The contamination/adulteration problem seems to be especially bad with imported ingredients, i.e. from China (and supplement sellers often don't say where their ingredients come from or have any control over their formulation). Here's a summary of some recent cases (and recalls) where supplements were found to be adulterated with prescription drugs. What typically happens is that people get sick, and only then are the products tested and the adulteration discovered.

Beth, I made pickles first and then I finished dehydrating my tomatoes from yesterday and then I finished my yellow tomato sauce and THEN I made one batch of Multi-purpose Seasoned Tomato Sauce. By the time I finished it was around 2 p.m. and we hopped in the car and sped down to the Southlake Central Market to check out their produce selection. I was a little disappointed. They didn't have nearly as many heirloom winter squashes, pumpkins and gourds nor did they have as many heirloom tomatoes. However, they did have pickling cucumbers, so I bought another 5 lbs. Since I made bread-and-butter pickles today, I'll make dills tomorrow. Best of all, my own pickling cukes are about to reach pickling size, so I'll be able to make stacker-type pickles about Friday or Saturday. We also picked up a 10-grain store bakery bread that we like and a few other veggies. Then, it was off to Green Sprouts Farmer's Market a couple of miles up the road. It really is just a smaller, more affordable version of Whole Foods or Central Market, but I mean really, really, really smaller and not much selection. They had some great prices on produce, but a lot of their produce was overripe and I didn't purchase anything there. But, I did get visiting those two stores out of my system. The next time I want to go to Central Market, I'll go to Fort Worth because it has a better selection by far. I don't know this for a fact, but it seems bigger than the one in Southlake. It might be that the Fort Worth store has more autumn pumpkins and winter squash outside because they have a big covered patio type thing in front of the store where they often have musicians and cookouts when the weather is good, and I didn't see anything like that at the Southlake store. The only advantage the Southlake store has over Fort Worth is that Tim can stop by it on his way to work at DFW Airport if there's something I "need". I got home in time to spend an hour in the garden while my sweet DH grilled chicken and sausage and made dinner. I had used up all my tomatoes today making the multi-purpose tomato sauce, but I got to pick another 6 tonight, so I'm OK. Moni, I think Tulsa might have a Whole Foods or Wild Oats which are sort of similar to Central Market but more heavily focused on organics and less focused on gourmet-type fare, although there is a lot of gourmet type stuff, especially if you like artisan cheeses and breads. I'll do some research and see what I can find out about Edmond-OKC-Tulsa. Surely something in that area has a 'health food store' with a good selection. I have found they usually have the best produce in terms of variety and selection. Today I was looking at all the fingerling potatoes (six or eight varieties) at Central Market and making a mental note to buy some in December to sprout for spring planting. Two road trips in two days. I've got to stay home and weed and mow for the rest of the week or the yard and garden will be a jungle. Jan, I'll link Pendery's below. The web site is great, but if you're ever in the Fort Worth-Dallas area, you have to visit the store for the sheer pleasure of inhaling all the lovely aromas of the many spices and herbs. Don't miss their chili mixes. They are great and come in many combinations. I love that Pickling Spice and Italian Seasoning Mixes too---they look like real spices and herbs, not just ground-up powders. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Pendery's Spices

We might all be better off with medium eggs... "[1975] "A reader of Harper's Weekly recently wrote a letter to the editor asking why big eggs cost more than little eggs. The letter said size-12 shoes or socks cost no more than smaller sizes, although they contain more material. It also said that if you buy foodstuffs other than eggs in bulk, it's their total weight, not their size but unit, that determines the price. What then, is the justification for charging more for jumbo eggs than for peewee eggs? The letter-writer suspects that the price difference just pays for the machines that sort the big ones from the little ones. Because Harper's Weekly has been laggard in answering the reader's question, we thought we would look into it. The answer is because big eggs cost more than little eggs because big eggs are laid by bigger hens. Pullets lay peewees and don't eat much. Old hens heading for the stewpot lay jumbos and eat a lot. That's what it comes down to--chicken feed. Still, we can't accept that as a good reason. It seems to us that the overall price of eggs might be lower if the egg people got rid of their sorting machines and sold their eggs by the pound--big and little ones together. The egg people agree that it might lower prices. But they won't do it. They won't do it because consumers have a hangup on big eggs. They think they're better than little eggs. They're not. In fact, the bigger the egg, the runnier it is. Little eggs hold together better and don't stream all over the frying pan...There is...no nutritional difference--big or little--between big and little eggs. That's myth. Just like the myth that it's worth paying more for brown eggs because they're tastier and more nutritious than white eggs. They're not. Brown eggs cost more than white eggs because they're laid by hens that are bigger at the same age--and eat more--than the hens that lay white eggs of exactly the same size. OK?" ---"The Egg and You," Los Angeles Times, May 4, 1975 (p. H2)" Larger eggs are no better & usually cost more per pound. The Grade is the quality indicator. You have to check the various prices each shopping trip to be sure of the best buy though 'cause they vary quite a bit, at least here. I can remember buying medium eggs. Then, when I felt a bit more affluent started buying large eggs because...well, because I thought it was the "thing" to do. In baking, I use mostly Frontier Certified Organic Powdered Eggs. /tricia Here is a link that might be useful: Food Timeline - Eggs

Dianela, yep it was me that admitted having 1000 roses and anyone else is welcome to use me as a lesson for their families of how much many roses they COULD have bought but didn't. I'm not alone in having a ton of roses on here, but I probably set some kind of GW record for sheer numbers of roses that die each year and (oh the horrors) HAVE to be replaced. Soooo reluctantly of course (smile). This year I'm only at 222 roses that I've ordered for spring planting, and that's about my replacement rate of roses that die over my zone 5 winters, though I'm getting smarter and planting more once-bloomers and shrubs so I might actually run out of space one of these days. Not this year though. Rockridge thanks for the offer of the pictures. I don't think my patient DH would be too thrilled about a trip to the west coast to look at someone else's roses on top of these new rose purchases too. Hey, I consider that a money-saving measure already. Aha - time to visit the new revamped High Country Roses website and spend all that money I've "saved"... Cynthia