I have some first hand experience with the adverse effects of soy. I realized a couple of years ago that I was lactose intolerant. I also have to take thyroid supplements due to Graves disease, that required the removal of my thyroid. Well I had been on the same dose of thyroid medication for almost 2 years, finally had it requlated. And then at my next appointment, about 8 months after switching to soy, my levels were completly out of whack. This led my doctor to run other tests, which came back with upset blood levels. Primarily low platlettes, which function to make blood clot. This is often caused by an auto-immune disfunction, the body actually destroys the platelletes faster then you can make them. Well it just happened that we had the day before my appointment read a medical journal that published a report about soy preventing the absorbtion of thyroid hormones. So my doctor, who I am thrilled to have as she tends to not jump to conclusions and start writing prescriptions, decided to see if quiting the soy would help. In 3 months my thyroid levels regulated. However it took much longer for the autoimmune function to stabalize, almost the better part of a year, but with small improvements almost immediately. I will occasionally eat things with soy, primarily soy beans or fermented soy products (miso etc), but in very limited quantities. I think all things in moderation is generally a good rule. My problem came from drinking a couple servings of soy milk a day (one with cereal and one with coffee). I also tend to believe that each person will react differently to soy products. It is just good to be aware of possible issues, so that if something comes up medically you can look to solutions that are simpler then taking more medications that most doctors are quick to prescribe. The hardest thing for me to find an alternative to that doesn't have soy is a good mutli-vitamin. Read your labels, most multi-vitamins these days have the soy isoflavens.

Wow, I am NEVER going to do a wedding, although I have hooked up with a local wedding florist and I *might* work with her, as rumor has it she is easy going and not only th at but she was written up recently in Modern Bride. So I just got back from my six-day, poorly-timed camping trip. Wow. BAD idea-- I'm so behind now I fear I'll never catch up. I'm working my poor husband to death... but he did great in my absence-- I was worried he'd let my whole hoophouse full of tomato plants freeze... I'm going to market this weekend for the first time with just tomato plants like I did last year... I WOULD go with tulips but once again, my tulips are blooming six inches high. Makes me want to curse but I can't because my 2-year-old is learning to talk. I am pretty sure that SOME of my tulips were squat varieties to start (didn't do my research) so hopefully the others (which aren't yet blooming) are the single lates which will bloom singly, late, and TALL, goshdarnit. Last year, my late ones were definitely taller, but not tall enough. I'm going to have a hard time convincing my husband we need to spend a couple hundred dollars on tulips this fall if they dont' perform a bit here pretty soon. But all my peonies are coming up-- didn't lose a single one thank goodness-- and with the exception of the sweet peas and the digitalis, my seedlings are all up and growing strong-- just had to bump up my echinops and centaurea macrocephela, I'll wait another week or so before planting out. Next week I've got 500 lilies and 2,000 glads to plant, so the week AFTER that, I'll start transplanting to the field. Although we're having a milder spring than last year -- some of you might remember my lily disaster which killed off near 400 lilies... well this year they're doing great and no sign of the hard-core frosts we got during the first two weeks of May last year. I was surprised I still had a hundred or so come back after getting knocked back that hard last year (NONE of them bloomed last year, not a SINGLE ONE). Hopefully after the 14th I'll have enough tomatoes cleared out of the greenhosue that I can start planting my beds with amaranth and other greenhouse flowers... right now the space is being used as a transplanting area, and I can't spare it. Boy do we need another hoophouse already. Maybe next year. Well, better get back to work. K

Herring, how is the Breville? Any other Breville owners? I would prefer not to have the VM counter space concern. Breville with a 20% BBB coupon seems to be a possible solution. Are there things the VM or BT can do that the Breville cannot. Such as make soup? Do I need a blender that can make soup? Thoughts? Loved reading through this thread. My trusty Oster of 10 plus buttons and 10 + years did not make it through the second can of garbanzo beans for hummus the other night and gave up in a blaze of glory (or at least a spark!) It worked so well and I keep wondering if I had just let it rest a little...My children keep telling me I should not blame myself but honestly who else? It feels like the end of an era but I amazed it has made it this far given what I put it through, weekly sometimes daily smoothies with any and every vegetable I could find. I tried a juicer but I the juice without the fiber made me too hungry. I still have the juicer which my kids actually like using for apple juice when they are in season. Supposedly I can make nut butters with it but I have never tried. So now I seek an Oster replacement. When I first started emulsifying fruits and vegetables (I make a beet shake that I swear by during cold season) in summer 2011, I went to a Blendtec demo at a Costco an hour away. I really thought I would buy it. I went just for the demo. However, the one issue I had with the Oster was raspberry seeds. I was surprised that in theBlendtec sample they made, you could still feel the seeds. They lost me after that, plus I did not want the expense or counter space clutter. Especially when my $25 Oster seemed to do the job. My smoothies until two nights ago, were smooth!I have been expecting the Oster to give up eventually and I am surprised it took this long. If I had not done the garbanzos I think it would have been fine. I originally thought of just getting a new Oster but I thought why not get something more. However, I am still not entirely sure what more I am getting. I mostly blend whole frozen fruit like mango, leafy vegetables (yes the ubiquitous kale), and garbanzo beans for hummus. I was also blending sweet potato type soups however I will no longer need that I hope. To tide me over I have already bought a Breville immersion wand and chopper bowl (one limitation is it only has one blade so seems to chop everything one way!) Which I used to puree soup and make a smoothie yesterday. So far ok although the smoothie took longer than I would like. One thing I am curious about since I have been making a lot of mung and azuki bean soups lately (feel free to put this in the kale category, I had never heard of either before a year ago!) I did try the Blendtec 3 ingredient soup at the demo. For those who own either machine, how often do you use it to make the type of soup they hype at the demos? Not to blend ingredients before or after but to actually cook the soup in a short amount of time?I would not imagine the Breville can do that or can it? Do I even need that feature? Thank you for any thoughts and opinions

Eventually we might do just that willtv, but our entire lawn needs a lot of work ("fill" and grading and more grass vs. weeds....). No point in digging up a new section of lawn to "build" a garden until all that is addressed. I have pics of one of my KIA end of summer, tomato sauce-making marathons somewhere (prob on our old desktop computer). Your pics remind me of those. The first or second year without a garden, I broke down and purchased a big bag of luscious, ripe, farm-grown tomatoes at our local farmers market so I could make garden tomato sauce to freeze. KA-CHING!!! Made one batch of the most expensive tomato sauce ever! kellienoelle--what a wonderful looking wine and conversation set-up you put together! I'll bet your friends enjoyed themselves in your beautiful new space!