Linda Lou, I have been using our two steam juicers (Mehu Liisa, or some such name) for steaming fruit for juice. If you're making jelly, do you worry if a bit of "fruit pulp or fiber" shows up in your jelly? I'm not a puritan about our jellies being perfectly clear -- and perhaps you're not either -- but if you are, I'm wondering what you do. Incidentally, I have my grandmother-then-mother's jelly bag for all the years they made Guava Jelly (I'm from Hawaii) and it's beautifully stained. I love it, and I treasure the times I went guava picking for my mother. And I remember her hanging the bag across a broom handle that was suspended between two dining room chair backs in our kitchen ... with the big pot underneath, gathering the dripping juice. She let it sit all one day to the next. I don't remember her cleaning method (hey, I was a kid, and I didn't stick around for cleaning!) but I very much doubt if she used bleach. I would think that bleach would lend a scent/flavor to the jelly. Kathy in Washington

Most of the grocers here bag your groceries and offer to take it to your car except for a afew of the high volume discounts which I rarely shop at as their meat and produce quality is poor. Competition is high among grocers here so I support the better ones, in the long run, I don't save much by shopping the discount stores except at Costco who still ring up your goods and put themm back in your cart. We stopped at a costco once that had self check out but we went on strike and opted for the clerk checkout. I hate self check out, if they expect to sell me something, the least they can do is collect my money and put it in a bag for me. Otherwise I check out Amazon for the items. I would rather support vendors that are trying their best to show you they appreciate your business.

Sweeby, that's a good idea. Mine are all in one big bag, but if I put the Christmas bags together, I could actually save more closet space. Meg, what "we" could do is hang them on nice hooks on a wall out of sight and hang the bag of bags on the hook! Oh, and then buy a really pretty bag to hold the one's inside. :)

Interesting, I use ProMix BX and it comes as dry as a popcorn's toot. I actually use a tote and pre-wet an amount that I think I will need at the time. If any is left over I just leave the tote open and it air dries like it would in a pot. I don't do things days in advance as I am not that good at planning when I will have time to sow and since I use heat mats for germination I don't worry about the temperature of the mix as it will be warm within hours. The mix being slightly damp makes it easier to work with and it doesn't move as much when I mist fine seeds to have them make contact with the mix. Nice reading about different ways as I am always into changing things up for the better. SCG