You wouldn't need to send me 200 different varieties, just 200 total packets if possible. Duplication is fine. And feel free to put as much sweet basil as you like in my box. I will put it to good use by donating it to Need4Seed! :) How'd I wind up with 214 seed packets to send? It's a long story. But since I am a writer and I *enjoy* storytelling, here goes! I maintain a highly varied personal seed bank so that I may assist Need4Seed and other low-income gardening associations by supplying seeds. So, I tend to have lots of seeds around my house at any given time! And I also really enjoy keeping my seedbank varied by seed trading, and I trade often. :) When I get seeds in a trade the packet sent to me usually has 20 or more seeds in it. Well, with my teensy growing space I seldom need more than 5 to 10 seeds of a given plant. So by only using the seeds I actually needed, I discovered I accumulated 35 seed packets worth of 'extras' that I could contribute to the swap. Also, this swap allowed us to send in 5 packets of one type. So I sent in duplicates of all the garden edibles (herbs, veg., edible flowers) that I grew out in 2008 and saved oodles of seeds from. That right there got me another 65 easily- Just 13 varieties of edible seeds, 5 packets of each. And that (35 plus 65) accounts for the first 100 packets. :) Now then, I also accumulated excess ornamental seeds over the past year. Some were bonus packets from generous seed traders. Some were seeds I got by scavenging (more bluntly termed 'seed snatching' LOL.) All of these homeless seeds turned out to be roughly another 104 seed packets. There's 52 weeks per year, so if I get one bonus pack per week and also scavenge a pack per week it *would* yield 104 extra seed packs per year that I won't have the room or time to grow out... And now that puts my total at 204 seed packets...:) I don't grow many regular sized ornamentals due to small space, so I keep them till I get a chance to swap them out and request edibles or dwarf varieties. I figure, at least SOME of these normal-sized lovelies will be of interest to others in this swap!! :) And then finally, there were 10 or so seed packets that contained the leftovers from a few special, or rare commercial varieties that I bought on impulse, hoping to enhance my garden's sophistication level. I admit it, sometimes I DO buy seeds on impulse... don't we all at times?? And thus, the somewhat embarrassing grand total of 214 packets. *blush* Bit by bit, a seed collection hobby can really add up. BTW, I am by no means the only GardenWebber known to send in hundreds of seeds into a swap when the swap rules have no packet limit stated. There were several boxes and big, fat envies each holding hundreds of packets that various people sent in to ncgardengirl's Wow Thanks swap recently! So nope, I am not alone in my seed obsession. I hope I amused some of y'all by telling on myself. :)

I'm sorry, I didn't realize this was a discussion about organic vs. non-organic foods. Well, it is and it isn't. :-) I'm using "organic" as an oversimplified term to mean "locally-produced foods which are grown sustainably and processed minimally". I'm aware that there are many producers who do most of that and who have not undertaken organic certification. They're OK in my book. The beef I have (pardon the pun) is with people who think they're driving the cost of their food way down by buying pork that is injected with up to 15% of its weight with water, salt, and preservatives; buying eggs from hens kept in cages so small they can't move and fed a diet that no chicken would ever select for itself; farmers who use synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides to combat monocultural farming; and all of the corporate agricultural subsidies -- paying farmers to not grow crops; subsidizing the cost of transportation by keeping gas cheap and taking the cost of fighting wars off the books; and charging all of us road taxes to repair the damage done by trucking produce halfway across the country and the environmental damage done by runoff from manure pools and insecticides and by top-soil erosion. There are costs associated with all of that, but conventional farmers typically don't pay them. We all do. I do not strictly purchase organic, whole grain type foods. I purchase the best I can with my monthly food budget and go from there. I understand that if you live with such high standards, you probably can't prepare lunches for $1-2 each. What I don't understand is this: where are you able to eat lunch out for $4 and eat purely organic? I couldn't go anywhere in my town and spend $4 and eat to your standards. It just isn't possible. I don't always eat organic. If I'm invited to a friend's birthday party, I won't refuse to attend because they don't buy organic. It is, however, a strong preference of mine (and it's what I feed my guests). It is cheaper to bring organic from home. Beans and rice or some soups and stews can be relatively inexpensive organic meals. I would be hard-pressed to eat out organically for $4, though my food co-op comes close with a mix-and-match hot-food bar for $6. My point (apparently not made very well) is that many people on the Internet claim to make a meal that costs only a couple of bucks. Well, if that's done by purchasing heavily-processed non-sustainably-produced food that is grown, gathered, and sold by people half a country (or half a world) away who don't make a living wage, then someone else (actually, everyone else) is picking up the associated costs. I don't consider a slice or two of "baloney" on Wunder Bread and a banana a balanced, healthful meal, even if they don't come much cheaper than that. It's ironic that the most-heavily-processed food available in the U.S. is often the very cheapest. The "boutique" aspect of organic food aside (I won't deny it exists), organic food costs what food should cost. I don't look upon it as "such high standards" so much as I consider it the standard. If you were to add in the costs of trucking food halfway across the country, providing working wages and basic health and educational coverage to the people growing and harvesting the crops, and the costs of epidemic high blood pressure and diabetes brought on by the heavily-processed American diet and lifestyle, people wouldn't be saying, "I can make a full meal for $1 or $2." It really costs us more than that.

welcome :) lol.. i LIKE canada but i was born here so i guess i'm used to the snow. we're actually considering a move 10 hours north of where we are now (for job opportunities.. not the snow!) right now, we're about an hour and half from toronto. i saw your pictures from your other post. beautiful stuff!! i really loved the pieces of wood. i've never seen anything like that before. as far as glass cutting, i just use the running pliers and a ruler if i need squares and hope for the best. i don't use a lot of squares though.. usually just random shapes.

We do all the projects on our house ourselves unless it requires special equipment we don't have and can't rent, or requires more then 2 people to do it. When we did the kitchen remodel almost 2 years ago, we did it all but put in the granite countertops because that took 4 guys to carry it in. It took 7 months to do but we did the rip out of the old kitchen, all the new electrical, plumbing, framing, porcelain tile floors, installing the new cabinets and appliances. We have been working on this place for 22 years. We have remodeled the whole house, including the 2 bathrooms, and only have the 1/2 bath to go. We have replaced all the windows with Anderson ones, doing the work ourselves one at a time. We have put in sky lights and moved walls. The only things we hired someone for was to put on a new roof so it would get done before the rainy season hit and to paint the house the last time, again because of a time issue. We had done the painting before and always do our own interior painting or wallpapering. DH even dug up the septic tank with just a shovel though having it replaced had to be done by a septic company because it required a crane. We have never hired someone to do any type of cleaning or to do any garden work on the 2.5 acres. We do all of that ourselves too. DH is currently working on replacing all the carpet in the house and putting in stapled down solid hard wood floors. We only have the guest bedroom, hall and master bedroom to go which we start on next week. He is using his 2 week vacation to do it. We just don't like the quality of work that we see others getting from so called professionals. And don't like the price tag either. Clare