When I lived in TN I used mainly Mills Magic Mix (which was "local") and sometimes Rose Tone. Ingredient for ingredient they are much the same. I favored the MMM - I think it did a better job in the clay soil (for which it was designed), but that is an opinion, nothing scientific. Also, Rose Tone changed its formulation the third year I had roses to make it much closer to the MMM forumulation. The contents of MMM was much under discussion here on the forums during that time and I compared lables on everything in the market. Here, in NC, with no ready, relative inexpensive supply of MMM, a strong, willing DH and a nearby Southern States, I do it myself, much like rjlinva. I buy the bags of alfalfa meal, cottenseed meal, fish meal etc. and feed from my own "mix". We can get compost $20 for a ton and have a trailer that will haul 3 or 4 yards (depending upon how wet it is). The first roses went in the ground here in August 2005 and I've been adding new beds a couple each calendar year, so I'm doing a lot of soil amending. I have been adding the compost to the 'established' beds once a season, the newer beds are getting it twice to help get the soil turned around. I thought I knew clay, but NC clay is different than TN clay. I'm sooo grateful for the ready and inexpensive supply of compost. I also use epsom salts in the spring. If I think a rose needs a pickmeup, I'll go with the liquid Ironnite or something like that. There are several brands of liquid food that do that well. I also keep a bottle of fish emulsion handy for that purpose. I have a couple of roses that seem to require a little more iron than the rest of the crowd - its easy to spot them when they get needy.

Hey everyone! Wow! So much going on here!! Sorry haven't checked in the last few days. Sorry I missed Bingo, been just crazy here. I'll start getting my seeds together to mail :) Here are a couple of recipes I love... RECIPE 1: Lazy Pigs ~1 small to med. cabbage ~1lb hamburger ~2 cans tomato soup ~2 med. onions ~2 cups brown rice Core cabbage, and cut into small pieces. Wash, set aside. Brown 1lb hamburger, reserving drippings to cook diced onions. Cook brown rice according to directions. In a large skillet (I use cast iron) combine cabbage, hamburger, onion, rice and 2 cans of tomato soup. Mix well. Add enough water to cover the top of your mixture. Cook 350, for about 1 1/2 hours. If you wanted to make this quicker, I cook the cabbage on top of the stove for about 20 minutes. Reserving the cabbage liquid to mix with some of my tomato soup. Mix everything together and cook 350degrees for 35minutes. Salt and pepper to taste :) RECIPE 2: Ham and Cheese Roll ~1 pound of ham; Sliced or cubed ~8 oz. of Havarti Cheese with dill, cubed small ~Your easiest dough recipe. Some times I've even used those flaky biscuit tubes (Grands, you need 2 tubes) ~ 1/2 cup peach jam ~ 2 Tbsp. mustard Roll your dough as normal. Like making a pizza. Or place your biscuits together in a 13x9 pan making sure their is no holes in the bottom. Place ham and cheese randomly over your dough bottom. In a bowl mix jam and mustard together using a small whisk. Pour over the ham and cheese, and spread evenly over the dough. Now you can either roll your dough like a stromboli, or if your using biscuits, open the second can and place over the ham and cheese mixture. Bake at 375. For actual rolled dough cook for about 30 minutes. For biscuits cook for about 20 minutes. They will both be golden brown on top. Yummy :) Have a great night!!

I agree with maybeldingeldine's instructions completely. They have the procedure as well as the ingredients, which mine did not. Those instructions will give you an authentic New England clam chowder. The point about mashing a few of the potatoes is a good one. Starch from the potatoes was the only thickening in chowder made by old time Yankees. They may have used a higher proportion of potatoes than I do or they may have cooked them more or maybe they just liked a thinner chowder. One point not discussed so far is preparation of the clams. Big hardshell clams (chowder quahogs) are used. Traditionally the clams are shucked by someone who is handy with a clam knife and the raw clams are chopped or run through a meat grinder. For those who find shucking clams to be daunting, the clams can be opened by steaming them, only as long as necessary to get them open. Cooking toughens clams. Note that they are added near the end of making the chowder for that reason. Use just the amount of water necessary for steaming, so as to not dilute the precious juice more than necessary. Another trick, when live clams "clam up" too strongly, making them difficult to open, is to place them in the freezer for a while to relax them. Chowder can probably be made from canned clams and bottled clam juice. I won't attempt to say how because I haven't done it. Fresh chopped clams are sometimes available in fish markets too. Jim This post was edited by jimster on Mon, Dec 24, 12 at 17:08

I am not sure what god has to do with any of this but,... OK. I would think that salt deposits that are not refreshed by new (plastic contaminated) water are totally free of plastics. Therefore maybe Morton in Utah can claim Plastic Free salt since the Bonneville flats were established thousands of years ago. Granted some streams might feed into the "lake" but it would not only have minimal plastic content and it is controllable as to where they mine the salt. In that element, yes they are definitely less vulnerable. As for fracking, yes, it does not concern me at all. I ran my gauntlet of protests to set my world right: Wood stock, Gay rights, Women's right, civil rights, and a major recycling stint as a teen ager to get it started in my home town. Now it is time for others to carry the torches. I cannot even get students to attend the gun protest in DC next weekend. They look at me with such blank faces. I try to tell them that they are really going to regret not having made the effort to go. Maybe not next week, maybe not next month, but they will when they are in their 40s and tied down with family and careers. Other things that do not affect me: The extinctionof Banana trees and the destruction Chocolate plantations. Shore gonna miss ice cream sundaes but I have had many and in my final 10- 15 years, I figure that won't run out in my lifetime. If you don't like fracking, are you actively protesting it? If not, why not? As we learned from the teenagers from Florida school, "Prayers, Wishes, and Thoughts" certainly do not hack it anymore especially from a blind government. I think I digress..... What was the topic again? Oh yea, Salt. Mined is much cleaner from plastic than anything from the oceans and streams.