Some good comments by everyone. Hman, while I agree with some of what you're saying in principle, I may differ on some of the specifics. Namely, I'm not certain Amish ground is all that more productive than those that farm conventionally. I know you live where there are a lot of Amish folk, and they have a reputation of being outstanding farmers, but I wonder if their reputation exceeds its worth. The reason I say that is that although I've no experience with the Amish, I do have experience with the Mennonites. They too, have a reputation as very good farmers. Indeed most have a strong work ethic. However, I used to examine their production records (pig farmers) and while, on average their production was above the mean, it was only slightly so. That improvement seemed to be dependent upon cheap labor (their large bunches of children). In the whole scope of things I'm not sure that agricultural model is the best for the planet (meaning the huge volume of people already on the planet). But like I say, I've little knowledge of the Amish, and even less of their specific farming practices. I will say that there are commercial corn growers getting over 300 bushel/acre, which is very productive indeed. One may think that kind of production is burning out the ground, but it doesn't appear to be so. I've seen some of that good corn ground in IL. It's been farmed for decades and decades, and still the richest looking black stuff you ever saw. I think part of the key is that the land was flat, so in the years where tillage farming was the rule, none of that good stuff was ever washed away. Probably the biggest threat to it is urban encroachment gobbling up that prime land. Keepitlow, Well said. However, I might take issue with the the part that our food quality has declined. This is pretty hard to discuss objectively though, because the word "quality" is so subjective. Additionally, it also depends on what years are being discussed. I'm just about through reading a different kind of American history book. It's the first book of it's kind that I've read. Most history books examine the "important" events of history (i.e. Revolutionary war, Civil war, etc.) and spend little time discussing the day to day lives of ordinary citizens. This book is the opposite. It's spends almost all of it's time discussing daily life, and ignores the "major" events. What I'm coming away with reading this book, is the profound struggle to survive before, and during the early part of the industrial age. This idea of southern plantations with abundance, defining the way of life was not the reality for the most folk. Before the modern industrial age the average American life span was amazingly low, largely due to inadequate and poor food quality. Even in somewhat later times, the food quality has seemed to improve. I remember hearing former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz speak. He gave examples of how food quality had increased since he was a kid (no worms in cereal, no worms in apples). I once read Upton Sinclair's book "The Jungle" about the meat packing industry in the early 1900s (actually I didn't finish it, it made me too sad. I may go back and finish it some day). Anyway, that book described conditions of meat packing as so bad, that reportedly Roosevelt was reading the book at his breakfast, and spit a mouthful of sausage across the table. From that book came the rigorous meat packing inspections we have today. This is getting a little long. Better stop here.

My sympathy to all living in this region of horrific winter, and late freezes this year.I am so sad-I live right on the lakefront in a small ohio community.My second rose bed(5-6 yr old plants) is nearest the brutul winds coming off the lake. .I lost eight roses this year!! My most mature and beautiful rose, About Face included.Had searched for over four years to find "Amelia Earhart"-one died and my fingers crossed for the second..The constant freezing and thawing was soo bad that they were heaved out of the bed!! My more protected bed on the east side of the house lost none out of 14... Only compensation is that I am getting a bit wiser and looking and both own-root, and the roses developed in Canada to replace...I WON"T be caught like this again!!!

Hi again Carol, How gratifying to hear your report of how things are going for you and family. Speaking of family - I hope that yours became accustomed to your upgraded situation without too much distress. Interesting, isn't it, how people get used to seeing others (and themselves?) in sort of a rut, following a familiar path? Sometimes I wonder whether some of the partially/slightly negative attention that they pay to someone else's changing course may have some connection with their unhappiness with their present situation, possibly having some inner desire to do something similar, but being rather unwilling to give that desire house-room, whether from inertia (? - I thought that there was a more precise word, called son, but this is the best that we can think of at the moment), fear or whatever motive. I'm pleased that you're finding some success in the field that you've chosen to pursue, and hope that it proceeds apace. Son and I attended a networking project called "The Beehive" last year that's rather different and enables one to meet a number of folks who might be able to offer mutual support/business contact/development possibilities. I heard of it through an economic development council that I've been connected to in our area and took son to one of their initial local meetings. Actually, it was while I was taking son home from their first meeting that I attended that my car got smacked! They divide a number of people in a room into several groups of about 4 each. They pass out a business envelope to each participant, with a card inside. Each person becomes a "Queen Bee", writing some question relating to an idea that they'd like to develop their business around. For me, a financial planner, instead of writing, "Would you like to pay less income tax?" (which would focus on the hearer[s] only), they encourage me to write, "Do you know someone who would like to pay less income tax?" (asking the hearer to think whether they may know of someone in that situation, in addition to themselves). Another member of the small group becomes the "worker bee", and when the round begins, starts by asking the question in her/his own group. If someone knows of a person who might be interested, s/he gives her/his business card to the worker bee. The worker bee takes that Queen Bee's question around to each of the other groups in turn, asking the question. If someone there knows of someone that might be interested, they hand their business card to the worker bee and the worker bee departs, to visit another "hive". They get some hype and speed worked into the situation, each flying worker wondering whether they've been to this or that hive yet, and when a worker bee has finished in a hive and departed, the members of that hive put up their hands and shout, "Over here! Over here!" to attract another worker bee. When each worker bee has visited every hive, they all gather around the coordinator and each reads her/his question in turn, with the other worker bees handing over their own cards if they are interested in that question. Then each worker returns to his/her own hive and hands the question card with the group of cards that s/he gathered to the "Queen Bee" who wrote the question. They usually run four rounds, if there were four members in each "hive" - so everyone gets to be "Queen" once, and "worker" once. They usually run four rounds - which means that each person puts four questions of interest to each participant in the meeting that night. Each participant usually goes home with a fistful of pre-qualified cards in her/his sweaty little hand. The recipient of the cards then contacts the owner of each card received to ask for the contact. This avoids the pressure of the person contacted being put on the spot. I think that several friendships are developed that way, in additon to there being an ongoing live contact. If one of the other members who gave me his card and meets someone a while later who might be interested, s/he might give my name to that person, or tell me about the person's possible interest. Check them out at www.neworldcoaching.com. I've offered a "Christmas gift" to folks here on the "Finance" and "KT" forums, plus here for several years now, a gift that should save them hundreds, maybe thousands, in their lifetime, in addition to keeping former friendships warm. Write the names of everyone you've known since childhood, with contact info, then, over time, add items that relate to them - training, profession, interests, hobbies, vacation destinations, etc. When you want to know something - ask the folks on your database. As time goes along, if you develop some items of interest to several of them, you might begin a sort of newsletter to send to all or a portion. As people become familiar with what you're doing, they may contact you when they have a question, etc. If you can be helpful in such a situation, that guy owes you one, right? Isn't that rather shameful - offering the same (no direct cost) "Christmas gift" to the same people, over and over?! I guess if one's as frugal as I, there are some things about which it gets rather hard to shame them! Well - I didn't do it last Christmas, at least. I hope that some recent comers weren't left without another potential arrow in their quiver, because of it. Good wishes as you step forward into your future, Carol! ole joyful

I drove 1.5 hours to see it. It was great. They have 40 costumes, both upstairs and downstairs, men and women. There are some video screens with scenes playing. They tie-in how Winterthur was an American DA and display some of their items. It's not a large exhibit but I thought it was very well done. ETA: Being the only person in the world without a GPS, I followed the directions from Mapquest. They directed me to turn left across a busy 2-lane road, not at a light, onto an unmarked country road. I missed the turn. When I backtracked to correct, I stopped at the Post Office to confirm directions. I asked is this small unmarked road behind me route 100? Yes. From there it was another small country lane (something with a T) to connect me to Route 52, the road with the museum. The course correction made me late for my timed admission to see the house decorated for Xmas. I didn't really care about that, I was there for DA. Anyhoo, when I arrived later than my scheduled time I was told I could not tour the house, they were sold out. Really? They had no way to accommodate one visitor? Not a carload, not a bus load but one person, anytime during that day? Okay, I'll just see the DA and other exhibits. So my suggestion is get better directions and don't arrive late of you want to see the Xmas decorations. I would have preferred to take Route 1 directly to Route 52, instead of the perhaps more direct but poorly marked scenic tour. This post was edited by hhireno on Wed, Dec 3, 14 at 10:45