I have a couple of related questions about this--- we have a bunch of taters in the garage that we dug from our CSA last year. They are organic and not treated with any growth inhibited stuff, Anyway, there are some left that are soft, and others that are still hard but all seem to be covered with varying degrees of sprouts. We thought we might try planting them again. How to we prepare them? I'm assuming we toss the soft ones out (into the mulch pit) but the sprouty hard ones-- do we plant the whole tater, or cut the tater up and plant individual sprouts, or trim the sprouts back then plant? The garage is cool but not super cold. Thanks for the help!

I am in a vaguely similar situation, but mine comes from a local produce stand at a weekend market. A lot of the stuff I get is still edible, and I get it by cases. Some of it is all mixed together, but mostly it comes to me as cases of bananas, mangoes, whatever. I have a huge email list (87) people that I write to when I get it (once or twice a week) and a few of them come each week to get what food they want. We eat and preserve what we can, and the rest goes to compost. We have 3 regular bins, a couple small children's pools that we compost in, and about 8 raised lasagna beds where I grow vegies. I fill them up in the fall and some in the summer. I mix the produce with OPBL (leaves) and horse manure and a little bit of wood ashes and whatever else comes my way. Makes great gardens, and we also get a lot of compost each spring and fall. We get about 3-5 hundred pounds of produce to compost every week, but manage to deal with that with no problem. We could compost more, I still have OPB leaves stockpiled from last fall. Wood chips are available free from many municipalities. you could mix it with that as well. But I advise that you make more compost piles. With the volume of stuff you get, if you have some browns to mix in it will compost fairly quickly. Look around this fall, I get my leaves from a nearby subdivision. Also, it is a good idea to find people who want to share this compost material if it seems way too much for you. Good luck, Marcia

My beans are doing the exact same thing, and they were direct seeded in the ground. I have been growing green beans for over 40 years and have never seen this, whatever it is. I think it has to do with late planting (mid to late June), very hot weather here in the northeast, and maybe using seed from 2014 (Fortex leftovers). I have done everythig possible and still have dried up, deformed plants. Think this year's beans are a washout. Peas were incredible, so i give up. Every year it's something else. Part of the will of nature.

I never ever salt ocean fish. They come with just the right amount of salt, by nature!!! I will add a pinch to freshwater fish. I also never salt chicken. Then again, maybe the dark meat I prefer doesn't really need the help?? After watching a few big name chefs salt their steaks on YouTube, I decided... hmm, maybe I should add the amount they added.. I did stop short a bit. (To Gordon: IT'S SALLLLLTY!! Vicariously tossing the plate on the floor, a la Hell's Kitchen!) Nope. A little really does go a long way! That poor hangar steak... it was so sad, I had go buy another to cook it right. The smallest sprinkle of salt, a little ground pepper, and a dash of garlic powder. The only thing I highly salt are potatoes. And not those delicious Yukon golds. Just Russets (and i dont buy Russets for home cooking). I do lightly salt corn on the cob, but not regular corn in a dish. In most cases, if salt ends up in a preparation, I'm using low sodium Tamari, for the tamari flavor.