well, I rotated the pic AGAIN and it keeps coming back upside-down. Maybe their "replace original file" function isn't working right! but I've re-done it about 10 times already, so I give up! That's the cloth sack from a salt-cured Virginia ham he made last night! He's originally from VA and loves them, so I asked a long-time on-line friend if she could find one and mail it to me. It cost a lot, but was worth every penny. Especially considering that it also made 'art'! :O) It's perfect with the red wax pig that I bought in Williamsburg! :) I think I'll frame up some other fabric food sacks for a theme... like a burlap rice bag, etc.... he'd like that!

Elder is the herb of the year according to the International Herb Association. I read an article in the Wichita Eagle in May about it. There is an elderberry winery near Wichita, Wyldewood Cellers, in Mulvane, KS which sells all kinds of elderberry food items. You can dehydrate elderberries (115-degrees F) and rehydrate them to use later. The berries dry to a mere speck of their former selves. There is a recipe for elderberry tincture made from dehydrated elderberries I found here: http://www.earthclinic.com/Herbs/elderberry.html -- which is supposed to be "a natural home remedy that is much cheaper than Tamiflu to prevent and cure the flu and the common cold." ELDERBERRY VINEGAR: Place 2 cups of stemmed elderberries in an ovenproof dish. Cover with white distilled vinegar and cook in a 300 degrees F oven for 1 1/2 hours, or until the berries burst. Let the mixture stand overnight, then strain. The link below has a lot of elderberry ideas.... Maybe one will catch your eye. There is a great line in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" where they are taunting the French ..."Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries." If anyone mentions elderberries around our family, we immediately quote this line, and the even funnier preceding and following lines - but I digress :-). -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Pinterst - Elderberry/Elderflower/ Elder Bark 2013 Herb of the Year

I agree that red beets aren't as messy as pomegranates, but they're still pretty messy. The stains don't seem as permanent. Yellow beets stain my hands as much as red beets do. I get two kinds of gloves at the catering supply store (I'm sure Amazon and many others have them too). They're inexpensive and great for the purpose. One is like a glove shaped Alligator Baggie (if anyone remembers those...I think they still make them but they're rare where I shop). The other is more like a rubber glove, though probably vinyl. The baggie style ones are great for things like beets. They're thin, cheap, recyclable if your area does "films", and you can slip them on and off easily and leave them in the sink, to do other chores, answer the phone, or whatever. The others are tight, and good for fiddly jobs where you want a good fit, or physical ones, like cleaning poultry. Neither beets nor pomegranates have to stain your kitchen, if you're careful. It helps to work in a large bowl or even a roasting pan. I love pickled beets! I should make some. They used to just appear in my life, but haven't recently. I love them when they're julienned--the squared sides are fun to eat. Another thing you can do with small or baby beets, or cut up ones, is glaze them. Nobody seems to do glazes anymore--the kind where it's the outer layer of the veg that does it, not syrup, honey or sugar. You only add a little sugar or leave it out entirely and worry the veg over an ultra low heat for a very long time to use only the sugars naturally in it. Glazing doesn't have to take a lot of effort, though. I usually do it for a mixed dish for Passover, and in such quantity that I'm over it for half a year, but for a normal dinner with only one vegetable, it's not a big deal. I also use dried fruit instead of any refined sugar, so it takes longer. On a quick search, I found a kind of smarmy but very detailed article on the classic way to glaze with just a spot of sugar, that explains it better than I could. Follow the links and you'll find a beet recipe.

I don't know what thoughtful and considerate means, exactly. My husband helps me often, even when I don't want the help. Like in the evening, feeding the animals...I'd just as soon do it myself because I am picky about how it's done, He thinks I do things too slowly. He is very unselfish. Anything I want....anything....if I say it, I can have it. He doesn't ask for anything for himself. If he has good socks...no holes and not worn out...he is happy. I know he likes particular meals and the way I cook, so I always try to fix something I know he likes. No matter what I fix, he always compliments me on it. If I do the least little thing around the house, he notices and says something nice about it. On the other hand, he can be a real ass sometimes. Like last evening he couldn't find a cigarette lighter to light the propane fogger we use to fog for mosquitoes in the horses' night pasture. He chewed me out for not putting it back some place where I could find it. I was running around for 30 minutes trying to find it...thinking I had used it last. Then I remembered....he had lit the fogger last night, so he had it. He had chewed me out for something he did. And he never, ever puts anything back where it belongs....which is why we only have one cigarette lighter....I buy them a half dozen at a time. Most of the time he won't close a cabinet door, and he throws his clothes wherever he steps out of them. I am very, very easy going. I have learned to not start petty arguments. I told him last night he is very lucky because out of all the people in the world, he gets to live with me. ;).