OK, here's a copy and paste from a post I made back in July to a post started by Miss Sherry about holding willow cuttings. This one was more for collecting cuttings distant from your property and how to get them home fresh, but the technique is the same for cuttings from your own property. . "IMO putting cut LFP in water like cut flowers is not a good technique to use for LFP's and can actually start breaking down the plant rather than helping it. I've posted before on the method I used for many years to keep cut LFP's fresh, often for weeks in the dead of summer and at the end of season even for months. Takes a little work on your part, but robust healthy cats are the reward. If the collection site is a long ways away, take an ice chest with the layer of ice on the bottom covered by a common bath towel folded to a couple of thicknesses for the return trip home (to keep the ice from freezing the plant). Take a supply of trash bags. I mostly used the 7 and 15 gallon kitchen size in opaque white as they store easily and you can see what plant is in them without opening them. Also a supply of paper towel and a squirt bottle filled with clean water. When you gather the cuttings cut the stem with an oblique cut at a length that will fit in the bags unfolded, stack them all together, put them in the trash bags and spray the entire "batch" with the spray bottle. Pour any excess water out, twist or tie the ends and lay them in your ice box until your batches fill it to the top. The paper toweling is in case you have a long trip home. In that case fold and wrap pieces of toweling around the cut end of the bracnhes and soak them with the spray bottle before you put them in the bag and before the final spraying. When I got them home I unpacked and thoroughly washed the cuttings to get any contaminants, pests or predators off them, either in a large sink full of cool water or outside with a garden hose, shook the excess water off and repacked them in trash bags for keeping on the bottom shelf of a refrigerator. If some will be longer term storage wrap their ends with paper towel before spraying. If you make several small "batches" up, and use just one at a time, they others will stay fresh as the day cut with maybe an occasional light spraying every few days. Plant can desiccate or mold in a refrigerator, so the regulation of moisture is important (lean towards less rather than more and just check them more often). In use only pull out enough plant at a time for one change in your cages (I always gave my cats fresh plant at least once a day, more often if they ate it sooner). Close and put the rest of the batch back in cool storage. If the cutting is too long for the cage, cut them in half and use both halves (always putting the down end down). And strip the bottom leaves so only the bottom inch or two is in water. Once you have a feel for what your cats need you can give them only as much plant as they'll consume say 75% of in a day, and that will stretch your cuttings as far as possible before you have to make another trip for plant. Some species of plant hold up better than others, and usually current growth holds up better than old growth. BTW, the wet paper towel trick works very well for small cuttings just laid in containers too, say for early instar larva not yet ready to go to a larger rearing container. Keeps the cutting fresh all day and adds more than enough humidity for the cats. Obviously if you can get your cuttings on your own property they can be gathered, washed and processed daily, but it's still easier to make up a batch all at once to work from until it's used up." . I'll add that for storage I always wrapped cut stems with strips of paper towel and soaked the towel before putting the cuttings in the bag and lightly spraying them for cold storage, even those in my small "batches" that I fed daily from. Takes little effort and adds great benefit in helping the cuttings hold up longer, especially those with woody stems. If you need to hold the plant for many weeks/months, it's a good idea to take all of your plants out, wash them again and repack in new bags every few weeks. My method worked so well that I often held fresh plant well into the deep snow winter months for species that I was rearing successive generations of. I could even hold some plants (like Populus fremontii water sprouts) all winter this way. Larry

The crust softening is caused by migration of moisture from the crumb to the crust and there's little you can do to alter it a great deal. The crust softens most in bread wrapped in plastic/foil/bag when the moisture level in the crust increases from about 12 to 28%. This is when that dry, crisp, texture of fresh crust changes into the soft, leathery, not-do-pleasant texture, and is also known as the aging process, or "staling". Staling begins within two hours of baking. Add to that extreme heat and humidity, and all bets are off for long keeping times. As dcarch mentions, freezing is the best option under these conditions. The worst place to store bread is in the refrigerator. In one experiment in my records, bread stored at 46-degrees F staled as much in one day as bread held at 86-degrees F. did in six days. In the world of bread science.... Unwrapped bread (covered with a cotton towel) looses moisture and flavor faster, but retains crumb texture better, but the crust will still eventually soften, but not as quickly as when wrapped. Now you know why the French buy fresh bread daily. Lean breads (those with a short list of ingredients - flour, salt, yeast) stale quickly. Enriched breads keep longer, but the moisture will still migrate from the crumb to the crust as a part of staling. There are some ingredients that will slow down mold growth during hot humid weather: coconut oil, honey, raisins or raisin water in the dough, some spices and herbs are also helpful. This is also why biscuits were the bread of choice in the hot/humid south. -Grainlady

Here's the recipe in case anyone's interested. DH and DS liked it. I did too, except for the sour cranberries. Next time I'll try halving the cranberries. Cranberry-Walnut Pumpkin Loaves Recipe by Steve Sullivan from "Baking With Julia" Makes 3 small loaves - You'll need three 5 3/4 x 3 1/4 x 2 inch loaf pans Authors notes: "These loaves are small, beautifully crowned, and the color of fallÂs golden leaves. Never mind that the combination of pumpkin, cranberry, walnut, and raisin may set you thinking of a baking powder-raised quick bread with a biscuit or butter cake texture, this bread is a yeast bread, albeit one thatÂs slightly sweet, just a little spicy, and even a bit savory. Although the bread is of the direct-rise family, meaning thereÂs no starter or sponge, it is given an overnight rest in the refrigerator, a dormant period that builds both character and texture in the finished loaf." 2 2/3 cups bread flour 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons tepid water (80 - 90 degrees F) 2 teaspoons active dry yeast 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature 1/3 cup sugar 8 ounces (1 cup) pureed cooked pumpkin or butternut squash, fresh or canned solid packed (see note) 1 large egg, at room temperature 3/4 cup walnut pieces, toasted 1 cup plump golden or dark raisins 2/3 cup cranberries (if frozen, thaw and pat dry) Mixing and kneading: Whisk 2 2/3 cups of the flour, the cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together in a large bowl just to mix; set aside until needed. Pour the water into a small bowl, sprinkle in the yeast, and whisk to blend. Allow the yeast to rest until itÂs creamy, about 5 minutes. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar at medium speed until creamy. Add the pumpkin and egg and beat until blended. Don't be concerned if the mixture looks curdled; it will come together when you add the dry ingredients. Set the mixer to low and add the yeast, then begin to add the dry ingredients, about 1/2 cup at a time. As soon as the mixture starts to form a dough that comes together, scrape the paddle clean and switch to the dough hook. If your dough does not come together (it might be because your pumpkin puree was liquidy), add a few more tablespoons of flour. Mix and knead the dough on medium-low speed for 10 to 15 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl and the hook now and then with a rubber spatula. At the start, the mixture will look more like a batter than a dough, but as you continue to work, it will develop into a soft, very sticky dough that will just ball up on the hook. (This dough develops much the way a brioche does.) With the machine on low speed, add the walnuts and raisins, mixing only until incorporated, about 1 minute. Add the cranberries and mix as little as possible to avoid crushing them. (Inevitably, some cranberries will poop and stain a patch of dough red; think of this as charming, and proceed.) First Rise: Scrape the dough into a lightly buttered large bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and set aside at room temperature to rise until nearly doubled in bulk, about 2 hours. Chilling the dough: When the dough has doubled, fold it over on itself a couple of times to deflate it, wrap it tightly in plastic, and refrigerate overnight. Shaping the dough: At least 6 hours before you want to begin baking, remove the dough from the refrigerator. Leave the dough, covered in its bowl, until it reaches at least 64 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. (This will take as long as 3 to 4 hours -- donÂt rush it.) If you donÂt have an instant-read thermometer, look for the dough to be slightly cool and just a little spongy. Lightly butter three 5 3/4 x 3 1/4 x 2 inch loaf pans. Working on a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into thirds and pat each piece of dough into a 5 x 7 inch rectangle; keep a short end facing you. Starting at the top of each rectangle, roll up the dough toward you and seal the seam by pressing it with your fingertips. Seal the ends, then place each roll, seam side down, in a prepared pan. Second rise: Cover the pans lightly with a kitchen towel and allow to rise at room temperature for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the dough has nearly doubled -- it will rise to just above the rim of the pans. Baking the bread: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the loaves for about 35 minutes, or until deeply golden. Remove the pans to a cooling rack; after a 5-minute rest, turn the breads out of their pans and allow them to cool to room temperature on the rack. Storing: The breads can be kept at room temperature for a day or two or frozen, wrapped airtight, for up to 1 month. Thaw, still wrapped, at room temperature. Note: To use fresh pumpkin or butternut squash, split the squash, remove the seeds, and place cut side down, on a baking sheet. Roast in a preheated 350 degree F oven for about 1 hour, or until meltingly tender. Scoop the softened pulp out of the shell and cool completely. One pound of squash yields about 12 ounces of cooked pulp. Sally

Thanks, Jacob. I didn't know what to call them. I got a dozen for $5, shipping included, from Ebay. Turns out that what I really wanted are called aquapics. They have a sharp end that allows one to put it into the soil easily. I got some of these also. They are not expensive.