Norwayaha, First, I wouldn't assume that they are making fun of you. It might just be gentle teasing (and as stated, you can choose to think of it as a compliment - you don't have control over their comments, but you do have control over your reaction to their comments). Second, consider using this as an opportunity to educate your friends and family. I talk about how I know what goes into the jars. I am living a greener life (growing my own food) and the food I make is absolutely delicious. Plus I am saving money (when I use my own home grown ingredients). I share jars with them (with instructions to return the jars when done). When they have tasted my "tastes like summer in a jar" peach jam or fresh salsa using my homegrown tomatoes and peppers, they are sold. As to a comment like why make jam when there is jam sold in a store, my response is: Find me peach jelly. Find me blueberry peach jam or blackberry lavendar jam. You can't! With home canning, I get to make wonderful combinations that literally aren't available in the stores (except perhaps for $9 a pint at a farmer's market where, guess what? they are doing their own canning!). Most of all, I feel connected to generations of women before me who nurtured their families with home canned goodies. I'm making sure lost arts aren't truly lost. Although people may not understand loving a hobby that is so much work, many more people are receptive to the idea than you might realize, with just a little education. So often the response I receive is "I always wanted to try canning, but I didn't know anyone who did it." You might be pleasantly surprised! Now all that said, oh heck yeah, I feel overwhelmed at times. Putting up 50-75 pounds of peaches during the summer and pounds and pounds of tomatoes/peppers/etc. in the fall is definitely a daunting proposition at times, especially since I work full time.

Hi Bob, I appreciate your comments. I did want to point out to all that this was originally posted in February of 05. I have found myself posting to an old post a number of times and didn't realize it. Easy to do. I am glad this post was resurrected as it gives me an opportunity to update. Wow, it has been two years since I posted that. So what has changed since then? Well..I don't feel overwhelmed any more and I have arrived at a comfortable pace at making changes to native. My maple tree remains and I feel fine with that decision. As I pointed out before, I am surrounded by maples of the same variety and removing mine will not make a difference at all in my immediate neighborhood. I do still hold out hope of taking the tree down, but one thing at a time. We removed a 100ft shrub border of old overgrown shrubs and started with a clean slate. Have started adding native shrubs and perennials. Clethra, a gray dogwood that someone here recommended, lindera benzoin, oakleaf hydrangea, ninebark and viburnums and a small dogwood tree and amelanchier tree so far. We are enjoying the new plants in the yard, but the change has not been without cost. Ripping out that whole border has exposed our yard all along our back lot line and we have no privacy at all whereas before no one could see into our yard. That is another reason the tree has remained. So when our new border fills in enough to give us some privacy we may find we are ready to take the tree down. Has anyone checked prices on having a tree removed? I have been hearing $1,000. Pretty steep! As for perennials...we created a long 50 ft raised border along our vegetable garden and are in the process of adding butterfly plants and other natives. Asclepias, echinacea, joe pye weed among others. We are now just beginning to add shade natives. This seems to be a little more difficult because they are expensive and not as easy to start from seed as the sun lovers are. I also am on a budget so I look for seed trades and for some reason the shade plant seeds seem to be scarce. We have also started buying more and more from the NEWFS here in Massachusetts. That is new. I have also met and have started corresponding with at least two other GW members who are also interested in native plants. Plus it just seems to me I am running into more and more posts on GW that mention an interest in natives. That is very encouraging. So..two problem plants that are still in my yard are one burning bush, that is slated for removal as soon as we can get to it. The other is a spring poppy that is not the native but the import from China. I have started pulling the non native poppy two years ago, but still am getting back some reseeded ones evidently. I think this will be the year though. I just ordered some native poppy seeds from NEWFS and hope I get good germination. I am ready to pull the next generation of the old poppy and that might do it for me then in goes the native poppy and voila! lol I am enjoying it and feeling good about it. So I hope that encourages everyone in the native forums that all your time spent responding to posts and answering questions and trading seeds is making a difference. :-) adam

Skaterio and Cube, I was thinking the same thing--FLYDADY. It's a great Web site for getting your house to seem more homey. Yes it's bizzare and out there, but you don't have to do all the things on the Web site, pick and choose what works for you. Once you free your home from CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) then you can invite people over. I have about one dinner party per season and invite people who make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. It's a great pick me up, the whole process--getting the house ready, cooking, etc. Also, it might be helpful to find a spiritual community to join if you haven't already. I mean I should talk since I don't belong to one, but the idea is that a spiritual community can help people fee loved and appreciated and connected to a higher power. I was speaking with a pastor last year and he told me that your complaint is one of the prime one he hears from everyone. A couple of years ago I got a book called "Minyan" by Rami Shapiro which is about developing a spriritual practice. Minyan is a term in Judiasm which refers to a group of ten men, which is how many people you need to start a worship group. Anyway, the rabbi who wrote the book developed ten spiritual practices which, according to the review on Amazon, "ground a person in divine reality and balance external and internal affairs." Anyway, the book isn't pie in the sky, it is very practical and accessible to people of any religion or even agnostics. One of the practices is to read inspirational books every night. Like a devotion, read a couple of pages as your before bed reading. That's how I found the "Art of Happiness" book. Two other books I have especially enjoyed are: "Attitudes of Gratitude" by M.J. Ryan, and "The Simple Living Guide" by Janet Luhrs. There are bound to be other books out there, just find a few you like and then look them up on Amazon.com. They always tell you other books you might like or other books that other people who bought your book also bought, which gives you some ideas to try. Right now I'm reading "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari" which as a novel pretty much sucks, but as a guide to meditation practices is quite good. By putting the ideas in the form of a novel I guess the author is making them more accessible. But it's not really a novel, just a fable. Also, MJ is right, the TV is very damaging to one's self esteem, the world portrayed there is not even close to reality. The whole medium is designed to get us to feel that our life is inadequate. That way we will buy things to fill the void.

I'm not an expert on machines, but I have been doing basic sewing for 35+ years. I don't do embroidery or quilting, just basic garments, mending, simple curtains and such. My first machine(late 60's)was a Sears Kenmore...foward, reverse, zigzag. My second and third were Singers, the last one(model 6235) I used for 20 years, loved it, have it in storage, and someday might resurrect it. It cost me about $400 in 1985 or 86. Earlier this year, it gave up the ghost, some internal parts finally wearing out. I felt I finally needed another one, but I could only afford about $200. So did online research of 'low end' machines that had at least the same features and number of stitches as my old machine. A built in buttonholer was a must, various stretch stitches(for overcasting seam allowances in lieu of a serger, which I could never afford)and enough 'poop' to sew through a few layers of denim. What I decided on was a Sears Kenmore (model 16231) for 2 reasons. First, I could always find parts, and second, I would have Sears support. Most of the machines in this price range come from companies that are hard to find, let alone communicate with. I actually ended up spending a little more($280). The only thing I don't like about the machine, that I hadn't thought about when researching, is that the needle is straight up and down. My old machine had a slanted needle, which made the sewing area very easy to see, and now I really miss that. But it sews nicely for the projects that I do, such as making PJ's for the grandkids, doll clothes, hemming and patching jeans. I'm not saying that this is THE best machine...it just works for what I need, for what I could afford, and I've always trusted Kenmore appliances. I think that both Kenmore and Singer have very good basic machines. I didn't have the option of trying out a machine in-store, but most people would recommend that if you can do it. You could make a list of features that you want, go online to see what models have those features at what price, then ask for opinions(and read reviews)on those particular models. It took me a couple of weeks to choose my machine, and for the money, I'm happy with it. I hope you get plenty of posts to help with your decision and I'm sorry this one was so lengthy. Good luck!