You don't need to develop your "bitter taste" you need to combine the bitter flavor along with other flavor and be conscious of texture so the dish is simple yet complex. Try this classic Chinese recipe utilizing bitter melon, then let us know what you think *wink*: STIR-FRIED BITTER MELON WITH BEEF 1 pound bitter melon (see note) 1 tablespoon peanut oil 3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped 1/2 pound ground beef 2 tablespoon light soy sauce 1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry 2 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoon chicken stock or water 2 teaspoon dark sesame oil Slice the bitter melon in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds and finely chop the melon. Blanch the bitter melon in boiling water for two minutes; drain thoroughly. Heat a wok or large frying pan over high heat. Add oil and garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the beef and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, salt, bitter melon and stock and stir-fry for another four minutes, or until the beef is cooked. Stir in the sesame oil, turn onto a serving platter and serve. Note: Bitter melon should be firm & plump. Keep in mind the darker the color, the more bitter the flavor.

Ye gads! I wonder why some of this stuff stays around. There is a difference between corn gluten (not gluton) meal and cornmeal; the corn gluten meal is the (somewhat effective) proteins plus other materials milled off whole cornmeal, and which actually contains no gluten. It does work as a pre-emergent herbicide in some situations. Do your research to find how, and rather than doing it the lazy way on most organic gardening forums, read abstracts from university research papers and university horticulture forums (I suggest the WSU Extension forum from Puyallup, WA). You can also find whole grain cornmeal at some better grocery stores. It has the corn gluten intact, if you want it. Corn meal is good food for snails, some rodents and insects. Cornmeal and corn gluten meal are both good substrates for growing some kinds of fungi for research purposes. Just get some moist, perhaps on a pot of wet soil, leave in the shade, keep it moist and/or covered, and see what grows. As a pre-emergent herbicide, cornmeal is not so effective, and under just the right conditions (look up elsewhere how to do it right) corn gluten meal is a good pre-emergent herbicide, even if a bit $$. There is not much guarantee that your corn gluten meal would be OMRI certifiable, for most of it is made from GMO field corn. After all, since most of it goes into animal feed, and the feed producers care mostly about the bottom line, why ask for non-GMO corn sources? net-net: do better research in finding the papers and abstracts, and read critically. Then you won't be panicking about where to find cornmeal or corn gluten meal for your garden. As for tomato spot disease, just try to find supporting studies on cornmeal for preventing that...you'll likely only find anecdotal reports from some home gardeners who have been successful one season, and attribute that success to the cornmeal, but have no control against which to compare.

I don't need to restate anything I've already said in the seven years since this topic was started. What year is this? 2016? Okay I've used cornmeal on my lawn every year for the past 14 years and it's worked for me. Your mileage may vary. It does not seem to work against red thread, rust, or whatever the fungus is caused by 2 weeks of saturation rainfall. But it does work against the disease caused by blocking off the air to certain grasses. Here's the entirety of kimmsr's link text. I had previously reported that cornmeal was being tested for use as a fungicide, siting a study by researchers at Texas A&M Research Station in Stephenville, TX that was highlighted by Howard Garrett, the Dirt Doctor. I tried it around a couple of tomato plants, but the results were very disappointing. The cornmeal first caked and later turned moldy - not an auspicious experiment. I was then notified by someone at Cooperative Extension in Washington State that the initial testing was for a specific problem under specific conditions, not for a general purpose fungicide. Even then, the cornmeal did not show any promise. It would have been nice if something as available and safe as cornmeal turned out to be effective to, but that is not the case. Cornmeal is not an effective fungicide. -Marie IannottiGardening Expert The Stephenville experiment was done in the 1990s. The specific problem and specific conditions were a variety of assorted fungal diseases on peanut plants. The suggestion was made that by using ordinary corn meal against a variety of diseases (which are common in all gardens), that a farmer would get the same effect as crop rotation. What that means is by using the corn meal a farmer would not have to rotate his crops every year, and he could plant peanuts year after year. That is a huge bonus for a peanut farmer. The paragraph on corn meal was buried in a very long list of possible attacks against disease in peanuts. Doing an experiment once is not considered to be scientifically relevant. Why it was not continued or picked up by other researches is beyond comprehension...unless someone with deeper pockets did not want the research done. TAMU was well known as deeply anti-organic in the 1990s and 2000s. From what I've seen the 2010s are only marginally better than previous decades. As Betty said in her original post corn meal worked for her. It worked for me, too, 14 times. I believe it was working for Ms Iannotti, too, but she did not recognize it as working. She said the corn meal turned moldy. That mold she was seeing, assuming it was the blue-green trichoderma, is exactly the fungus that works against her diseased plants. By not knowing what she was doing, she missed an opportunity to learn something.

Kristen, I'm very excited for you! There are lots of things you must seriously consider, of course, and it sounds like you are on the right track. I had a buyer's agent, and I am glad I did have one. The house that I did buy had a listing agent that was VERY unprofessional and would do anything to sell the house. However, DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT, put all your faith into a buyer's agent. Make sure you do alot of your own homework and question everything. At the end of the day, any agent - buyers or sellers - are looking at accomplishing one thing: to sell you a home. Absolutely DO NOT use any inspector the buyer's agent or listing agent, or anyone that has a stockhold in selling you a property. Find your own. I hired one that was highly recommended from my trusted buyer's agent, and he screwed up royally. Missed so much...$20K worth of things that should have easily been found. But, he was working with her to make the sale go through. And inspectors are not that worried about reprecussion of a bad inspection...the most they could ever get is a little slap on the wrist and to refund your inspection cost back. Surely not enough to cover damages that should have been found. Home inspectors DO NOT move anything. So this is what you should do yourself: look under area rugs for trouble, move the curtains to see the windows better, move the refrigerator to see what is lurking beneath (in my case it was a rotten floor), ask to see the house after it rains, etc. Go in yourself with a flashlight and look into every corner. Better yet, take knowledgable friends and family with you. Specifically have these questions asked and answered: when was the electric updated and where? when was the plumbing updated and where? how old is the septic system? How old is the roof? Also make sure you get the water tested. VERY important, especially if you have well water. Another very good thing to do is to go to the town hall and see what permits were pulled for work done on the house. See what was done professionally. Big things count: roof, septic, electric, plumbing, and installation of a furnace. Make sure you have the chimneys checked as well (not doing so cost me $4,000 to have them updated as they were caved in and I waived the chimney inspection). Don't think the ASHI organization is the pinnacle of excellence in finding a great home inspector either - that is used mostly for advertising so HI's can say they are part of some national organization where their credentials are checked. The take a test once, pass, and that's it. Find your HI through friend's recommendation. Interview several yourself. After all, YOU are hiring them to do a job. As far as a buyer's agent, do the same thing: interview a few, ask alot of questions. You are basically giving them a listing on a potential sale. So, you have every right to check them out to see if they really do have your best interests at heart. So do, many do not. Remember, they want a sale, period. Good luck, Kristen, take your time, and ask, ask, ask questions galore to find the right people. They are out there, it just takes some digging. Best to you!!!