I used the soybean meal in my garden and lawn, and was happy with the results. I just poured mine in a five gal bucket and threw it around as I walked, making sure the flakes spread around somewhat evenly, like you might do lime. In the garden I sort of spread it around the base of the plants, and used a wooden dowel to make holes pushing it towards the roots. It really perked up my tomatoes and peppers. No more commercial fertilizer! I also made my own compost tea, both fungal and bacteria dominated, with good success in spite of drought conditions. You mentioned not using molasses, Sky, but I think you need that to feed the bacteria as they multiply in the tea. You would see steady bubbles on the surface after a day or so of air bubbling. I used the compost, enough to more than half fill a paint bag. I make about 7 gal at a time. Hope that helps.

processed soybean meal have the oil from it solvent extracted... does that mean the oil is not good or its just by product after taking the valuable oil? Not exactly sure. but I can think of 2 things off hand. Extracting the oil would make grinding the soybeans easier(no clumping/caking) and it could be stored longer. I don't foresee any negative effects on the lawn/soil. I have ground cracked corn straight from the feed store several times with no problems. I picked up a bag of soy flour from the health food section of the grocery store. I'm assuming it's just a finer grind of meal. If any one know's of any problems with this please let me know. No Problems what so ever its just much finer ground. The only problem most people have with "flours" is that it's impossible to use a spreader, you have to spread it by hand. lucygreenthumb- have you considered using Used Coffee Grounds on your lawn? You can pick them up for free at any Starbucks.

If you are looking for a feed store, type "feed store, orlando, fl" into the search part of maps.google.com. It will show you the locations and phone numbers so you can call around. If the first one doesn't have it, ask them who might have it.

>>Jakkom, as I was eating "picnic food" today, I was wondering what home food was like for you as a kid>> Our home food wasn't like any other JA household we knew of. My mother was always interested in food, and actually made everything EXCEPT Japanese food, lol. She learned Scandinavian dishes from living next to/working for Swedish families in Washington and Minnesota, then learned Mississippi soul food cooking from African-American neighbors in Chicago, along with German food (we were the only JA family who ate artisanal bockwurst and real deli sauerkraut with buttered rye bread alongside) and Jewish food (ditto for the lox and gefilte fish). My mother was more likely to create a week's worth of dinners that consisted of: corned beef and cabbage; Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes; American-style beef stew (with potatoes, but served over rice); spaghetti or lasagne; pork chops (if there was money) or Spam (if there wasn't); burgers or steaks. Chickens pre-Perdue were more expensive than beef or pork so roast chicken was a treat. I've recounted elsewhere, I think, about her experiment to find the best way to roast a chicken: over 20 chickens were roasted over six or eight months. Boy, did I love that cooking experiment [smile]. We learned to like offal because it was cheap or even free: liver, oxtails, sweetbreads, giblets. And I still remember the smelly Limburger cheese in the refrig! Mom never deep-fried; she could but didn't like to do so. Besides, we lived within a few minutes drive of the original Harold's Chicken in Chicago. NOBODY we knew of any nationality or race bothered frying chicken if they lived near Harold's! At the time it was his only storefront. You always called in your order because they would not start cooking anything until ordered. If you are from the South Side of Chicago, you understand that everybody worships at The Shrine of Harold's Chicken. We occasionally went out for tempura at Japanese restaurants - not a home dish, in my entire extended family only one aunt has ever regularly made it at home. Sushi (and chicken teriyaki on the BBQ grills) was always a part of the potluck dishes at every JA community event, however. It's standard stuff to this day, I think. I was stunned when I came to the Bay Area in 1969 and my friends told me they loved going out to sushi restaurants. My response was, "Seriously? You PAY for pressed rice?!" When I was growing up sushi just wasn't a big deal. Sashimi - yes. Always very very expensive. Later in life, Mom married a Chinese and really got interested in the cuisine. Plus, there was a Cantonese cook at the restaurant they worked at who was, to this day, probably one of the finest chefs we ever had the pleasure to know. It was home cooking taken to a high-end professional level. The employee/family banquets (the owner was a big spender as most of his employees were relatives, including Mom's DH) were as good or better than anything I've paid $$$/pp as an adult in the Bay Area. Mom's interest in food never flagged. She later took lessons from Cecilia Chiang of the Mandarin restaurant/SF as well as Mexican cuisine's first great cook, Diana Kennedy. Ran her own cookware store and gave cooking lessons for a while. We loved talking about food together, needless to say. In most major cuisines there are three types of cooking: home cooking, restaurant cooking, and banquet/royal cooking. The "quick and dirty" fallback in most Asian households is a bowl of rice, an egg with a runny yolk, and soy sauce. My DH in Hong Kong and me in Chicago both remember that one!