It's not the nutrients of the milk that help the plant. It's the enzymes in the milk and the bacteria that will breed in it. Composting the milk would have made it even more effective because composting is nothing but breeding bacteria. A few years back there was an old guy here who composted a mixture of seasoned chicken dung, water, buttermilk and from time to time, he would throw a fish head or two in there. No one else had the vegi's he had. He would keep a 55 gal drum filled with the stuff and a small flame underneath. This probably wasn't necessary in the summer. He only wanted it about 100 degrees. The girl who was pouring milk on soil was increasing populations of beneficial bacterias in it. The plant did better because it was in a more perfect environment. Once the milk went to outdoor temperatures, the organisms started doing there thing. The refrigerator retards that stuff. These organisms also provide certain protections for foliage and roots. Cuts down on disease. If you could find someone with a milk cow or a goat and get some of their milk, it would probably be many times better than store bought milk because the object of big business is to kill all of the organisms so the product lasts longer.

I usually use things like that as a soil drench, diluted or not. Often I just pour some around the roots & then water it in.

Tclynx, The 'feed store' idea sounds good but there aren't any of these stores close to my house. I live in East Fort Lauderdale and I'd have to drive to Davie which is about 15 miles or more away. Not complaining though, and I would do it if I couldn't find a calcium source nearby. A day or so ago I crushed several oyster shell calcium tablets (which I take) and worked the powder into the soil around each plant. I'm one who is constantly checking to be sure the soil is nice and moist around each plant. They are also well-mulched but not too close to the main stem. I think it's true that an over abundance of nitrogen will make the plant put out too many leaves and not enough fruit, correct? The plants are looking healthy and blossoming. I try to use a balanced fertilizer and do like to use organics. Just yesterday I discovered some of the leaves with holes in them and noticed a little green worm on the underside of a leaf. I didn't have any BT on hand, which I really prefer to use for this problem, so used some Sevin type dust. Didn't want to, but didn't want the worms to get out of hand either. I hope to get some CG or oyster shell calcium soon. Tony, you use this calcium carbonate on your tomatoes as well as in the pool? What a versatile product! Thanks guys, Sheri

Hawk, to me, if it has milk it may be nice braided bread but it isn't challah. Traditionally challah is used at Shabbat and holiday dinners and that would usually mean a meat meal. Someone who keeps kosher doesn't eat milk and meat together so challah would not have milk. pkguy and Carol, at the point where I realized the recipe called for powdered milk, I had already added the liquid so substituting wasn't an option. If I did add milk I remember the earlier discussion about the need to scald because of the enzymes. In any case, I don't think the changing the amount of liquid in the recipe to milk would provide an equivalent amount of milk solids as 2/3 cup of powdered milk. I did wonder about substituting evaporated milk which would be closer. But because we keep kosher, I generally prefer my bread not to have milk so if the bread comes out fine without it I'd be happy with that. But we don't eat much meat so I could make it with milk and just not use it with meat.