Diane, It is a challenge to figure it out, isn't it! It is safe to say that I could grow zero brussels sprouts and my family would be delighted...so that one is easy to figure out. (I like 'em fresh but no one else cares for them. LOL) Today we were looking at fresh produce at Central Market in Fort Worth (yes, I was in hog heaven, thank you very much) and Tim sampled a tiny cup of black-eyed peas. Now, several thoughts ran through my mind. First of all, do they "have to" give away samples of black-eyed peas to get people to try them? Secondly, doesn't everyone know what blackeyed peas taste like? LOL Finally, when my dear husband looked at the bag of more-or-less freshly hulled black-eyed peas (maybe a pint of fresh peas in that bag) and saw they were $5.99, I practically purred like a kitten, thinking of all the pint bags of freshly-shelled (then frozen) black-eyed peas in our freezer.....all of which grew right here in our good old Oklahoma soil with no chemicals, etc. I felt smug and content (in a good way, NOT in a conceited 'holier-than-thou-because-we-grow-our-own" way) but more than that I felt grateful that we are able to grow our own and process/preserve them to be eaten later on. It is the most wonderful feeling in the world to be feeding your family from your own garden and to know where your food came from and how it was raised. I have a pressure canner but have only done BWB stuff this year along with tons of dehydrating and freezing. I go on canning binges....can a lot some years, less in others. With this year's recurring rains, I've put up more food for the 'off-season' than in many prior drought years, and I am really happy about that. So far, one thing I've learned is that no matter how many beans and peas I plant, we eat them all long before the next gardening season rolls around. So, I am planning on lots more next year. Yesterday I picked Roma beans from the garden...and I don't even remember which variety I have except that they are the bush form and that it was from Franchi Simenti seed, and they are so good that I know I must plant many more of them next year. I can only remember one year in recent memory....and it might have been 2004....where I put up enough beans to get us from one gardening year to the next without running out. Growing the soil is why new beds take me so long to build too. In the long run, it is worth it of course, but turning clay into great garden loam certainly involves a long commitment! And, yet, I don't know how we could have done it any differently. I have found very few (almost no) spots in Love County that have a nice, rich, humusy sandy loam that is naturally occurring. For most people here, there are three choices: very sandy soil that drains too quickly in dry years and is prone to nematodes, heavy, thick red (but highly fertile) clay like we have here, and caliche clay full of rocks. So, with those three to choose from, I'm glad we have the clay, but I also appreciate our one small band of sand that cuts across the yard. I greow pecan and fruit trees in that band of sandy soil and they love it. Got your eye on a specific brand of canner? As for jars, I collect them. hee hee I can't walk past jars or lids without wanting more......"just in case". Even if I have plenty of empty jars sitting in storage waiting to be used, I almost have a panic attack when the stores start putting the jars and lids on clearance in the fall. What if I need jars a month or two from now and can't find any? (This has never happened--I always have jars tucked away in the pantry or in a closet, but "what if?" LOL). I always thought I'd have a smaller garden as time went on and we got older, but now I'm growing enough for 2 families instead of 1, so I'm growing more. (Although, DS and his wife and their daughter don't eat as many veggies as we do, except for french fries and green beans...and salsa.) My all-time favorite dedicated kitchen garden spot was an 8' x 8' raised bed in which I planted a "Salsa Garden". It was just outside the back door and in it I had tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic and cilantro. If you had a sudden urge to make salsa, everything was right there. I later planted a few rose bushes in that raised bed and enjoyed that, but I liked it better as a salsa garden. Dawn

Nila, I'm afraid I'm not the best person to ask about cooking meat because I, too, am vegetarian. I have, however, been feeding Raw Prey Model to my cats and dogs for the last several years, so I've gotten a crash course in certain aspects of a meat-based diet for cats. First, I need to caution you against feeding too much liver. Although liver is an essential element in the RPM that I feed, it must be used in very limited quantity. Liver is high in both Vitamin A and iron, both of which can cause toxicity if fed in excess. Liver should not make up more than 5% of a feline or canine diet. The same 5% rule holds true for most organ meats (kidney, spleen, pancreas, testicle, etc.) Heart and gizzards, however, are considered muscle meat, and muscle meats make up approx. 80% of the RPM diet. Although I don't eat meat myself, I am aware that most meats (esp. red meats and, I believe, pork) can be cooked just enough to kill bacteria without substantially changing the texture of the meat. If you cook beef or other red meats to medium or less, they will retain a firm, connected texture that won't shred as the cat chews it. But to be honest, my cats often swallow LARGE chunks of meat without much chewing at all. In fact, the chunks they swallow are sometimes so large that the cat has to vomit it back up and chew it a little more just to get it to stay down (gross but true). I'm sorry that I can't be more specific about cooked meats, but I just don't have much experience with them. If I were you, I would cook meats according to the following chart (use a meat thermometer) to kill bacteria: http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/mintemp.html Then cool the meat and cut into whatever size chunks you think will work for your boy. Don't overcook the meat beyond the temps recommended at that link, or the meat may start falling apart and shredding, rather than holding together in chewable chunks. Laurie This post was edited by laurief on Mon, Mar 24, 14 at 19:17

OK, Ronnatalie - What I was calling joists are the ceiling joists. Because this is a prefabricated shed, the ceiling joists are 2X4s, not 2X6s. Let me start again, please. The service main panel is a 200 Amp, Challenger box. Breakers 29 & 30 are double pole 30 Amp breakers. These two breakers feed a sub panel using 12/3 wire. Black to a hot lug, red to a hot lug, white to neutral bus and ground to ground bus. My current plan call for an R&R of the 30 amp breaker in favor of a double pole 20 amp breaker. The sub panel hold four breakers, At present two of the breakers are 30 amp breakers that I'm going to replace with 20 Amp breakers. The other is a double 20 amp breaker, it services all the 110/120 for this room. I'm going to replace that breaker with two individual 20 amp breakers. There should be no 30 amp circuits needed. Breaker #1 will be a dedicated double receptacle for my laser printer. Breaker # 2 will service the right side of the shed receptacles. Breaker # 4 Will service the left half of the shed receptacles. Back at Service Main, Breakers 31 and 32 currently a double breaker 30 Amp. feeds a baseboard 220 heater. The run is made with 12/2 cable. Black goes to Breaker 31 and white / with black tape goes to breaker 32. I'm planning on removing the double breaker and replacing it with a single 20 breaker. Removing the black tape from both ends of the white wire. Next I'll install a double receptacle to function as a dedicated line for the window AC and the ceiling lights. Sorry if I confused you.

Thanks for posting Shawn. I almost bought a couple more LED bulbs for back up the other day. But they are supposed to last a long time so being I have plenty of light intensity, it won't matter if one or two fail. I bought some plastic and aluminum covered containers to start conifer seeds. I have Tsuga c., Thuja o. and some Picea abies. Sounds like the Tsuga and Thuja will need stratifying but only a short 60 day period. I have a pail of sand, bag of sifted spagnum peat moss and perlite on hand so may try a couple different kinds of media mixes, not sure yet. Looks like I'll have Tsuga c., Thuja o., Juniperus v. and some kind of arborvitae cuttings this season to fill my rooting set up. I'll be having a fix done on my aging back early January so decided to wait on starting anything until I'm up and around again, hopefully by early February. Brandon, Don't worry about the failures. Consider them learning experiences. :-) You'll figure out how you want things and then decide next time to change everything. But that's okay, anytime you can make things easier or more efficient, that's a good thing. :-)