She spread a sheet of some string algae out on a flat rock and determined that dried it has a resistance to tear and puncture somewhere between toilet paper and cheap paper towels. No use for this observation yet. She twisted some into a twine and determined that if it allowed to dry somewhat, but not entirely, it can be used for macrame. She does not have enough to do a complete experiment yet. I find it curious that this one developed in cold water. We did not see it last summer. Now that the water temperature is getting to 50F most days I don't see much of it anymore.

I have to pipe up having just read this, that it came as a real supprise to me that all these methods where needed, I still have some raw, fermented in alcohol, mincemeat (sterile the jars)in my pantry which is 6 months old and regularly used it for up to 3 years old, it tastes better as it gets older, I also keep christmas pud for a year without any special treatment, as that just how its supposed to be made, the year before, however, I realised that heat and humidity may have a different effect here so I have invested in a Pressure Canner, the Presto 23 qrt, which can alledgedly be used as a water bath, I will continue with my nasty UK ways with pickled onions but the mincemeat I will look for ways to pressure can it (it doesn't actually contain meat (except suet haha!!!) I had to buy real suet this year as veg suet isn't avaliable as far as I can tell in the States) as mincemeat is always cooked anyway before consumption, so its not going to hurt to try and find a receipy, and if I cann't well I will continue. Lemon curd and orange curd contain eggs but it is actually cooked in, it wouldn't set otherwise, and once opened we always keep it in the fridge, fresh mayo is a different ball game. what do you do about pickled eggs? or don't you eat them? I am interested in the real statistics so I did a couple of searches, http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/93/2/93 http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/501859 I find it scary that E coli 153 H7 has killed 488 people in 8 years judging by the averages and 959 deaths due to botulism in 60 years until 1969 in the US, that said I am sure a great deal of under reporting was done, or the illness not recognised at the time of death, but still, a lot of these e coli cases are due to large food producers, not ma and pa, making some preserves of a farmer market, or home use, is it a case of money talks? and does not have the same standards as we do? It is also appears that botulism spores seem not to be common in the UK and Republic of Ireland as between 2003 - 2008 there have only been 5 cases of this and 3 of these involved Polish nationals eating meat from home, http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/501859 we also do not have quite the same home preverving history, as many people where happy to give up after rationing finished in the 1950's for us and started in 1940 (not me personally) so could not wait to buy food preserved, and we also enjoy a long, long season of temporate weather! so stuff isn't kept as long. Oh stuff it! I've read enough the mincemeat will investigate alcohol preserving more, and that and the pudding are out, I will freeze this year, and give up mass produced meat which quite frankly scares me more! you must have a whole lot of spore shaking on down! would be interested to know the state by state breakdown of the risks, so I could make a more informed choice but not found one? I was a nurse Occupational Health UK not US which covers epidemiology which is why I have writen an essay...badly! still I hope you won't mark me??? :) None of what I have written above is in a professional capacity and should be taken with a big pinch of salt and you should follow any offical guidance available (cover a$$ clause) Here is a link that might be useful: botulism USA

Susana, you could grow Sugar Apples in containers. You could bring them inside when a freeze is predicted. They go dormant in Winter, but may die if temps go to 28. They are small trees and are easy to keep under control. They are heavy producers, and start at young ages. I consider them terrific fruit trees, easy, fast, small, needing minimal attention, and the fruit is oh so good! I have Red, Green and Golden Sugar Apples, Geffner Atemoya, 4826 Atemoya and Golden Atemoya. I will have lots of seeds available within a few months, as the many fruits are maturing. Lisa

I think the site originally started with the truly bizarre and "how-do-they-ever-expect-to-sell-this", but some of the photos seem like completely "normal" sorts of houses where a particular decorating item or style seems to be getting made fun of. Those are the ones I don't get, except that perhaps it's harder to find the truly bizarre and unmarketable on a regular basis As for the unfortunate things that show up in photos: Some of this I blame on the agent. They shouldn't take photos that have someone's dirty underwear or an overflowing trash can, or someone's sex toy in them.