Congrats on your new gardening adventure!! I wish I had easy access to horse manure for composting. Too bad you're not my neighbor AR Dramaqueen, I'd GIVE you all the perennial herbs you could want. Every year I beg friends and family and yes even strangers to come and take divisions from my yard. Herbs are very, very easy to grow in the ground but in my experience hard to keep happy in pots. If you can make a herb bed somewhere in the yard your herb gardening venture will be so much easier. Particularly when starting seeds, moisture levels are critical. You may want to check locally to see if there are any other herb gardeners close to you. Most gardeners are thrilled to take you on a tour and provide you with starter divisions. I still remember my dad taking me to a "yard sale" when I was about 10 years old. An elderly lady was selling her daylily plants in preparation for moving to a retirement village. We took an instant shine to each other and she spent a lot of time showing me how to pollinate flowers to make new hybrids, how to divide and set plants, etc. You could see that she had a lifetime passion for gardening and was happy to "set the seed" in another person. By the end of our visit to her yard I had a station wagon full of lovely plants and a head full of information. I don't know that she even let my dad pay her for the plants, I can't remember. I do remember that 6 or 7 years later my high school science project was on hybridizing daylilies and that I credited Pansy Corriher for the information and starter plants.

Hi florida_country_boy, Hmmm, not sure what to say, strange the Bhut always drops it's flowers? Is it in the same environment as the other plants? Maybe the seed you started from had some suicidal gene combination? I'm growing from the same seed stock as yours this year and have loads of pods about a week or so away from ripening. Already pulled a couple of eager ones that ripened last week. Glad you like the Ethiopian Berbere. The parent plant I collected seed from was started from seed I kindly received from fiedlermeister. With respect to the yellow one, I know it didn't cross with the Scorpion because I didn't grow the EB last year. The EB seeds were collect from one I grew two years ago. Now, I think I may know what you have though. I grew the Scorpion in close proximity to the 7 Pot. I'm growing a 7 Pot this year from seeds collected last year and it's maturing yellow/orange, not red. Is is possible you started a 7 Pot instead of a second EB? Ate a ripe one yesterday and it still has a killer heat and nice taste. Let me know how the 5 color and 7 Pot you just started make out. Bill

Update: Apparently there's a known problem with the island trim on my range. They're ordering the part & will install in 9 days...me, I'm hoping this will help with the noise issue too. Repair guy says probably not, but hey, I know fan noise is often more about the way the air moves than the fan itself, so I can hope. Though neither the service guy nor I am clear on why I have island trim without an island. Stove was installed against a wall in the store, so I never questioned. I don't care one way or another that I know of--anything here I'm missing? We're waiting on the "simmer burners going out" issue until we solve the fan one, because it might all be caused by the airflow being wrong. At least the repairman agrees--first words out of his mouth when fan went on were "that's really weird". And he's smart enough that the next thing he did was call the manufacturer! Thank you all for your help--hearing that it was a real issue from you guys really helped us calmly wait the week for diagnosis!

A lot depends on for what events/contingencies you're preparing. Some of the list is humorous. "Big dogs"? Kind of goes with goats & chickens? Liquor for bribes! And seeds? Probably should include an alternate mate to repopulate the world! LOL Ease up folks, some of it clearly was for entertainment purposes. But there are basic items I can't excuse people for not having in stock. If you don't have a supply of batteries in your refrigerator drawer, purchased when free or cheap, you deserve to suffer during a power outage. Again I endorse the crank flashlights/radios (until analog radio is turned off of course). I would suggest going with propane for lantern and stove fuel rather than the white gas ("Coleman" type) fuels. That stuff is explosive. If you doubt it, take a tablespoon and throw it on a campfire sometime. But be back a ways when you do it. A 20# propane tank can have splitters on it to run multiple lanterns and a stove, even a heater, much more safely than the white gas. Heavy garbage bags make excellent makeshift raingear. And don't forget about firestarters. If you're talking emergency situations, I'd suggest waterproof matches. Make your own by dipping the wooden matches in paraffin wax. Firestarters are many different kinds. Save some dryer lint. Works great. Keep it in a coffee can. Dip some cotton string in paraffin wax. Some books of matches waterproofed (with? yes, paraffin) works too and even the end pieces from candles you use in the house at holidays. A hatchet is a good idea to keep handy too. Essentially, camping fans will do fine in a lot of emergencies. Other cooking sources are your propane grill, kettle grill if you have charcoal and starters. A good alternative to thermal underwear is sweatpants and shirts. Even southerners often have these. Depending on the clothes sizes you can put a pair under and over a pair of jeans. Or the flannel lounging pants under and sweats over them. A few cans of waterproofing spray like Scotchguard will help keep them and you dry. Another little camping tip. Oh, and instead of a dedicated toilet, a portable toilet is made easily from a 5 gal pail, seat if you want to get fancy or even a folding camp stool or a lawn chair! A camp shovel and squat will work too. And if truly an emergency, modesty goes out the window. Fasten the toilet seat to the 5 gal pail and you won't have to argue about who left the seat up! :) Wire clothes hangers can be versitile tools. Use them to make your own lantern hangers, repairs, tie things together, and you can even hang clothes! (To dry and more.) Can also be used as a weapon to beat off people trying to steal your rats, chickens, goats and big dogs! ;) Personally, I think I would use duct tape instead of stockpiling screen patching but the idea of all of these suggestions is to get you thinking. I really think that doing some research on camping tips and tricks would be of great benefit to a lot of people. I live a rather modest life, austere to the view of many. But when the power was out for a week here the last time, I survived quite well. Comfortably under the circumstances and even had some luxuries that many others didn't. I had tv, radio, light, food, water, telephone... Not a huge disaster compared to some, but being prepared not just with supplies, but also in a state of mind. My last suggestion. On these ideas, why not put together a 3 ring binder or something with lists of what to do in certain situations? For instance, power outage, turn off as many breakers as you can, the crank flashlights are located in the hall closet, 1st aid tips, important phone numbers, insurance info, etc. Even ideas for food, crackers & PB (sans-salmonella, eat first from the frig, etc.) and how about including notes like check on the handicapped neighbor, your elderly relatives, etc. Could be helpful. Even though I disagree with some of the ideas, I do like these lists minnie_tx. Keep 'em coming. I like going through them and see how they compare to my checklists and I get ideas from most all of them. I appreciate your efforts.