Not canning either, but good! Recently I also had a berry abundance myself. I made fruit roll ups or fruit leather. I also had apples (lucky part of the abundance) so I put these in the food processor: 2 pints raspberries (or 2 pints blackberries for the blackberry version) 3 apples 1/2 meyers lemon (peel and all but no seeds) 1/2 c sugar. Made into a paste and dehydrated it in my new (handed down) excalibur dehydrator. Cut and rolled and ready for hiking snacks, or just snacks! I never made these before, but I am impressed. During an earlier berry abundance (strawberries) I just made strawberry jam. I had never done strawberry jam so and I could not resist. Took it to the farmer's market and it sold very fast. Good thing I had put a couple of half pints in the cupboard for myself! I also have a couple of quarts frozen strawberries in the freezer. Will try to make strawberry sorbet or sherbet. Any good recipes?

The biggest decision to staying in this industry is accepting a moderate level of living. Wages aren't great and typically are limited in growth from where you may find yourself starting out at. Benefits are typically limited to poor compared to any other industry, it is probably better in a public position vs private (I have only been in private). These may seem OK now at your age but there is some sound reasoning from your parents for the security that typically is inconsistently found in the Horticulture or Green Industry. Life in your later years can be quite different: health, family, children are unpredictable and the benefits needed to take care of them have a different priority later on in life. If someone is going to be in this field they need to understand that. The best advice I would have is to have a spouse/partner who is outside of this industry that has good to great benefits and use this industry job as the 'fluff' income. This can be a good secondary income industry, but inconsistent as a primary one. Budget to live solely on the other income and benefits so you can roll with the punches that happen in this industry. Trust me, the nature of what we do just makes it very cyclical with the high's and low's. Living well below your means is just the way people make it work, and find an area with low cost of living. Most of us accept we don't need to live well off, but safe neighborhoods and good schools that have cheaper housing options just don't exist in a lot of metro areas. I don't agree with some of these posts on accepting the lower levels of income just because the work may be enjoyable. That becomes more of a hobby or side passion vs making a career choice that you need to depend on to help support yourself/family. Most jobs in other industries have career positions that have certain deadlines, pressures, responsibilities and goals that we don't. That is how they provide better income levels. The companies in this industry that do work towards specific goals and financial responsibilities will typically be the ones that offer more income and benefits but people respond they are the worst to work for. That seems to be the ongoing reason why we can't break the cycle of this industry being always associated with lower or limited income potentials. And after 30+ years in this Industry, I don't think people work as hard at anything as we do, but with far less to show for it. That is another decision that you need to be able to live with in the long term. If your passion is to be a successful businessperson and have some rewards and security that come with the acquired skills and hard work needed to accomplish some form of business success, this is not the industry to be in. That may be OK for now when you are younger but it may be a regret in 15-20 years when you want to provide the most options for your own children/family members. Having two kids of my own in high school and jr high now, I am having many regrets with my career choice in this industry seeing the limited college options I can help provide for them.

I think that the size of the kitchen has some relation to how long one expects to live at a particular address. When I was in my 20s in San Francisco, I moved fairly often and generally had very small kitchens and did not do very much cooking, outside of the work I did in a restaurant. What I did cook back then was fairly simple, but it was also very easy for me to go to a lot of different markets to get ingredients just before making a meal. Now, as I am older, I like to have inventory and not have to shop as often. When I was younger, I liked to shop often. I do not think that the trend has much to do with what generation you are talking about but what age group you are talking about. I was very much like the Millennials when I was the age that they are now. When they get older, they will change as well - otherwise they would stagnate. However, my ex-roommate from San Francisco who visited me last week-end still maintains the lifestyle that we had in our 20s, but he grew up in New York and finds it normal to go to delis every day for food. He still only stocks condiments and beverages in his fridge. He can make tea or coffee, but not much else.

Maggy, I would love to help! I've actually coached many in my friends circle. First decide where you would like to run, is it in your neighborhood, in the park? Even a treadmill is fine but IMO a little harder for a beginner because you can't naturally vary your pace as easily. But wherever gets your running and motivated is the key! All you really need is a good pair of running sneakers and it you like to listen to music an armband for your phone (or other device). You have to start out slow and by that I mean your pace. Don't worry about your time, trust me, speed comes with repetition and time. I would start at a slow pace and see how far you can run before you become fatigued. If you need to take walking breaks - go for it! Many many people run even marathons with a run / walk method. Don't get discouraged and don't be tempted to sprint. The whole point is to build endurance in the beginning. I would start with maybe 3-4 times a week and build from there. Perhaps set a goal of running 3 miles non stop in two months? Trust me you can do it! And to prevent injury, increase mileage no more than 10% a week. Take rest days and listen to your body. Good luck and feel free to message me privately.