Below is a simple SEARCH within this forum for the key word 'SOURDOUGH'. It brings up a LOT of recipes and help for any sourdough your planning to make or use. True sourdough is a culture of WILD YEAST and is not mixed with sugar when making the inital sour dough culture. Store bough yeast isn't well suited for sourdough, but you would use regular yeast when making teh actual bread after you have expanded teh culture and save a portion I have a culture that is well over 100 years old now, and save some in the fridge fresh paste, and dried, and some in my freezer (dried). Mine can get quite sour withiun 24 hours and after just 2 days its really strong. KIng Arthur also offers sour dough cultures and one is US based while the other is from Europe. Whole wheat flour is OK to use, but it would be best to use a 50:50 of whole wheat to white flour. Once its going to be a bread, you can add the rye flour and any other flavored flour in the final dough making. I have seen bread made with grapes. The person soaked four and water with grapes for about 2 days and then strained out the grapes and used the liquid to make a sourdough starter. That is OBVIOUSLY a real WILD YEAST!

The very first thing to do is to see your doctor to rule out any medical problems. Then, get started. You have to start small, and remember that any exercise is better than none. Walk one block and back five times a day, or around the block, or around two blocks. You get the idea. Or join a gym. I swear by going to a gym. It's a time I set aside to exercise, and having the other people there is an encouragement. At the YMCA where I go, there are people of all ages and sizes - virtually none in spandex. As for food, I can only talk about the things that work for me. Don't keep snack food in the house, be it ice cream or chips and salsa. Force yourself to get up and go out to get this, and often you won't. If you do, buy the smallest package they offer, because you'll probably eat it all. I concentrate on things that are good for me rather than those that are bad. Rather than saying, "No chocolate today," I plan my seven servings of fruit and vegetables, whole grains, etc., and often I don't eat any junk. If I do, I revert to my first rule, getting the smallest bit I can buy individually. I also swear by cooking ahead. Baked chicken, meatloaf, beef stew, whatever in single serving ziplock bags in the freezer. Makes it much less likely that I'll head out for fast food. I know the rules about never eating in front of the television (or computer) and always sitting down at a table with food on a plate to eat. I must admit that I'm not very good at this, though I'm getting better. If I do eat while watching TV or the computer, I put a moderate serving on a plate and eat from that, rather than taking the whole box or bag. It's far too easy to eat a whole bag of something without even noticing. Good luck. I notice that you're a recent widow. I'm sorry to hear that.

I put about a gallon of them I had leftover from a potluck in the freezer after refridging them. I hope they'll be okay when reheated next week. They'll have been frozen almost a month. I have no tips on the canning, but I'm guessing pressure cooked if they can be done at home.

I like the Jamesboro too. Here it is with Waterbury cream instead of the Powell. And here's a few other names that were tossed around Providence Olive/Waterbury Cream Old Salem Gray/Waterbury Cream Old Salem Gray/Shelburne Buff I can't stress enough though that you really MUST do samples on the walls because the virtuals are not usually accurate plus your lighting makes such a difference. Just looking at my fandeck, I'm worried that Jamesboro is too dark. From the chips, I like the Northampton Putty and Old Salem Gray the best. Both have lots of olive undertones.