I took a look at your want list. Would any of the following be of interest? Aesculus californica - California Buckeye, Aristolochia californica - giant pipe vine. I may be able to get some from a friend of mine. Very unusual and exotic looking California native plant. Sechium edule - Chayote Squash, an edible perennial tropical vine/gourd - the fruit, leaves and roots are edible. Tamarindus indica -Sweet tamarind from Thailand - my son lives in Bangkok is getting some for me.

Gary~ I am wondering whether you or anyone else has any extra yellow Dutch shallots this year. Mine were accidentally destroyed last year and attempts to replace them earlier this year were not successful as everyone was either sold out or I could not afford them. I was going to get some at a garden fair last weekend, but Hanna canceled that! I have red potato/hill onions and red walking onions to trade. I am also interested in other potato onions. Thanks. Maggie

Michael, your daughter is just so dang cute!! I love that your kids like to be in the garden with you and that they love their veggies just like their dad! So cute! I've never actually eaten persimmons since the wild ones we used to try to eat as kids that puckered your mouth up so bad, you couldn't open it again after the first bite. Must add them to my list of fruits to try again. Felix, my grapevine has more leaves on it now. Wheeee! Now scuppernongs are a fruit from my childhood I could eat all day long! LOVE them!! Squeeze them hard enough to pop the sweet centers into your mouth, then eat the sour but delicious skin separately. YUM! Marcia

Bejay, The texture and how they behave is really different btwn dried and fresh/frozen. You could try it with a much-reduced amount of liquid (vinegar); the result would presumably be sweeter because of having less sour to counterbalance? This may be one recipe where you want to break down and use store-bought dried fruit. For one thing, it tastes SO GREAT with the dried fruit, and I find that FRESH apricots make SUCH a difference in so many other recipes (jams, curds, etc.) that I figure, you may as well use the fresh and frozen ones in places where they'll be an asset like that, and use the commecial dried ones in this recipe where they actuall work better! Z, jealous of the 'cots in your freezer; the season for them is SO short here, coinciding with a time when we travel a lot for craft shows, and nobody right in the region grows them, so I missed out on any fresh local ones entirely this season.... and they're my FAVE fruit of all... I am not sure I would trade the white Christmases for them, but ALmost...