I've done carrot, beet, radish, lettuce, and spinach tapes....maybe others, too. I love the well spaced plants that grow without me having to be super careful as I direct sow or thin after germination. A non-toxic school glue (Elmer's or other) works for the tapes, so does a flour/water glue. I'm not too worried about chemicals in a glue made for use by kids and labeled non-toxic, but others might rather use the flour mix. Cheap toilet paper works well. Some of the quilted ones are harder to work with. I use a whole strip and glue seeds on each edge to get a double row spaced 4 inches or so apart. Dab glue every inch (or whatever spacing you need) for a foot or so. Then put the seeds on. Then repeat along the strip until you have the length you want. Seeds stick to a damp toothpick and easily come off when touched to the tiny glue dots. Drape the finished tapes over a chair, door, whatever, to dry thoroughly. It doesn't take me long to make them and I can do it on a countertop. Much easier for me than bending over the soil to thin later.....maybe 15 years ago I'd have felt differently. I do space seeds thicker than I want the final stand and do have to thin a little if all germinate....but if they don't I still have a decent row. It is a bit of a challenge to cover the tapes without getting too much soil over the tiny seeds but so far I haven't had any get exposed and blow away. Germination has been good, too. For anyone who dislikes thinning, or waits too long to do it, the tapes are a great way to go. I usually make mine a day or so before planting just in case the brief wetting from the glue would affect long term seed viablity. These young plants grew into the best carrots I've ever grown. The two double rows with smaller plants are non-hybrid varieties. I was surprised the growth difference was so obvious. From Carrots 2009

With the act of saving your own seeds you are enhancing the adaptation of the plants. As well you are acquiring any horizontal genetic traits from that year's growing exposure. Plants have the innate ability to adapt. Plants can adapt to the soil, climate, pests and diseases. By selecting the best performers you are improving your seed stock. At some time in your seed saving effort you need to restrict the input of other sources. This localized selection process confirms the genetic traits already acquired. The saved seeds can only get better as you improve your selection criteria. After a few years you need to restrict the regressive nature of out-sourcing. Strive for a close system which must now can include your seeds. As you acquire the skills of saving you can add to the pool of traders. Offer your seeds so carefully garnished and perhaps invite trades for other varieties or species. Share the efforts as we preserve the heritage of heirloom seeds. Well done all you seed savers.

Oops! I seem to have forgotten that I started this thread, but the responses have been very helpful. I think I will definitely to go El Camaguey and buy a tortilla press, although I don't think it has a stainless steel surface like Ann's, which would be nice. I do keep dry masa on hand, but I also keep fresh masa in the freezer - for making what I thought were empanadas, but which are probably quesadillas, at least as they are made in Mexico, and deep fried. As for flour tortillas, since I've found the whole grain tortillas in the market, I probably won't be making too many of those again, although I might want to experiment with some of the whole grain flours I have. I don't especially like tortillas made with all white flour, and corn tortillas are my favorite. When I first visited Vancouver for a long visit (1978 or so), I was shocked that I could not find fresh corn tortillas in the grocery stores (I did find frozen ones, but did not consider that acceptable). At that time, I practically lived on soft tacos (that I made myself, often with tofu), and so I had to make an adjustment. I think I bought some whole wheat crackers instead. I think I will try to find some Hispanic markets, although there aren't any in my immediate neighborhood. There are some in neighboring Mar Vista (where Scott lives), which is less than 2 miles from here. There are several places to buy fresh tamales, but they don't sell tortillas. Anyway, I think I will keep looking and also get the tortilla press. Lars

DH and I talked about a cherry kitchen in our future, but after he convinced me to completely replace our white cabinets so we could start fresh, I couldn't see that much brown. I've always been partial to white kitchens and when I went through kitchen photos, at least 80-90% of those I was drawn to were white. Sooo.... I would call our kitchen transitional I had never seen or heard of Christopher Peacock and white kitchens were not so popular, but I think the shaker and similar plainer front cabinets were, so going simpler seemed a popular choice. It was driven by hating the heavy moldings on our custom cabinets (wall trim used on cabinet doors). It made a statement, but that and the short counters meant every drip got caught on the paint and stained -- and there were lots of grooves to clean. DH is s slob in the kitchen. I had to have something very simple so the choice was desperation, not fashion. Our tile had to be patched in the reno and was done poorly, so we later replaced the floor. The dark wood was probably a popular choice then, but it fit our house. Risky -- did white marble counters in both the cooking and clean up zones before it was making every magazine cover. I am not a granite person, didn't like my mom's Corian and the cool recycled glass was uber expensive and didn't really go with our house. I saw a slab of marble with squiggles that reminded me of the stray marks on old ink drawings and thought of Da Vinci (my boys and I were into him) and I had to have it. End of story. Other not so safe choices -- I did three cabinet finishes (wall of tall blue storage surrounding my fridge and knotty cherry island and hutch in the breakfast room, did a 3 tile combo (from 2 different sources) for the inset in my backsplash, and mixed metal finishes on hardware, lighting and faucets. All of the above plus the fact that the layout was designed by me to maximize every inch of possible function for the way we wanted it to work and adding fridge drawers to our hutch made it right for us. I designed it to make me happy and with no consideration for resale or what others would think. My favorite design element -- the different cabinet finishes -- the wall of blue as a backdrop plus the knotty cherry -- and the custom leaded glass in the uppers of the hutch. But my favorite thing is how it functions. DH even said out loud last night (8 years later) how he loves the way we designed the kitchen. It just works for us. I'd say the marble and the three cabinet finishes were a bit of a ledge, maybe mixing metals -- no regrets. We didn't name our kitchen, but we had in mind a couple of things -- an old bakery or ice cream parlor and kind of the gentrified plantation/ranch style of the rest of our home. I also kept saying I wanted a workhorse, not a showplace. It needed to be almost understated and yet, at the same time, go big or go home. Probably doesn't make any sense, but no sissy stuff here. The sparkly bridge faucet, chandelier over the island -- beautiful, but didn't fit here.