, who took up the rifle development project, pulled an Amber Heard on the bed that was the Masada. Shockingly to all (except people who had developed rifles before), the ACR came in very much over cost, delivered nearly nothing of what was promised, and had some very basic obvious issues that needed fixing before it saw the light of day.
The landing page had a killer soundtrack though.
This is what I suspect happened to the AK12, they couldn’t settle down and build the gun. They couldn’t build the team to work through the minutiae of putting the rifle together in a way that pushed the AK forward to parity or superiority with the M4A1. Instead we got a worse variant of the AK with furniture upgrades than we already had. It doesn’t even just take an AK-10X and put Zenitco on it, it puts modern TAPCO like handguards, a questionably re-zeroable top cover on it, and gives it a new waffle magazine with a round count.
Cool. That’s like the $200 makeover of a stock AK.
I’m sure they spent far more. There is nothing on the AK12 that can’t be done better on a gun wearing an SLR handguard, a TWS Dogleg mount, an Ultimak gas tube rail, a KNS Precision Piston, and a Krebs safety. Maybe an ALG Trigger too. The whole premium AK suite, plus a full price AK, might still have been more cost effective to put together. The ‘stated’ price for the AK-12 is $1,000/unit, I believe that if everything listed were included, native to the assembled rifle, we wouldn’t be much above that. And it would work, which is nice.
Henry and Josh dive deep into the actual logistical problems, not just functional problems on an individual operator level, that the AK12 has.
OVER A CENTURY OF ENGINEERING PASSION & PRECISION WORKMANSHIP SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR A WOMAN’S HAND. For female shooters who simply will not sacrifice on unmatched versatility, dependability and effectiveness in both concealed carry and conventional service situations, the Walther PDP F-Series is how you stay READY.
The same engineering passion, precision workmanship and innovation that made Walther’s PDP a groundbreaking achievement in firearms is now tailored specifically to Female shooters with the PDP F-Series pistol. The new F-Series elevates the next evolution in world class ingenuity for pistols to meet the demands of female shooters like never seen before. Accounting for precise structural differences, Walther has completely reengineered the ergonomics of the grip to be designed for the exact biomechanics of women’s hands. Featuring a new patented operating system resulting in a reduction in slide rack force paired with all the performance duty features of the PDP, the F-Series pistol is the elite choice for all women. Put Walther’s timeless legacy of unmatched performance in your hand today, because whether you are with your family or on your own – it is your duty to be READY!
Walther Shooting team member, Olympian and Firearms Instructor Gabby Franco had this to say about it, “The PDP F-series is the result of a revolutionary approach to creating a pistol with female shooters in mind. Walther Arms took the difficult task of developing a mid-sized frame handgun that offers high ammo capacity with a smaller grip, shorter trigger, and excellent ergonomics like no other. The F-series is the best tool in the market for self-defense, law enforcement, target shooting, and competitive shooting. It makes me proud to be part of a project to bring a pistol that contributes to many women’s quests to become better shooters!”
About Walther “It’s your DUTY to be READY” is a message to clearly and concisely show that Walther is doing everything in its power to support shooters everywhere with not just the absolute best in firearm innovation and performance but also access to the best training and informative firearms community as well. History has shown Walther’s dedication to this message, beginning in 1886 and continuing today with the innovative spirit that builds off the invention of the concealed carry pistol by creating duty grade weapons such as the PDP and world-class rimfire products such as the P22. Walther will continue its long tradition of technical expertise and innovation in the design and production of firearms to meet the demands of any customer. Excellent service and superior quality will continue to be benchmarks of Walther’s success. www.waltherarms.com
The Department of Justice (“Department”) is amending Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (“ATF”) regulations to remove and replace the regulatory definitions of “firearm frame or receiver” and “frame or receiver” because the current regulations fail to capture the full meaning of those terms. The Department is also amending ATF’s definitions of “firearm” and “gunsmith” to clarify the meaning of those terms, and to provide definitions of terms such as “complete weapon,” “complete muffler or silencer device,” “multi-piece frame or receiver,” “privately made firearm,” and “readily” for purposes of clarity given advancements in firearms technology. Further, the Department is amending ATF’s regulations on marking and recordkeeping that are necessary to implement these new or amended definitions.
Dates
This rule is effective August 24, 2022.
The absolutely 100% clear, not confusing at all, totally non-vague rule that absolutely fixes the ghost gun problem in the United States is set to take punitive effect 120 days from today.
All persons doing ghost gunnery must cease their spectral ballisticisms this summer. They must add the magic numerical crime stopping numbers to the sides of their previously spooky boomsticks (if those boomsticks are entering the commercial sales stream, you still don’t have to serialize a personal firearm) and all bad things with those ghoulish gunstuffs will be gone forevermore by September.
Columbus, Miss. (April 26, 2022) – The APEX Ammunition team congratulates Mossberg’s Linda Powell on her impressive performance at this year’s Alabama Governor’s One-Shot Turkey Hunt. Powell’s 25-plus pound gobbler with an 11 3/4-inch beard and 1 1/8-inch spurs was taken with a Mossberg 940 Pro Turkey autoloading shotgun and APEX Turkey Tungsten Super Shot (TSS) # 9s. It was the largest bird bagged during the event and earned Powell the title of Grand Champion with a combined score of 71.13. A total of 64 hunters participated in this invitation-only event, including CEOs, corporate presidents, outdoor and entertainment celebrities, media representatives, and sponsors.
Powell and her guide, Justin Rock of Riverview Farms, had to work for this savvy tom – calling and ultimately repositioning three times to get in position to take him.
“I’ve used the APEX Tungsten Super Shot on all of my turkey hunts this spring and have been so impressed with how well it patterns in my 940 and how effective it is in the field.” Powell continued, “Everywhere that I’ve hunted, the guides, landowners and other hunters have all asked what I am shooting and where can I buy that gun and ammo.”
“We couldn’t be happier for Linda and tip our hats to her on not only bagging such a huge bird, but truly enjoying the process and experience of the hunt,” said Jason Lonsberry, CEO, APEX Ammunition. “Well done and congratulations!”
The Alabama Governor’s One-Shot Turkey Hunt is a premier event that was started in 2002 and last held in 2015. The event raises funds that benefit the many projects of the Alabama Conservation & Natural Resources Foundation, including scholarships at the University of Alabama and Auburn University.
About APEX Ammunition
What started in 2017 with a few handmade shells for a hunting trip with buddies has become an obsession to provide wingshooters with the absolute best performing ammunition possible. Founded by U.S. Veterans and hunting enthusiasts in the great state of Mississippi, APEX Ammunition pioneered the commercial application of ultra-high-density Tungsten Super Shot to create the hardest hitting, most accurate shot loads in the business. The driving principle behind the company’s continued quest for innovation and better performance is its commitment to delivering a hunting experience like no other. For more information, visit ApexAmmunition.com.
Mike Jones, the most Thumbed of Garands, is back with the weird science you want.
This time he froze handguns, lots of handguns, a gratuitous amount of handguns.
I have not watched the video (as I write this), I merely know of the videos existence and of a few comments from friends who have. Apparently something spicy occurs with a revolver that is of a cheek clenching nature. If you recall the M14’s performance and the ‘oh no’ that was generated when the hammer was released and did not fall and the rifle couldn’t easily be made safe, it feels like it is along those lines. But I might be wrong and it could be an entirely different, ‘oh no’ than I imagine.
I do predict, however, that the pistols with well sealed systems against the moisture intrusion are going to perform. If the striker or hammer can move and the recoil spring can compress we’re a likely to see positive results. But if there is too much resistance in too many places, we won’t.
Featuring forged materials and heirloom-quality construction, the new 9mm Garrison 1911 combines modern materials and design with a heritage spanning back more than a century. Available with classic hot salt blued carbon steel or rust-resistant stainless steel construction, the Garrison is a rock-solid 1911 that gives you a host of modern upgrades along with the strength to provide a lifetime of service. For those who respect tradition and demand the best, the new 9mm Garrison stands ready.
The Springfield Armory Garrison 9mm is a modern take on John Moses Browning’s timeless 1911 handgun design. Incorporating cutting-edge engineering and materials science into the archetypal defensive pistol, the Garrison 1911 offers high-end custom quality at a working man’s price. Now that the Garrison is offered in 9mm, it also raises the bar on practical shootability.
I know I gave the Garrison some serious crap when it was introduced in .45 ACP six months back. I still think it was earned then, and still warranted now, however that doesn’t mean I dislike another moderately priced .45 ACP or 9mm 1911 entering the market.
The 1911 remains one of the most pleasant shooting pistols ever designed, 111 years and going strong, and I wouldn’t doubt the design remains popular into its 2nd Century because of that fact alone. It is a delight to shoot. Springfield is well known for making a solid 1911 handgun. Every example I’ve shot, regardless of the rich or basic feature set of the model, did one thing. It ran. I got it, I cleaned it, oiled the rails, and it ran. 10mm, .45, 9mm, they shot. I never pressed any of them to the many multi-thousand round point, but a case of 1,000 never choked any of them.
Red dot technology has almost reached its peak. These days a budget quality red dot kicks the tar out of a similarly priced optic ten years ago. It’s quite impressive what you can get for a little over 100 bucks. You can get a competent and reliable red dot that could easily be a home defense-worthy option. The CTS-1000 from Crimson Trace aims to be just that.
Crimson Trace is that laser company we all know and love. Red dots on targets are their business, but this is a very different type of red dot. Crimson Trace is very well known for its innovative visible laser sighting systems like the laser grips and Railmaster sights. A departure into red dot sights isn’t too dramatic, but they remain unproven. Today I hope to either make or break the CTS-1000.
Our goal is to take this simple red dot sight and see if it’s up to the rigors of general use. The CTS-1000 is a fairly compact red dot sight that’s AR height and equipped with a QD mounting system. The CTS-1000 is a tubular optic with a 2 MOA reticle that rocks a 20K hour battery life. Like every other Crimson Trace product, you even get free batteries for life. Fairly simple, but we will find out if simple holds up.
Crimson Trace claims its IPX7 waterproof, shock, and fog-resistant. I’m going to test those claims.
The Big Gun and the CTS-1000
Recoil is the base level of force resistance required for an optic to work. If it can’t shake off recoil, it can’t shake off anything. So, let’s start there.
What is the worst recoiling weapon I have? I have a few shotguns that hit hard and hurt in the recoil department. However, I have a weapon I’m reviewing at the moment that fits the bill. It’s the Big Horn Armory AT500 500 Auto Max AR pistol.
The 500 Auto Max is a rimless 500 Smith and Wesson cartridge. It’s a hard-hitting, semi-auto, shoulder beating weapon designed to tenderize your shoulder and destroy whatever is in front of you. I tossed the CTS-1000 on and hit the ground running. I carefully zeroed the weapon shooting the $4 dollar per shot cartridges carefully. Measurements were made and then adjustments dialed in.
The CTS-1000 has 1 MOA adjustment per click, and they seem damn accurate. I zeroed it at 50 yards, did the MOA math, and clicked them into place. I zeroed quickly with just measurements and clicks without issue.
After 75 rounds of 500 Auto Max, the CTS-1000 held zero. The dot stayed put, and the zero didn’t shift. It held tight and hit hard, punching half-inch holes in B8s. So it can take recoil, but that’s only one part of shock testing.
Toss It, Drop It, Hit It
I notated where the optic sat on the AR500 and popped it off. I’m not dropping my expensive, overpowered pistol on the ground. Instead, we tossed the optic onto a polymer dummy rifle. This added some weight to the fall and made it more realistic for these drop tests.
With the optic mounted, I dropped it on the hard-packed ground, limestone to be specific. It’s a medium format for drop testing. The CTS-1000 took a fall at multiple angles. I made sure it fell on both sides and the top of the optic. I repeated the drops and then dropped the gun barrel and stock first for a little momentum test.
Each side got its comeuppance, and the optic took some abuse. Limestone found its way into the parts and pieces of the optic, but no damage was done. The little red dot remained on. I dismounted and remounted the optic to the AR500 and fired another ten rounds. The optic held zero, and there wasn’t a noticeable shift.
Soak It In Water
Since I got it all dirty, I figured I might as well clean it up and test that IPX7 claim. IPX7 means it should be capable of withstanding immersion into water, up to a meter, for 30 minutes. A deep sink sits in my utility room. It’s not quite a meter deep, but it’s deep enough.
I dropped the optic in, filled it up, and went to watch TV for the next half an hour. Technically I was testing the optic, so I wasn’t just wasting time. Let’s set a timer, eat some pizza rolls, and wait patiently. At the loud beep, I went elbow deep and retrieved the new, freshly cleaned optic.
A peek through it revealed the dot remained on. I remounted the optic to the gun and fired my remaining 15 rounds. The zero remained, and the optic stood up to the water without complaint.
The CTS-1000 and You
The CTS-1000 is surprisingly robust. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact it held up to recoil, drops, and water without complaint or a shift in zero. I wouldn’t say it’s ready for the next Fallujah, but for home defense, hunting, and competition, the CTS-1000 seems worthy of taking the beating required by serious use.
“I am jumping around targets, what is going on? My data was on and now I am all over the place.”
Oftentimes the shooter can jump the gun and now start reworking their data, however, this should be last on the list. When things start going wrong look at the most simple things first. “Is everything on my gun in the same spot as when I installed it and zeroed?” or in simpler terms, “Is everything still tight.”
At the last match I attended this problem came up, twice. Once with another shooter when the picatinny rail on his action came loose. This shooter was cleaning stages until all of a sudden he was getting zeros. He instantly went to grab the scope, “is that tight in the rings, are the rings tight?” Everything was good. Then he saw it, the rail was loose. This is directly where the scope is mounted. There ya go. With a little bit of play, the recoil can double that play and cause changes in impact that will not be consistent.
The other instance was my own. The muzzle brake. When I think about muzzle brakes my first thought goes to “is there carbon build up impacting the bullet.” This is due to a pretty great shooter having issues a couple years ago. He couldn’t figure out why he was all over the place and thought his muzzle brake was loose, turns out there was just a healthy amount of carbon that the bullet was cutting through each time he fired. This match and for myself though, it was something else. The muzzle brake was totally loose.
Now, this is only one persons fault, my own. Not the muzzle brake companys, not the gunsmiths, my own. Muzzle brakes are such an easy thing to check for tightness. We do it on our AR’s, why not on these guns. It is 100 percent my fault and I paid the price for it. I went a whole day at a two day match jumping around targets, being half a mil high at 200 yds, just crazy things. Nearing the end of the second day I was ready to start reworking my data. “Maybe the ammo started heating up, maybe my ballistics chart wasn’t accounting for some environmentals, etc etc.” Right before I was starting to sit down and redo it all, someone noticed the straight ports on my brake canted to the side. He stated, “well there is your problem, your brake is spinning.” Sure enough, it was so loose I could spin it with my fingers with no tension. After tightening it up, the next stage I ended with a 6 instead of a 1. Frustrating to say the least considering I only had one stage left of the whole match.
Going forward there are two things you want to be sure to check off and on with your muzzle brake, tightness and carbon build up.
Right now I am running the ACE Muzzle Brake from Impact Precision Shooting. It has worked wonders on recoil management with a 6.5 Creedmoor. Plus, it takes the work and time off of my gunsmith due to being self timing. It has a lock nut plus three hex screws that locks the brake onto the lock nut.
Tightness
Ensuring that your muzzle brake is tight and in the same spot as when you installed it and zeroed is crucial to keeping a consistent point of impact. When shooting with the loose muzzle brake my POI was all over the place. It screwed up the trust in my data and wind calls. After tightening, I was right back where I should be.
Follow the instructions of the brake when it comes to installation. Many have mentioned extra loctite, tightening it down tighter, getting a different brake, even craziness such as rocksetting it. Yikes. The reason that you don’t want to permanently tighten the brake on is due to the need of being able to clean the brake yourself. You want to be able to remove the brake by hand or with a tool that your manual states so that you can clear it of any obstructions, such as carbon. Also, if there are small hex screws such as on the Hawkins, you want to be careful with how much torque you are using so you don’t strip those out. Loctite will add to that torque.
Things come loose over time. I ran this gun a season and a half and was doing a lot of shooting in wild environments with no issues. It just happened that the hex screws walked out and the collar came loose. It happens, and it is only my fault for not checking it every now and again.
Carbon Build Up
Just as we should be checking the brake for tightness, carbon build up is a good check as well. Below is a great article on how to perform preventative maintenance. This is from another good company within the precision rifle world that makes great brakes, Area 419.
Going forward when things start to go wrong at a match. Go to the simple things first. Check your equipment before going buckwild on your data.
The hex screw here is not flush and has walked out causing the lock collar to not be tight against the brake.Here the hex screw is a bit below flush showing that it shouldn’t have walked out.
What does a “mental health break” look like to you? If I took a poll in the conference room or at the local coffee shop, no doubt there would be a deluge of answers. In all honesty I would hope no two answers were completely identical though running along similar tracks could be expected.
Along the same lines what sort of responses do you think I would get if I started asking folks what “Occupational Stress Injury” means to them? I imagine those responses would vary greatly, not just by occupations but also based on generations.
So what is a “Mental Health Break” and how does it apply here and now? First H.E.L.P., in partnership withFirstNet®, Built with AT&T, have teamed up to provide public safety professionals in communities throughout America with world-class mental health training through First H.E.L.P.’s Mission Ready Retreats; #MissionReadyRetreats.
First H.E.L.P. is holding four Mission Ready Retreats around the country with the end goal being to provide a week long, cost free “Mental Health Break” for our nation’s public safety professionals.
On May 11th, we will welcome a group of first responders to a private ranch outside of San Antonio, TX and launch our first MRR. As a peer-to-peer program, we will share stories, discuss both the darkness and the light of our chosen professions and dig into a bit of not only healing but also prevention in regards to occupational stress injuries, mental health and life both in and out of the uniform.
With elements of First H.E.L.P.’s Responder Readiness program worked into our daily activities we will also examine alternative stress management with some leatherworking courtesy of King’s Saddlery, mental and physical fitness with daily PT, share time in the kitchen during meal prep, visit some of the local sights and spend time around the campfire. Life is always better around the campfire after all!
During First H.E.L.P.’s Mission Ready Retreats, first responders will explore the 3Ps of Responder Readiness: Performance, Persistence, and Prevention. Through small and large group discussions, participants will explore the impact that operational stress and trauma has had on their careers and families and take a deep dive using peer to peer counseling. Participants will engage in the difficult conversations about mental health and suicide prevention with friends, family members, and co-workers. First responders will practice resilience skills using what First H.E.L.P. refers to as the “R.A.N.G.E. of Resilience.”
“We can never fully prevent first responders from facing the traumatic stress associated with their profession, but we can try to prepare them for operational stress injuries.” said Dr. Jeffrey McGill, First H.E.L.P.’s Co-Founder and CEO. “By providing awareness and practical tools, we can help first responders perform at their best throughout their career, benefitting the responder, their family, their agency, and the community they serve.”
Since 2016, First H.E.L.P. has consistently tracked law enforcement suicides throughout the nation and in 2021, opened their efforts to include all first responders. Our goal is to bring first responders and public safety professionals together from all around the country to have the difficult talk, learn more about being a better self and a better team member at home and on the job.
“Providing a cost-free, week-long experience to our first responders where they can step out of the chaos of their day to day work and focus on themselves, the value of that can’t be measured. We are giving them the opportunity to focus on their own mental health, using peer to peer techniques rather than prescribed medical courses of training and giving them alternative relaxation/ compartmentalizing techniques. This is huge. This training will provide important tools that they can take back home and to the job.” said Robert Winner, Director of Retreats for First H.E.L.P. “With elements of our own Responder Readiness program, concentrating on the 3-Ps and encouraging peer to peer communication/ counseling, we set out to make an amazing difference in the lives of our Nation’s heroes..
We don’t expect anyone to go home from our MRR “healed” but we do plan to send folks off with tools to help them navigate the stressors of life a bit better and be in a healthy mental space. Even the strongest amongst us has faced anxiety, depression, relationships issues, post-traumatic stress or occupational stress injuries. There’s no shame in having experienced these issues, nor is there shame in getting help navigating them. Again, MRR’s are built to give you tools and knowledge to be a better you at home and on the job.
First H.E.L.P.’s #MissionReadyRetreats is a unique program that brings together all types of first responders in a cohesive training program where all participants develop skills built around a common set of principles. The goal for 2022 is to bring the #MissionReadyRetreats to public safety professionals across the country.
Starting cabbage from seed in Pringle’s cans? Yes you can!
Yeah, more gardening. Are you sick of me yet? Well, sorry but “almost free” food is an important part of surviving bad things happening. Some people assume they’ll somehow just use their guns and ammo to gather other people’s supplies. But if there aren’t any to be had, or the neighbors shoot back, then what? And what if society hasn’t actually collapsed and there is still a functioning judicial system, but inflation really sucks? And what if you are a really bad hunter like me?
It’s important to think of learning how to grow more of your own food as a caloric and nutritional insurance policy. And maybe it will keep you out of jail, too.
Small scale gardening doesn’t have to be expensive. Yes, there are a few start-up costs especially if you have bad soil, but those will amortize over time if you do your best not to “spend your way” into a garden. With some creativity and elbow grease it’s not too difficult to come up with “CheapAss” ways to solve problems. That has been my mantra for the past several years.
Watching all the popular gardeners on YouTube one would think that the only way to grow food is with commercial steel raised beds, commercial seed starting pans, commercial row covers, commercial trellises, purchased fertilizers, and on and on. That’s a quick trip to the proverbial sixty-four dollar tomato.
Let’s talk about a few “CheapAss” workarounds that I have been using.
Raised beds
If your soil stinks or it’s all rock and you can’t grow right in the ground, you don’t have to invest in pricey steel or expensive cedar beds to get started. I built my first raised bed out of old shelves I found in the office attic. That bed – although looking a little rough – is now on its third growing season. The second bed I built was out of old scrap lumber given to me by a friend (it seriously looked as if it had been taken from a torn down farm shed). That one is starting its second season. My third bed was more shelves (also starting a second season), and now I’ve built a few more beds of various sizes out of scrap lumber left over from a deck build. Then yesterday I dragged an abandoned pallet home from the office parking lot. Or… Walmart storage tubs are 6 bucks apiece. You just need something to hold dirt with some drainage holes – it doesn’t have to be fancy. Cat litter buckets, old laundry baskets, cardboard boxes lined with garbage bags, kiddie wading pools – use your imagination.
Potatoes got planted in this and an old laundry basket.
Filling your raised beds
Many veggie crops do not require more than about a foot of soil. So if you are building three foot tall raised beds you are wasting expensive purchased soil. Fill up some of that bottom space with non-soil waste that will break down and act as fertilizer. You can use cardboard (recommended to block weeds at the bottom level), sticks or branches, dead leaves, shredded paper, kitchen waste – anything plant based that will break down over time. You will save a large volume of purchased soil this way and increase the future fertility of your bed.
Seed starters
Buying pre-started plants at the nursery is freaking expen$ive. Plus you are relying on someone else to start them for you. Starting your own seeds is a much cheaper alternative. Windows are free. Grow lights are not, but still cheaper than purchased pre-starts. The seeds honestly don’t care if you use high end name brand starting trays, or you use egg cartons and toilet paper tubes and pot them on into old McDonald’s cups. Therefore, why would you spend money when you can use trash you would normally throw away? Get creative and save yourself fifty bucks or more. Or maybe you have a friend who started too many seeds who would be willing to help you out with a few seedlings your first year. I have given away surplus tomato starts to my office mates before with great pleasure.
Marigolds in egg cartons, and tomatoes in TP tubes.
Row covers
A lot of YouTube gardeners use row covers as frost protection in the spring. Others use “cloches” – domed plant covers. This year I tried using take out salad bowls I have been saving (I am not a hoarder). I anchored them with clipped, bent landscape cover pins. So far it seems to be working. And it cost me virtually nothing (the pins were left over from 2 years ago). They only need to last a few weeks or a month until the plants get well established and the weather warms and I’ve saved myself anywhere from 10 to 40 bucks. That’s money better spent on soil. [pics] If you buy landscape wood chips in clear plastic bags for your shrubbery anyway, save those bags for similar use – make ‘tents” over your tender early produce with sticks and that will also cost you nothing additional.
Take out salad bowls I saved.DIY bowl anchors“Cloches” protecting cabbage and broccoli in a DIY bed made of shelves.
Trellises
You don’t have to buy ready made trellises for your beans. You can lash together sticks from your yard with yarn, twine, or any other string you have lying around. I’ve used old yarn and stapled it to a crosspiece before. This year I’m going to reuse some plastic grid that has been used for two other things before this. The beans don’t care, as long as they have something to climb. Troll yard sales and estate sales for discards. Or use the Three Sisters method and let the beans climb your corn instead.
Water collection
Water is life when it comes to gardening. If you live in a naturally wet area of the country water collection isn’t as big a deal. But if you live in someplace prone to drought, saving rainwater may make or break your garden efforts – and keep your municipal water bill from getting out of hand. If you are handy you can make a few rain barrels for relatively cheap. But I am not handy in that direction so I spent some money to get started, and then jury rigged from there. I wrote about it briefly two years ago here. Last year I had more than enough water to keep my garden happy, so I’ll be using the same set-up this year. Instead of spending more money for more barrels and then plumbing them in series, I had the bright idea of just tapping off my single barrel into big storage tubs from the hardware store after a storm. That frees up the original barrel to be refilled in the next storm. Yes it’s more hands-on than a self-draining system and I have to hand bail to do my watering, but it’s cheaper and was something I could manage by myself. The bonus is that at the end of the season I can store watering cans and other garden supplies in the empty tubs for the winter.
Fertilizers/soil amendments
I talked about this in fair depth in a recent article so I won’t go over all of it again. The bottom line is – use resources you already have – compost, urine, bunny droppings, used aquarium water, tuna can juice – all that stuff is free and benefits your soil and crops without having to buy commercial fertilizer.
It’s getting to be full on spring here in my growing zone so you need to get a move on if you want to start a survival/inflation garden this year. But it’s not too late and if you plan carefully and use your imagination you can do it without breaking the budget.
We brought Pendleton Whisky from the American West to the East for a taste test…it passed.
The Taste
After a hot two day NRL Hunter rifle match in Georgia some Whisky aficionados were willing to give the bottle a taste. Mind you, this is without talking about what the Whisky is orginally going after.
Neat, they gave it a try. Words such as this were spoken,
“Smooth, smoky, not too sweet, doesn’t burn, a citrus, maple syrup“
Safe to say that it was a hit.
Claimed Flavors for the Original Bottle
Nose: Vanilla, honey, butterscotch and custard join together for a please aroma. Hint of freshly grated cinnamon bark.
Palate: Warm fall fruits and honey are balanced with a hint of spice to balance the flavor.
Finish: A medium balance and smooth finish.
Next for myself, I’ll be trying the Pendleton Paloma, a cocktail that the website states works great with the Traditional bottle.
Where to Buy
Pendleton Whisky can be purchased through ReserveBar, Drizly, Minibar, Bottle Haus, and at most local liquor stores across the country.
To learn more about the different bottles and the company..click below.
