Mike in Michigan -- yes, you should be able to get your raspberry bed prepped without too much trouble. If you have a weed problem, hit it with some roundup or similar first thing, as soon as weeds begin to grow, then till them in, amend the soil as appropriate, and you should be good to go. Or, if you don't want to use herbicides, do it the old fashioned way by digging weeds out by the roots, that sort of thing. Worst case scenario, you could always pot up the new raspberry plants and tend to them that way for a while if need be, then plant out when bed is ready. A couple of good sources: Indiana Berry and Nursery company. www.inberry.com Nourse Farms in MA. www.noursefarms.com I would be cautious about the source you mentioned above -- they don't have the most stellar reputation for quality or customer service. I have order seeds from them many years without any trouble, but I've given up on getting plants from them, as they are quite often not as labeled when they grow out ('Primrose' yellow lilac proved to be common purple lilac, 'Seckle' pear proved to be 'Winter Nellis'), or the order isn't filled properly and/or there are quality issues. But, they do have a $25 off of $50 offer going on, although they eat up a lot of the value of the coupon with inflated prices and shipping/handling -- you'd end up with something worthwhile, sooner or later, but it might take some wrangling with customer service to get it right if they goof up the initial shipment. Check out the Garden Watchdog at davesgarden.com for good reviews of mail order nurseries. As far as birds go, you generally will find that they are not nearly as big of a problem with raspberries as with some other fruits -- you might suffer minor losses, but as a rule, birds don't seem to go after raspberries nearly as much as they do strawberries or blueberries. I think it may have to do with the nature of the canes -- too flimsy to support the weight of most birds that would try to land on them. Canby is one really good summer raspberry, although it's an older variety. I'm sure that there are newer varieties out there that are as good or better. I myself just ordered a whole bunch of new plants for spring shipment from each of the above sources, expanding my patch with some new kinds after many, many years of the same old same old. Dennis SE Michigan

Well, it got down to 32.5 last night and the berries look fine! I covered them with bedsheets w/plastic tarp over the sheets. It's warming up over the next few days so I think we're out of the woods as far as frost goes. I didn't cover the blueberry bushes or the raspberries; the raspberry buds are still pretty tightly shut--they did take over the yard though from last year--just put them in last year and now I have at least a 12 ft row! Thanks--nice to see someone from nearby posting here--I just started putting berries in last year--the strawberries really spread from last year, I have 6 blueberry bushes but they're only 4 yrs old and still small. I did get a few cereal bowls full last year though. :)

It's been awhile since I posted/updated. We had a crazy summer and are (STILL!) working on our kitchen project. On top of slow going renovations we are also expecting baby #2 in May. I am definitely going to need help with organization and storage ideas. We are thinking of turning the sunroom/3 season room into a playroom by updating the windows, replacing the carpet, insulating the ceiling and adding electric baseboard heaters. If that doesn't pan out (We are waiting to hear back from our neighbor who is a contractor) we are going to finish half of the basement. I'm hoping the sunroom idea will work since it will be a much smaller project time and money wise. On the kitchen front all the cabinets and brick have been painted and we installed a new pergo floor. We still have to add base moldings, touch up all the paint and decide on countertops. I'm hoping to finish the kitchen in the next month or 2 but we'll see how it goes. I'll hopefully get some good pictures to share in the next week or two.

Annie1992, Here it is: Great-Grandma's Pumpkin Cobbler 1 stick butter 1 cup Self-rising flour (or make it self rising, if you don't keep it in the house) 1 cup Sugar 1 cup Milk 1 tsp Vanilla extract 2 eggs 1 5 oz can evaporated milk 1 30 oz can pumpkin pie mix (I use i Libby's in a pinch, usually make my own) Method: Cut butter into 4 - 6 pieces and place in 9 x 11 glass baking dish Pre-heat oven to 350° and place baking dish in while pre-heating long enough to melt the butter. In medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, milk and vanilla extract together. When butter is melted, tip around in pan to make sure entire bottom is buttered. Pour batter over butter in baking dish. Do not stir or re-arrange. Now break eggs into another bowl, and whisk until foamy. Add evaporated milk and pumpkin pie filling. Stir to mix well. Spoon or pour pumpkin mixture over crust batter, trying to somewhat evenly distribute. Do not stir. Bake 50-60 minutes, until crust is dark, golden brown. Remove to cooling rack and let cool at least 20 minutes before serving, with/or without whipped cream. If there is any left, it will keep several days in the refrigerator. It is great cold or it can be warmed in the microwave. To make a fruit cobbler using this recipe, make the batter portion according to the directions and then mix your fruit with whatever amount of sugar you think it will take. (Some fruits (blackberries for sure) I pre-cook in a sauce pan to ensure that they are soft and sweet when the cobbler is done). Just place the fruit over the batter in place of the pumpkin mixture and bake according to the same directions. Enjoy -- Lisa