I just joined too trying ot find active sites. Looks like this one has become "stale" too. I've also tried posting on Craigslist, got a lot of interested folks but also a lot of weirdos and spam. As I'm finally settling into a new place and getting acquainted with my new property, I'm ready to trade. I live in Northern Putnam County. Maybe sending this site to folks in my e-mail/address book, that may help get more local interested folks.

Nope, never had orange juice pancakes. I usually make them from a delicious buttermilk pancake recipe I found online and add a generous handful of blueberries. I keep some mix here, too, for those mornings when I just don't have time or inclination to cook from scratch, or when I don't have real buttermilk for them. It's acceptable but nowhere near as good as the scratch ones. The Black From Tula tomatoes were decent but I won't grow them again. They're not good enough to justify the space and energy. I grow Better Boy and Big Boy, too. They're almost always dependable producers of good tomatoes. I like trying new varieties every year and keeping some of the old standbys for the majority of the production. This year I also grew Mortgage Lifters. They were okay but I don't think they lived up to their reputation. I've grown Brandywines, too. It was a year that I had trouble in the garden with disease and drought and they didn't produce much at all. I might try them again another time. We do a taste testing day at the Heirloom Tomato Demo Garden every year and this year my favorite was Todd County Amish. It had more true tomato taste than the others. I hope to grow some next year in my garden. If the Demo Garden folks have seedlings I'll probably get some from them rather than buy seeds. I usually order from just one or two catalogs (Totally Tomatoes is a great one!) to save on shipping. If I can get the majority at one place, I'll order a special or two from some other company. Otherwise, I rely on local seeds or transplants. I can't see adding several dollars to the cost just to get a couple of packets of seeds. One of my favorite books is Dr. Carolyn Male's 100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden. I've learned a lot about growing tomatoes in general and often try a couple of new varieties based on her recommendations. Okra is delicious in soups and stews! My sister and her husband used to grow a lot of it but I only want enough to freeze some for winter use along with a little in summer. I grow it about every 2 to 3 years. I've been a Master Gardener since 2000 and love every minute of it. Our record keeping is very simplified and done online now. The only difficulty is sometimes recording the demographics at these seminars or at clinics but I usually have a helper at the seminars (a new MG in their first year) to do that. I also work the new to us Ask an Expert email system and answer a wide variety of questions through it. I mainly teach the veggie classes but have done a number of different ones, too. For example, last year I taught a group at an assisted living facility how to do a cut flower garden. I work full time in my husband's business and volunteer in two other organizations (both work related) so I really do burn the candle at both ends! I'd like to have more time to devote to the Extension programs, but can't do it right now. Love blackberry cobbler! I don't make jelly or jam much anymore but remember the year we picked 125 quarts of blackberries! That was a great year and we lived where there were tons of vines. Not so many where we are now but enough for a few good pickings. I've thought about growing some in the end of the garden but never bought any. Do the cultivated thornless varieties have the deep blackberry taste like the wild ones? Maybe I could get the grandkids interested in picking thornless ones. They seem to be "alergic" to the scratchy wild ones here! Sandy

Hey Barb: I think we're the only ones who visit here these days. So what's going on in your life these days? I live out west in a valley surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. This time of year is beautiful here. I do a lot of bird watching, and this year the hummers are everywhere, storing up much energy for their non-stop flight across the Gulf of Mexico for the winter. I live near the mouth of a huge canyon, and try to walk on the trails there as much as possible. Would you believe it's already into autumn? The maple trees are just brilliant gold, orange, and red, and the scrub oaks will be deep burgundy before another few weeks. During the next three weeks I will (I hope) move six huge Bridal Wreath shrubs, completely dig up the back border, and put a layer of mulch around most everything I put back. In one border the blackberry I had dug up and removed has re-appeared -- in five places yet!!! And in another, wild thistle is coming up everywhere. I can't use Roundup there because it's impossible to do so without hitting the perennials. Are you safe from Ivan? Did Frances get your area? I wonder if global warming isn't bringing us so many bad storms. I'm leaving for most of today, but will be back maybe later or tomorrow. Hope you (and anyone else who *might* be here) have a lovely weekend. Carolyn

I seldom visit here this forum and why I'm here today I was looking for aprons. Seen this thread and I visited. I hardly ever sew anymore, fingers don't work well on fine details and close quarters. However...... Enjoyed Annie's story on her recent 50th anniversary Project. Good for you. I was never good at sewing anythink unless I had a pattern and lots of instructions, even tho I sewed alot for myself and daughter. Your story Annie took me back to my Mom who was a great seamtress. She could look at a piece of material and visualize it made up somehow. She could take 4 patterns and fit into one pattern, or even make her own patterns. My mind just never worked that way. One story she told that back in Depression Time, her Mother who worked at a Department Store in Detroit Michigan sent her two mens sale suit she got for almost nothing. Mother took them apart, make my two older brothers each suits consisting of nickers, coat and a matching hat. Her mother-in-law (my other grandmother) ask her where did those boys get those outfits?, (knowing there were no extra money to buy something like that) Mother said "I made them from sale suits Mom sent down" Grandma Bill said, "I should have known" My two cents helping to keep this forum ALIVE!! I'll see if I can visit here more even if I don't sew much anymore. Shirl