That is a beautiful greenhouse. I enjoy more sweet flavored citrus (like navels) rather than tart (like grapefruits). But I pretty much love all oranges and mandarins, only like lemons and limes for cooking and aides, and am indifferent toward grapefruit. I love the staple of navels: Washington (aka Parent navel). It however has a wide range of flavor quality depending on where it's grown and especially the night temps during ripening. (As you are probably aware, most citrus, stone, and other fruit tree flavors are largely determined by acid/sugar ratios which are established during cool or chill hours.) I also love the flavor of Clementines -- but they are actually close to tasting and having flesh like mini-navels. I like Satsumas even though they are slightly more tart, however they have extremely juicy with minimal flesh cells and minimal pith, so it really makes up for it. Some Good Resources There is some great reading material, albeit somewhat technical and many times focused on commercial growers, put out from Univ. of Florida extension and Univ. of Calif. extensions. I've seen materials from other states, incl. AZ, TX, and even a couple from WA. Even Kern County here in CA provides good material for our local growing climates. Maybe you can find some for your area. I'm glad to find technical material from these centers because it seems like every book or guide on Citrus are nearly identical and their cursory style is suited for the masses. But with technical material also comes a need for background knowledge and critical thinking particularly in when recommendations are made because of the dissimilarities of their environment and yours. After reading citrus books in the library and at stores, you'll also realize not much more would be learned from that method. So FWIW, Here are some of the online sources I've used to educate myself on citrus. For Florida there is the Univ. of Florida IFAS Extension Site or go directly to their BULLETINS You can google or UF/IAS for the extensions document numbers: HS949 and SP248 that provide some OK rootstock information. Or the Univ. of CA. has a great Free Publications website. And the individual UC shools have their own sites that contain some unique (and many duplicate) articles. UC Riverside and Davis are big into citrus. UC Davis Citrus for Home Orchard This might interest you: Cold Hardy Citrus Myth? for WA A great site that is attempting to house all citrus variety technical information is the UC Riverside Citrus Variety Collection . It's listing is un-paralleled and the major varieties are complete, but many varieties are lacking details. Do with it as you see fit.

My husband and I nickednamed it, the fauxconut, or Ooh, the Foh-coh. lol. Ours is still small enough to keep in a pot on the front porch, sweet little baby palm. I think it was a poster named Zeeth who got us interested by his/her enthusiasm for it. We purchased it online from MB palms. We met them in person at the FIT botanical fest and they are sure good folks, purchased another palm at their booth...just super nice people there. Seabreeze are good folk, too. I don't know how to say enough good things about them. Justen and Derek, if you are reading this....you're both wonderful and so are all the palms we've purchased from you....fat, healthy, and beautiful!

No pics today, but there will be some soon. Lots of prep work has been going on for the past couple of weeks, but the progress has been slow--at least in appearance. The subflooring is installed. All the plumbing and electrical is in and my recessed cans are up. The new ceiling is finished and has received many coats of paint. It could probably stand one more, but since my husband decided to take on the painting himself, that probably won't happen. Funny, I'm quite certain that he'd demand it if it weren't him doing the work. :) He has also stripped the one window that had been painted. Luckily, it had been stained and varnished before that, so the paint is coming off easily. If it weren't for all the corners and crevices, it would have been super easy. A coat of plain old "antique white" paint has gone up everywhere else. We're waiting until the cabinets and countertops are in to settle on a paint color--probably something in the sage family. Right now, we are starting a flurry of activity. My floors will be installed today. My fridge and dishwasher were delivered yesterday and are sitting in my living room. The range comes on Monday. The cabinets should go in on Tuesday and Wednesday. The countertops shortly after that. The hood was a special order, so it's taking a bit longer. So, in about a week, I expect that all that will be left to do is finish work. Install the pendants, replace molding and install trim pieces, etc. Several of our acquaintances have been through the kitchen remodeling experience recently. At a Christmas party, we were talking about our plans. Our hope is to have things finished enough for our annual Mardi Gras party to be held as scheduled on February 2. We started demo on Dec. 17, and we expect to be finished by Jan. 25. People laughed. They said it would never be done in that amount of time. Now, it is possible that my Ventahood won't be here, and I still haven't even chosen a light fixture for the dining area. We haven't ordered our barstools or the new "antique" farmhouse table. I also don't plan on doing a backsplash until later. But, other than those things, it's looking very good for having this thing finished on time. My husband bet a couple of beers that night at the party, so I know he has his fingers crossed! :)

Sure Night Owl. I used 1/2 bushel (about 20 lbs) of Romas. I have a Victorio mill, so I strain them through the mill - you want only the juice (just like you're making puree). Add salt to taste (I added 8T kosher salt to this 20 lb. batch - you can add less or none). Then I cook that down for 1-2 hours until it is a nice and thick puree. Lightly oil shallow baking sheets with olive oil. Pour the puree on the sheet (I fill the sheet about 1/2 way up) and bake at 200 for several (4-8) hours. Stir often (I stirred about once an hour, but more often is fine). As it thickens, be sure to spread as evenly as possibly on your baking sheets. The thinner you spread, the faster it dries/thickens. Don't take it out too soon, because it won't be thick enough. I try to envision a can of paste and make mine that thick. But don't leave it too long or it will burn. Nothing like being exact, huh?!!