Allyson

Truth hurts.
“If we aren’t being taught how to grow our own food, how to take care of ourselves and our families, and how to live without the need for huge governments, banks, or corporations — as our ancestors once did — then we aren’t being educated; we are being indoctrinated to be dependent and subservient to the system.” ~ Gavin Nascimento

That is the original text (above) that came with the image to the left. Below is what I wrote.

I will continue to point this out until the cows come home. Our forefathers knew that giant government, whether by senators or King, could not sustain itself forever. Eventually you run out of money.

First, you run out of general money. We’ve already done that. Then you run out of spare money, the stuff you tucked away in case of emergencies. We’ve run out of that too. Then you run out of other people’s money to spend. Believe it or not, we’re past that as well. Until we stop spending money we don’t have, we will never get better.

I wish I had better words to explain this. To me, it’s just common sense. You look at the budget and you go. I don’t have enough money to get that thing. It doesn’t matter how much I want it, or even how much I need it. If the money is not there, you just don’t get it. That is what our government needs to do.

I think that Musk started it, but then so much of it got reversed that it’s like it never happened at all. I’m horribly disappointed by that. And now, everybody still wants to spend money. While I think the Democrats are doing more of it than the Republicans, the Republicans aren’t blameless either. We can’t afford any of it. We can’t afford to pay for the very basic things in our country right now.

Do we all want to be rats in a drowning ship? I don’t. I’d like to see the government shut down until every last penny has to be pinched so hard that it screams. I want to see all of the people in DC not getting paychecks, maybe not even when they are in office. Definitely not when they’re not working. I know that terrifies a lot of you. It scares me too. I have aches and pains that I need to address, and maybe they’re not as bad as some of my friends, but I think I at least get the general idea. Those safety nets are really important. The problem is that those safety nets are full of holes right now and they have been for decades. I’m pretty sure you all know that, because you don’t get the help that you probably need. Some of that is because of bad spending habits on the part of the government, a very tiny part of it might be part of bad spending habits on the part of people receiving money, but the biggest part is people who are defrauding the government. And while I do mean some people who are getting safety net help when they should not, I mean looking at every red cent that our government spends. I don’t want any money going to other countries until we have made sure that our people are safe.

Some people might think that it’s horrible that I would say that, but I’m much more interested in seeing my disabled friends getting the help that they need without having to not get married or pretend or whatever. I just want them to be able to get help. And as long as there’s money going to people from other countries, whether it’s vasectomies for people in Iran or knitting lessons for folks in Scandinavia, it doesn’t matter. However useful or necessary or not necessary those out of country items are, none of them are more important than my friends and my neighbors.

From the Maine Wire, Mon. October 20, 2025:

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When the grid fails, your calm mind might be the last light on. I know, it sounds cheesy, but it’s true. The idea of mental health in prepping is often relegated to a short oneliner: “Three months without hope.” Bam, done. Except it’s not done, and in many ways, mental health is something we ought to be paying a ton more attention to, and it’s also something we almost entirely ignore. Current prepper magazines and e-zines talk a lot about ammo, food, shelter, the Rule of Threes, types of firearms and other weapons, even first aid… but they don’t talk about what to do if someone’s mind breaks.

There are a handful of stories out there about preppers who went a little “funny” while getting anxious over expired food or having the right stuff in their go-bags. It’s definitely easy to let your anxiety run you down, especially if you’re actually IN an emergency already. Isolation is a huge contributor to mental health issues, and even if you have your family with you, bunker life or hunkering down at home is going to cause some problems. We know more about this than we should, thanks to the pandemic. With that in mind, we should be applying mental health prep to our general SHTF preparations. The topic deserves more than one line. We need to give mental health its proper focus, as an integral and continuing part of our everyday prepping activities.

The idea of a “loneliness spike” is not a new one. We know it from studying trauma after real disasters (Harvard study). We are aware of how insecurity and worry causes brain fog (Medical News Today). There are studies done on survivors of hurricanes and the prevalence of PTSD among them (National Institute of Health), where mental health issues can affect up to 30% of those who make it through. Then there’s the idea of survivor’s guilt, which is absolutely real and devastating, and something we know both from horrors like the Holocaust, and soldiers coming back from war, and even families caught in natural disasters. All of these problems are things that could and likely will happen in a SHTF scenario, and so we must begin to come up with methods to help minimize the trauma response. After all, you want the person who’s got your back to be sane… and they want the same thing.

So how do we minimize the kind of mental health problems we’re likely to see in a post-apocalypse or post-big-emergency world? Some of the most banal and stupid practices done in therapists offices around the world are the most effective. Breathing exercises (in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4), journaling positive things, active exercises just for the sake of doing it, avoiding reading the news (which may or may not be a problem come the apocalypse), and checking in on friends are all methods you can use to keep your panic down and your mental load a bit more healthy. Yes, the world may be falling to ruin around you, but if that’s your focus, you will go to ruin with it. The most resilient minds are the ones that can ignore “all that stuff out there” and instead focus on what can be done here and now.

Community is a big part of what keeps us on an even keel. Yes, the smallest community is your family, but at some point you have to reach beyond that. Human beings are meant to live in villages, and we need the company of others to keep us straight and sane. Whether you’re organizing a town meeting, bartering your skills for therapy (like in The Last Of Us), or having a sit down “come to Jesus” moment like an AA meeting, doesn’t really matter. It’s the doing that’s important, rather than what it is you’re doing. When paranoia is the word of the day, it’s going to be tough to reach out to people and form lasting connections, but it’s something that has to be done. If you can’t come to terms with doing it for yourself, think of doing it for the sake of your kids or your neighbors’ kids.

The big question is how to make the best SHTF armor possible, not just for the body, but for the mind as well. Group talks and forums can help, if there’s still internet to be had. But there are some really simple things you can do every day to make sure your mental health doesn’t become a liability. The first and most important thing is to get enough sleep. Obviously if you’re fighting zombies, that might get pushed back in priority… but only for a while. If you want to live rather than just survive, you’re going to have to get to a point where you can sleep on the regular. You have to get food into your body, too. Good quality food (even if it’s canned) is going to be a huge help in making you feel safe. Going for a walk, whenever it’s safe and possible, also helps, as does gardening (National Institute of Health).

So there you have it. Stock up your mental health preps right beside your beans. Be ready to surround yourself with the start of a community, and be prepared to keep building. Focus on the end goal, which is to thrive. Survival should only be your goal in the beginning. Once you’ve achieved survival, it’s time to live and thrive, to grow and heal. That’s your focus; a healthy, happy world for the children we bring into it. Don’t ignore mental health preps. We’ve seen what happens when you do (look “to the Left” for visual cues).

On Saturday, while I was camped out at a lovely open air farmer and maker’s market for the afternoon, a Left friend reached out to people “on her feed” on Facebook. She said she was aware some of her followers and friends had voted for Trump, and asked if we were willing to explain why, and whether we feel Trump is doing an adequate job since getting into office. She made it crystal clear that no one was going to be dogpiled for responding (though I’m not sure how she intends to ensure that, since she can only control what’s on her wall, but the gesture was nice). She legitimately wanted to know.

I thought about it for a long time. I could have answered. I didn’t really want to do so in public, though. As I’ve said before, I’m still trying to keep my customers around, many of whom are on the Left. I don’t believe in mixing politics and business (other than what’s required by law… I mean that a business hanging a Trump or Dem sign out front is basically telling people that they value politics over business, and I might do so privately but not publicly). So I paged her privately and said I’d talk with her, but only in private.

She wanted to know why. I sat with that one for a good five minutes before finally explaining, “Because there’s been a lot of violence toward people on the Right of late, including a number of shootings. I don’t want to be shot, hun.” It took her a while to respond, and when she did, she admitted she understood now that it was explained, and that she was sorry if I felt threatened.

That led to me telling her I’d talk to her today or tomorrow (looks like tomorrow wins, as she’s busy today). I didn’t have time to get into long discussions with her while vending at a craft fair. She got it… she does the same thing (and well; she’s formed her own thriving business that is keeping her in her home, supporting her daughter, and paying for lawyers to keep her abusive ex out of her life). But I did explain to her that, while I didn’t think there was much chance of my being shot, it was something I thought about. A lot. Maybe Chris would get shot. Maybe one of my kids. I pointed out that an awful lot of Leftists and Liberals are talking freely right now, tromping around in front of ICE and the government, with no worry for their lives… and conservatives and Right leaning folk are wearing flak vests and standing behind bullet proof glass just to have simple conversations. After another long pause, she agreed. “Yeah…”

In the scattered long-distance chat we had over Saturday, she learned just how often I’d been called a Nazi of late, or a bigot, or a few other hateful names. She just couldn’t understand that. She’s known me since her girl was a little one, and left that little girl in my care on a few occasions during faire. She knows I support human beings living however they want, provided they’re consenting adults. She knows I’m poly, pagan, kinky, pansexual, all the things. She knows I’m not a Nazi, or a bigot. She knows, from personal experience, that I walk my talk.

What I intend to suggest to her is that, if we’d had the conversation in public, there might have come a moment when someone else used one of those horrid names for me. At that point, she would have had to either tell the person they were wrong (setting herself up as a target for her own people… ie largely how I ended up over here initially), be silent and let it happen (tacit approval), or engage in calling me names herself (open approval). Would she be willing to stand up for someone when it might put her at risk, or her kid? It’s a legitimate concern right now, after all. And that might lead to her asking herself why she’s involved with someone or a group of someones who would push her away because she had spoken with someone “like me.”

I think it’s going to be an interesting conversation…

I have a number of Jewish friends, and I hear about brisket all the time. There was the running joke about Howard’s mother’s brisket in The Big Bang Theory. Brisket is one of those cuts of meat that is just scrumptious, if cooked right. So how do you cook it? It depends a lot on the cut you’re using. I’m going for slow cooked brisket at this point in my cooking career, because I love the convenience of the slow cooker (though I did cook this one in the oven). It’s a bit pricey (our 3lb brisket cost about $21), but it’s totally worth it. Also, it makes your whole house smell like heaven.

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs untrimmed flat-cut beef brisket
• 1/2 tbsp salt, plus more to taste
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
• 3 tbsp oil (olive or vegetable)
• 2 medium yellow onions, sliced
• 4 celery stalks, cut into 2-inch pieces, leaves coarsely chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, smashed
• 2 cups red wine (such as Merlot or Pinot Noir)
• 28 oz canned crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp dried thyme OR several sprigs of fresh thyme
• 3 bay leaves
• 4 medium carrots, halved lengthwise and cut on a bias into 2-inch pieces

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Season the brisket with most of the salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown the brisket, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Place the onions, celery, and garlic in the pot, tossing it in the residual fat. Season with the remaining salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add the wine, tomatoes, ketchup, brown sugar, thyme, and bay leaves, and stir to combine. Nestle the brisket down into the liquid, fat side up. You may need to move some of the onion mix to get it low enough. Most of the brisket should be covered with liquid, but it’s okay if the fat is out. Cover the pot and cook in the oven until the meat is fork-tender, about 3 hours.

Uncover the pot and add the carrots around the brisket. Cook, uncovered, until the carrots are tender (not soft) and the top of brisket is browned and crisp, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the brisket from the pot and let it rest while you make the sauce. Use a spoon to skim fat from the surface of the braising liquid and discard. Heat over medium-high heat and cook until the liquid is thickened to a sauce-like consistency, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. When the sauce is mostly ready, cut up the brisket by slicing it against the grain. Place the sliced brisket on a deep serving platter. Pour the sauce over the brisket and serve!

For sides, you need to keep in mind that Jewish folk don’t mix dairy and meat. If you don’t care, feel free to go with whatever sides you like, but if you want to enjoy the full Jewish brisket experience, try some baked sweet potato drizzled with olive oil, a cabbage and apple slaw for a tart finish, or some hot cornbread.

Sorry this one took a couple of weeks. It’s been busy here. Things are starting to settle down, though. Of course, that also means it’s almost National Novel Writing Month, and I’m going to be writing a flurry of words (50,000+ in 30 days), but I’m not going to think about that for a bit. LOL… We left off Heinlein’s list about here:

Take orders. You need to be able to take orders because no matter how “high up” you are on any particular totem pole, at some point you’re going to run into someone who’s higher than you. This is because we’re not ever going to be experts at everything. We each spend time with people who are better at something than we are, and when those people are in charge, you must be able to do what you’re told. But as any American soldier will tell you, it isn’t that simple (even though it sort of is). Per the Uniform Code of Military Justice, soldiers are only required to obey LAWFUL orders. Our soldiers are given more latitude as to what’s lawful and what’s not, while still being held to an extremely high standard (and getting higher, thanks Pete!). All of our soldiers are expected to be thinking people. Blind adherence is not useful. But the ability to continue to take orders, even when things are tough, even when you’re shitting your pants, even when you’re scared, is absolutely necessary. That’s also true of those of us NOT soldiers, though perhaps to a slightly lower level. As non-combatants, even if we end up as guerrilla fighters, we just need to be able to follow orders at a competent level. You need to recognize when someone knows more than you do, and be able to take a back-seat for a bit.

Give orders. There will be a moment when YOU are the expert, the leader, the person in charge. It might be on purpose, and it might be by accident, but regardless, you must be prepared to give orders. More than that, you may have to give orders that you know damn well will end up with someone hurt (physically or emotionally), or worse, dead. You need to be prepared for whatever outcome happens when you give those orders.  You have to be ready to give them decisively, with authority, and with strength of belief.

Cooperate. That’s a tough one, hm? Yes, you might have to cooperate with people who don’t share your world view. You might have to work with liberals and Democrats. But it CAN be done. And you must know both how to, and when to. Sometimes, it’s just going to be an easy choice. Groups often have better survivability options than singletons. It’s a skill we’re horribly underdeveloped in, in my very strong opinion. When was the last time you reached out to someone you disagree with, to cooperate? Maybe it’s time. Practice, because it’s important. And just in case someone wants to leap to conclusions, no, this doesn’t mean you have to “give in and open the government” or anything like that. I’m talking small scale here. Neighbors. Friends of friends. Local government maybe.

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Let’s see… The good is that the Right is holding its ground over the Left’s tantrum. I need you all to hear that up front: I AGREE WITH THE SHUTDOWN. I would agree with it on purely conservative morals, but I also happen to be a staunch supporter of smaller government. A government shutdown means we have the absolute minimum government (well, sort of, but you get the idea) and therefore I support the shutdown. The longer it drags on, the more we know just what we can do without.

The bad is that the Left is fighting back with the usual cycle of lies, half truths, and more lies. I need you all to hear this up front: I DO NOT AGREE WITH THE LEFT on any of this stuff.

And now, the ugly.

I often joked in private about Obama being the Teleprompter in Chief. Well, Trump is the MemeLord in Chief, and it’s a problem. I realize some of you may not consider it a problem at all, or a very minor one at best, but I DO consider it a problem. One of the sticking points I had, back during Trump 1.0, was the “mean tweets.” It really stuck in my craw. I’m going to be honest… it still does.

When I see Trump standing up, with Vance or with Melania, or even one of his kids, I see the dad, the grandfather, a righteous man who’s doing his best for his country. I respect that all to hell. Watching him erupt out of a sea of secret service to pump fist, blood streaming down his face, that was awe inspiring (also, I want those guys fired because he should NOT have been allowed to do that, but I digress). This is not Trump 1.0, and I see the good he’s doing. I see him brokering peace. I see him strengthening our economy. I see him doing infrastructure things in the government that are good, and will last for years to come.

But my FUCKING gawd, when he gets tweeting, I just want to vomit. I really do. I get it… he’s “just a man” and he wants to stick it to the folks who are poking and shooting at him. And if he was Trump the billionaire or Trump the last President, I’d sigh and move on. But he isn’t those things. He’s Trump, our current, sitting President. He’s the man leading our country. And things that I might find (or do find) amusing coming from one of us, I find just plain wrong coming from the Oval Office.

From the White House twitter account today:

As someone formerly of the middle, and honestly not that far out from the middle, it just turns me off. Sure it’s “just” a mean tweet. But it speaks volumes. I don’t mind the text as much, but the image (it’s actually a screenshot of a video) is just too much. It takes AWAY from the message. It makes it too damn easy to say, “Oh, it’s just Trump being a twit(ter) again.” And I don’t want that said.

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This was definitely the star of last week’s fancy meal with my fellow reenactors. It’s so delicious and boozy! I used “chia eggs” because I had several people who either were vegan or couldn’t do eggs, and so I skipped the creaming part mentioned below. Even with the fake eggs, it turned out moist and amazing.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups currants
• 1/3 cup chopped candied orange peel
• 1/3 cup chopped candied lemon peel
• 1/3 cup chopped candied citron
• 3/4 cup Madeira, divided
• 1/4 cup brandy
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoons ground mace
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened (or margarine)
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• powdered sugar for top of cake

Combine the currants, orange and lemon peels, and citron in a large bowl. Add 1/2 cup of the Madeira, and stir to combine. Cover and set aside for at least 3 hours, or as long as overnight. Stir the remainder of the Madeira together with the brandy, cover, and set aside.

When ready to bake the cake, preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or a 12-inch springform pan (line the springform with parchment paper before greasing and flouring).

Drain the fruits in a large strainer set over a bowl, stirring occasionally to extract as much of the Madeira as possible. Add the strained Madeira to the set-aside Madeira and brandy. Combine 1/4 cup of the flour with the fruit, and mix well. Add the almonds, and set aside. Sift the remaining flour with the nutmeg and mace.

In a bowl, cream the butter until it is light. Add the sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating for several minutes after adding. Continue to beat for several minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Alternately add the spiced flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and the Madeira and brandy, beating until smooth.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs to form stiff peaks. By hand, gently fold them into the batter, combining lightly until well blended. By hand, fold in the fruit in thirds, mixing until well combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake for about 1-1/2 hours, or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Set the cake on a wire rack to cool in the pan for 20 minutes. Turn it out of the pan to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Notes:
To use “chia eggs” simply replace each egg with 1 tbsp chia seeds and 3 tbsp of water whisked together. Let this “chia egg” sit for 5 minutes before using it in any baking recipe where you don’t need the eggs to be fluffy. Because this was a heavy cake, the lightness wasn’t really necessary.

This is mostly meant as a visual tour of what I did at the fort last weekend. 😉 Enjoy!

Please note, this is a VERY pic heavy post, which is why images are behind the “more” line.

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This isn’t a prepping post, per se. I’m off schedule due to life being busy. I’ll try and get back on track in a week or two. Be aware that most articles through the month of November will be “canned” (ie written long in advance, probably this month) because it is National Novel Writing Month and I need to sit down and write a whole-ass book (this year it’s my 18th century cookbook) in 30 days. 50,000+ words in 30 days is not easy, and I don’t do a lot of other writing, though I may pop in to say hi. We’ll see.

So last weekend, I was up at the Fort. It was the big “Out of Time” timeline event, meaning they invited people from other eras than the Fort’s (which is 1740s through 1760s, roughly) to come and set up outside the palisade and present information on their part of history. We had someone from 13th century, quite a bit from WWI and WWII, and of course my 15th century group, The Brotherhood of the Arrow and Sword. With all my favorite reenactors there (only the Vikings were missing, as they had an event elsewhere), I asked for and received permission to plan a grand meal for everyone.

As you can see from the image to the left, it was quite the feast. I had three “removes” (we would call them courses, today). We ended up actually putting all the food onto a big table and letting people get stuff buffet style, which I totally lost control of. I really got descended upon by locusts, and that was not what I had intended. Next year will be better, with the “removes” going out on the table for people to get food from. Also, those with food allergies needed to go up first, and that didn’t happen. I learn new stuff every time I do this. 🙂

The preparations for this meal started on Friday evening. The salt cod had to go in to soak, as the water needed to be changed several times before it was put in with the turnip to cook. I think I changed the water five times? Regardless, the cod was not at all salty by the time it hit the table, and actually was quite good all mashed up with the turnip. The “pumpion soup” (squash soup) was incredibly tasty and easy, and I will be doing it again. The salad was “just” salad, but looked at tasted quite good.

Yes, I cooked a turkey over a fire. This was my first time roasting a WHOLE turkey, as in the past I’ve always disjointed it and cooked it in pieces. I wanted to put the entire turkey out, though, and so I roasted it in my largest cast iron pot. I started it breast up, flipped it after 1.5 hours, then flipped it again after 1.5 hours. It spent its last hour in the beehive bake oven, crisping up its skin to a lovely brown shade. The turkey literally fell apart, was juicy and tender, and basically disappeared within a few minutes of being put out. The ham was “braised,” which means I seared all the sides first, and then boiled it. Or rather, it simmered most of the day. The result was delicious, and it was reduced to a single meatless bone and a piece of gristle before the end of the dinner. I was so pleased that everyone liked the food!

I think I served about 40 or so people. We ate in the Great Hall, which is also where I did most of the cooking. I baked bread in the outdoor beehive oven (four loaves) and did the rest of the cooking over coals in the two fireplaces at either end of the Hall. It was nice to have all that space for cooking! Of the side dishes I made, the clear favorite was the Roots a la Creme, which are basically root veggies in a cream sauce. I have to admit, they were very delicious, and I ate the leftovers (what few there were) the next day.

The star of the show, though, was definitely the Rich Cake, from Martha Washington. I have never made a cake like this before, which is dense and full of extremely alcoholic fruit. It was moist, solid, flavorful, sweet, and indeed very rich. I will absolutely be making it again, though perhaps with a few minor adjustments. I can see what that thing could be set on a shelf and left for a month, though. There’s so much alcohol and sugar in it, nothing will touch it! LOL! Think of it as an edible Christmas cake, the kind we usually use as door stoppers.

Ratafia biscuits were the other new-to-me dessert that I attempted. They did not turn out as well as I had hoped, but they were not a clear fail, either. They were very edible, with a lovely almond undertone to them. They didn’t “loft up” as much as I’d hoped, though. I think I folded in the almond flour too roughly, perhaps. I will say, I’m never making the ratafia biscuits again without modern conveniences. Whipping the egg whites until stiff BY HAND was quite the adventure, and my arm still hurts. Totally worth it, just to prove I could do it, though. It might not have been so difficult if I hadn’t started out by creaming the butter for the Rich Cake first, then creaming the sugar into the butter for that same cake, all before moving on to whipping egg whites by hand for 25 minutes. Yes, I’m nuts. But you know what? I know I can do it, now.

Here’s the thing. A lot of people there thought I was crazy for putting this dinner on. Cooking for that many mouths, spending an entire day in prepping, cooking, plating, and all the rest. I did have help, though, with two very good friends who took the time to show me the ropes (they’re both retirees from restaurant business, and know how to do proper mise en place). Everyone loved the meal, but yes, many of them thought I was insane for not putting at least some of this stuff into the very modern oven to bake. I was determined to do this “the 18th century way” though, because I know that if I can do it that way, then doing it with modern conveniences is easy.

This is also research. The cookbook I’m about to write next month will feature all of the recipes I used in this supper, along with many others that I’ve tried in the past two years. While I tailor my recipes to be cooked in a modern kitchen, the instructions suit those who want to do it the 18th century way, as well. I have to know how it works, so that I can explain it to others. Having the opportunity to work the kitchen for a big meal that way gave me a ton of insights into how an 18th century kitchen would have run. It makes my explanations better, when I’m talking to visitors at the Fort or to the encampment of my 18th century reenactors group.

Above everything, this is prepping (see how I masterfully brought it back to prepping? Go me!). I now know without a doubt that I can cook for a large group with nothing more than my two hands and fire. Nothing can stop me now! Oh, and everyone is looking forward to next year!