Last Christmas, having little disposable income (now, there's a surprise....sigh) we invited the neighbors in the two closest houses to "Soup Night", every Wednesday in January and February. The basic premise was that I would make a huge pot of soup, and I would provide bowls and utensils. Anyone could come, anyone could bring a guest, no one had to rsvp or anything. You could come emptyhanded if you were having a rough week or you could bring a salad, a dessert, bread, or a bottle of wine. But no one needed to plan what they would bring ahead of time. Some weeks we had just the core of eight people, and some weeks we had over 30. I think nearly eighty different people were here at least one of the weeks. We met people who lived nearby who know our neighbors well, but whom we'd only waved to in passing. We introduced out-of-town friends who were passing through to everyone, and our grown kids, who decided this was extremely cool, brought their friends and co-workers home from other parts of the state. Some weeks we had a good balance of food; some weeks we had five desserts and no salad, and one memorable week we had six bottles of wine, one loaf of bread, and the soup. A neighbor on a fixed income brought one apple each of fourteen varieties, and we had a sampling session for dessert one night. No one ever left hungry, and everyone stayed, every week, until the 10 pm deadline we'd agreed on earlier. As a result of our Soup Nights, we've pooled resources to rent equipment, swapped odds and ends that have accumulated on our properties, traded stories about experiences with local servicepeople and vendors, introduced each other to new people, heard local history from old-time residents, swapped services, helped each other out. We shared recipes and celebrated my son's engagement together and mourned the loss of a neighbor's beloved dog. We listened to bluegrass one week, classical the next, jazz the next. We commiserated over the high cost of, well, everything, and shared worries about the war. I really only started it because it was winter, I was bored and lonely, and I wanted to do something interesting for Christmas for our neighbors. But the end results were just incredible. People stop me in the hardware store and ask if we're doing it again next year (we are) and could they come some night. I didn't, initially, think of it as a hard-times sort of thing - but it is. Not only did that pot of soup stretch incredibly far, we forged a sense of community that had previously been lacking. We all miss it, but agreed that January and February was the perfect time for it, and we're looking forward to Soup Nights next year. katie

Glad you've joined us, gayled, welcome to the NE forum! My DH and I are retired. We work together in the gardens... our spring techniques are pretty simple. 1. Clean up dead leaves and foliage and weed underneath plants... but not as early as we'd like this year. Probably not until April .... if we get more snow this week. 2. One of our earliest tasks every spring.... amend the soil. I think that's the best thing you can do for the gardens. We get free compost from our town.... dig it and take it. We've done this for the last eight years and it's really helped improve the gardens. While it's not exactly "organic" because the compost is made from garden waste that people bag and the city picks up, "free" makes it worthwhile. 3. We like to use bark mulch and I use cocoa mulch in a few special areas, but this has gotten expensive as our gardens have grown. We've found that the compost works like mulch by breaking down over the season. So we mulch every other year. 3. Fertilize? No, not even our roses. I think good soil is better than chemical applications. I learned about composting from my mother who was a wonderful gardener. Mom collected coffee grounds in one container (for her Mt. Laurels and rhododendrons) and egg shells & other wastes that she'd spread around her flower beds. Over 40 years of this gave her a yard with deep, dark soil and lots of worms. 4. My DH put in an irrigation system several years ago and he checks this early in the spring. We have a long yard with gardens down one side and around a garden shed. The days of dragging the hose around are gone for us. Molie

Use some now without removing the bulblets. I am thinking that Steve's heat issue is his rocky ground and location. Plus he might be thinking they are more like green onions and they are more like mature globe, no matter when you harvest. ANY part that grows above the ground is subject to regrowth. So be very careful what you through in the compost pile or along the garage. You will have walking onions in places you did not intend. For pickled cocktail onions I used the following recipe. It is for refrigerator style, but there are recipes on the net for water bath style. Use only the bulblets, they are more tender and small The globe parts are the onions I use to make my dill pickles. We make them by the gallon and everything is homegrown except salt and vinegar. Dill Pickles 6 c. water 2 c. vinegar 1/2 c. canning salt hand full walking onions, large ones split in half large bunch of fresh dill 2-4 garlic cloves, pealed Bring water, vinegar, salt to a boil. Layer washed cucumbers, onions, garlic and dill in 1 gallon jar. Pour hot solution into jar, completely covering cucumbers. Place lid on jar and let set on counter for 3-4 hours. Refrigerate until use, ready to eat in 2-4 days. Terry has a small frig in his tack room and 4 jars fit. We still have one jar left from last year and the pickles are still really pretty good. Here is a link that might be useful: Cocktail Onions

I'm actually doing it today. Watching football with my grand daughter who came home from college and is staying with us for the holiday. She is so special. I don't love the football part but she wanted to watch it. She is in the guard troop and had the weekend off. She introduced us 2 of her room mates on face time. We had dinner out at our favorite Mexican restaurant this evening. Wonder what we will do tomorrow? I'm sure it will be a fun time.