Well, 30" is better than a 4ft pallet (not by much). Let's see how berries do at market today - last year I always sold out of wild blackberries, but last week only sold 1 out of 4 pints of blueberries - guess too much competition, even if my prices were in line with other vendors', grocery stores are selling them cheap right now (not organic ones, but a lot of people at this market don't care - I might do better at a different market). That guy DH works with who bought the potatoes (and I gave him greens) last week "ordered" more this AM - took all but 1 of my zukes (I have to go hunt for more on some other plants), plus chard and mixed greens (the same kind I gave him free last week b/c they were leftovers). But he didn't want any more potatoes, or blueberries. I wonder if that means I've overpriced them? Yes, Marla, I will add the cost of any baskets I buy to my price (or at least when I do my taxes they will come off as an expense, as will gas to go pick them and free ones up). I do the same with jelly jars - people gripe about the cost of jam but when I explain I have to buy the jars, sugar, lemon juice, labels, ink (which I actually don't write off since we use the printer for other things but maybe I should deduct 1 cartridge a year), and pay for electricity (again, don't deduct b/c I haven't figured how much actually used to run well, can), they understand. Now if they would actually RETURN the empties like I ask, maybe I could drop the price (or actually, I've offered a deposit but no one's ever come back - I think I need to put a sticker on the jar). I think I'm going to make up a sign for today asking people to please return empty containers, and another one offering 10 cents for every canning jar they bring next week. Oh, and we're getting a drizzle now! Looks like it rained overnight too. Maybe I can plant the rest of my squash (Early Prolific, so short season, and maybe more Raven just in case SVB get the plants I have now). I hadn't wanted to plant anything else if we weren't getting rain. I'll check tomorrow to see how much we get today. At least I won't have to water my berries with the lettuce-washing water (though I will save it)!

Thanks SD for the nice compliments. As far as the remote candles...I was originally looking for ones like you have. I think it was Jeanne who had them and that got me wanting some. While seaching for them online, I came across the remote ones and was sold on the idea of using a remote. I was lucky to find them at a store near me, for about half of what I was originally going to pay. I also got the lighted branches at the same place, at the end of the Summer. Glad you enjoyed looking. jane

There are different kinds of stoneware. The high fired kind never ever scratches. The kind common in less expensive dishes does. There's less variation in porcelain, but in less expensive dishes you can still get scratches. I don't care. :) I bought service for two dozen of cheap dreck but pretty porcelain (under $100 on closeout) for company. I think there's probably a scratch or two. People don't see them when there's food on the plate! They just see the beautiful table and ooh and ahh. I filled in with a couple of sets for eight of a complementary pattern that do seem to have a harder glaze...and cost almost twice as much :) With place settings for forty, I've never had to resort to kitchen dishes. :) I love lovely things, but I don't worry about my company dishes. If someone gets the table cloth caught in his belt and crashes the whole thing, it's making sure people aren't cut, and then seeing if the food was spared that are the issues, not the tableware. :) Not that it's happened. Not that the toddlers haven't had their chances at it. No chips or breaks so far (and ward off the evil eye!). Lots of peace of mind. Who needs more stress? If it's only enough company to fit the dining room table, I set finer dishes. They're not better looking, though, just better quality. :)

We recently went from being able to recycle virtually everything to recycling only clean cardboard, cereal type boxes, glass bottles and plastic jugs. Can't recycle paper egg cartons, shredded paper, plastics, or metal. We can take metal to the transfer station-others have described theirs and ours is like that. Used motor oil, electronics, scrap metal, etc. Apparently we shipped our recycling overseas and they won't take it any more. So it breaks my heart to throw away stuff I used to carefully recycle. And to think I was going to take the Master Recycler course! I try to reduce and reuse as much as possible now. We have curbside recycle, garbage and lawn debris pickup, and they provide covered rolling bins. Recycling is every other week. No requirements to bag things-so we can just put things in the cans. I use 13 gallon plastic bags in the kitchen-unfortunately we have a lot of waste, with the cats and DH's work, so we have 2 large cans each week and our recycling is overlowing. I use small bags for lining the non-wet cans (bathrooms, my office, bedroom) and I also bought a package of very small bags-about 4 gallons-for cat boxes. Our town has banned single use plastic bags so I try to reuse whatever plastic bags come with things. I've always done that anyway-but it's even more prized to get a bag in something. Our local garbage goes to an incinerator. Surrounding towns go to landfills. I have spoken with landfill managers and apparently the trash bags for household use break down pretty quickly under the heat and pressure in landfills. Yes, I know they're petroleum products, but there is a lot of other really nasty stuff in landfills. The water (leachate) in newer landfills is treated and released to streams. It's actually cleaner than the stream it discharges to! Waste management has come a long way-but there is a LONG way to go.