Dahli22, I made my own version of a swiss chard wrap this week, and they are the biggest hit ever! We had it tonight at a party, and yesterday I took them to the neighborhood picnic. I'm going to use them in some classes this week. As much chard as you need individual leaves. For every 70 leaves you need a full cup of the raw rice. 1 cup uncooked brown sushi (sticky) rice or shortgrain brown rice (needs to be short grain, and sticky is best). Cooked until well done (do not rinse first, let it go sticky) 1/2 c. miso mayo (my mayo of choice, but I'm sure you can use regular mayo 4 leeks or an onion sliced olive oil 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts 4 larger sized radishes finely chopped 2 carrots finely chopped 6 bite sized pieces of 9 day pickles (I think 3 tablespoons of sweet pickle relish would substitute nicely) Seasoned vinegar: I make my own herbal vinegars but a seasoned rice vinegar to taste will work. Probably 2 tablespoons salt pepper assorted chopped herbs of your choice: 4 tablespoons Cut the swiss chard stems off of the leaves, cut down a bit to get all the firmest part cut away from the leave but leave the leaf intact. Chop finely. Saute the onion or leek and swiss chard stems until soft. Add finely chopped nuts, pickles, radish, carrot in a bowl to cool. Add in the fully cooked rice and herbs. Mix together well. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the miso mayo and stir - season to taste. I found I needed some raw garlic, just a small amount for some kick. This will seem very strongly flavored, and it needs to be to compete with raw chard. Add a dollop of the mix on each clean and dry chard leaf. Wrap in a bundle and secure with a tooth pick. I make each one into a two bite size. Rave reviews, now my fave!! I'm in the process of removing the old garden, ammending soil to plant so the veggie garden is not so pretty but you can see it with last years photos: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v192/girlgroupgirl/2010/ Here is a link that might be useful: girlgroupgirl 2010 photos of garden

Hi all!!! Hope everyone staying cool as cucumbers. Just think... we got 3 more months of this to look forward to... think I shoulda been born a yankee as I can take the cold weather better than this heat. Course, I never really seen any snow to amount to anything. Saw in the weather forcast that it will be hotter in D.C. than Atlanta over the weekend. Ed, for those kind words, sir, if any of our kids in Atlanta come down during harvest then I will make sure they bring some back up there for you. They live in the Buckhead area, if you know where that is located. Will advise more when time draws nearer. Satellitehead, I can relate to what you are saying. My story is the typical country boy that couldn't wait to get grown to move to the big city... then spent most of my adult life trying to make enough money to move back to the country... does make sense??? The days of the small farms are gone. You have to own or rent enough land so that you will have a large volume as you only make a little on each acre. I have been to several equipment auctions and the biggest selling items were things for 2 row tractors that people would use for their gardens, like me. Four row stuff you couldn't give away as the large farmers have went to 6 - 8 row equipment or larger and the home gardener only needs 2 row equipment. You mentioned sitting around doing the veggies... some of my fondest memories involves pulling up peanuts and sitting around picking them off to boil. Us teens would have a party and boil peanuts in a large wash pot (if any of you know what that is). The cast iron would turn the hulls almost black, but boy were they good... especially if there was a cute little girl sitting next to you... (blush) Mk87, wish everyone thought like you. Same with fish... "are the cleaned?". We have two large pecan trees in the back yard and one fairly young in the front. This past season was a record breaker I think for pecans. My trees were so heavy with nuts that it was dangerous to be underneath them as limbs (huge ones) kept breaking off. I took one of my chain saws and cut up and saved the bigger pieces for fireward or bbqing. (love to bbq) Several hundred pounds of Stewarts (only kind you can sell here) from one tree. They brought .60 a pound. Quite a diffence from $7.99 huh? The other tree is paper shells and we shelled them and put most in the freezer. Course, me and the dogs eat quite a few right out of the shell. Both my dogs loves pecans, but one will only eat them if you shell them for him. The other will crack his own. Think the one has me pretty well trained... lol One of my wife's brothers still lives in the Jacksonville area and when he comes up for a visit, he goes by Mayport (fishing village at the entrance to the St. Johns River) and brings us a mess of shrimp. My wife can fry them just the way I like... correction... love'em. JMZ, think it is great that you are a country girl at heart. Wish you were my neighbor. My wife was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida and she is also a country girl at heart. When we moved up here she bought a bunch of chickens from one of my cousins. We also got two dogs and some cows. Things she had always wanted. Told her when I'm dead and gone she could sell the farm and move back to the city... you would have thought I spit in her face... lol. About the potatoes... you would have to bring them up... we broke down and opened up one of the two bins... lots of ants and few potatoes. My brother-in-law on the other hand had almost 2 - 5 gal. buckets full out of his bins and he planted a week after me... I gave him the left over potatoes from my planting. We discussed this in another message or forum and think my problem was too much dirt and not enough mulch or straw. The plants grew well, but it appears that the dirt packed down and there was really no place for the potatoes. Think about it... when you plant them in a row and throw dirt to them as they grow, the potatoes expand and push the dirt up and away. Hard to do that with 2 - 3 feet of dirt on top of you and boards on the side. My wife has gone to Jacksonville for the weekend for one of the grandkids birthday. So, I'm baching it. Got to end this novel and go gather some cucumbers. Hope all have a great weekend and lets keep watching the tropics for a tropical storm to move up the gulf and dump some rain on us. (Not a hurricane please, Lord) Shot

Yellow Pear ;), not Lemon Pear. So what does this mean? I know that when it's over 92 degrees, the flowers won't be able to pollinate, so all those unpollinated flowers right now won't be able to form fruit. But does that mean when it cools down again, the tomato plant will go back to producing fruit? Or does the plant switch modes and focuses on ripening the existing fruit? It isn't quite as simple as 92 or either/or. It is a combination of factors of high temps with or without high humidity or lower temps plus high humidity. But the general guideline is 95 degrees plus high humidity = no fruit set. And it isn't just the temp on your outdoor thermometer but the actual temp in and around the plant itself which is often very different. Breezes make a difference, shade makes a difference, and night time cool downs make a difference, etc. The blooms you already have are likely already pollinated as many are pollinated before they even open. If not you can help them by finger flicking the bloom cluster. And yes when it cools down again, even if it is weeks from now, it will bloom more and set fruit as long as the plant stays healthy. Dave

The building code for stair guards and handrails and traditional good practice are both often misunderstood or forgotten by designers, builders and building inspectors. The IRC requires a Guard and a Handrail at a residential stair but they are allowed to be the same element if it obeys certain height rules. Nevertheless, the guard/handrail must follow the rules of each element. The primary difference is that the handrail should be continuous (ie, not interrupted by newel posts) but the guard can be discontinuous (ie, interrupted by newel posts). This is not only safer but more elegant in appearance. However, the height above the tread nosings of the handrail is allowed to exceed the maximum height at transitions (ie, a drop is allowed) and special endings are allowed at the bottom of the stairway (for instance, a handrail may turn outward and end against a newel post on the bottom tread). code text: "When handrail fittings or bendings are used to provide continuous transition between flights, the transition from handrail to guardrail, or used at the start of a flight, the handrail height at the fittings or bendings shall be permitted to exceed the maximum height. "The use of a volute, turnout or starting easing shall be allowed over the lowest tread."