The only such study I can recall is one I posted linking to the research conducted at the Rodale Institute since 1981 comparing Organic farming practices to "conventional" farming practices. The only way to get good soil is to add organic matter to the soil you have, enough so the level of organic matter in your soil is around 5 to 8 percent. Whether that can be done with 3 applications of compost depends on many things. For many of us adding organic matter to our soil is a continuous practice, something we do as a matter of course. Here is a link that might be useful: Rodale Institute study

Jenny: We did think about white because of the room looked pretty good with just the primer coat. But we wanted some color, since in the bathroom's previous life we'd painted the walls a light grey and that made it "feel" cold all the time. Not so bad in the summer, but not so good for New England winters. We probably should revisit white -- or at least a lighter color, since we now have the darker floors, the darker wood, and the charcoal sink. Thanks for suggesting that. YaYaGal & Sprout26: Hmmm. That Smokey Taupe might be the ticket. It looks like it would be a good match for the tile -- which might be just the thing to add some color, but not draw too much attention to itself, as Sprout26 suggests. And it's in keeping with Jenny's suggestion above. Schoolhouse: Thanks for the picture. Cameras and computer monitors certainly do show colors in strange ways some times, don't they. Your gold doesn't have that green tinge. I think I like it better than the one we have right now. Kswl: Thank you come coming back with additional thoughts. We went to Lowe's and asked for the gold color, but dialed back 75% (to have only 25% of the color). When we painted it on the wall last night, there was no difference -- even in this morning's light. Sounds like we need to pick a lighter gold from the get-go. We'll see. DH is getting color-fatigue, which is too bad, because he often has better color sense than I do. At least color changes are relatively cheap -- and all that painting and reaching the high ceilings is good exercise!

barb- I agree with sleevedog, there aren't any dumb questions. It's something you haven't experienced that you need/want to know, and this is a handy outlet for information from people you trust. BTW - I do use powdered stevia, and even grow stevia in my herb garden and use it in whole dried leaf, powder, and extract. Which one I use depends on what I'm adding it to. I get the liquid flavored stevia from Amazon or iHerb (there are probably many other sources for the same brands so look for best price and special offers). The brands I have on hand are NOW and SweetLeaf. I saw a display of Harvest Snaps at Wal-Mart and I thought how clever marketing was to place it in the produce section of the store to make you think you were eating healthy produce. If memory serves me, the one I looked at was green pea and was made from 70% whole peas. The good news, there weren't very many ingredients in the list - peas, rice, oil, citric acid, and maybe something else - a chemical preservative. At least it came in under 5-ingredients, which is one of my personal "food rules" when it comes to processed foods. Michael Pollen said it best in one of his books - eat all the junk food you want --- as long as you make it yourself. I make sweet potato chips at home in the microwave when we want the occasional chip to go along with a lettuce wrap, or cut some corn tortillas into wedges and bake them when I make guacamole or salsa. I make high-protein "crackers" with the pulp remaining from making nut milk and dehydrate them. Dehydrated apple slices and a few nuts or peanuts has always been a snack food available in our home. Believe me, if you have to do more then rip a bag open, you'll have and consume a lot less snacks (LOL). -Grainlady

shades, I have a dolly (no straps tho) but I still couldn't move things. could maybe stack a few smaller boxes on it. jed has some stretch bands? with hooks on the ends that he uses. I actually have 2 small ones like his. should buy longer ones. yes, I have different people say they'll come do stuff - but then something happens and they don't show up. I've been trying for over 3 wks to get new front tires. my mechanic said he'd get some for me and put on. then stuff happened at his shop (to do with wind storms here), after that his elderly mother needed help up in phx... I had a test scheduled and had to cxl it! he got here and took wheels off to have tires put on... then many days later on NYE day he made it here and put wheels on front. and left. about 2 hrs later I got in car to go to store and heard horrible noise when backing the car up. couldn't go anywhere. he finally made it back here on sat. Tires were wrong size. too big and were hitting the struts. He put those on the back and my back tires on the front so I could at least go to the store. he's coming back tomorrow to take car to the tire shop to have them changed and rotated back. good grief! that something so normally simple would be such a bear to get done. this has also had me stranded in my own house for days. I wanted to get out and pick up take out from local Mexican rest. - tired of my own 'cooking' - lol! (finally got my 'dinner' today!) Then Jed over watered my plants last sunday and ran me out of water - but I didn't know it... had to shut down the pump til more water could be delieved - on Wednesday! (that was today and I now have water again). just thinking of these things tires me... oh, and in between these things my son landed himself in the hospital in the Midwest with a blood infection. been in there 5 days, has something connected to him/in him by his heart. could have died / or lost his leg. will be able to go home (info from dd) but will need to return to hospital every day for 10 days to have more antibiotics put in whatever that 'thing' is attached to him. he says it's called cellulitis (what he has). I would have guessed that meant he had cellulite - he's way too thin and fit for that! And with my fibro I've been sleeping a ton again. and cold, damp weather outside here - that doesn't help. I hope anyone reading this survived...