"can’t imagine doing without running water for 4 months!" It was . . . interesting. Fortunately, there's both an indoor pool, and a campground nearby that let us use the showers. And a neighbor let us fill jugs at his house. "You use green beans as dried beans? That’s a first! What do they taste like?" Dried beans are basically beans that have been left to get mature. So they just taste like beans to me. They're not as pretty and fun as, say, Vermont Cranberry Beans, and the flavor isn't as specific as most dried bean varieties, and also they're not as big so they don't shell quite as easily. But they're great for a lazy person :) "I guess you cook when you travel. The security check at the airport must be interesting with all that produce in your bag. You don't have a frying pan in there too? [g]" A fry pan -- lol! Well, on road trips I have been known to travel with a salad spinner and Cuisinart :) Always have to have a kitchen. Or someone else's home cooking. Really dislike restaurant food. Self seeded veggies are wonderful. And yes, the ones I mentioned come out good, even if not exactly true to seed, it all tastes good. (though they seem to be true, as well) If you'd have to pay for hay or straw it doesn't seem worth it. Maybe ask a couple neighbors if you can have their grass clippings and/or leaves? (those who don't use herbicides) It sounds like the next few years hold some exciting experimentation for you! You'll have to report back and tell us how it goes. I'd love to hear how you do with fall lettuce and greens if you try them this year.

Thanks Camp, for that fava bean tip ... I'll look for it. My husband bought me a giant bag of Edamame beans for me to lose weight. It's high in protein, but tastes like rubber pellets .... suppose to fill your stomach so you'll have NO room left for other food. I tasted my first blue Peruvian potato this Christmas. Yum! Buttery delicious, addictive. My inner voice was chanting "Blue Peruvian" like a zombie. That type of potato is like rare gold in U.S. ... it can only be grown in acidic soil, and high altitude like Peru. Yes, food does affect mood. I was underweight when I was pregnant, so the doctor ordered me to gain weight. That's music to my ears so I had chocolate cake 3 meals a day, and achieved the 15 lbs. gain for delivery. When my kid was a toddler, she was the happiest kid in the block, gigling non-stop. After that I read a research of how pregnant women who consumed chocolate gave birth to happier babies ... if I had known it, I would had stuffed myself until I explode. Roses are yummy too. My kid came home from school hungry and threatened to eat my Sonia Rykiel blooms if I don't make her a snack. I wonder how water would taste like if one soaks a rose bloom in water .... it's like making flavored water. I ought to try that to see if I'll lose weight. I'm desperate here, considering that I ate "rubber-pellets"=)! Victoria Beckman and Hollywood stars achieve their skeleton-status by sniffing & eating peppermint leaves. It also lessens menopausal mustache (I'm not making this up!). But WinterCat in the thread which we wrote a novel using roses' names, exclaimed that the above didnt' work: â¢Posted by WinterCat z10 (My Page) on Mon, Jul 30, 12 at 6:16 AUNT SALLY was wearing her GRANDMOTHER'S HAT - not that it made her LOOK BETTER... FEEL GOOD, and if that weren't enough, she was suddenly gripped by a BURNING DESIRE for SUGAR COOKIEs and COFFEE TEA, so she ended up having a BURNING GLOW in her stomach, but she just couldn't stop popping 'em into her mouth. She tried sniffing PEPPERMINT because she remembered STRAWBERRY HILL said PEPPERMINT takes away one's appetite, but it didn't work. So she started rooting frantically in her handbag for a couple of ASPIRIN. GOOD GOLLY! She howled. No ASPIRIN! Oh! HELP THE AGED! Call DR HUEY! Not a MOMENT IN TIME had passed and DR HUEY's QUICKSTEP was heard. HELLO GORGEOUS! cried DR HUEY. So it's YOU 'N' ME again! YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE! FEAR NAUGHT my DARLING! You've never been a SHOW STOPPER but I always miss a HEARTBEAT when I behold your FUNNY FACE!

I think that time of day has a lot to do with it. I have noticed that this plant and many cacti as well as succulents such as cyanchum smell the strongest during the hot hours of the day. Other succulents, such as Pachypodium lamerei smell the strongest during the early hours of the evening. Emy

A baby bird,looks like it might be a woodpecker. It has some sort of stripes and a long beak.Just a few minutes ago,crash into our sliding glass door by the back porch. He knock himself out.I ran and he looked dead. I started to pick him up and he came out of his stupor. Straighten himself up and just stood there. I left him alone and will check him out later. Poor little feller. Felix