I also try to buy local and organic where possible. This summer has been wonderful. 90% of are veggies and 75% of our meat is from the OSU Farmer's Market or food coop. Just wish the winter produce was as abundant, but a little at a time I am learning how to perserve what we like. Mostly freezing due to time constraints (if only a job wasn't necessary;) Most of the vendor's at the farmer's market welcome visitor's to there farm's and will answer questions about pesticide, antibiotic, etc. use. More and more are organically certified. I question some who use "no pesticides"- what about herbicides? Might not hurt me, but don't like the side effects to other plants. So I try to buy local and organic, then local and near organic, local and conventionally grown, then the grocery store. If something is conventionally grown, why not buy it fresh locally instead of one week old from the grocery store. Of course, it has taken a few years to get to this point, but the more familiar I get with the local sources the easier it is. For those who don't want to join the coop, consider that the coop website has information that will allow you to contact most of the producers. Many give information on how animals are raised or if produce is raised organically. So you can find someone near you in the state and where they sell their products. Many people sell from their farm's or at farmer's markets closer to them. Other's might have their products in a local grocery store like Crescent Market or The Earth in OKC. It is a great resource- especially for those like me who isn't always organized for a once a month order and delivery! BTW- the newest OKGazette just came out today. The issue is dedicated to articles about local food. Paraphasing pedmond "BTW, I'm not a producer for the co-op or any other producer for the farmer's markets, I just like the fact that it provides an alternative to store bought products and the fact that my money stays in Oklahoma to help other Oklahomans." This is a topic I feel very passionate about, so I am glad to see so many of my gardenweb friends talking about it.

Sheri, To encourage them to stick around, mix up one of the formulas given in the link and spray it on your plants, if you use the sugar water, or put the wheast paste on wooden stakes,...especially on/near the plants with spider mites. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Food That Attracts Beneficial Insects

Oh my gosh Allan, what a horrible sight to see out your front door and not knowing if it is coming toward you or will it miss you. I am so glad to hear that all of you in OK made it through this one okay. My heart just breaks for the ones that lost everything. We have friends that live a little north of Fredricksburg here in Texas and they had a tornado come by their house. Picked up two trash cans and left the third standing where it was. I think they only found one of the trash cans. Some houses were destroyed but the houses built out of stone survived! Hope y'all don't have to go thru this again any time soon. Take care. Joan

Tulsa and OKC are so easy to travel between, that the good things featured in each of these small cities is easily accessed no matter in which town you choose to live. If you do move to Tulsa, and want good soil, there is better chance of finding that in the southern most part of Jenks (131st-141st south), betwwen Peoria/elm street and Yale Ave. There is a very nice addition located off of 141st South and East of Lewis and about a half mile west of Harvard Ave. It is called Pecan Creek, and has some very nice custom built houses. The soil there is a fertile, very deep, silty loam. There is also a developer clearing and getting ready to build homes on a nice section of land along 141st South and Harvard. Those two additons are about two to two and one half miles just west of the Arkansas river. Taxes are low in the Pecan Creek addtion, because they are in the Bixby School district. The other almost started housing additon is about 1/2 mile closer to the City of Bixby, so I would imagine they are also in the Bixby School district. There is a fairly new Golf Course community housing additon along 151st street South, and Just East of Yale Avenue in Bixby. The soil there most likely is very good as it is also in the area of the good Bixby farm land. The thing I do not like about that neighborhood is the fact that some Major high voltage Power lines cross that housing additon, and continue toward the southwest. If you do move to Tulsa, try to avoid Midtown, or East and Northeast Tulsa. There are some well built older homes in mid-town, but most are build on heavy, dark clay soils. Even worse in the area south of midtown there are hills, which damage all but the houses with the very best piered foundations. The hills of Tulsa consist of layers of sediment and types of rock layers that shift very easily. Many of the high dollar homes in South Tulsa which are located on those hills, have had expensive foudation repair work done. Even though that added piering prevents foundation failure, the house still shifts enough to cause cracking problems in the house walls, patio and garden hardscape. In many sections of Mid-town, East, and Northeast Tulsa, the shrinking and swelling of the clay soil, causes similar problems. There are areas within a mile or two all along the Arkansas river that are mostly sand. A house in those areas also shifts and needs special foundation design. Parts of Tulsa, Jenks, Bixby, and the southern parts of Broken Arrow have neighborhoods built on very sandy soil within a mile of the Arkansas river. From a gardener's point of view, If unable to live on the loamy soil, I would rather live on dark clay soil than sand. At least the dark clay is very fertile, and many trees, shrubs, and plants do thrive in that soil as long as the proper drainage techiniques are applied. If you like english gardens and similar types, than the 6b zone of Tulsa is the choice of the two cities: if you like succulant gardens then the 7 - 7b zone of OKC is best. Hopefully the above information will help you especially if your destination does end up in the Tulsa area.