Roofing tar contains petro-based chemicals (some even still have asbestos in them too) - not usually recommended for use around food crops due to leaching. Food safe latex paints are available as is water-based urethane and similar plastic coatings. Otherwise plain wood will last for several years. And many of the new types of treated lumber are now considered food-safe too as arsenic is no longer used in many of the brands. Dave

here's an very interesting read about monsanto rumsfeld connection. http://www.newswithviews.com/NWVexclusive/exclusive15.htm DONALD RUMSFELD AND ASPARTAME Posted: May 9, 2004 12:18 AM Eastern by NWV Staff Writer 2004 NewsWithViews.com Aspartame is an additive found in diet soft drinks and over 5,000 foods, drugs and medicine. It was approved in 1983 for use in carbonated beverages. However, there may be more sour than sweet when it comes to aspartame. In reality, aspartame is a drug, not an additive in the sense many people associate with that word. It interacts with other drugs, has a synergistic and additive effect with MSG, and is a chemical hyper-sensitization agent. Dr. John Olney, who founded the field of neuoscience called excitotoxicity, attempted to stop the approval of aspartame with Attorney James Turner back in 1996. The FDA's own toxicologist, Dr. Adrian Gross told Congress that without a shadow of a doubt, aspartame can cause brain tumors and brain cancer and violated the Delaney Amendment which forbids putting anything in food that is known to cause Cancer. Detailed information on this can be found in the Bressler Report (FDA report on Searle). Dr. Olney isn't alone in attempting to reach out to the medical community and warn the American people about this drug. Dr. Ralph Walton, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine has written of the behavioral and psychiatric problems triggered by aspartame-caused depletion of serotonin. According to the top doctors and researchers on this issue, aspartame causes headache, memory loss, seizures, vision loss, coma and cancer. It worsens or mimics the symptoms of such diseases and conditions as fibromyalgia, MS, lupus, ADD, diabetes, Alzheimer's, chronic fatigue and depression. Further dangers highlighted is that aspartame liberates free methyl alcohol. The resulting chronic methanol poisoning affects the dopamine system of the brain causing addiction. Methanol, or wood alcohol, constitutes one third of the aspartame molecule and is classified as a severe metabolic poison and narcotic. Dr. Woodrow Monte in the peer reviewed journal, Aspartame: Methanol and the Public Health, wrote: "When diet sodas and soft drinks, sweetened with aspartame, are used to replace fluid loss during exercise and physical exertion in hot climates, the intake of methanol can exceed 250 mg/day or 32 times the Environmental Protection Agency's recommended limit of consumption for this cumulative poison." Neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, MD, author of "Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills," wrote about the relationship between aspartame and macular degeneration, diabetic blindness and glaucoma (all known to result from excitotoxin accumulation in the retina). The medical text, Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic, by Dr. H. J. Roberts is 1038 pages of symptoms and diseases triggered by this neurotoxin. The claim is made that aspartame has even caused the epidemic of obesity because it makes you crave carbohydrates so you gain weight, and the formaldehyde accumulates in the adipose tissue (fat cells) according to the Trocho Study. Further accusations are that aspartame is also responsible for the epidemic of diabetes as it not only can precipitate diabetes but simulates and aggravates diabetic retinopathy and neuropathy, can cause diabetics to go into convulsions and interacts with insulin. The effects of aspartame are documented by the FDA's own data. In 1995 the agency was forced, under the Freedom of Information Act, to release a list of ninety-two aspartame symptoms reported by thousands of victims. It appears this is only the tip of the iceberg. H. J. Roberts, MD, published the medical text "Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic" -- 1,000 pages of symptoms and diseases triggered by this neurotoxin including the sordid history of its approval. [See Video "Sweet Misery, a Poisoned World"] Since its discovery in 1965, controversy has raged over the health risks associated with the sugar substitute. From laboratory testing of the chemical on rats, researchers have discovered that the drug induces brain tumors. On Sept 30, 1980 the Board of Inquiry of the FDA concurred and denied the petition for approval. In 1981, the newly appointed FDA Commissioner, Arthur Hull Hayes, ignored the negative ruling and approved aspartame for dry goods. As recorded in the Congressional Record of 1985, then CEO of Searle Laboratories Donald Rumsfeld said that he would "call in his markers" to get aspartame approved. Rumsfeld was on President Reagan's transition team and a day after taking office appointed Hayes. No FDA Commissioner in the previous sixteen years had allowed aspartame on the market. Dr. Betty Martini has worked in the medical field for 22 years. She is the founder of Mission Possible International, working with doctors around the world in an effort to remove aspartame from food, drinks and medicine. According to Dr. Martini, aspartame has brought more complaints to the American Food and Drug Administration than any other additive and is responsible for 75% of such complaints to that agency. From 10,000 consumer complaints FDA compiled a list of 92 symptoms, including death. The history of aspartame and its approval has a political history as well as a scientific one. According to Dr. Martini, "When Donald Rumsfeld was CEO of Searle, that conglomerate manufactured aspartame. For 16 years the FDA refused to approve it, not only because its not safe but because they wanted the company indicted for fraud. Both U.S. Prosecutors hired on with the defense team and the statute of limitations expired. They were Sam Skinner and William Conlon. Skinner went on to become Secretary of Transportation squelching the cries of the pilots who were now having seizures on this seizure triggering drug, aspartame, and then Chief of Staff under President Bush's father. Some of these people reach high places. Even Supreme Justice Clarence Thomas is a former Monsanto attorney. (Monsanto bought Searle in 1985, and sold it a few years ago). When Ashcroft became Attorney General, Thompson from King and Spalding Attorneys (another former Monsanto attorney) became deputy under Ashcroft. (Attorneys for NutraSweet and Coke). "However, the FDA still refused to allow NutraSweet on the market. It is a deadly neurotoxic drug masquerading

Oh...wait! I thought you were saying that you still had seeds from the original batch you sowed, not that you picked green, unopened pods off the plants. I am not sure if the pods you collected unopened will have viable seeds--an open pod is always a clear sign of maturation, but some seeds do continue to ripen after being removed from the plant if their close to ripening. Can you please open up the pods and take out the seeds and take a picture? Please put something of known size like a penny or dime in the photo. That would help a lot. Trudi

I'm with weedmeister on this one. You've got to ask yourself some questions, and discuss the implications with your builder. If that's an exterior wall, how to you plan to insulate it? Even if it's not, (I think it's a party wall,) consider it carefully. Stud construction is convenient for lots of reasons. Where are you going to run Romex and where are you putting electrical boxes? How are you going to anchor cabinets to masonry? ascorsonelli shows an example with a brick wall that was likely intended to be exposed. Yours might look charming now, but (no offense) it's not the finest brickwork. It was meant to be covered with lath and plaster. Sorry to rain on your parade ;) But sometimes what we think is a charming discovery turns into a tedious chore down the road. Ask yourself: what do you like about the brick? Maybe you can incorporate that (color/ texture/ whatever) into your scheme in a way that pleases you. That's just my two cents, having been through a lot of these dilemmas. It's easy to get carried away with an old house. I like your house in particular. I remember the cute butlers pantry! To me, your house has plenty of charm already, and I would make sure to weigh the consequences before committing to a potentially problematic exposed brick wall. Good luck, no matter what, and I'll be interested to see what you do with the space!