Hi Jo, I cant tell you why, but I have seen pictures recently of others plumeria with the strange leaves. I am a member of the Plumeria Yahoo Group. Another member from Switzerland has the same leaves on several of his. No one in the group could explain it, just made jokes about living near a nuclear power plant:) Sorry I can help any more. Your "Dazzler" looks fine for an early season start. Several of the buds have shriveled but I have the same on several of mine. As the season processes and they are in full growth mode, you noticed less of that. Happy Growing! Randy in Savannah

I ordered a pantry with a regular drawer base and then a pantry cabinet on top with roll-out shelves. I plan to keep the larger bagged items (chips, bagged pastas, etc) in the drawers. The smaller bagged items will go in wire baskets on the roll-out shelves. I prefer the look of the drawers on the bottom, especially for a wide pantry as mine will be. I think the drawers break up the look and add interest rather than having large doors. As far as the cans: some GWers lay their cans flat so they can see the labels and then squeeze in more roll-out shelves. Unless your cans will really be packed in, I don't see it as a real problem. I'm sure yours will be organized with like items together, right? But finding that certain flavor of soup you want will require lifting lots of cans! Will your roll-outs have solid sides (e.g. wood)? How high? I am using the Blum metal roll-outs with low sides and rods to provide some visibility, but still not great. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: blum tandembox with low sides

I can understand. Doesn't it feel good to know what's there and that it is not outdated! It is hard for me to pass up a great buy on canned goods and other foods that keep well. So the pantry and freezer fill up with store bargains. At the end of last year I decided it was time to seriously "eat down" the pantry and freezer. We are entering month 3 of "eating down." We restrict new purchases to only a few fresh things like milk, bread, eggs, and limited fresh produce (there's plenty canned and frozen). No stocking up on the big sale loss leaders for now. There is still more stockpiled food to eat, but we are making good progress. I hope to keep at it until only reasonable amounts of store bought food that has been in the house for less than 6 months remains. Hopefully, that will only take another month or two, because by then I'll have lots of fresh produce from the garden and won't want to use stored stuff. Fortunately, there were only a few really old things that I had to throw out. (A couple things had faded labels and NO use by date...yikes!) I've found new ways to use some ingredients (have a new snack bar recipe I love), cooked a LOT of basic ingredients, such as dried beans, to use in other recipes, and overall learned a lot (some kinda scary) about how my mind works. We've had great meals that are planned out ahead even more than usual. There is certainly no deprivation or lack of nutritious food even though very little new food has come into the house. And we haven't had to eat the same thing all the time or eat weird combinations either. I keep repeating to myself, "It's alright, there will be great sales next week, and next month, and next season. You DO NOT need to buy any more right now."

Steph the jars need 1 to 2 inches of water over the top, and a rack between them and the bottom of the pan. A round wire cake cooler will work. So will extra lid rings tied together to form a trivet. You should find 4 oz jars at W. The very tiny 2.7oz jars I had to order directly from Weck or from amazon. They are pricey, with glass lids clipped on, and reusable rubber seals. Very cool, great for adding another layer of fancy to gifts. Chris, I used a new to me pectin last night. Pomona's Universal Pectin, uses calcium rather than sugar to set the gel. So you can use low or no sugar or Stevia or xylitol, fruit juice concentrates, even dried fruit for sweeteners. Because there is less sugar, they won't last as long once opened. There are directions in the box, as well as a book, which I suppose will end up in my kindle before long. I used it with coconut sugar last night to make strawberry cocoa jam. I didn't get a stiff set, but I kind of cut cooking short, since I thought this stuff would make an excellent saucey jam for stirring into yogurt or drizzling over pound cake. I haven't seen this stuff locally, I ordered it from Amz. Oven Peach butter I believe I got about 10-12 4 oz jars. heat oven to 350F. Halve the peaches and remove the pit. Place in a glass or ceramic pan (mine fit in one 9 by 13 with a little squeezing) cut side down. Bake about 1/2 hour. Remove from oven and turn it down to 250. Let the peaches cool a little, then remove the skins, they should lift right off. Mash the peaches with a fork or potato masher and return to the oven. Continue baking, checking occasionally to mash further and stir around, 2 to 3 hours. The peaches are done when they have darkened, they are not watery and they've reached a spreadable consistency. Add sugar to taste, up to 2 cups. Stir in the zest and juice of one lemon. spoon into jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space and process 15 minutes (plus any time needed for elevation..at 4500 feet I have to add ten minutes). This could be frozen. Because of the low sugar content jars should be used within 6 months. Peaches in raspberry jam I think I got about 13 4 oz jars 3 pounds peaches. cut an X in the skin at the bottom of each peach. Blanch in boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove and put into a cold water bath. When peaches have cooled, peel away the skin. cut the peach into about 12 slices and remove the pit. To fit into tiny jars, I diced the slices into ~ 1/2 inch sections. put the peaches in a ceramic bowl, drizzle with the juice of one lemon and stir. Put one pound of raspberries through a food mill over the bowl (or press through a fine strainer with the back of a spoon if you haven't got a mill). Add 3 cups of granulated sugar and stir well. Cover and refrigerate 8 to 12 hours. Next day, pour the fruit into a colander set over a bowl. Let it drain for about 20 minutes. Pour the syrup into a non-reactive pot. Set the colander over the bowl again to catch any remaining drippings. Cook over medium high heat until a candy thermometer reads 215F, gradually increasing the heat to high ( a very strong boil that won't stir down). Add the peaches and cook until thickened and the foam has cleared and the fruit starts sinking in the gel. About 25 minutes. If there is still a little foam, stir in a half teaspoon of butter to collect the foam and leave a very clear gel. Ladle into jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace, wipe the rims and apply the lids and rings. Process in a water bath for 15 minutes, plus any extra needed for your elevation. This will keep on the shelf at least a year. After one year you'll start to lose color and some nutrition.