I hope that your community is recovering. In the southern NH/northern Mass icestorm that kicked us off the electric grid on Dec 11, I was one of the lucky ones - out on Thursday, back on in wee hours of Sunday. Some didn't have it until after Christmas. I live alone, so have to be responsibile for taking care of myself and my animals. The critical piece is to be prepared for the worse with supplies of food, water, and fuel, and a plan. While I have an oil furnace, my basic heat is wood. My woodstove kept the firt floor of the house in mid 60's, second floor even warmer. I have a gas cooktop that I can light with a match. I do have a well, and no power means no pump, so I draw several gallons of drinking water when bad weather is forecast. I also have six of those 100 oz detergent jugs (from those days with teenagers, and their laundry) that I always keep filled with water, tucked under the laundry sink in the basement. They are for toilet flushing. By Saturday am, with no idea of when power would be back, I loaded all frozen food into a cooler and put it outside - it was near zero all day, so I didn't lose anything. Just lucky - if Sat had been as warm as Sunday turned out, it allwould have thawed. Lots and lots of berries would have become jam. As for communication - I have batteries for a radio/cd player. I have a cell phone. And I have an "old school" landline that is not one of those walkaround handsets dependent on power. I am going to look into those rechargeable camp lanterns, for reading. By the end of the second night, sitting in the dark listening to the radio, I was getting a little stircrazy. But I could have gone on for quite a bit longer. The only concern was that the basement was getting colder and colder (it connects to my garage) and so if it had gone on for long, and the weather had stayed as bitter as it was on that Friday and Saturday, I would have been worried about pipes from the well into house and below the first floor. And while I had enough water for minimal washing up, I had no way to indulge in a shower. Fortunately, the power was on across the river in VT, so I went to the gym - where I waited in line with a bunch of other folks from my town who had had the same idea. Spending my whole life in New England, most of it here in NH, I'm not surprised by the ugly turn our weather can take. I do get very frightened about what it can do, and so I tend to be obsessive about taking precautions. I was lucky - except for the hemlock branch that joined forces with a white pine crown to take out my mailbox, I didn't have any damage. But walking the dog the day after the storm, ice was still knocking down branches all up and down the road. As soon as she was done, we turned and ran home. And a branch too big for me to pull out of the way came down on the path into the woods that is the backway to my neighbor's. There were many big and old trees in the village that suffered terrible damage. As I tell my brother-in-law when he calls from Florida to gloat over 70 degrees, "up here, we EARN spring!"

Hi Guys- On the mint, I think you need to find a plant that does well where you are. Keep it in pots (It's invasive, and manages to escape the pot...) I clip the flowers...most of the time..and when it begins to look scraggily, I divide it up. Lemon grass...the last time I bought lemon grass (It was years ago..) I got a healthy looking bunch that had some roots (just a few) I stuck 4 stalks in a glass of water on the window sill for a couple of weeks, and then planted it in the center of whiskey barrell, with other herbs around it (which was very pretty, until it ate its pot mates). To harvest, you have to get down and pull/cut it out by the roots (the grass blades are sharp) You use the white bulby part in Thai cooking, or you can just kind of bruise the bulb and throw it in a pot of tea. It gives a wonderful lemon flavor-with out being sour. This year I am growing sugar cane, stuck a couple of pieces (from the oriental grocery store) in a pot--It took a while to sprout.. Maggie

I have a large rosemary that I have put outside (I live in Columbus, OH - zone 5b) during the summer and then bring inside in the fall before the first frost. It does okay. By the end of winter/early sping it starts to look like it will die, but when I put it outside in may, it springs back to life! I keep it in a south facing, large window and water it when it has gone completely dry. I have been doing this for 3 years now. I decorate it with Christmas lights and ornaments in December. I can't tell you how wonderful it is for a lamb-lover like myself to have fresh rosemary year-round. I would say to buy a hearty rosemary and give it a try! I can post a picture if you would like. Remember that it needs a lot of sunlight and good drainage. Without great drainage, it will die immediately.

"Y'all can do what you want. But I guarantee if you make the same dish, using fresh spices in one and your old stuff in another, you will taste the difference." Of course there will be a difference! Belindach joked about the spice police and I joked in kind. She wasn't referring to a recipe for a contest or sale, she was talking about a pie filling she made that was delicious. Obviously, the age of her cloves didn't hurt. >If the spice is old, just use moreBzzt! Wrong! Thanks for playing. :>) Well, I stand corrected. I've only been cooking for 40 years, I guess I was just too dumb to know that old spices taste different from fresh ones. Of course, I was speaking of spices, not herbs, where the difference is not as pronounced. A year-old container of tarragon or basil is really no more flavorful than hay, while a similarly aged portion of cloves, cinnamon, or star anise retains flavor much longer (presuming proper storage), though of course, fresher is better.