Geraldo, yes, squash were $1.99 a LB at the local Kroger's here in the suburbs of Detroit last weekend -- easily making an average butternut $5 to $8. Food prices are REALLY rising here -- a whole chicken that might have been $0.59 a lb a few years ago is now $1.29 to $1.89 a lb unless on sale. So, that is one reason I grow a lot of stuff. There are many more reasons -- enjoyment/fulfillment, hobby/something to do, etc. What is really sad is that so much good food is STILL being thrown out, as you mentioned with the less-than-perfect squash. Alas, when will we, as a society or as a species, learn no to waste? Allenwrench, you asked about my land, and about what I do with all of the things I grow. I have about 2.1 acres, in an "L" shaped lot that is largely flat, but it does have a bit of a gentle slope in the back, and a low spot at one edge that floods a bit a few times a year for a day or two. Soils -- well, I have everything from very heavy clay to sandy loam, and it changes very abruptly in places. I can, freeze, and dry produce. I've gone extra heavy into it this year because of my concerns over the economy, the "global food crisis," peak oil/energy, etc. Since I can do it, why not? I am feeding not only my immediate household, but putting up a lot for my two sisters and their husbands, my niece with 3 kids, and giving a lot away to friends and other family. I'm trying to be as self-sufficient as possible, because I CAN be. I figure everything that I don't have to buy from the store is that much less oil that was burnt shipping food thousands of miles. My limitation here is that I'm not legally allowed to have animals -- so, this means that protein is harder to do -- I'm trying to grow a lot of beans, quinoa, etc., that are vegetable protein sources. I'll try to post some other garden photos tomorrow. Dennis SE Michigan

Have you ever seen the big tall poles with a propellor on them. They produce energy and for most people who put them in they produce more energy then they use and they start getting a check from the electic company instead of a bill. Problem is for most people the amountof money they are saving is not even close to the cost of the generator. (Est. $10-20,000_ With a bill of $500 dollars a month it would pay for itself in four years and then your electric is essentially free. I don't know about electric heat, but I would imagine you may still need more power than a single wind generator can produce. If you plan on staying in your house for a while it may be a worth while investment. In my case (or my fathers case) it would take too many years for the generator to pay for itself than is worth while for us and we don't have that kind of money upfront. It is easier to pay for the electric bill each month which is a smaller cost than the wind generator even though the long term costs are higher.

I am having the same issue: I never use ice, and I hate the through-the-door ice and water dispensers because they negate the whole best thing about French door refrigerators, the fact that the storage most often used is at eye-level. Plus I find them ugly. Three strikes, you’re out! EXCEPT: thanks to the pandemic and the subsequent shortages and trucking delays, the only refrigerators available as French door models mostly have through-the-door options. I bought one, a Frigidaire Gallery, and I love the design, the lighting, and the fact that the freezer second inner drawer has it’s own metal drawer glides, and not sitting on top of the freezer door’s plastic sides. However, the left side of the fridge compartment has about 1/3 of the space wasted by the ice and water through-the-door unit. My previous Samsung at another house was great, and no through the door feature, just a small discreet interior water dispenser and ice maker in the freezer’s top drawer (with separate metal drawer glides), and I never hooked the water lines up. However, after 13 years it died, and the next Samsung I bought did NOT have the durable second drawer glides for the freezer interior drawer, and although I have not had too many issues with it, those inner drawers that sit on the bottom freezer’s plastic are famous for going off the tracks. So, because of this quality feature of separate drawer glides in the freezer, and the fact that it was on sale, I decided to get the through-the-door Frigidaire gallery fridge. I did not hook up the water line, and now, the fridge is going to be returned 29 days after it was purchased!!! (Lowes gives you 30 days to return from purchase date, NOT delivery date and it must be in their store by that 30 days, not just return requested!) Why am I returning it? Because every couple of hours the refrigerator makes an enormously loud buzzing noise that wakes me up at 4 am and jolts me several other times throughout the day… Why! Because the ice maker (that I don’t want) is calling for water! I don’t want to hook it up, but if it is going to make THAT much racket, I can’t keep it. I have no idea if the noise would stop if it was hooked up, or if this unit is defective, and I don’t know whether to replace it with the same refrigerator, now no longer on sale but I would be exchanging it, or get the Samsung without the nice freezer drawer hardware, or take a chance on the LG with the see-through right-hand door. There are ONLY three choices available in store now without a through-the-door feature, the last is a Hisense, which, although I LOVE the styling, has a reputation for uneven temperatures in the freezer… which is very unhealthy! So, Samsung with junky drawer, LG which costs $700 more and although it has that funky-cool glass door with the easy reach, I don’t know about their reliability, or replace the fridge with the last remaining same model available in the store right now. The Frigidaire does have beautiful lighting, but crap shelves, the LG shelves are okay, in the Samsung they really cheaped out on the interior shelves now, much less nice than even my replacement Samsung at my other house. Thoughts?

I've had our CD FD only around a week - maybe a bit longer. Haven't hooked up the water/ice yet but will in next few days. Also got it at Lowe's on sale (ended up being 20% off) w/ dual ice as well. So far we're blown away by every feature. Love: how huge it is for being a CD; the amazingly efficient layout; the fold up shelf for when we have too many tall drink pitchers; the slide-out shelves; the handy deli drawer and its various settings as well as its divider; cool crispiness of everything (usually our spinach by now starts wilting just a tad); the dual ice areas; the LED light; the chiming for door being left open; the digital display and all the handy features there; the yes very awesome freezer handle; the freezer itself and the slide out upper tray and the small skinny tray thingie near the opening that holds smaller things like frozen meals, ice packs and frozen juice containers; the wine holder and pop cans holder (I actually don't use it for pop but instead keep big ziplocks filled w/ rainsins and nuts shoved in there - it holds those types of things well!); the fact that the milk stays cold in the door and that the door *could* technically hold up to 4 gallons of milk in the doors if you wanted it to; the fact that the doors hold all our condiments when I was so sure they wouldn't - and that's w/ the ice/water in door, too); the child lock (in in our case, also adult lock for a couple of wily friends); the way you can open one veggie drawer from opening only one door - on either side. Cant' do this w/ the deli drawer though but that's pretty quick/easy so it doesn't matter; the fact that the deli drawer gives SO much more space for extra veggies/fruit and because it's long and flat you can see it all easier - so it's a lot more handy than the traditional cheese/meat drawer that's too deep and not as access-friendly; the fact that the dairy tray is tall enough to take a couple layers of butter; and lastly...the fact that it's a gorgeous fridge. I shouldn't have shared any of this till I've had it longer and given it more time, so please take this into consideration. Also remember - I have to let you know how how well the ice/water in door (and in freezer) works after that's hooked up. One not of concern, though I'm not too worried yet: there's some frost in the freezer which I didn't expect. I haven't gone through the list of possibilities/possible causes yet (e.g. are air vents blocked or is temp at wrong setting or should I turn off energy-saver option which I HOPE is not the only solution) or is door not sealing properly due to tape I haven't removed yet or what have you...or did I leave door open too long when first turned on and loading already-melting frozen food, etc. Hopefully that will work itself out over the next few weeks. I'll let you know about that too. It's not a huge inconvenience but had better not stay this way.