Oh, sorry> There was a thread about making fermented hot pepper mash on the Harvest Forum, and I decided to try my hand at it too. I thought I had talked about it here. About 5 weeks ago I roasted some Jalepino peppers, skinned and seeded them and put them in a crock along with chopped-up apple, garlic and onion. Poured in a mixture of Keifer Starter and Salt water; and let it "cook". The fermenting finally has slowed down indicating it was done. I cleaned off the scum; then puréed the mash in a big blender; and then ran that thru a Foley Mill to get rid of the big debris. I then put the smooth sauce in a pot and brought it just to the boiling point. I then added salt, sugar to taste, then a bottle of Sherry Vinegar. DH said it was good enough to bottle.... so I did. I like to do putsy stuff like this. It will be interesting to see how it ages.

Yeah, I'm still wondering about the avocados. I had trouble growing them in my back yard when I planted a tree in the ground because my soil does not drain properly, but there is an incredibly huge avocado tree just down the street from me. Anyway, I ended up planting one in a whiskey barrel planter so that I could control the drainage better, and it produces avocados. However, I noticed a few months ago that the soil level was lowered by about 6-8", and I thought the tree had used up all the soil. Last week we transplanted it to a new whiskey barrel planter, and what had happened was that the barrel had rotten at the bottom, and everything just sank down. The tree was not root-bound, but now it has a lot more new soil. Anyway, you can get avocados from trees in planters. Mine is a dwarf.

Thanks so much! Are you using the pre-stained or the primed? I just got our quote back from our local lumber company and pre-stained is $18.00 per board and primed is $11 per board. So... primed it is - I really like the weathered gray stain (actually thought it was a paint but when I called Nichiha they said it was a stain). I'm wondering how I'll like the look of the painted since I've only seen the stained. DH prefers paint over stain in general. Also, do you have any pictures you would be willing to share? Every time I see a picture of this product I think 'yep, that's what I want!' Sorry for any typos - am holding sleeping baby and typing w/ one hand! Thanks again!

If I were you and lived anywhere near the Sacramento area, I would use Earth Dynamics Poolscapes. I found them through a Google search early on in my remodel project when I discovered that the expertise of my contractor was lacking when unforeseen challenges came up but even lacking with the expected scope of work. I hired Mike in a consulting capacity after first looking at a wealth of info on their website and then speaking with him. On his website, he even provides questions to ask your potential contractors. I was already under contract with another contractor and even though Mike was several hundred miles away, (I emailed pictures and measurements), he was able to educate me and provide plans as needed so the performance level of my contractor was improved dramatically. If I would have known then what I know now, I would have had Mike help me with the project definition, bidding process and contractor selection and I would have wound up with a different contractor. I would have spent a little more but I would not have wasted countless hours that pulled me out of my office. In reading what I just wrote, I realize that I rambled on and some might think that this is a spam ad post. But if you search on my user name, you will see that for the past 3 years I was using this website to educate myself on pool stuff and asking a bunch of questions because I thought I could figure out what I needed to know to make sure that my project was a success. And if lived near Sacramento, i would have hired his company for the whole project. Hindsight is 20/20.