Ok, well, the few bodies that showed up (6 of us) were incredibly enthusiastic about the whole thing...I had printed out a couple sets of materials from trudi's site, and the FAQ page from AgNIC, and moonphase, I borrowed your pics of your seedling ghetto from this morning. After a brief tutorial, we got to work. I set up 2 long cafeteria tables, and we worked assembly-line style and got 119 containers done in a little over an hour. We were smokin! I still need to take inventory of what actually got planted- I know there were 4 and 5 containers each of things simply because I had that much seed...There are things that I wanted to get sown but may not have...I may still put up some more containers later. But that's 6 more people on the planet that now know about this method, and that it works, and is totally earth-friendly and economical! I'm psyched. Nothing like a marathon WS event to perk up one's spirits when you're stuck in an office 8-5.

Thanks everyone (esp. lynne and carole for the suggestions). I really should post about DD on parenting or cooking board. I didn't intend for this conversation to be about DD's picky eating. DS had some sensory issues (mostly motor delays - still has vestibular problems so he's just not a physical kids). Couldn't have his foods touching, preferred everything room temp (except when he was 9mo he changed to liking his milk cold, even when it was *my* milk!). So when DD came along we figured it was more of the same, except she was *always* very physical, just not verbal! Where DS was trying to get us to name everything from about 6-8mo (incl. colors, we found when he got frustrated pointing to each section of a beach ball and we kept saying "ball") and had a 400+ word vocab (I stopped counting) when he was 2, DD just screamed when she wanted something. We kept trying to teach her to talk, I couldn't even tell dr at 24 mo appt how many words she said b/c I'd never heard the same one twice (and not too many once!). We knew she didn't have a hearing problem b/c her receptive language reponses were age-appropriate. So no big deal about the food - she ate every kind of jarred baby food (though she was always a "grazer" even when nursing, wouldn't take bottle, wanted me, wouldn't nurse long or eat much at a time compared to DS at that age). When we got into table food, though, we got into a real problem with textures and temperatures. No big deal, we had worked it out with Ds. Well, she never outgrew it - it got worse. last year when she was 4.5 yo we toock her to OT, spent $1200 on therapy to see why she was gagging and in some case vomiting on foods that she said she liked - mostly meats. It turned out her chewing/swallowing mechanisms are fine, it seemed like she just didn't *know* when a food was chewed enough to swallow. Her OT said she just seemed to chew food (esp meat) for the flavor but once the flavor was gone or not intense, she didn't want it in her mouth anymore. Funny, b/c she doesn't really like intense flavors. Anyway, the OT got her to add raw baby carrots with ranch dip to her diet, and that's it. We quit b/c we really didn't have the $ (hi-ded insurance didn't pay any of it) and she didn't seem like she was making progress. She weighs 40 lbs now so she's normal (and she's short, so actually she's a bit heavy for her height). She loves oatmeal (the texture makes *me* gag!), any kind of bread/pasta, and most meats as long as they're not chewy, but she won't eat stew. Hates potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes! Of course won't touch green veggies but has learned to eat broccoli with ketchup as well as baby carrots. Will eat about any kind of fruit. So the only arguments come at dinner time. I tell her she has to eat what I give her (believe me, it's the tiniest bit) of meat and broccoli, she can have as much or as little as she wants of anything else as long as she eats those. But then she'll start negotiating - "can I have carrots instead? I don't want broccoli! I won't eat it! How much mac and cheese do I have to eat? Do I have to eat all this meat? I can't!" and starts crying and screaming, I tell her if she doesn't eat it she can't have dessert and then she screams that she wants dessert. So I say "eat your dinner first" and she starts the negotiating and crying and "I can't" all over again "But I want dessert (sob sob)". I just can't deal with it. Sometimes she'll sit there for an hour, everyone will have finished, I've got all the leftovers put away and the dishes/pots in the DW, and she'll still be sitting there - I'll tell her she doesn't have to eat it, but she still wants dessert so she gags it down (or it comes up and she gets upset b/c she tried and I should still give her dessert - sometimes I do b/c I feel sorry for her and she *did* try but sometimes I'm just so fed up I tell her dessert time is long past, it's bedtime now). Please note that we rarely eat dessert in this house - when Ds and DD ask for it we let them have a small piece of candy from their jars - we have canisters full of candy they get at Halloween, Xmas, Easter, pick up from parade route at 4th, etc. - we don't buy it, it just finds its way into our house! I'm just getting tired of cooking hot dogs, kielbasa, mac and cheese (first she decided she didn't like the noodles that come in the box so I'd use elbows instead with the powder, now she's decided she *does* like the box noodles and *doesn't* like any others), baked chicken (we put BBQ sauce on ours, hers is plain), pork chops (ours with adobo), pork ribs (again hers plain), and broccoli all the time. I'd like to have rice every now and then! Maybe some kind of *flavored* rice or noodle, some different veggie?? I don't do casseroles, lasagne, etc. b/c my kids won't eat their food mixed together, even though Ds has started to like chili. DD used to eat the black beans (not pinto) and the meat as long as I didn't make it spicy, but then she started refusing those too. I stopped making her a PBJ sandwich if she didn't like dinner I was making, thought she should learn to at least try some new things. But now I'm stuck in a rut with the same old things, and she's starting to complain about those too. Like I said, DS started off picky too but he outgrew it. What worked with him doesn't work with her. At least she started to talk around age 2.5 (after I called birth to 3), now I can't shut her up LOL!

Thanks, everyone, this house has been a lot of work, and Elery and I are doing most of it ourselves, so it's taking a while. So, the kitchen is not finished. The cabinets are in, walls are drywalled, painted and trimmed, the countertops are on and the appliances installed. Cherry trim and laminate on the floor, but the window on the East overlooking the water needs to be replaced, and it was a "special order", so I can't finish the backsplash until the window is installed. And we still have the white battleship shaped homemade island with pink ceramic tile top sitting right in the middle. It'll stay, kind of, but it will be covered with the same stuff the cabinets are made of and have a butcherblock top. We tore out a wall between the kitchen and dining room to make one big room.... Right now I'm working on the pantry, tearing out old shelves and replacing them with chrome racks and laying tile. Supper tonight was pasta with Mama's Meatballs, a red pepper sauce, garlic bread and broccoli. I have half of my cooking stuff there and half here, so the garlic bread was from a local grocery store. It was OK, but I NEED to bake! Annie This post was edited by annie1992 on Fri, Jan 23, 15 at 20:05

I made a crockpot pot roast. With the potatoes and carrots cooked outside. The roast was big and not enough room in the pot, plus I don't like the way potatoes and carrots cook up in the crockpot...either mushy or still hard. Served up with buttered noodles, it was good but not as good as it smelled cooking. I will have to tweak it some next time. Enough for another meal. Tuesday is my graveyard shift so we don't eat together and Wed is son's birthday so taking him out.... won't be cooking again till Thursday or Friday! hahahahah