Our county fair winds up tomorrow, and I haven't even thought about going yet! My kids showed sheep and cattle in 4-H and FFA for 13 years, and I put in time as Superintendent of the 4-H Wool show, Sheep show, Livestock trophy and awards chairman, and county 4-H treasurer, and FFA Alumni secretary at the same time that I was a co-leader in our sheep club. It's nice to take a pass on it this year, but my daughter is now a club leader, and will assume a sheep superintendent position at the fair next year. I'll probably go tomorrow to see the breeding stock classes, and haul our club's pen equipment back to the club storage at a neighbor's farm. Having an F-350 makes the hauling easy, and my co-leaders who have shepherded the kids all week will appreciate the break. Marion County, Oregon, used to be one of the most diverse and profitable farming counties in the Western United States. Over the last 5 years, though, we've seen rampant urbanization, and even though there's still lots of farmland, there's less and less livestock, and farm kids aren't encouraged to have farm projects as much because they're more involved in "towny" activities through the schools. In 1991 when we first joined 4-H, our club had over 40 kids and there were 5 families that I can think of that were nationally competitive. The rest of us were regionally competitive. Today, there are about 10 active members, and most don't even live on the rural property where they are raising their market lambs, and only 2 families have breeding stock at all. Guess I gotta get myself fired up in the volunteer area again, or I'll be living in a high-rise and wishing for the good ol' days!

I'm just starting my wish list for 2009, and Chili Spice and Big Sur are going up top. Love their forms and ruffled edges. You will enjoy Corryton Pink, as it increases and eventually makes a nice clump. It's one of those colors that glows from across the garden/yard! Thanks for sharing your beauties! Julie

I've had the Elux Icon single oven for more than 5 years now. Yep, solid, reliable, great performance. Love the glide out shelves , large oven window and the wavetouch controls. Good decision to go with a single oven---they have a far better reliability than do double ovens, regardless of brand. We use our Elux Speed oven, as our 2nd oven, actually we use it more than the larger oven, saves a lotta time and energy, like baked taters or yams in 14 minutes instead of an hour. Most the folks that have the Advantiums are as happy with them, as I am with mine, but being older, I kinda like to have similar (wavetouch) controls on both ovens, kinda like always getting in the same car and driving it, you get familiar with it---Ya know what I mean? Anyway great decisions!!! Gary

This is what I am doing. I have (maybe riskily) lifted mine which are currently sitting on the floor of my greenhouse in boxes of used (from last years tomato starts) potting mix. I have separated the (huge) tubers into reasonable chunks (ie, with a decent growth 'eye') and will be bringing them into my kitchen and prop room to force them into early growth...which I will immediately remove from the tuber and insert into rooting hormone and a loam and perlite based soil mix. Using bought-in tubers, much depends on size and vigour...and some shrivelled tuber in a plastic bag is never going to yield much cutting material...but a healthy, fat tuber can be encouraged into producing new shoots around 3 times, from each eye bud...because I also want a lot. In truth, the potting mix is largely irrelevant, at this stage. It is just a means of anchorage and moisture holding. Only once green leafy growth is really underway (when the season heats up) is it essential to keep up with feeding. If you are not terribly interested in increasing production via cuttings, it is better to hold the tubers in semi-dormancy for a bit longer. As they are short day plants, nothing will induce earlier flowering, anyway...so an early start means keeping growing tender plants in frost-free conditions (and hogging all the room in my greenhouse and cold frame). I have seen tubers literally sitting on top of sandy soil while the shoots are harvested for cutting...but space is usually my main determinant, rather than type of mix.