Tony, sorry to hear about your calotropis seeds. There are lots of calotropis plants where my daughter lives, I've thought about having her send me some seed. If I can give her directions to the really nice purple shrub growing in the neighborhood across the street from their area, maybe she'd find a seedpod that I could share. I grew a lot one year, and the caterpillars loved the leaves. I 'll put in a request for a seedpod. . . or two. Lila, will you stay in Texas? Hope your gopher spurge works, I may try to find some of that. Will you get more land? Do you already have a place picked out to move? Yes, lots of questions! If you get to your new place in time, I'll send some more Aristolochia clematitis roots to see if you can get it started. It has taken over the garden. I ordered 3 Asclepias lanceolata plants from a NC nursery, so will be trying these. The flowers are a beautiful deep orangey red color. They arrived dormant, but the crowns look healthy. This is the way Seneca Hills used to send her plants. Sure do miss her! I'll try the physocarpus again. Hopefully, I'll have a greenhouse by next winter. It's on my want list, now that I have a place for one. We got lots of good moisture this past week, so should see some sprouting taking place in a couple of weeks. I do not have any luck with milkweed seeds ordered from Georgiavines. Anyone else have this problem? I much prefer Prairie Moon or Butterfly Encounters. So, I just need to quit ordering seed for GV, as it's not going to get any better. I also ordered Purple MW seeds from Everwilde, and only got 7 seeds in one packet. It seems they used to give you more. I did, however, get a bunch of A syriaca seeds from them. Purpurascens seeds seem scarce this year. Hope I get some seed pods this summer. Even though the gophers love this plant, they don't seem to get all the roots, and new plants pop up in different places. Sandy

To preserve the taste even better, freeze in water rather than oil. Works better in things like soup, where you might not want an oily taste or appearance. Kissingfrogs - using lemon balm: Honey and Lemon Balm Biscuits 1 cup butter 1 cup honey 3 eggs 3 cups self-raising flour 1 tablespoons milk 2 teaspoons lemon juice 4 springs lemon balm, chopped Cream the butter with the honey, add eggs, beat well. Add remaining ingredients. Drop by spoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake 8-10 minutes at 190�C. Lemon Balm and Mushroom Salad 2 apples, chopped and sprinkled with lemon juice 100g mushrooms, sliced 4 stalks celery, chopped 1/2 onion, chopped lettuce, dandelion leaves, sorrel, purslane or other greens grated cheese chopped capsicum 2 tablespoons chopped lemon balm leaves Combine apples, mushrooms, celery and onion. Make a bed with the greens, cheese and capsicum, place the mushroom mixture on top, sprinkle with lemon balm leaves. Lemon Balm Berry Tart 1 2/3 cups plain flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 cup unsalted butter 2 teaspoons iced water 1 cup icing sugar 4 cups mixed strawberries and raspberries 1 cup unsalted butter 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/8 teaspoon finely chopped lemon balm leaves Preheat oven to 190�C. In a food processor, combine the flour, salt, baking powder and butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water and process until the mixture forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll out the dough and press into a 22cm tart pan. Prick the base evenly with a fork. Bake blind until edges begin to brown, about 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 160C. Arrange the berries in the tart shell. Whisk together the icing sugar and butter until well blended. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla and lemon balm. Pour the mixture over the berries and bake for 25-30 minutes until set. Cool before serving. Lemon Balm Butter for Seafood and Vegetables 6 tablespoons butter, softened 2 tablespoons lemon balm, finely chopped 2 tablespoons chives, finely chopped Combine the butter lemon balm and chives. Using a piece of waxed paper to help mould, shape into a log. Cover and refrigerate overnight to blend the flavours. May be frozen. Use on seafood or vegetables. Lemon Balm Cheesecake Pastry: 125g plain flour pinch salt 60g margarine Preheat oven to 200�C. Sift the flour and salt, rub in margarine until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add enough water to make a soft dough. Roll out to fit a 18cm flan dish. Bake blind for 15 minutes. Filling: 60g margarine 2 tablespoons honey 360g cream cheese 2 eggs, beaten 6 tablespoons finely chopped lemon balm Cream margarine, honey and cream cheese together, beat in eggs, fold in lemon balm. Reduce oven temperature to 180�C. Pour filling into prepared pastry case, bake for 45 minutes until filling is golden and set. Serve with whipped cream or yoghurt. Lemon Balm Salad Dressing 1/4 cup oil 1 clove garlic, crushed 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar 1 tablespoon chopped lemon balm Put all ingredients through a blender, refrigerate. Lemon Balm Spread Combine 1/4 cup finely chopped lemon balm leaves, 1 teaspoon lemon rind and 250g cream cheese. Use on crackers or to stuff celery sticks. Add Lemon Balm to stewed fruit of all kinds, and use instead of lemon when making squash or rhubarb jam. Add a few lemon balm leaves to summer drinks, or to fruit salads. Use Lemon Balm in stuffings for lamb or pork. Cover a chicken with the leaves before roasting. Culinary Uses: Use fresh leaves in salads and as a garnish for fish and other dishes. When candied, the leaves make attractive cake decorations. Chopped leaves can be added to egg, fish and chicken dishes and sprinkled over fresh vegetables. Goes well with corn, broccoli, asparagus, lamb, shellfish, ground black pepper, olives and beans. Add the leaves to cooked dishes in the last few minutes. They can also be added to summer drinks and fruit salads, soups, sauces and ice cream, and make a good substitute for lemon peel in recipes. An ingredient of Benedictine and Chartreuse. The flower tips and young leaves are floated in wine or fruit cups as a flavouring and garnish. Substitute for lemon rind in jam making and add to marmalades. Makes a delicious tea, alone or added to ordinary tea. Medicinal Uses: It helps relieve anxiety attacks, palpitations with nausea, mild insomnia and phobias and when used as a sedative it is good for children. It combines well with peppermint to stimulate circulation and can also be used for colds and flu and is most effective in the early stages of a cold. The tea is used to treat headaches and tiredness, mild depression, eczema, laryngitis, colic and dizziness and is reputed to enhance the memory. It calms a nervous stomach, controls high blood pressure, relieves menstrual cramps, promotes menstruation and treats insomnia. Useful for liver, spleen, kidney, bladder and bowel troubles. Helps if suffering from tinnitus (ringing in the ears). Fresh juice is used to treat goitre and Grave�s Disease. It is especially suitable for children and makes a good substitute for chamomile. A crushed fresh leaf applied to insect bites eases discomfort. As a poultice, it treats sores and tumours. In ointment, it is good for cold sores. Other Uses: Attracts bees to the garden. Potpourri. An infusion of leaves makes a refreshing skin toner and can be used in rinse water for clothes. A stronger infusion makes a good rinse for oily hair. Use as a facial steam for dry skin and to treat acne. Use in furniture polishes. The leaves rubbed onto wooden furniture make a fine furniture polish. Rub on a fresh leaf to soothe insect bites. Use in sleep pillows and add to soaps. Used to bathe discharging eyes in puppies. Used to bring down retained afterbirth in farm animals. Also used for farm animals for eye ailments, nervous and brain disorders, heart abnormalities, uterine disorders, to increase milk yield and to prevent miscarriage. Warning: Avoid medicinal doses when pregnant or if suffering from night sweats. People with either Grave's disease or other thyroid-related illness should not use this herb except under medical supervision. Prolonged contact with balm plants or leaves may cause contact dermatitis (itching, sting, burning, reddened or blistered skin) or it may sensitise you to other allergens.

Dawn, I have a very similar pitter, mine is a Leifheit, and it works like a charm. I mostly use it on sweet cherries, which I can pick locally for about $1 a pound in good years. This was not a good year, unfortunately. Anyway, I paid about $25 for mine, and the advertising says it can pit 25 pounds per hour. I think I've done more than that! Sour cherries are grown a lot here in Michigan, but mostly sold to the processors. They are available more cheaply already pitted and frozen than if I pick them myself! I did pick 8 quarts from my own trees, I beat the bear and the birds to them this year, and that pitter did a bang up job! Annie

I just figured out a trick today for thawing meat, and feel really stupid for not having thought of it before. Our refrigerator is set on the colder end of the range, so sometimes meat needs a bit more time in a cold water bath in the sink so that it is thawed completely in time to cook for dinner. (I'm not a fan of what the microwave does to meat when defrosting.) I double-bag the meat with freezer zip-locks to keep all water from seeping in. But I've long struggled to keep the bag of meat under the water (per food safety instructions), because even when as much air as possible has been squeezed out, it wants to bob to the surface. I have tried smooth rocks, and bowls of water with weight and water inside, but the meat more-often-than-not eventually manages to slip out from underneath the weights and wins the bob-battle. But today I needed to add a bit of additional thaw to some ground sirloin, and I saw my pasta pot on the counter. Finally the light bulb went off! The pasta pot is a large one, with the big insert with holes that slips inside. So I placed the bagged meat in the bottom of the main pot, placed the insert inside with the rocks to weigh the insert down, and filled the pot with cold water. Completely submerged bag of meat, and no escape! I finally turned the corner on a decades old battle. I'm embarrassed it took so long, but happy to have eventually figured it out.