It sounds like you have a lot of good ideas yourself. You might want to check to make sure the okra isn't daylength sensitive in a bad way for your location. For fall, I like beans that can be used either snapped or shelled. Black Valentine has great flavor, so I would stick with that choice this year. And it is an American original. Two attractive beans in this category to consider for the future are Tongues of Fire and Coco Rose de Prague. Kohlrabi is nice for demonstration plots, as many people are not familiar with it, it grows fast enough to be a succession crop with another quick growing vegetable (probably a leafy one) and it looks nice. Young leaves of thinnings are edible. You could consider showing how to do "cut and come again" gardens, mesclun mixes, baby vegetables, and selective harvesting of outer leaves of certain greens. Giant Italian Parsley is attractive and tastier than most parsley. Also consider some Asian greens and edible flowers. Here is a link that might be useful: Tongues of Fire bean

In an introduction canning class I took, we made grape jelly from grape juice and sugar w. powdered pectin. It was easier for the class and the instructor. It basically gave the class a knowledge of the tools, timing the bath, handling the jars and we each got to take a jar home. She previewed the various books that were out there, and had them on hand, gave the class a BALL BLUE BOOK, gave reference material for the NCHFP and their website. Granted, the book was part of the fee. Here's the recipe: Quick Grape Jelly Yield about 5 half pints 3 cups bottle grape juice, unsweetened 1 pkg powdered pectin 4 1/2 C sugar Combine grape juice and powdered pectin in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Return to a boil. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot jelly into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes ina boiling-water bath canner. THE BOOKS that were referenced: -Canning and Preserving without sugar, 4th edition by Normal MacRae. -So easy to Preserve, 5 edition, University of Georgia -USDA Complete Guide to Home CAnning -How to Dry Foods Gave a reference to stores in the area that may sell canning supplies. Then there was a list of various web sites. Ball Blue Book NCHFP Mrs. Wages website Kraft Foods Jarden Home Brands website Home canning-pure and simple website She discussed the topic of pressure-canning, but that can be another session for you. It was basic, but gave everyone a very good overview with some hands on and a lot of references. I would include this website as well! This one lasted 3 hours. There was also a few door prizes! One of them was donated jars!! Hope this helps! June Lynn

i will see what i have, I collect cookbooks and have over 3000.

We are growing the Japanese eggplant again this year and have a bumper crop of it so I made this recipe this AM. It is very tasty and I'll be happy to make it again. Thanks for sharing it. RL`