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

I was living in town when Mr. Walski was giving talks about the wild turkey project. Although the article describes the CT River valley, I think there were other release sites that weren't mentioned. I thought our town was one of them because of the corn, apples and water. We don't have apple orchards any more but although we are down to one dairy farm, a neighbor has quite a few beef cows (and lots of manure). We used to enjoy seeing the turkeys roost in pines along a corn field. As day was ending, they would gather and one by one fly up into the trees. The cattle farmer made improvements to the field since years of not keeping up with things let trees encroach on the field. About 100 feet of pines were cut back. There are plenty more pines but too much heavy equipment activity. The heavy equipment is now parked a distance away and finally we saw three male turkeys in our yard and then exploring the corn field. Last winter we counted as many as 60 coming down from the pines to see what they could get in our yard before making the tour to other places. I don't recalled seeing blue birds in winter before but this year we probably have 8. I counted 4 females and one male picking up suet scraps and thistle seed. We do not have nesting boxes up so I have no idea where they nest but it is probably somewhere behind our house. Thanks for posting the wonderful pictures. A friend has been getting some good shots at the Nashua airport and posting them on facebook.

Woke up today to find the house across the street for sale this morning for $60,000 less then we are asking. WTH is up with that. I know they just want to get rid of it, but it's gonna kill us. We knew it was going on the market, but we didn't know what the asking price would be. The woman that lived there passed away, and her family just wants to get rid of it. It's 400 SF less then ours, and the lot is smaller. We figured they would list it around $319,000. They would have no problem getting that. I'm not sure you really need to worry about this house. What's the condition of the interior? If the former resident was elderly and couldn't maintain her house, it may need quite of bit of work. This, along with the smaller size and lot, could explain the price difference. When we sold our townhouse, our neighborhood had the oddest price structure. The inside units all sold in 2006 for 350K, but all the outside units all sold in 2006 for 340K. The outside units are all larger with larger lots. I think a lot of buyers were puzzled by this (I would be) asking why the inside units had higher comps. The sold amounts aren't rational and they make no sense but that's just how things are in the neighborhood.

Our builder would not give us a set time either zorro. He used our house as an ad to get bigger and better business... which he has now about a block away from us. Rumor has it that he is in trouble with that build- timeline, ability to provide the labor needed for the magnitude of the project, etc. The difference with that house and ours is that those people are young, socially connected individuals who are going to let everyone know what's up with this guy. He bled us incessantly by mismanaging our build and as a result he gave us back part of his fee. That was the only reason we did not fire him. These guys really unfortunately have the upper hand in the middling stages. If it gets bad enough though, I would "go shopping" at least, and see where you stand. People stop in front of our house and say how beautiful it is, and isn't so- and-so a wonderful builder, yada yada... We just wish we could let people know just how inept the guy was, but that is not going to happen in a front yard conversation through a rolled down car window. Nobody likes being taken advantage of, or admitting it- but we do not endorse this guy, and karma is coming like a big, slow train around the bend (literally) for him.