Sylvia, Thank You for the link to the low-chill fruit trees. I will have to start some new terra preta planting holes in my orchard area for this fall's planting. When I first moved to Florida 2002 I was zone challenged and planted trees from the normal nursery's I had used when I was up north. My cold climate orchard trees now sit barren of fruit but I hope to graft onto them and see if that works on each tree before I yank them out and replant. I couldn't believe the soil here when I dug my first spade full... ten acres of hour glass sand under every conceivable weed with needles, spikes, prickers, spurs, burrs, thorns, etc. known to this planet. The sand they use up north for icy roadways is more fertile than this stuff. When I cleared it of trees and weeds I plowed it with my tractor and that evening the wind blew most of it away. Finally after amending it with pickup truck loads full of bags of Miracle Grow, Black Kow, etc. I finally had a garden (so I thought). Everything came up green and the word got out to every hungry bug in Florida, dinner is at Lou's garden. That's when I decided to build the enclosed screen house garden area. This fall I will be building a hoop type green house 24'wide X 32' long using chain link fencing top rails from Lowes that I will bend into a hoop shape with my hoop tubing bender. Again, Thank You for the link. Lou

Good afternoon, almost evening! It was a little cool and windy here today, with rain early this morning. Everything is glistening and green. So pretty. I had my first official workout today. I managed to do all the machines twice and lightly jogged in place after every 2 machines. I have to admit that I had to pop some tylenol and take a nap late this afternoon because I did feel the burn and was achy and tired. But, it was fun, and I'll definitely return tomorrow for a light workout. Hubby has a sleep study tonight way over in Houston, so I'll be on my own here tonight. I haven't spent many nights here alone, and it's been since Thanksgiving so I'm a little nervous. These lovely woods start feeling very dark and lonely when it's just Lucky pup and me. QOD: I think I'd like to return as Sweetpea because that little one leads a beautiful life on Suzanne's farm! Jen, so glad to see you posting and that y'all were safe even though you were frightened. BJ, reading about your windows getting washed made me look hard at mine, and I know that I'll be getting around to them sometime very soon. I hadn't realized how rain-spotted they'd gotten until I really looked. McPeg, that washstand has such good bare bones. Can't wait to see the finished product! I'm happy for you to be getting new furniture! This weekend, we're getting a new propane tank for our grill, and I'm thawing out chicken and steaks to rub down and grill for next week's meals. There's just nothing better than grilled meat - and I love the smell of it cooking on the grill. Hope everyone has a restful weekend!

Till the earth. Being tubers, sweet potatoes will grow deep in the earth. Make sure theyâÂÂll have an easy time of it by tilling the soil about 12 inches (30.5 cm) deep. Get the soil as loose and light as possible, incorporating gardening soil if necessary. According to the following article http://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Sweet-Potatoes

I don't take photos of my food much anymore. I've had to eat rather austere lately due to economics (inflation is kicking our food budget's butt!) and also add weight loss and IBS management in the mix. Neely I envy you your seafood! Even most fish is out of reach of our budget right now . . . we get panfish from friends in the summer. I do eat shrimp once in a blue moon, but it isn't much a part of my diet anymore for calorie and cholesterol reasons. Lately can't even get good prices on salmon and even tilapia. I won't eat Atlantic salmon but sometimes we get it from Iceland or Chile. Not lately. I can't afford fresh Pacific salmon. We eat salmon patties made out of canned Pacific salmon. Crab I can only dream about . . . We do have good Lake fish here but I relegate that mostly to summer when I am up by the Lake and can get it fresh. Lake Michigan is "the Lake" around here. The best food to come out of my kitchen lately was pumpkin cheesecake that hubs made for Thanksgiving. His secret recipe apparently. Great breakfast of buttermilk pecan waffles that I made because hubs weekly home made yogurt turned out watery. https://younggoodsandeats.com/buttermilk-pecan-waffles/ We are also enjoying Thanksgiving left overs and Missing Egg Salad for lunch, made with tofu and yellow mustard, tumeric and my green tomato hot dog relish. Tonight's dinner was really good, brussel sprouts were on sale at Aldis so I made braised sprouts and served them over shell pasta, taking my inspiration from Chef Jacques Pepin. I am actually a person who thinks brussel sprouts are a treat, when sauteed. I'm linking to the recipe, but I used vegetarian Italian sausage, not meat sausage in mine, and also dolled up the sauce with sauteed onion, some Mrs. Dash garlic herb seasoning, lite soy sauce for salt, and a couple dashes of white wine and pasta water plus Parmesan and Romano cheese to make it creamy. Yum! https://jp.foundation/video/medley-of-brussels-sprouts-sausage-and-beans