My DH rescued an old 8HP tiller on it's way to the dumpster and revived it. Smoky, noisy thrashing beast that it is, it does till the soil quite well. We can till up grassy areas into rough garden areas in mere minutes. Our next big garden adventure will be to get compost from the mushroom farm and till that in. There are several gardening tools which I've become quite fond of, one of them is a titanium rock climber's hand pickaxe (I'm sure rock climber's have a specific name for these things) which makes a great weeding tool and small digger. It was a dollar at a garage sale and I'm certain I really do not want to know how much someone paid for the thing to take climbing with them but it makes a great garden tool. Another good garden tool we found at a yard sale is a five tine adjustable cultivator which was fifty cents although it did need to have a handle put on it. This hand cultivator gets used a lot after the garden has had the original tilling done with the machine. Small sections get cultivated before being reseeded after their crops have finished. We have a reel push mower with a grass catcher so it is a good way to get mulch for the garden path. There is also the scythe for the taller grass which also makes nice mulch and compost. We are also populating the yard with furniture. Benches scattered about, hammocks, lawn and lounge chairs. It is much nicer and now we can go hang out and be comfortable in the back yard.

Tina, Nick maybe likes the taste of the Anna apple, it is a little bit tart but crispy. When younger I would go for that kind of flavors, you can eat it as a fresh apple for sure. And that one tree it was the only apple that I had and like I said it was very productive! I did ask at the nursery where I bought that question because I only wanted to plant one of each category of fruit. And I agree with you, growing in the cooler months it is more efficient for the veggies and us, it is getting hot and it seems that the plants are always thirsty,:) As long as you keep the sweet potatoes alive when young they will make it and won't need water as often later on, they will grow even in the cooler months and as long as you save some potatoes, you will never have to buy a sweet potato again. When I saved the black jungle butterbeans they were the only ones that I was growing because after the season is out with the pole beans, I plant the butterbeans, the original owner of the beans Harry said the same thing, I really don't know if they will cross or not. A lot of the papayas that are grown these days are hybrids and they are very easy to cross pollinate if another one is growing nearby, that is one reason that I don't save any papaya seeds, I rather buy the seeds and be sure of the variety that I am growing. I bought a new variety of sweet potato and a dwarf papaya at Echo, if I like them I will grow them again. And I have new winter squash coming up one is blue kuri and the other is red kuri, the big pumpkin is almost ready, it is huge! Blue kuri winter squash I will be planting okra, black jungle butterbeans, maybe the red noodle yard long beans if I have space, soon I am going to get hit with the tomato season. The hearts that I am growing have been ripening now and they are good! And every day I am looking to give away beans, cucumber, summer squash and peppers, my small garden produces more than we can eat. And Nick will love the sword bean, he can show his friends, just remember they can only be eaten when not mature before they developed beans, it is a fun vine to grow! My vine where I have cucumbers, peppers and eggplants is getting huge and flowering some very pretty flowers, it is a perennial, but I don't know if I will keep it, it will be good once the cucumbers are done. Silvia

In our restaurant we cooked 50 pounds a day, the vast majority for potato salad. I would heep them high in a BIG pot that had a strainer insert almost the same size (about three inches between the bottom of the strainer to the bottom of the pot). That left enough room for about 20 pounds of washed but not peeled russetts. I'd heap them high and cover the top with foil. I don't remember the timing now but it seems to have been between 20 and 40 minutes. I played hot potato hand laying them in a single layer on a couple full size sheet pans to cool a little. It had to be hand done as pouring them out would damage them. The reason I didn't peel first is because of how fast one can peel a hot potato- 3 or 4 times faster than raw. Towel over one hand holding the potato, using a serrated staeak knife, it's amazing how fast a person can peel a big batch of spuds. The crucial point was to let them cool completely (cold) before dicing them, to keep shape without crumbling. The final step was using a hand held dicer(a metal frame with tennis racket style wire weaving.) This technique works great for the huge batches, and a couple generations of customers kept coming back for more. michaelp

Here's one from bon appetit, that I haven't tried yet. PORCINI-GORGONZOLA BURGERS WITH VEAL DEMI-GLACE (not my pic) A true demi-glace the luscious sauce made by reducing homemade stock and red wine to a rich concentration needs to simmer for several hours, making it the perfect activity for a lazy winter Sunday. Demi-glace 3 tablespoons vegetable oil 3 1/2 pounds meaty veal bones (such as shank knuckle bones or neck bones) 1 medium onion, chopped 1 medium carrot, chopped 1 celery stalk with leaves, chopped 12 cups cold water, divided 2 teaspoons tomato paste 3 fresh parsley sprigs 2 fresh thyme sprigs 1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns 2 cups dry red wine Burgers 2 cups water 1 1/2 ounces dried porcini mushrooms,* broken into 1/2-inch pieces 3 pounds ground sirloin 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter 6 4-inch square or round sourdough rolls, halved horizontally Fresh arugula Olive oil 6 1/4-inch-thick slices Gorgonzola cheese For demi-glace: Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add veal bones and sauté until deep brown on all sides, about 12 minutes. Transfer bones to bowl. Add onion, carrot, and celery to pot. Sauté until browned, about 6 minutes. Add 2 cups cold water, tomato paste, herbs, and peppercorns; bring to boil, scraping up browned bits. Add bones with any accumulated juices, then remaining 10 cups water to pot. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered until stock is reduced to 2 1/2 cups, about 4 hours. Strain into 4-cup glass measuring cup, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Refrigerate stock uncovered 1 hour. Spoon off fat from surface of stock. Place stock in heavy medium saucepan; add wine and simmer until reduced to 1 cup demi-glace, about 25 minutes. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and chill.) For burgers: Bring 2 cups water and mushrooms to boil in small saucepan. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand until mushrooms soften, about 20 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer mushrooms to medium skillet. Slowly pour soaking liquid into skillet, leaving any sediment behind. Boil over medium-high heat until liquid is reduced to glaze, stirring occasionally, about 6 minutes. Cool mushrooms. Transfer to work surface; chop mushrooms coarsely. Transfer mushrooms and any juices to large bowl. Add meat, salt, and pepper; mix gently. Shape mixture into six 1-inch-thick patties. Place on foil-lined baking sheet. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.) Preheat broiler. Rewarm demi-glace over medium-low heat; add butter and whisk until melted. Remove from heat. Place rolls, cut side up, on baking sheet. Broil until lightly toasted, about 2 minutes. Remove rolls; maintain broiler setting. Arrange roll bottoms on plates. Top with arugula. Heat 2 large broilerproof skillets over medium-high heat; brush with oil. Add 3 burgers to each skillet. Cook to desired doneness, about 5 minutes per side for medium-rare. Top each burger with slice of cheese. Broil burgers until cheese begins to melt, about 1 minute. Place burgers on roll bottoms; spoon some demi-glace over. Cover with roll tops. Serve, passing remaining demi-glace separately. *Dried porcini mushrooms are available at Italian markets, specialty foods stores, and many supermarkets. Makes 6 servings. Bon Appétit January 2004 Great ideas at this site, too, - I will possibly make 2 kinds - one for kids one for grownups.