Hi, I still have company. Will be here until Friday. I had my grandson for 3 days, then he was still here yesterday and our company came yesterday, too, a day early ! Just as we were going out the door to make the hours drive up to take our grandson home. So, my daughter had to come down and get him. I had to cook dinner for everyone. At least my dh cooked the chicken on the grill for me, bless his heart ! So, I am exhausted ! Having a good visit, though. Anyway, part of the deal with the relish is also the density of it. Relish is normally denser than a salsa would be. Especially the ones that are water bath canned, you notice how much vinegar is in them ? A lot of people comment on how liquid they are, but that is part of the safety of the products. The size of the pieces of food is also a consideration in safe processing of foods. That and how much liquid is in something. That is why diced tomatoes packed in water takes less processing time than those packed without any added water. There are a lot of factors that go into a safe recipe for canning. Yes, that is true, too, what Carol said about bottled lemon juice being twice as acidic as vinegar, yet tastes less tart. That new book is nice, but it is the same as what is online. I saw the new copy of the book. You need to simmer the food for the time called for because it also "preshrinks" the vegetables. That, and you want the food really hot as it goes into the jars when you are hotpacking foods. That can make a difference in processing times with some foods. If you check some recipes you will notice that raw pack and hot pack are not always the same processing times for the same ingredients. I agree, keep the vinegar amount to 4 cups in the recipe. I sure hope I am making sense, as tired as I am !!! If not, forgive me. Things may get better, but then again, it is the starting of canning season ! I won't make any promises... Another thing, if you made jelly with the liquid, it would need some added vinegar. Just like all pepper jellies do. It would not be high acid like fruits.

I’ve attached a fact sheet from the CDC about gout. It was an eye opener for us. He is going to be much more self aware of his condition now that he understands that he is remission from a condition for which there is no cure. I wasn’t aware of the fact that many types of fruit juices and some kind of fruits can trigger symptoms in some people. There is a long list of vegetables that can cause problems, too. So, salonva, one can be a vegetarian and still have problems with gout. He can go symptom free for months, perhaps years and then……bang! Historically, he gets flare-ups in his toes and fingers. His Dad also suffered from it. The fact sheet explains gout in a straightforward, simple manner. Since we know that it causes such pain and can lead to more serious issues down the road, we are going to do a better job of diet management as well as be watchful about the kinds of physical activities he gets into. Thanks for the good wishes, everybody. CDC fact sheet about gout.

Our house was built with ICFs, and the original intent was for it to be our final home. That may change. First lesson learned was to verify the builder's ICF experience. It may not be possible to visit the houses or talk with the homeowners; if not, then I'd want to see a portfolio of photographs taken during construction and to research the subcontractor who will do this part of the build. I don't want to say we were intentionally misled, but our builder wasn't as well versed in several areas of construction as his marketing implied. The sub who did our ICFs has a good reputation, but then so did the builder. Next lesson learned was to not have a custom home, of any type, built while you're living far enough way that you cannot be on site frequently. I'm not certain we would have realized the extent of the errors in the early stages of construction had we been here but it's possible. This is more critical with ICF construction than with typical stick framing. Our builder failed to adequately communicate with and/or supervise the company doing the ICF work. As a result the house varies from the plans enough to create problems which were compounded by interior framing errors/changes, only some of which could be corrected. Think about why you want ICF construction and what other less typical choices you may make. In our case, it was largely about durability and safety. We chose to do a Fortified roof system and install storm/impact rated windows and doors (not usually done in our area.) Despite the errors, I'm still glad we went the ICF route. If you're choosing ICF strictly for energy efficiency then look hard at the costs, both upfront and projected monthly utilities. The payback might not be there. At least in our area, concrete is still quite pricey and often hard to get. Does your builder anticipate any difficulty getting concrete when you'll need it? One little thing - our window sills are deeper than usual. We like the look and could easily have quite a few plants growing on them. Our grandchild uses the nursery window sill as a seat and loves it. I look for positives like that to offset my ongoing frustration with other things.

For the longest time, I pretty much operated a gardening free-for-all...which was insanely labour extensive, frequently on the verge of chaos, shunned by family and friends. I made absolutely no concession to age, agility, maintenance demands, space, climate....and as I especially enjoy raising my own plants from seed, you do tend to end up with quite a lot Unsurprisingly, it all got a bit out of hand. I would have had to think quite hard to come up with lessons I had learned (none). Anyway, after a season of falling over more than usual (tripping over tangling vines and dodgy edging boards), as well as being lashed by vicious thorny briars, I bought a sort of mini-chainsaw pruner and set about editing. I have (mostly) got the roses in hand (discovering parts of the plot I have not stepped for a decade) and grubbed out many of the ancient currants, And decided I was not going to be guilted into anymore manic vegetable growing (I am a reluctant cook), The biggest change though, has been to row back on my habit of growing far too many annual and biennial flowers, especially since I no longer have a raft of gratefully impressed customers and my offspring grow their own: I had to resort to planting the extras in the local cemetery and various public spaces. Pruning: As a terrible meddler, experimental pruning was the basis of much of my novice garden training. There is ALWAYS a load of this when you work as a jobbing gardener and growing large roses and a lot of fruit trees and bushes means the secateurs are always busy. However, the dilemma of pruning still confounds me since one of the very first dictums I learned at hort.school was 'growth follows the knife'...which it certainly does. Initially, chopping back the roses opened the plot up to a lot of light and space but the furious rose plants grew back with a vengeance...and all at exactly the height where they could inflict major damage to eyes. Prior to the great cutback, the most unpleasant surprise usually entailed a painful puncture on the top of my head, from some wayward branch but now it was turning into a bodyline massacre. Had no choice apart from the spade. I took cuttings of many of the removals but I am currently ignoring the numerous buckets of hardwood cuttings, all awaiting planting holes...somewhere. I grubbed out a lot of the fruits with a sigh of relief at no longer needing to spend many,many hours picking and preserving (there are jars of redcurrant and bramble jelly going back years in the larder). I have had the allotment for 20+ years and finally, I decided to attempt to build a garden rather than a random collection of plants...but have had a painful and confusing time deciding what sort of garden I want. Over the years, I have been a helpless dilettante, with shiny new enthusiasms every single season. I have grown (and killed) an unconscionable number of plants...and the plot still looked a mess. However, I have set a few ground rules and am replanting the old vegetable beds with plants which will need no irrigation (quite an ask, living in the dryest part of the UK). More important (to me) is an honest attempt to rediscover some sort of genius loci - a spririt of place, or a set of plants which are perfectly at home in the flat, open fenlands, growing in harmony with the resident fauna and weeds and wildflowers. It is still in it's early stage - I planted up 3 new beds this year - but I have a sort of guiding principle and am learning that restrictions and obstacles are more helpful than negative, making this undisciplined gardener make measured choices instead of random whims. This seems like a potentially more fruitful route to building a coherent, aesthetic and sustainable garden. Plus, the perennials I have been tenderly growing can finally be planted in spaces which have been prepared, considered and planned (and not the random plonking which characterised my garden (ahem) 'style'. Onwards and upwards. And on another topic altogether, I have been watching a series on BBC about American gardens. Sadly,it is helmed by the odious Monty Don and an unfortunate eurocentric (English, really) direction...while Don manages to be both obsequious to the great and good and hugely condescending to gardeners with less social and financial capital. But if you can get IPlayer, do check the series out. And grit your teeth (although Don seems bizarrely popular in the US). 'Monty Don's American Gardens'...just the title alone is enraging, but if I didn't let it put me off, I am sure you will manage to find something to enjoy.