I think our soil is sonic as we are in the desert of AZ. Part of my yard has been subject to years of flood irrigation without the benefit of fertilizer so it may have been flushed out but the dry areas have a hard, hard layer of caliche. Wouldn't gypsum help this? Threw my spent runner beans, a bunch of pine straw and weeds (thistle) in. Going to try to find a source of bulk compost today to fill the truck bed and get the boys to shovel. Now, lazy gardener, should I really go through the cardboard and plant in the nasty caliche when I plant my seeds? Seems like that sort of defeats the purpose but never having done it this way I really don't know. Once it cools off I thought I might devote this space to beans, peas and then favas so that I can help improve the soil with an edible cover crop. Does this sound reasonable? I'm going to plant some cowpeas along the back where they can climb the semi-dead juniper hedge. Or, would I get better yield with Limas in our climate? We like both pretty equally. The length is about 20 feet. I'd like to do a small patch of fall sweet corn. Which direction do the rows need to go? This is so fun to finally have some more space! The boys are also clearing the back planter around the pool so I'll have another area, about 40 x6 with afternoon shade.

I happened to be sifting through old computer files today and found two recipes I had saved from the old fruitcake posts. RE: Church of the Besotted Fruitcake * Posted by: Readinglady z8 OR (My Page) on Sat, Oct 8, 05 at 22:29 Here's the recipe from that thread with her comments. (We actually ended up with two lengthy fruitcake threads, as I remember.) I don't think we've heard from Mrs. Bartholomew for a while. Hopefully she returns as fruitcake season moves into full swing. "Here is the recipe I use for Christmas fruitcake - more or less, anyway, because I tend to use different types and proportions of fruits and nuts each year. I candy my own pineapple, angelica, and cherries, but you can use store-bought and give them a good rinse to get the extra sugar off before you use them. Makes two large loaves. 1/2 to 3/4 litre white rum 1 pound candied cherries (substitute angelica for a handful of the cherries, if you have it) 3/4 pound candied pineapple 1/4 pound candied citrus peel 1 pound large sultanas 1/2 pound blanched whole almonds 1/2 pound walnut halves 1 pound unsalted butter, softened 2 and 1/4 cups of sugar 6 large eggs 4 cups of white cake flour (not self-raising) 1/4 cup lemon extract Warm 1/2 litre of the rum until it seems just about to boil, and immediately remove it from the heat. Soak the cherries, pineapple, citrus peel, sultanas, angelica and nuts in the rum overnight. Strain, reserving the rum, and set the fruits and nuts aside in a very large mixing bowl. (You don't have to heat the rum up if it's too much trouble, but it soaks into the fruit much better if it's warm). Beat the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Beat in half of the eggs, then half the flour, then the rest of the eggs, then the rest of the flour, then the lemon extract. Pour the batter over the fruit and nuts and stir well. If your loaf pans are non-stick, just butter them. I use a stick of butter like a crayon to do this. Otherwise, line with buttered parchment paper. Scrape the batter into the pans. Bake in a preheated 300 degree Fahrenheit oven for 45 minutes, then cover the pans with foil and bake for another 45 minutes. Watch carefully near the end of the cooking time; as soon as the cakes start to pull away from the edges, or resist when you poke them gently, they are ready. It is better to underbake than overbake. Let them rest on a rack until they've cooled to room temperature. When the cakes have cooled but are still in the tins, carefully poke several holes through each loaf with a long, thin skewer. Heat the reserved rum - again not letting it quite boil - and drizzle it over the cakes. If the fruit and nuts soaked up most of the rum, add another 1/4 litre of rum before heating it. Leave it for 15 minutes so that the rum will more or less soak through the cakes, although some may still remain in the bottom of the tins when you remove the cakes. Wrap each cake carefully for storage. If you have large enough linen pudding-bags, you can lightly moisten these with rum and slip a cake inside each one. Otherwise, you can wrap the cakes in the brown paper they were baked in, which should be thoroughly permeated with the rum. Whether you've used cloth or brown paper, wrap the cakes in another layer of plastic wrap or tuck them into a plastic bag for further protection. The longer you leave the cakes before serving, the better. If you won't be able to resist tasting, pour a little of the batter into a ramekin to bake it separately and eat it while you're wrapping the other two cakes." I can see I need to buy the ingredients soon. Just reading the recipe makes my mouth water. Carol ============================ It's Fruitcake Time Again! Posted by gardengrl Orlando (My Page) on Thu, Oct 6, 05 at 9:03 Hi Everyone, If you remember last year at this time, the Harvest forum had quite a thread going on fruitcakes. Well, last year I made two versions from posted recipes and they were the BEST! I call them "rum cakes" in order to avoid the fruitcake stigma. :-) I made my cakes in October (both a dark cake and a yellow cake), refridgerated them (since I'm in the south), and "basted" them every week with whatever version of alcohol I wanted. They were a hit during Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, go raid your liquor cabinet gang; it's fruitcake time! Here are two recipes from last year; both recipes make 2 fruitcake loaves when baked in a typical loaf pan. I've modified my versions a little from the original recipes. Dark Fruitcake Approximately 25 ounces of golden raisins (add more or less to your preference) 2 cups coarsly chopped walnuts or pecans 2 1/4 cups sifted, all purpose flour 1 cup shortening (I used butter) 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup molasses 5 eggs 3/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp each, cloves and mace (nutmeg) 1/2 cup orange juice 1 cup blackberry jam or preserves Optional: Place raisins and nuts in a glass bowl or pan and cover with dark rum or brandy. Allow to soak 24 hours. Drain and reserve the used liquor when finished. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Mix flour with salt, baking soda, and spices, set aside. Cream shortening or butter until fluffy; Gradually add sugar and molasses. Beat in eggs, add flour mixture in increments until well mixed. Stir in raisins, nuts, orange juice and jam. Line loaf pans with parchment paper. Spray parchment with non-stick spray. Pour batter evenly into two loaf pans and bake approximately 3 1/2 hours (or until toothpick inserted comes out clean). It really depends on how deep you pour the batter. When done, take cakes out of oven, allow to cool for approximately 5-10 minutes. Invert loaf pans, remove cakes, and allow to cool on cooling racks. When cool, take a toothpick and poke holes into the top and bottom of fruitcake. Baste fruitcake with raisin infused rum/brandy, allowing liquor to soak into holes. If your in the south, place cakes in an airtight container and store in the fridge. If up north in a cool environment, wrap cakes in wax paper followed by tin foil, and store in a cool place. Baste cakes with raisin liquor or other dark liquor every week until the holidays. Yellow Fruitcake White rum: optional 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of candied or dried fruit. I use a "harvest mixture" of dried fruit from Sams, which includes dried cranberries, dried cherries, dried strawberris, and dried blueberries. 1/2 pound of nuts (your choice, more or less nuts to your preference) 1 pound unsalted butter, softened 2 1/4 cups sugar 6 large eggs 4 cups of white cake flour (not self rising) 1/4 cup lemon extract Warm rum in a saucepan or microwave until it is just about to boil. If you don't want alcohol, feel free to use a juice of your choice. Place fruit and nuts in a large bowl or pan and pour hot rum/liquid over. Soak overnight, drain fruit and reserve the used liquor when finished. Preheat oven 300 degrees Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in half the eggs, then half the flour, then the rest of the eggs, then the rest of the flour. Add lemon extract. Stir in soaked fruit and nuts. Line 2 loaf pans with parchment paper. Spray paper with non-stick spray. Pour batter evenly into both pans. Bake cakes uncovered for 45 minutes, then cover with tin foil and bake another 45 minutes. Watch carefully near the end of cooking time; as soon as the cakes start to pull away from the edges of the pans, or resist when you poke them gently, they are ready. It's better to underbake than overbake. Remove cakes from oven and cool for 5-10 minutes. Invert loaf pans, remove cakes, and allow to completely cool on cooling racks. Follow basting and storing process as listed for the dark cakes (basting with alcohol optional, you can use fruit juice). Use the reserved dried fruit infused liquor for basting. I alternate basting with Grand Mariner (sp?) every week.

That's so funny! That time I thought you were just being silly! Good news at the dentist always makes for a better day! Yay! Lisa - I'm so sorry that I've been remiss in taking time to post on the board that I received my prize package from you. I sent you an e-mail when it arrived on Monday. I hope you received it. To everyone else - Lisa sent me the nicest box of prizes from last month's games. For some game when I was the next person to post (it seems like we were waiting for Tracy to materialize but I don't remember why) she sent me some nice gloves and plant markers. For finding that tiny Christmas tree, thereby putting an end to her 'I Spy' game, she sent me a plant off of my want list. She chose to give me Phlox 'Orange Perfection'. I was very excited to get this, as I've never seen it in my area. And, just because she's so sweet, Lisa sent me another start from Larry's iris collection! I'm a lucky girl!

When solid fat is called for in a recipe, such as shortening for banana bread, I substitute coconut oil, which is solid/semi-solid until around 76°F, and liquefies the warmer it gets past 77°F, so I use it for both a solid and liquid fat. The only ingredient in the coconut oil I use is - coconut oil! Historically, coconut oil is one of the earliest oils to be used as a food and as a pharmaceutical. Ayurvedic literature long promoted the health and cosmetic benefits of coconut oil, as well as ghee (butter fat). The Asian Pacific people, which represents as much as half the world's population, uses coconut oil in one form or another. I haven't used shortening OR vegetable oil for over 25-years, so my current "health fad" of using coconut oil has be a long-standing food source in our diet. A nice thing about using coconut oil, you can often use 25% less fat and still get the same results in baked goods. So you reduce the calories from fat. I will also dispute the "butter is bad/worse than shortening.... -Butter is rich in fat soluble vitamins A, E, and K2. K2 is involved in calcium metabolism and grass-fed butter, such as Kerrygold, is rich in K2. -There ARE healthy saturated fats. The so-called "war" against saturated fat was based on some really bad science. If anything, "fake" fats have been proven to be damaging to health. So enjoy lard (real, not hydrogenated), butter, coconut oil, nuts, avocados (all rich sources for saturated fat) - but as with all fats, do so in moderation. -Margarine, shortening and vegetable oils are such highly-processed foods, I don't know why they even qualify AS "food". -Butter is a good source of the fatty acid butyrate. If you want the fiber you take to benefit your gut, you need butyrate. -Butter is rich in Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), which is shown to have anti-cancer properties. -Grainlady