Thanks you guys! BTW, he didn't develop excema until after we married......hmmm. With the economy he's laid off, and working with a friend who owns his own company occasionally to make extra money, and they like to go out for lunch at fast food joints. So, stress and diet are definitely a factor here. Thanks for the salve recipe, I'll try that. Gringo, I have some neem oil myself, as well as powder. I'll see how that helps. I'm also a fan of tea tree oil myself. I believe it to be a little safer than chlorine, which is already present in our water supply. But anyway. So, simplemary, why a solar infusion of the herbs and not in the oven? Do you get better results that way? I have everything you mentioned but the plantain, which if i do a little hunting out on my family's land, i bet i could find no problem. Broadleaf or narrow leaf plantain or does it matter? My myrrh is in little chunks, any idea on how to make it into a powder other than standard mortar and pestle? apollog, sounds good. Honey is antibacterial. I'll try adding that to the salve. Thanks, you guys are great!!

Greetings, Linda Lou said: Jimster, Perhaps you misread what I posted or misunderstood me. I am confused. I did say in the sentence before that pressure canning green beans to be a perfectly safe method if done for the current, safe time and pressure. That is the only method I have ever used, the pressure canner. I would, of course, never,ever, suggest someone should can them in any other way, other than pickled in a brine that is acidic enough. While it is 'Jimsters' responsibility to respond, I believe I understand the misconception here. I don't think he was criticizing your technique, rather the phrasing you used (paraphrased) "I have always canned..." is the issue. It sounds a lot like "Grandma always did it this way". Having read the numerous posts you have written, I have no doubt that you can safely but the "I've been doing this for 35 years" strikes too close to the "Grandma always did this" mentality. For myself, I understand both your "statements" and Jimsters "position"... And that's about all the oil this barrel can pour on troubled waters. ;) For the future, I have a Botulism 101 Q&A (Q&A as in "I don't know the answer so I'm kicking it out to the group") post that I'm mentally working up. Maybe I'll get it refined enough to actually post sometime this year... Maybe not. Regards, Tim :)

in all probability the turkey would have been fine if it was cooked properly... if i thought any poultry was undercooked, regardless of thaw method, i would zap it a bit in the microwave before i ate it!! many, many people get sick from cross contamination... counters/plates, etc not cleaned properly from the raw food that sat on it, etc....ie: if a raw turkey that happened to be tainted with samonella sat on a plate while being stuffed, then if that plate sat out and was just rinsed hastily and used to hold the cooked turkey afterwards, or a cutting board that was used for some meat and then used for raw veggies without be cleaned properly, or serving raw veggies that might be tainted from soil and not cleaned properly, or by the cook, etc simply not washing their hands when needed!... cooked food is usually unlikely to get you sick if it is cooked properly and not cross contaminated afterwards- and, it is a good idea to reheat leftovers and not eat them 'cold' esp. if they had been sitting out for any lengthy time on the table or counter!

Case in point, coincidentally, I'd decided to use ground chicken for adding meat to pumpkin lasagna to have a higher protein percentage. The mild flavor, I thought, would be good for keeping the rest in balance. I cooked it up with some pancetta (it was ultralean chicken), S&P, dried oregano and marjoram to have a hint of Italian, as well as chipotle powder and ground allspice to go with the pumpkin. I haven't made the lasagna yet (getting ingredients ready and chilled) but used some of the extra for dinner, sort of sloppy joe style, but with tasty cheese instead of sauce. Really good! I expect it to be good in the lasagna. Ground chicken (or turkey) doesn't have to be pretend beef. It's good as ground chicken! I was thinking about the extruded thing too. I agree it looks offputting. But as I was cooking up my chicken, which was from the store, but I have ground my own and the texture is the same, I recalled how gooshy it is. It's not textury like ground beef. Turkey isn't much different. So I'm thinking why extruded looking? Because they can precisely fill the trays and have it cut off at an exact weight probably! It's basically coming through a mechanical piping bag, or narrow sausage stuffer. That's my guess anyway. I don't like the beef version, which I have tried a couple of times, because it wants to stay worm shaped. Ground poultry seems too gooshy for that to be an issue. Or not? What do you think?