I have an online subscription to Consumer Reports. I pulled this information from that site. Even if a mower comes with a bag, you can usually elect to use it or not. Hope this helps! CU Best Buy Cub Cadet SC100 11A-A92J Gas push mowers $250 CU Best Buy Craftsman 37432 Gas push mowers $220 CU Best Buy Yard Machines 11A-B96N Gas push mowers $240 CU Best Buy Lawn-Boy 10730 Gas push mowers $240 CU Recommended Ariens Razor 911173 Gas push mowers $350 CU Recommended Troy-Bilt TB-110 11A-A23N Gas push mowers $200 CU Recommended Murray 11A-A23K Gas push mowers $195

Record grain prices? Have you looked over at the natural gas boards? If you are comparing prices, you have to compare all the prices. What is happening to the cost of synthetic fertilizers? Urea is made from natural gas. While corn has doubled in price, natural gas has quadrupled. If anything I would be looking for people to move from the expensive chemical programs to the less expensive organic. When I first learned about doing organics with grains, I learned that organic does not have to be expensive. The costly mistake is to use compost. Compost costs me $40 per cubic yard plus another $40 for delivery. That is $80 per 1,000 square feet. I can apply corn meal for more like $2.00 per 1,000 square feet. If you do not use compost, simply buying grains is cost comparable to synthetic chemicals. If you rely on Starbucks for fertilizer, then your organic program is free. When you add in the fact that you can fertilize regularly with corn meal and not have to buy separate chemical fungicides, then organic can be pretty inexpensive. I was in a feed store in California last week to check the prices. Corn meal was $8.50 for 50 pounds. I paid $6.50 for my last bag here in San Antonio. Given that prices for everything are higher in CA, I don't see a substantial price increase.

Heidi, You crack me up!!! I can just see you smiling sweetly at your DH while thinking to yourself "I have no idea where these are going, honey!" lol lol lol I am SO GLAD you made it to the organic show! You and your extravagant mail order purchase of heirloom tomatoes in 2005 were one of the reasons I posted the report on the show, so you'd know that next year it wouldn't be necessary to order plants and pay a king's ransom in shipping!!! Also, you know I will raise any tomatoes you want next year when I grow my own! So, tell me what you bought for ants in the veggie garden. I have purchased both Gardenville's Auntie Fuego and one of the new spinosad products for the fire ants in my veggie garden, but haven't put them out yet. And I bought Seranade for future, anticipated foliar problems on tomato plants (it is a given that they will occur, the only question is when and how bad they will be). And, speaking of ants in the garden, did you see the thread a week or two ago from the guy who put Over and Out Fireant Killer in his vegetable garden? Might have been on the Vegetable forum or the Organic forum? Talk about ruining your soil for years and years to come. I belive if I were that guy, I'd hire a bulldozer and have several FEET of soil removed and replaced. Did your friend get sweet potato slips at Horns? I know that it is the usual time to plant them, but the nights are staying so darn cold! Well, I am glad you had a great Sunday in spite of your dance workshop being cancelled. ANY day spent shopping for plants is a great day, isn't it? Dawn

I don't think anyone wants any type of industrial plant in a residential neighborhood, but there's also a point where people have to be reasonable. Right now all over the country you have many people moving out to the country, and then they gripe -- and in some cases even file lawsuits -- about smelling manure from farm fields and livestock operations. People move near airports and then they want the airport shut down because they hear airplanes. It's ridiculous. You're right, the EPA is the least of the problems. They have specific regulations, and anyone who wants to build something can look up the relevant rules and decide whether it is or isn't possible to meet them. But the lawsuits filed by people to hamstring almost every proposed project are a much bigger problem. Even in places such as Indiana which are economically depressed and literally crying for more economic activity, as soon as anyone proposes anything, there are two or three pressure groups quickly organized to fight it. People do not even take time to gather information and make an informed decision; they read a newspaper article saying this or that is proposed, and instantly they're opposed to it. Personally, I'd rather live next to a factory or a power plant than to people who are closed minded and opposed to everything.