How different your area is from ours. We woke up to about 2" of snow and it is cold. So I put bean soup on in the slo-cooker. I'll make some biscuits to go with it. It sure smells good!!!

What do Junkers use for Flower Pots? Posted by Fanni: Now that summer is coming and my plants start getting "babies", I never have enough pots. I use all kinds of things as pots, yogurt cups, old plastic cups, buckets. I'd be interested to know, what do you guys use as pots? Posted by Kim_in_AB: Everything ! I have old tin soup pots, a taken apart wok, a mysterious metal thing - I have no idea what it was in it's former life. Anything that will hold dirt becomes converted into a flower pot or seedling pot in Spring. Posted by Rosebud531: One thing I ended up using is a stainless steel coffee pot. It's the kind you put on your firepit. The top (glass) had broke, so I put some soil in it with some flowers and have it hanging from my shepards hook. I have gotten so many compliments from it. I love to have unique things in the garden. Posted by Jan_Hobbs: I have a couple of old coal buckets that make very nice planters. Last year I had caladiums, ivy, and a trailing sweet potato plant in one. Something else I use is my DH's old "brogans" (high top work boots) they usually have cracks in the sides when I get them and so are perfect for drainage. Just make sure you stuff the dirt all the way to the toes. You just have to watch the soil to keep it from getting too dry. Then I have an black antique baby shoe that I have a tiny plant in on my kitchen window. Hen and chicks really look good in it. I use an old kerosene heater for a fern stand. I also have a couple of 'worn out' wheelbarrows that really look good with training plants in them. My DH says if it ain't nailed down, I will either paint something on it or plant something in it! Posted by bouncingpig: Everything! I use old mop buckets, galvanized tubs, old enamelware basins & coffeepots, plain black plastic pots with mosaics on top, old toolboxes, a couple old chairs. You name it! Posted by YUKON_GOLD: Old plastic bowls with drainage hole in bottom - now known as the official wax begonia containers. Old ice bucket, with holes drilled in bottom. Old angel food cake pan (used that one on the patio table and stuck the patio umbrella through the hole in the center). Posted by CraftyGardener: Anything that can hold dirt can be planted in at my house ... old frypans and saucepans, cups and saucers, teapots, old wicker baskters, buckets, wheelbarrows, seed spreaders, old washing machine tubs, old boots, and the list goes on and on Posted by handmayyd: A neighbor & I 'saved' some ski boots left by the dumpster in our alley - We painted one white with silver stars for her dil, put in an ivy (the one with the white edge) and are pondering what to do with the other - I think a pine tree seedling belongs in at least one. Posted by CMWren: All of those cute mugs you've accumulated for years, don't want to ditch for sentimental reasons, but whose numbers are so great even the worst caffeine addict and laziest dish washer could never use them all... Glass jars don't make it to the recylce bin in my house because they get saved for water-rooting cuttings. I've even started filling all the pretty pottery bowls that I keep buying because I love them but never end up using for food. Why have them stacked on the sideboard collecting dust when they could be showing off a plant, and could have a plant in them to show off the lovely bowl? TIP: For solid bottom containers or anything you don't want to put holes in: Bit of gravel in the bottom, piece of old window screen next, then soil on top. Posted by nutcase: I have a grain scoop that is really cute with some Sweet William in it. A chicken watering can with moss in the bottom part and millon bells in the top. One large and one small galvanized bucket. Two large (larger than wiskey barrels) plastic containers that minerals for cows came in. Posted by LibbyLiz: I use: Bush's Baked Beans cans (16-oz sz) with yogurt cups inside; An old painted label Musselman's Applesauce can with a Solo drink cup inside; Coffee cups with yogurt cups inside; A white metal red-rim wash basin; A blue spongeware canning bath with a pot inside; A coal bucket with a pot inside; A porcelain chamber pot with a pot inside; A 1970's copper hanging bowl-type thing with a yogurt cup inside; A little red wagon; An American Indian pottery votive candle holder with a 3-oz plastic Solo bathroom cup inside; A 5-gallon bucket for 'maters; A 5-gallon bucket for Elephant Ears *** The 5-gallon buckets may get decorated with Con-Tact adhevsive shelf paper; Pre-decorated margerine containers; Pre-decorated Cool Whip containers; and clear deli containers. TIP: For all the plastic cups & containers, I use a wood burning tool with a round tip to make drainage holes and for the 5-gallon buckets, I use a drill & the largest bit I can find to make drainage holes. Posted by bean57: Galvanized washtubs, old copper fish boilers, old farm pee pots, brass fire extinquisher, wooden tool box, washbasins. I like containers that look rustic and old fashioned. Posted by iracountrygirl: I love to find those cheap they can't hardly give them away baskets. I just spray paint them. I have some spray paint that I think the color is called pottery or old pottery. It's a real dark terracotta color and I use the flat (no gloss). You can even glue the flat marbles (gems) on them to dress them up and give them some sparkle. If you want to sit the basket on anything that needs protecting just line the basket with plastic before you fill it. They look really great. They're really cheap. They come in every size. I love them! TIP: I use a soil mix for my containers that is roughly (very roughly!) 75% soiless potting soil, 25% good garden soil, time release fertilizer (pellets) and some of the water absorbing crystals.

I agree that the fat makes a big difference as does using stock. What bullion adds, besides the poultry flavor, is a lot more salt than you might otherwise have the courage to use but probably need ("bland" really does usually mean it needs more salt), and likely some MSG (on the label it'll say so, or "autolized yeast extract", "glutamate" or even just "seasoning", "natural flavor" or "spices"), which boosts flavor and can help with umami (the rich, meaty taste). It's a good trick. Another way to amp up the flavor, if it doesn't have to be exactly like the stuffing from the bird, is to roast the vegetables with just a drizzle of oil, above 350° F and get them really browning. Not crisp and all brown, but good and brown, not just beginning to be golden. That will punch the flavor up a lot.

I have to on a daily basis. I live in a small town in rural MI. My shopping choices are quite limited, mostly mart mart discount chains. Almost all are horrid. Any nice retail we had shut down years ago. So sad and unpleasant. In my youth, we had many small retail businesses, and since we all went to school or church together and our folks were in Jaycees or other service clubs or youth clubs together, I knew many of the proprietors and sales people. Shopping was fun. I could not wait for allowance day to walk downtown, stop at the root beer stand, and see what my weekly paycheck would buy . . . not anymore. I would be hard pressed to come up with a store that isn't horrid. Even my local Goodwill, which has great stuff, is a pain because you have to sift through all the stuff and there's that thrift store smell . . . We have a nice antique store in town but I am maxed out on tchotchkes. Some nice farm markets regionally, but not anywhere near me. This is one reason retirees often leave my town for better places to live. Add to that no nice places to go out to eat and a paucity of good medical services. We take monthly shopping trips to the bigger cities and will move to one once my Dad is gone. Grocery shopping is like going into battle, and the selection and quality has gone downhill. And now, long lines and clog ups at the auto checkout. This trend I think will get worse but ultimately not last. Fewer and fewer employees, then automation is the first step in something disappearing all together. Not sure what will take its place. An interesting ponder . . . I think there is a space for savvy entrepreneurs but rents are through the roof which is one reason retail is dying. An odd combination, decaying retail spaces with through the roof rents . . . I grew up with a wonderful smaller grocery stores, in strips along with pharmacies, hardware, fabric and other stores so the grocery was mostly actual grocery items, and then there were wonderful actual farm markets and orchards . . . At this point Mr. Robinson would advise Benjamin Braddock that the future was "warehouses." Edited to add that our local Shopper's Guide advertisement paper flyer just closed. First, it automated and moved all its business offices to virtual, away from our actual town. It also had cumbersome and unreliable means of placing ads, but to add insult to injury, higher rates, way higher and longer lead times. So pretty soon the whole thing went "Pft." It was a great resource in its heyday, which was 2000's. Digital marketplaces are not reliable, not everyone is online or even wants to be. The flyer came in the mail every week, my brother was a delivery boy. With production costs going down, not sure why these actual paper flyers are not able to stay profitable, since paper ads are still a proven effective marketing tool. And then don't get started on the assaults on the mail service. To me, these are big declines in some great institutions. What's replacing it is a mixed bag of a lot of marginal stuff, way less value, IMHO. I studied digital marketing, it is no better than paper as far as time invested vs results . . .