LindaLou, I was thinking about your little angel too. I've been absent because I got married in May last year, Dad passed away in August, Stepdad in September, my Uncle marty in October. The farm had a mortgage, I ended up buying a big chunk of it from stepmom so she didn't lose the place. With Dad gone, the farm is pretty much all my responsiblity so between the paperwork that goes with his death, and the paperwork that goes with buying the farm and the paperwork that goes with getting married and changing my name, and fencing and having a farm auction and, well, it's been a long several months. We finally got the headstone marker from the Veteran's Association and buried Dad's ashes last week, so I'm thinking I might actually have things enough under control that I can take a breath. We even missed the Fair last year! Definitely teach Gabe to use the bread machine, he'll love it. Makayla used it the first time and then looked at me an announced "I NEED one of these". LOL Other kids need an Easy Bake oven, she needs a Zojirushi and a KitchenAid mixer! Annie

There is a request above for recipes using hot pepper jelly. Here are a few ideas: 1. Slice boned chicken breast or pork tenderloin into very thin slices. Stir fry quickly in a bit of butter and olive oil. Just before it is cooked through add 2 heaping tablespoons of hot pepper jelly and stir until jelly is melted. Serve by itself or over rice. Delicious! 2. When making a dressing for potato salad or cole slaw add a teaspoon of hot pepper jelly. Try adding 1/2 teaspoon of jelly to french or olive oil/vinegar dressings. 3. When making hot pepper jelly roast the peppers first and remove the pepper skins when they cool. This makes a smoother jelly without tough bits of skin throughout and removes some of the excess water in the peppers that sometimes prevents the jelly from setting.

i find it interesting that so many people say they have no flavor. I think they have a nice flavor....but seedy for sure. i just take bites around the seeds and feel the burn for maybe 15 minutes. I also hang them high in the room and they dry because i use wood heat, then i slightly grind them up to a rough powder and use on popcorn.

Yeah Heidi ~~~ Thanks for hosting this fun swap this month. You got us all started on a creative roll & the packages were awesome. Thanks again, Heidi! Spring is ramping up quickly here in WA, so I am going to be a lurker and probably not play for awhile. Any day it is milder & not too rainy I'm outside if at all possible before I work in the late afternoon. If I get ahead now it pays off all summer long not only in our gardens, but especially in the high visibility camp gardens that have a huge weed bank. Our mulching works as long as no one else digs in there. A water leak last month led to a backhoe digging & you can imagine that mess with our rocky soil. The mostly fist or bigger sized rocks are now back on top. I'm thinking I'm going to just let a groundcover spread over them after I meander them a bit. I had made a nice stack & edging for the bike parking... At home hubby mowed the lawn Sunday afternoon, so now it's an even bright green. Our son has taken advantage of the dry afternoons working on blowing the driveway of fir needles & cedar debris. That reduces the muddy gravel a lot if we can keep up. I went to a plant swap on Saturday & stuffed the Suburban with lots of plants for camp. Most exciting was the hen & chicks for my hubby's topiary project he saw in a library book I checked out for him. See, gardening is c-a-t-c-h-i-n-g. We have lots of moss for stuffing the wire frame! The native Indian plum is about to bloom. Once I smell that fragrance it's officially spring for me here & the race is on! Happy almost Spring, Corrine