Agreed with Patrick, apples aren't being compared to apples here, in fact there seems to be a whole mish-mash. In particular, you simply can't compare profitability of sides of beef marketed direct from the farm with beef produced for the packer. Those of you who have the opportunity to grow and market for an enhanced niche should be congratulated for your efforts and success. I have no doubt you are producing a superior product. But for every farm-marketed side of beef in this country, there are 10,000 going through the packer, and there's no way to compare what you are doing, to the efficiencies required to produce a particular frame and finish for the feed lot or the packer. No matter how you look at it, TIME is an expensive input even if you're content to leave it out of the equation. Those of us who do not have the inclination to direct-market must necessarily look much harder at whether or not our cattle perform in the necessary frame, yield and time window. As for our friend Bulldinkie -- I wish I had one cent for every time you've started a post with "We have Longhorns" in the past ?what's it been? 5 years here? Trust a few of us to remember, eh? The same thing I talked about above holds true for the "value" of the heads, necks and semen of your stock. You CAN'T compare earnings from showing and selling breeding stock to earnings on the rail. A very small percentage of the cattle-raising public own pedigreed breeding stock, even fewer show it. You yourself may sell to other people who want to breed, but in the end, somebody's gotta be buying the cattle for food. Otherwise it's a pyramid scheme. At the packer, your heads, necks and semen are waste. Dog food. Nobody here tried to say that your breeding stock wasn't valuable, just that your stance and reasoning didn't apply. Not apples to apples. And Dink? Go back and read s-l-o-w-l-y what Roxann said. She wasn't making fun of you, wasn't insulting you. She was trying to be friendly, and trying to let you know she thought she remembered things you've talked about in the past that interested her. She was in your corner till you stomped her. Now go ahead and stomp me.

Thanks Susie! The broccoli is phenomenal and the easiest of the easy of crops to grow. Let me know next year if you'd like some seeds. I'm hoping to have a airconditioned room next year to start even earlier. And wow, Amberroses, I think thats the nicest compliment I've ever heard. ok, nutcase Tom, I think I'm such a nutcase about tomato sprouts because they hold such promise but then never yield like I hope.... This year though I am on a much heavier fertilizer program so have high hopes of success. Veronica? Who is Veronica? I got those seeds from Italy and they grow like gang busters. HUGE plants, all wrapped around the head and taste like broccoli, but look and texture like green cauliflower. I've got a million seeds so if anyone wants some for next year let me know. Happy springtime! Elizabeth

Good morning Natalie ~ Your post was very descriptive and nicely put. I also love this time of year. Finally, for us down here in tropical s.e. FL, we get a break from the summer's blazing heat and the awful humidity. Although, this year it is still warm and humid, but it is much better than a month or so ago. I can now get out and garden more comfortably, and look forward to the next 5-6 months of wonderful gardening weather, before summer's heat and humidity are back, along with hurricane season. Happy holidays everyone ~ FlowerLady

Lisa - I'm not far from you, though near MA/CT/NY line. Our blueberries didn't do much this year (though lots of new growth), I think b/c they bloomed in April when we had that hot spell, then we got frost. We planted tomato (beefsteak and Mr. Stripey) seedlings, pepper (red, green, orange) seedlings, zucchini, corn, cucumber from seeds at Mem. Day. Something tore up cukes so had to plant again but we've gotten a dozen (slicing) this week and the zukes are ramping up too, can't keep up with 1 plant so I'm letting the couple on now go for bread. Tons of tomatoes but none ripening, 1 green pepper and 2 "red" that I picked green b/c they were so big, 1 of them is turning orange on the counter but other still green. The "orange" pepper plant isn't doing much. The corn is just starting to form ears and silk - hope it doesn't ripen while we're on vacation. This was a banner year for blackberries though. My dad mowed down a lot last year and I was mad but the remaining plants have produced so much that I'm getting really picky (pun) about which ones I take, only the biggest and juiciest. So many are seedy or shriveled b/c of lack of rain, but I've already made 28 half-pints and 2 pints of jam (plus leftovers from each batch filling an empty PB jar in fridge), and still have 5 quarts in the fridge and a quart in the freezer. I plan on 1 more batch of jam using the 2 quarts I picked Sunday and freezing the 3 quarts I picked yesterday, and any I get for the rest of the summer. That way when (if!) we run out of jam I'll be able to make more.