I keep the extra jars of natural peanut butter in my pantry turned upside down. Then when it's time to break open a new jar, I turn it right side up for a few hours. I usually stir it with the long end of a sturdy wooden spoon, but I like Lars' idea of using a knife honing steel. I'm going to have to give that a try. To me, the most important thing is to make sure to bring up the harder & drier gobs from the bottom and incorporate them well into the rest of the peanut butter. Otherwise you run into those dry gobs later when you try to spread the stuff. I usually start slowly, poking the spoon end down to the bottom of the jar and moving it slightly to the center to let the oil can go down. Then I repeat that action until I've gone completely around the bottom of the jar. Eventually I get to the point where I start bringing up the bottom stuff and incorporating it with the rest of the peanut butter. The oil is what makes the peanut butter soft and spreadable. Without it, the peanut butter is more like peanut clay. It takes a while, but the results are worth it. The natural peanut butter gets as creamy as it's going to get and is perfectly blended. I store it in the fridge, and it stays blended until we finish the jar. I only buy 1 lb. jars, though. I tried doing it with the larger jars, and it was more difficult. I much prefer the taste and texture of natural peanut butter. The super creamy stuff like Jif or Skippy taste strange to me, and I don't like their texture either. I feel like I'm eating sweetened, peanut-flavored shortening.

You are absolutely correct, and your toasting instructions are an improvement over the oven method. I use a very lightly oiled (with olive oil) iron skillet, but teflon would probably work as well if you want to skip the oil. -- Marie

Ron, We live in an ideal place for Thuja occidentalis (it grows all over--even out of cliff faces on the side of the road.) in 2018, I planted a line of bare root Thuja occidentalis along both our mown lawn and our meadow. The lawn plants did absolutely beautifully with frequent watering in 2018. In 2019, I didn't give them much water, and they did miserably. All the central leaders on the lawn plants died back. [The meadow plants, which did not do as well in 2018, did much better without watering. Only one central leader died--out of a couple dozen plants] The plants on the lawn spent all this year recovering, and they are not as tall as they were but they are bushier again. My plan now is to ween them off the watering by giving them the same amount that I gave them this year: Ultimately, it will be virtually no water compared to their daily consumption. While I was at it, I gave water to my Picea abies 'Virgata' on the lawn and discovered that it will stand up much straighter with watering.

I have been trying to improve my sourdough skills recently. I have several very dense loaves sliced in my freezer. More recently I did manage to make lighter loaves. The dense ones taste good but I have to toast them carefully or they get rock hard. I like toast warm with salted butter or a drizzle of olive oil and gomasio. I really dislike jams and jellies. Recently I had part of a thawed jar of pesto to use up and spread that on toast. I liked that so much that I thawed another jar. Occasionally I pile cinnamon sugar on my toast as a treat. I went to school in Montreal in the 80s. I remember going to a restaurant where there were a variety of breads, spiced butters, topping and toasters. We created and toasted our own greasy combinations. I liked the going there but the adult post pandemic me wonders about hygiene.