Think your friend misses the point. Making your own food lets you control what goes in your body, not just save money. I notice people often pick quick options that leave them feeling blah later. Like when I travel, I'll grab apples and peanut butter from a store, it's cheap and keeps me full longer than some greasy street food.

Read something about using gravel for drainage under posts. Prevents frost heave and adds stability. @dakotam17 mentioned less water being overkill, but in windy spots, every bit helps. My neighbor's fence leaned bad after a gusty spring. He didn't set the posts deep enough. Dry concrete can crack if not mixed right though.

Oh man, that's rough. Some people just see the big fire and noise and miss the whole skill part. It's like someone watching a baker and saying they just play with flour. Glad you took a minute to explain the real work behind it. That molding process sounds like it needs a lot of patience.

Voting on the book first isn't the main problem. Good book clubs can handle real world topics, even when people get upset. If we only stick to safe fiction, we're not really challenging ourselves.

Thick white smoke is basically meat poison.