jimihendrix: Thanks, I will try the Valeccia this year. I make all my own jams and jellies, so I want to go one step farther than my grandparents and make the whole P.B.&Js right out the back yard. Some-day I may even try some wheat(that looks easy enough) and make the bread too. As far as the potatoes go, I will try some again, but every year when we close the cabin for the Winter, we go by a small farm market that sells potatoes,(white & red) for $8.00 for a 50lb bag. Maybe I'll just do the sweets. I bought the peanut-butter machine at an auction for $8. Its not quite as creamy as store-bought, but the flavor can't be beat!

Visit the farm in question and ask to see the cows and how they are cared for. Raw milk is superior and not dangerous to drink if the farm is spotless. Your best bet is to find a farmer that rotates his cows to differnt pasture, preferably every twelve hours, and is fed 100% grass. Cows are ruminates and by nature should not be fed grain. Grain alters the ph of their system. People get sick from food raised in filthy conditions, which was the case when people moved from farms to the cities and brought their cows with them, to live in confinement. I won't touch industrial milk any more. Once you investigate how filthy commercial farms are, and what a joke the FDA and USDA are, you wouldn't either. If I ever have to in the future, I will raise my own cow as I will never touch milk, or meat from a store again. Bottom line is, check the farm out. There is much less risk from drinking raw milk from a spotless, well managed farm, than from ANY commercial operation. A clean farm will never smell like manure and the cows look happy. Furthermore, the government has absolutely no right to tell any of us what we should be eating and drinking. The choice is ours to make and not theirs. Perhaps it is about time people start becoming more vocal and demanding that right.

I have never been to any other any where this was my first time! I have no idea what I paid for them I was so excited to see them LOL I have actually never eaten Vietnamese food, but I do like some oriental food one of my faves is Orange chicken. I don't even know where Bellaire is I will have to look at Google maps, as you can probably tell since we have not been here that long I have not ventured out very far LOL. Sure I am up for road trips. By the way it is thunderbooming here again right now and rain drops are falling on my skylights, darn I thought we would get a full day of no rain. I did not try the crockpot but these were so fresh they only took about an hour or so which was not bad. I know using a pressure cooker is a very good way to do it and helps get the seasoning in too but I don't have one. My big gumbo pot worked great.

I know I have boiled 2 bushels since I posted this thread. I put my peanuts (in the shell) in my pot cover compeletly with water and then about 3 to 4 inches more water. I used 1/2 box salt to 1/2 bushel and boiled for about 6 hours. You want the inside peanut to be soft. Drain the water off and let them cool...eat 'em up. They freeze really well. I have about a bushel frozen in ziplock bags in the freezer now. I do love them. Not to fond of parched peanuts.. To parch them you lay them in a single layer on a cookie sheet put in a 400 degree oven turning them every 5 minutes until they are parched. Watch carefully or they will burn.