I just wanted to post that I was out at the National Arboretum a few weeks ago. The large Q. acutas looked like they sustained some damage from teh past winter. Some twig and a few branches died back. Sad to see. But they will certainly survive. The Q. salicina looked like it had NO damage at all surprisingly. I have never seen acorns on them. Interestingly the Q. phillyreoides had some acorns. No apparent dieback. They all looked rather shrubby to me and not large single trunked trees. L. henyri and Q. myrsinifolias looked just fine. Q. glauca specimens at the Arboretum have all had a rough go of it over the years. Numerous diebacks. Pretty pathetic. They should really not be grown up here. But maybe they got some northern provenance stock that they wanted to try. I didn't see where they were from. Unrelated, but all the hollies looked great. Even Ilex latifolia. The Ilex latifolia in my yard looks great as well. No apparent winter damage. A small amount of leaf spot but overall I was very pleased. This post was edited by dave_in_nova on Fri, Oct 17, 14 at 10:33

Konrad, that does make for a nice raised bed :) With having a large yard and well amended relatively weed free productive soil, I hadn't looked into using the bale method and had wondered why anyone would even bother ... though, last night I had watched several videos and my thoughts had changed as I observed the benefits to be had under certain circumstances and am now "almost" tempted to try it with some peppers, as I guess they do especially well when bale grown. Mmmm, I do have some two year old bales sitting at the back of my yard, but I'd be more inclined to do as Konrad's posted photo, because I'd like for the plants to draw the nutrients from the soil, rather than me having to be dosing the bales with fertilizer. Peppers require very good drainage and this would certainly provide for such and requires no carpentry skills of needing to cut and nail a bunch of boards together :)

So it's rainy and gloomy this morning, perfect time to try the great mulberry/rhubarb experiment. I'll let you know how it goes. Ken, I have lust in my heart for a Villaware strainer. Each time I hear it mentioned my eyes get a little misty and I drift into a little fantasy of beautiful smooth tomato sauce flowing from the machine. I had even put money aside to buy one this year when the county decided that street lights which blazed through my bedroom window with enough candlepower to read by was a good idea. Several dream items went by the wayside so I could buy blackout curtains. Seriously, I have to have blackout curtains in my room. I went to a county commissioners meeting and reminded them oh so gently that their lights were against their own building code. I was told that street lights were exempt since they were for the public good. I kindly invited them all over for a sleep over at my place but they declined. I suppose I shouldn't complain too much, I'm saving $$ on my lighting bills. ;^)

Speaking of lentils.... ;) I was teaching Sunday school for the last three weeks (classes rotate through centers). My lesson was on Jacob and Esau and each week I brought lentil soup for the kids to try. I bought green lentils first, but then I bought "red" lentils in hopes of getting "red stew". The story calls it both red stew and lentil soup. Our local health food store carries red lentils. First thing, red lentils....cook up olive green. So, whatever made the stew "red", was not from the lentils! Two...I brought raw versions of the red and green lentils so the kids could see and feel the difference. Did you know they taste different? One of my three classes had three adventuresome girls in it. They thought the raw lentils looked like sprinkles and they wanted to eat them raw. I let them taste one each. They informed me the red was "nuttier" than the green (or maybe it was the opposite). So, I was forced to try it for myself. It's true! We then all ate multiple pieces of the raw lentils. :) Three...I was amazed, I had multiple kids in each class that actually asked for seconds. (caveat, I don't like lentils...) I honestly expected every child to flat out refuse to eat it! Lisa