Tom, "John, are you using the white bags? I'd be concerned about the dyes and chemicals in the other colors.... " Good point. Heres what they (Greenbag Inc) say... "Is made from non-toxic, non-corrosive materials and safe color-fast dyes". I'm interested in these for several reasons, drainage, cooling and cost. I know they drain well, I don't think you could ever fill one with a garden hose. The upside down tomato bag I tried last spring stayed cool and it was black. The ones from Publix are a buck and I hear W mart's are cheaper. So I'll give it a try. john

Wow, thanks for the links to the cultures, press and recipes! Now I know where the little round bumps all over some of the tofu I purchase come from. I have made tempeh in the past, I like it, unfortunately I have a hard time digesting it for some reason. I love natto and miso! For those of you who do not think they like these products, try to have some freshly made. My favorite little Japanese restaurant here has home made tofu and home made miso (the tofu is served cold with some scallion/ginger toping and the miso is served with cucumber sticks, yummmm). They are amazing. Natto is definitely and acquired taste, but both tofu and miso are very versatile. So for those of us that cannot grow soybeans, or enough of them to make all these things, any good source recommendations for non GMO soy beans out there? I planted a few but nothing sprouted. I soaked them first, this might have been a mistake? Do soy beans grow in my climate? I will be following this thread to see what you all come up with in the fermented/soy cheese department....

Medo, I haven't had the courage to go through the pile of receipts yet. I'll try to add up the mix portion from memory - 1) Peat moss - 3 bales - $30 2) Vermiculite - 4 four cubic foot bags - $60 3) Bought compost - maybe 21-22 bags - just a guess $75 4) DIY compost - free! That comes to about $165 for four boxes. It was actually a little less than that as I had some mix left over. I also had quite a bit of blended compost left over. So you're looking at roughly $40 to fill a standard 4x4 planter. Not too shabby, IMHO.

The square cartons, just shy of or just over 3", that our milk comes in are flat cardboard base ... but they are coated with some kind of plastic, for those of you that don't like plastic. Plus ... what are almost all of your jugs made of? The 2-litre cartons usually cost about 3/4 of the price of the 4-litre bags. And, Cynic ... yes, a Canadian gallon is heavier (larger, too). We used to say that 4 Imperial gal. of gas were about equivalent to 5 gal. U.S. (wine measure, I think it was called). It takes about 3.85 litres of milk (or anything else, for that matter) to equal 1 gal. U.S. ... but about 4.55 of those same litres to make 1 gal. cdn. But we buy gas in litres, also. The larger bags that hold the three smaller bags (that aren't pigmented) have a pigment that will reduce the amount of light that gets to the milk. Having found that, exccept in some parts of winter, milk that sits in the sunlight for any length of time soon gets rather distasteful, I long ago decided not to treat it like that. The closer of the large bag is a small square of rather rigid plastic with a hole in the middle that's partially open to one side ... like the closers on a bread bag, but heavier: much less finagling than using twist ties. ole joyful