OOPS...got behind on this thread. Peggy, I am still working on my spreadsheets and making labels in preparation to then plant, plant, plant without having to stop and make more labels. I have targeted Thanksgiving for having all bulbs, or nearly all the important bulbs planted. I'm not as concerned about the few NO ID daffs I have and the 250 or so specie tulips and muscari. I can sneak them in easily anywhere anytime before a good ground freeze. You wear me out with everything you have going so many evenings? Has all of the exercising given you more energy? Linda, Congratulations on your very first grand baby. I'm sure he caused a lot of excitement for everyone and hope he is doing great. Sorry to hear of your Mom's fall, but glad it was nothing serious. Possibly it served as a good warning to try and be very careful. She sure seems to be doing well for her age and please tell her I am looking forward to her making it to the next swap...hear? Doris, I'm sure the daffs your boss got will not to too pink. I'm going to guess that they were likely ordered from Breck's. If so, their pics are touched up and are not a good depiction of their true colors. Here is Breck's Pink Collection (not!) Here are some pics that better show their true colors Chromacolor at Daffseek Romance at Daffseek Pink Charm at Daffseek In attending some local Daffodil Shows, I did see many daffs that had a very pretty pink color to them...a true soft pink, nothing peachy about it. Another thing too, is that a daffs color changes as the bloom matures. A bloom that emerges as a yellowy peach can turn its true color of being more pink as it matures. The pic below is Salome on the left and Mrs. R. O. Backhouse on the right. The pic below was taken one day later (and some blooms were added), but you can seed how they have 'pinked up' a good bit. Neither are ones I would call one of the truer pinks though compared to what I have seen at shows. Peggy, your garden club lunch and then work sounds like a lot of fun. I hope it does well and you get us some pics next year. Sue...off to hopefully finish up pretty well on labels today.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever took, and it may have come from this forum, was to take some time and plan out your growing year on a spreadsheet, day by day, and almost hour to hour. The first year I did this, my profit showed a significant improvement. For instance, I know the day in February that I need to seed onions, how many to seed, the day I will transplant them, and where I will transplant them. I also know when I expect to harvest them. I do this for each crop, and from this plan, I know what and how much I will have to sell at each week's market. And since I have a pretty good idea of how much I am going to ask for each crop, I have a pretty good idea of what my projected revenues will be, if sales are good. Also I keep a spreadsheet for each market day, what and how much of each crop I brought, how much sold, and what I priced it at. This is invaluable when it comes to doing the next year's planning. It drives me crazy to actually plan this all out, all the details, flipping the calendar back and forth, etc, but it is so worth it! Two years ago, I got the Quickbooks computer program. I wish I had done this years before. Once you get the hang of it, it is easy to keep up with the data imput, and at a click I can see what our expenses for the year are running, what our sales are, and what our profit and loss statement looks like. Are you doing this mostly by yourself? And are you also responsible for child care and meals, and laundry etc? Put that stuff into your planning because it will tell you what is doable and what is not.For instance, I have Monday mornings blocked out for errands- the shopping, banking, etc. And my day ends at 5 because I am the cook in the family. Over time we have come to know what grows well for us, and where on the property it does the best. Don't rule out flowers as a money maker. We have planted peonies (they don't need rabbit or deer fencing) and I sell them to florists as well to our usual customers. I sold daffodil straight bunches this week, and I hope to do well on them next week as they look so nice on Easter tables. Think about perennial crops that can do well. As we have aged, we have decreased the amount of annual cropping that we do as many of them require weekly seeding, transplanting, and harvesting. We have expanded rhubarb, and blueberries. I would do asparagus if our soil wasn't so rocky. We also do hardneck garlic (once you pay for the first seed garlic, your own garlic can be self-perpetuating), and onions (plant once and don't need rabbit and deer fencing.) Read all you can. I got so much out of Eliot Coleman's The New Organic Grower, and we have had a subscription to Growing for Market since day one. We never did well with raspberries as we only had a once a week market, and they just spoiled. Same situation with strawberries. I think that organic fruit trees in the Northeast is very tough. We have never gone there. Good luck with whatever you decide. Market gardening is a tough way to make money, so only do it if you love it. But it has its advantages. You can be home, you are your own boss, you can involve your kids if they are at all so inclined, and, as several previous posters have noted, you can eat like royalty. We could never afford to eat like we do if we didn't grow it ourselves. Last year I grew melons.....oh my!

Jen~Dave says, "So, is Jen going to enter those beautiful girls or what? They would win hands down!" He is a riot. He loves the girls as much as I do. Donna~(((Hugs))) Sorry that you haven't been feeling well. Please let me know your address. BJ~You sound like you have been doing some major camping with little equipment. But, with great results. You are so admirable. DeeMarie~Cannot wait for you to check in. Have a great time. I will pretend that I am on the boat with all of you "cruisers". LOL We are thinking that we might try to sneak off to NM while we are in TX for our anniversary since that is where we spent our honeymoon. Tikanis~You had a lot to do today, (or was it yesterday?) We snuck off with some friends & went to Tampa to a craft show. We borrowed a wheelchair & Dave pushed me around. I haven't heard anything so I'm guessing that they didn't find anything wrong. And, I know that I am doing better but I still hurt quite a bit. Who has Dr. Oz's book? Can anyone explain his theory to me & more or less what the plan calls for you to eat or not eat? I keep thinking that might be the sensible WOE for me, something that I could stick with. Marci~When are you coming this way? I keep thinking about Gretchen. Does anyone still keep in touch with her? I miss her a whole bunch. Well, nighty-night for now. Patti :)

In a sense, we all have six pack abs.... and we are all "ripped" for that matter. The layer of fat just above our muscles gets in the way of viewing them. Therefore, you are asking the same question as someone who is asking, "how do I lose fat?". I suspect that some bodies' are more tenacious about clinging to that last little layer of fat that makes most of us look so unripped. Situps of any sort are not your answer. If your abs are really weak and particularly small because of being sedentary, then perhaps situp types of exercises could help, but the real problem is fat. Determine your minimum caloric intake and try to stay close to it, and exercise aerobically for as long as you can safely do it on an almost daily basis if not every day. No human body can make fat very well when those calories are needed for being alive. Problem is, your body will create an incredible appetite once you drop into the lower caloric numbers. You and your doctor are responsible for your decisions by the way. Also, you have to decide if you want to donate so much of your attention and energy to the ripped look. As soon as you take some time off from your regime, that smooth look will return! Once you get the six pack... it's not like a permanent feature.