Dave - I don't cook often but when I do - I do it well!!! My sauce is very simple. And everyone that has ever tasted it says it is the best they had. I am not bragging here. The trick was passed down to me by my great grandmother. In the past, I used Tutta Rose Crushed Tomatoes with Basil. And did nothing more than add some salt, pepper, basil and meat. And still made a better sauce than anyone. Now, with using my own tomatoes, I used the same princeples. But since I couldn't can the tomatoes with basil, I added alot of basil. Some salt and Pepper. And added meat. I took a meatball recipe from the "Soprano's Cookbook" but used half ground beef and half pork for the meatballs. I swear by this. The meatballs are so much better. My mom does all beef. And her meatballs are so heavy. The ground pork lightens them up a bit and gives the sauce a better flavor. I also added a few links of browned italian sausage. So on that note - yes, I did cook for an army but I froze several quarts. And with fresh tomatoes, I don't think I could have made a better sauce. I am not sure how I can do this with less tomatoes, cook it for a few hours and still get the same flavor, but I am going to experiment this winter. I'll keep you posted!!!

Hi Carl, thanks for starting this thread. Raspberry jam is our favorite and I thought it might be a good idea to be able to make our own. I think one of my neighbors grows ‘Heritage’. Is it a red raspberry, right? I’ll have to read up on the dwarf thornless varieties. How many plants do you need to have enough raspberries for fresh eaten, the freezer and jam, I wonder? I only have one area in the back with 6 hrs of sun but I think that might be enough. I have been wondering about starting strawberries again. I’ve tried them before and had the same experience you did. They're more work, having to work with the runners etc. I hope you will post photos of your container of strawberries this year. I planned where I could put some this year, but not sure yet if I will. I should give it another try. Blackberries, I’m avoiding. I have a small lot and their root system and the way they spread is something I don’t think I can manage. I had a landscape architect give me some input long ago and I told him I wanted to grow blackberries. He said if I was serious, I should plan on surrounding the plants with a 3ft deep concrete barrier. [g] Didn’t tree oracle post that he actually has done that with his blackberry bushes? Sounds like you have a way of growing them that makes it a lot easier to manage. Do you eat them fresh? Blueberries…I am going to try. I added two small bushes two years ago and one didn’t do well. The other had a few berries on it last year. So I’m going to add some more and maybe something a little larger this year, with better placement and soil prep. I hope to put in 5 bushes that are different varieties. Also hope to build some kind of frame or cage to keep the birds out. We’ll see if I get to that this year. I saw a photo of one of those small blueberry bushes. I linked ‘Peach Sorbet’ below. Strange name for a blueberry. [g] Your cranberry experiment should be fun. Home made cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving next year? I’ve read recently that Aronia berries are even more nutritious than blueberries. I have one in the garden and I may try to add a couple more of those too. I have to get a few and taste them this year, first. That fruit pergola from the Open Days tour sounds like just what we need! At least on a smaller scale. I’m still thinking about whether I want to do individual frames for each shrub or if I should consider doing something to cover a whole area. Either way it will be work. I wonder if hardware cloth might be a material that would work without netting or chicken wire? I have a grape vine, that I started from seed just as a fun experiment when I was winter sowing. I finally got it on a small temporary arbor two years ago and last year it produced a few grapes. Until then I didn’t even know what kind of grape it was. It turns out to be a green grape, very sweet. I was impressed. This year, I am going to try to learn to prune it right. If I can get it to produce a decent amount of grapes, I may have my son build me a new permanent arbor for it. I also want to add a blue Concord grape vine, on a second leg of the arbor. I wish I had thought of doing this years ago. :-) I have one space for an ornamental small tree and I am still debating whether to try for a fruit tree. I won’t spray or use a pesticide or fungicide, so not sure there is one that would work, but this year I’m focusing on the berries. Thanks, Carl, loved hearing about your berry adventures! Here is a link that might be useful: 'Peach Sorbet' blueberry

I hope the seeds I save will be ok - I had washed them, and left them out on a plate to dry before bagging them up. But after about a week or so, I noticed they were molding in the baggie!! I took them out and threw out the worst ones, but the others I rewashed and left them out longer this time to dry. Put them back in a baggie again, and they are doing ok - although there is still some staining from the previous bout with the mold. I'll give them a try at sprouting, but if they don't work will buy another pie pumpkin or look for some packaged seeds. I'll have to try some of the Confection and Cha Cha varieties, David! Our pumpkins this past season in general did not do as well as our first season of growing them in 2010. We only got 2 or 3, and they were small. Will try them again in 2012 and hope for a better turn out - in 2010, we had probably 20 or so (again, relatively small compared to a lot that you see in the stores, but was still fun to have that many to display for Halloween and not have to buy them :^). Marj

I'm soooooo happy for you....it looks fantastic and hard to believe it was the only change. 2 very cool things. One is that your gorgeous beams take on a whole new dimension. You can actually SEE them and seeing them repeat like that makes the space look so expansive. the other cool thing is something I noticed in my own house when I took down over the bar cabs and is true in yours too. It's great how the window right by your table (cab wall) all of a sudden becomes so RELEVANT to your kitchen space. You will love the extra light and sight line.