I realize I'm coming late to this party, since the thread has been going for a bit now. I try to put in as many new planting areas each year as I can. Less lawn the better. Last year, when it appeared that gasoline would be maybe $5 to $8 a gallon by now, it was somewhat easier to convince skeptical family members that this was a good thing. It will be somewhat less so this year, but hey, they'll get over it. I'm the one that does all of the outdoor work anyway, so it really shouldn't be a big concern for them. I have my eye this year on an area towards the back of my 2nd acre that's about 80 feet wide by 40 feet long. It's at the top of a hill with fairly sandy, loam soil and a southern exposure, with a slight slope. I do have a bit of a deer problem around here, and I'm considering putting some of my sand-loving, more deer resistant crops like potatos, groundcherries, quinoa, garlic, and tomatillos up there, with drip irrigation and black plastic, so that I can plant some of the more deer vulnerable crops in my lower garden, closer to the house, and fence them off. I'm not at all convinced that the price decline in oil/gasoline is permanent by any means. The theory of "Peak Oil" certainly does explain a lot of the economic turmoil going on around the world. I certainly wouldn't be surprised if gasoline prices climbed right back up there within the next year or two, as crazy as the economic situation seems today. The good news is that I have proven able to grow far more food than I and my immediate family can possibly eat, so I have it to share with others. The bad news on that front is that, last year, I had trouble giving away perfectly good, high-quality produce because I kept encountering an attitude of "we don't like that" or "we don't really cook." I found this rather sad. I would encourage anyone interested to grow as much of their own food as possible. The world is sad enough these days, and gardening certainly seems to bring more than a little much needed joy to the world. Dennis SE Michigan

Ok, we lost the last game, and since this tournament was decided on points, came in who-knows, as the rest of the teams were playing later, and we came on home. The beans are "Kings Banquet", originally given to me by some folks whose grandparents homesteaded here, and we've looked and researched around earlier - Seed Savers Exchange has this as the only place they've been seen. Maybe it's some other variety, but with a different name, or it well could have been brought in by the Italian migrants to the area, or some other source. I just have no idea. I sent some to Steve a few years ago, and he's still alive. I've sent some to some market farmers out in California, and they say it's a customer favorite. I sure like them. Great fresh, for me, anyway, they have some flavor. They also do a long time on the vine when they're tender, can well, and the dry seeds are good as well. I usually plant them in the same row I do the peas - peas come out, these go in. I'd suggest picking them at different sizes to see what / where you like them the best. As with any pole bean, as long as you pick them, they keep producing. Re multi-colored sorghum, this is fun. The plants look like corn. I dunno how old that seed is, maybe 4 years? Anywho, best results ever were planting 3 seeds per cell about now, germinating them, pinching off all but one, then setting them out after frost about 1 ft spacing, for as much room as you want to devote, but at least a 6 ft by 6 ft plot. I used a 15 - 15 - 15 fertilizer, spread it about 1 pellet per dime, watered well through June and it was established. once in July, once in Aug. Things were over my head. You could also plant them directly about now - just thin them to 1 / sq foot. Re that Salvia grandiflora, again it takes until the 3rd year to get up to knock 'em dead status. So year one and two are establishing the plant. Pinch the shoot tips when they're 6" high. Then again when they're a foot high. That for the first 2 years. The third year, pinch the tips every 6" of growth until either you get fed up with it, or it's August, then watch the show. All good fun ;->. We're up to Grand Junction for another tournament this coming weekend, then we start swimming season.

A tragedy to die so young, and after the difficult life he has led.

Sorry for the back-to-back post. I'm wondering if the link will go to the correct page, as what shows up on my Amazon home page is a plog, which is part of Amazon's Author's Connect Beta program, where it automatically pushes out author commentaries related to books you've bought (I bought something by Alma Alexander recently). Anyway... in case you don't find it, here is Alexander's tribute to Octavia Butler: [i] "Death triggers memory, it is inevitable, and I found myself trying to think back on the details of my one and only - and now all the more treasured - encounter with Octavia Butler. I really was hoping that someday I'd have another chance to talk to her, because my memory of her is so full of warmth and light. I remember, there she was, this imposing black Valkyrie sitting there at a Science Fiction Museum Hall of Fame inauguration dinner last year, and although I had never met her before I knew who she must be - and that, in fact, is very much what I first said to her: 'You must be...' " "She sighed, with a small smile, and said something about how she MUST be, yeah. How many other black women writers existed in this genre...?" "It made me squirm a little, because I probably said something that everyone said to her. It's a lonely thing, being the Only, or the First, or the Foremost. People see you and they go, oh, you must be... and you have to be. You have no choice in the matter." "But after that somewhat thorny thicket of a beginning, I sat there talking with her for at least an hour - this was the infamous Charles Brown DIsappearing Chair incident, where he got up to go and get a drink and told me to mind his chair and I was so engrossed in talking with Octavia that I completely failed to notice when said chair,right next to me, was spirited away by somebody. She laughed, Octavia, and that remains the only audio I can actually remember from that event - that laugh. I have a good idea of what her voice sounded like, but it's not a real memory - I can't hear her talking. But I hear her laughing. " [/i]