This post reminded me of an article in this month's Fine Woodworking - 'Stop suffering for Your Craft,' written by a woodworker who looks to be in his 70's. Some of the suggestions there apply to a general discussion of garden related injuries. -Ways items are gripped make a big difference: be sure your tools' grips are comfortable in the long run: for power tools, do the grips reduce vibrations as much as possible, and can a tool's weight be shared with other body parts via an over-the shoulder harness for instance. Also, would gloves or a grabber of some kind make gripping your kudzu easier? I have learned to pull many types of weeds with pliers as they save me blisters and keep my hand in a more open position to reduce tendonitis. I often wear bicycling gloves with gel in the palms to reduce vibration as well. -As others have suggested above, having help moving large objects, either by asking others to help or using mechanical means (a tractor, two-wheeled hand cart or pry bar) reduces stress on your body. -Can a machine or time and patience do the job with less stress on your body? You mentioned herbicide. Can you then mow, burn, or heavily mulch (search 'lasagna gardening') the area to reclaim it rather than pulling the vines? -Is there a way to improve your body mechanics as you work? Just like lifting with your knees saves your back, bring work closer to your body and think about using core muscles rather than just lower arms will spread out the work. -Again, as others have suggested, listen to your body. When you are tired, stop. Change up activities - if you have been pulling for a while, do something else: get something to drink and sit and enjoy the changes you've made, or plant something, or make plans. I'm a bit of a slow learner, but experience has taught me that there will always be tomorrow or next month or next season to work in my garden. Pain isn't fun, and if I want to continue to be able to enjoy my gardening, I need to take care of myself.

In normal years, a sprout war wouldn't be fair, because the colder zones just won't have sprouts until much later in the season. This year, all bets are off. But, I won't even be checking my containers until March or April, because I can't stand the constant disappointment. I'd be happy to join in, though. It'll keep the season interesting. And, then, we'll have a "planted out" war. That would be really interesting. See how many hunks-o-seedlings we each get out of our containers, and how many of them actually get into the ground. Martha

Well I'm not sure I want to enter into a 3rd hand debate taking place somewhere else that I can't even access much less be quoted in it when I can't respond. Heaven knows there are sorts of canning forums out there on the web and they range from excellent right down to flat out dangerous in the info they provide. It is a user beware world out there. :) So I guess I begin by saying that I am far from the only person that makes that statement, here or elsewhere. Most experienced home canners that make the effort to remain current with the guidelines know it, And anyone who has ever taken a certified canning course has certainly heard it. Although "process for the time of the longest ingredient" was mentioned in some older books and while it is true that many recipes that include meat call for the meat processing times, not all do, it was never an official guideline. It is simply an assumption made by long ago home canners that took on a life of its own. They noted that 90 min was the max time called for (except seafoods) so assumed that time would be good for anything. They reasoned that if X mins was good then XX minutes was even better. They used that assumption to allow them to make whatever changes they wanted to in the recipe. The greatly flawed "Gee, I can safely can anything I want to if I pressure can it long enough" assumption was the result and is still used by many today simply to justify disregarding the guidelines and making up their own recipes. But all this was before the role of pH and density in canning were understood and when the resulting quality of the food was of little concern. Those issues should have put an end to the old assumption but didn't unfortunately. So it is "guess work" because it encourages the canner to make up their own recipes and processing times and it disregards both pH and density of the mixed ingredients and the end quality. Tested recipes instead test to balance safety AND quality. Good examples are in the NCHFP FAQs that address the "why can't I can my own recipe for ______" questions. These are low-acid mixtures which could support the growth of bacteria that cause botulism, so a process cannot be estimated or made up. It must be a tested process known to kill these bacteria in this product. Still it all boils down to personal choice, personal risk. Those that regularly advocate "time required for the longest ingredient" works are almost always doing it just to justify canning their own made-up recipes. That is their choice, their risk to take. Hope this helps clarify. Dave

About a year and a half. I never remember being without electricity when I was a child in Ontario: I don't know when electricity first came to our home. Grandpa had bought our farm near London, on a major highway about a mile and a quarter from a village, in 1917 and Dad and Mom took over the farm some time after their marriage in 1925. I was born in 1929 and I remember us getting a small table radio about 1940. Dad had bronchial trouble and was concerned that he was on the way to becoming asthmatic, and moved to Saskatchewan just after World War II, in 1946. He sharecropped a farm about 10 miles from the capital, Regina, owned by a man whom Grandpa had helped get an education around 1900, who moved to the prairies with his brother as young men. We arrived in the spring of 1946, we three boys drove four miles to school and I stayed home for a week or so later in the spring to help put in the crops. I was the only student in Grade 11 and I think that the principal (operating Grades 9 - 12) in the one-room high school, spent more than usual time with me to get me up to speed. I should perhaps be embarrassed to report hat my average in that school year was higher than the next, my final year, when I was there for the full year. The power line was a mile and a half from the house where we lived and our landlord hadn't chosen to install a connection to it ... but he did, a few years later, after Dad had bought a farm, when the landlord retired and moved from the city out to that farmhouse. A year and almost a half after our move, I went to university in Saskatchewan's second largest city, Saskatoon ... there's a bush berry beloved of people in that part of the prairies that bears its name. After my first year, I returned to the farm so lived without electricity from May till September of that year, as well. We had an oil-fired cookstove, a battery radio and kerosene-powered lamps and lanterns that pushed kerosene under pressure up a tube by a conical mesh where it was vapourized and then burned as the vapour hit the mesh, to provide light that was quite bright - and warmth, as well (which was appreciated in winter). By the way ... my first encounter with a bathroom, which requires water under pressure, in my place of residence was when I went to university and lived in a dorm, in the fall of 1947, when I was 18. ole joyfuelled