No problem. We are not native American. Ryukyuan is an uncoomon term for the indeginous people of the Ryukyu Islands (Currently grouped in Japanese language as Yaeyama, miyako, Amami Oshima, Yonaguni, and Okinawa) which are north Of Taiwan, East of southern China, and South of Japan. Okinawan, or "Uchinanchu" in the Okinawan language, refers to the people who are from the main island which we call "Uchinaa" and the Japanese call "Okinawa". The Ryukyu isalnds are now a part of Japan but were once the prosperous Ryukyu Kingdom which had closer relations with China than Japan. Ryukyuan culture and language are very different from Japanese culture and langauge and is dying out because the Ryukyuan culture has been opressed and modified to meet Japanese needs which sadly look down upon cultural diversity. Okinawa island was also the site of the Battle of Okinawa in WW2 where 1/3 of the population perished and the ancient capital and cultural center of Shuri completely demolished. Because of the strong cultural influence from China, many plants from there were brought to the Ryukyu islands including Hibiscus, peony, and citrus species. Garden styles in the ancient capital of Shuri on Okinawa island were copied after Chinese ones and featured Chinese plants and garden styles. There are also many native plants such as camellias, one species o which is intensely fragrant, azaleas, the Taiwan flowering Cherry, and certain types of impatiens. In the outer Ryukyu islands today, many people still live as farmers. There are many hurricanes (more than forty in one year have been recorded) that strike the Ryukyu islands every year. When my mom was a girl on her home isalnd of Kumejima, the hurricanes would wipe out everything because she lived by the ocean, so she would travel into the mounatins and pick the wild tangerines and live off of those. She also recalls wild kiwi, blueberry-like plants, shiikwaasaa, raspberries, and currants growing wild in the mountains and were often her only source of food. I am sorry this is so long, and i hope it answered ur question which apreciate you asking. Carlos

I totally get it about turning around and leaving TJ's. I used to as well. It takes awhile to learn what they have and don't have and to coordinate it with other shopping. There isn't one go to everything I need in one place store here (or maybe because there's so much variety, including the Persian market, etc., which I forgot to mention before (and I was only including full sized markets with carts, not mom and pop grocers) that my perception of what one might need at the store is skewed), so it's a matter of timing which store I need to go to when. (That sentence is somewhat ungrammatical and I refuse to fix it.) Yeah, two buck chuck isn't two bucks anymore. It's amazing how long they held it down. It also comes in some varietal names now, too. The quality varies because it's made from wine lake (i.e, surplus juice), but they try to keep it palatable, which many wineries do not. :) I use it for cooking. :) Trader Joe's was always meant to be something between a specialty/gourmet store and a convenience store. It's not a place for staples, though you can get a roll of TP, and while they generally have good quality produce, the selection is limited and often only available in packages. The prices for the quality on what they do have, however, are fabulous. If you want a whole box of Persian cucumbers and a bag of roma tomatoes, as well as a packet of shucked English peas, they're the place. If you want several varieties of kale and chard, and rutabagas, turnips and tamarinds, go to Whole Foods. I'm not big on packaged food either, but I buy a few quickie type things when my freezer isn't full of my good cooking. The quality is also excellent and affordable. Real food, not like I see in the chains from national brands. The meats are kind of middling, but they're hermetically sealed or something, so I'll sometimes buy some ground beef or chicken tenders that can hang in the fridge for awhile without going bad. That's free range but packaged. No pink slime. Extruded, though. I work hard at hacking through the grinder ribbons so the ground beef doesn't look funny. :) Bellsmom, I get baking your own. ;) The breads at TJ's might be different by region, but one of the things I love about TJ's is the bread. They have a lot of selections that are 100% whole wheat (not mixed with white) and good. Not cardboard. My brother is an expert milk taster and says that TJ's is okay. They have good, fresh juice. Free range eggs. The best nuts and dried fruits. So it depends on the list. I can often do a moderate shopping at TJ's. I buy papergoods at the big chains and most meats at Whole Foods or one of the local independents, but milk, eggs, yoghurt, cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, melon, berries, eggplant, apples, ground beef, orange juice, bread, tortillas (they're non-traditional, but I love the wheat and corn ones), etc., I can get through a basic list.

It's not me that is the problem when it comes to this community. I have lived in several countries and many different cultures and societies in my life. I have always had great community interactivity. But I have never seen such a close minded xenophobic community as this one near me. One of them told me once that, "If you moved here when you were 10 years old and lived here until you were 90, you would still be considered an Outsider." When comes to culture, I am cultural chameleon and generally able to fit into any community, but it is this very quality that these xenophobic people hate about me. They cannot stand anything that is different or anyone that has an appreciation for anything different then how they think and act. When I first got here, I made great efforts to friend them. I once invited some over to my house to visit. I prepared them a nice meal. They would not touch the food and told me bluntly that if I ever invited them over again, that I had to promise not to cook anything because they have very specific ways they like their food cooked and did not appreciate me putting them into a position where they were pushed to eat something they were not familiar with. You might think that they are some type of health nuts, but the exact opposite is true. After asking around, I found out that what they meant was that, they only eat food that is cooked in the same way they they have eaten it all their life (the way their mom cooked it). I am not joking here. And I am not talking about just a select few people, it is the whole dang area in general. Abilene Texas is a city of about 150,000 people and there is not one exotic restaurant in the entire city. About all you can find is Taco Bell style Texmex, hamburgers, BBQ and low quality Buffet style Chinese places. Any exotic places that do open up like Genghis Grill, close down shortly there after. Not even Zucchini's could stay open here. As far as water quality, goes, extremely hard is an understatement. I tested it for hardness yesterday and it showed 824 ppm.

I bought a house with a backyard that is a former 60 years old citrus grove, one of the reasons I bought this specific house. The north part of the grove was Washington Navels and the south part was Valencia. The original home owners planted Minneola Tangelo and a Pink Blush Grapefruit, now 40 years old. Originally I was working on restoring it to look like the grove it once was but now I"m adding enough that it will look different as I have too many trees to fit. It originally had about 18 full size 20' diameter trees but I'm adding a few different varieties and have 58 original trees plus trees planted plus trees in pots to plant. WAY too many so one 100' side is now going to be Espaliered citrus along the wall. Still have 6-7 in pots in the front walk. Another 5 different Avocados. Just grapefruit: Pink Blush, Duncan, Oro Blanco, Melogold, Rio Red, Valentine, Cocktail, Chandler Pomello. Of course, this many trees in drought stricken SoCal is a problem so I now am working on 1920 gallon rain water recovery and grey water recovery system. In the meantime, I have 8 42 gallon trash cans in the inside roof corners that get filled each rainstorm so I water with almost all rainwater recovery. I'm not addicted, really!