I forgot to ask...What was the name of the second place winner? Now bear in mind that there are numerous divisions and classes...like about 200 of them. A bloom in a particular class might have no competition, or there might be numerous entries in it. At any rate, regardless of how many entries there are, the First Place is only awarded if the bloom earns it, otherwise it might get a second or third, or honorable mention, or nothing. The other bloom that won a second place was in Division 13, Species and Wild Variants. The bloom was poeticus, var poeticus. I'm not sure what was supposed to be capitalized there. It is past its prime, but I just picked one for this pic. Sue

I just happened to wander in here becuase I noticed it was a new topic. If you want to know how to maintain the interest of volenteers, I would suggest that you ask the ones that leave. Our local MG program has about a 70% 5-year drop-out rate. It gets higher after that. I am a drop-out. The 1st year I was gung ho and wanted to really help out the community. When news came of a farmers market project, I volenteered right away. After a few meetings it became abundantly clear that the 2 women who started out the project were primarily interested in using the market to advance their own private businesses. They were bossy, rigid and over-bearing. Ideas and concerns that came from anybody outside thier little clique were beneath consideration. I stuck with it, helped get the market going and left the project. I figured that smaller projects were better suited to my personality, but those were few, far between and mostly just make-work. My suggestions to help hospice patients maintain their gardens was not considered a benifit to the community. My idea to landscape the new humane society animal shelter was.....but the humane society would not let us do it unless we paid the fee to join the society. Then there was the continued education problem. Out here in the boonies, not many classes are offered. That cut it. It just doesn't make sense to pay $50-$600 for a seminar, plus transportation, hotel, food, etc. in exchange for the priveledge to volenteer my time. Currently I volenteer an average of 15 hours a week between our school district and hospice (both in the garden and personal care), don't have to pay to do it, don't have to pay for the hospice training and don't have to keep my mouth shut when somebody asks me a gardening question and I disagree with the extension opinion on how to deal with a problem. That's my take on it. Kay.

Hi raelyn! Chiming in a little late here, but your question really hit home for me! I didn't have dd till I was 41 and till then dh and and I just used the house pretty much as a closet - working all hours, little entertaining. Then when dd was about three I realized what a pig sty the house was. I read all the books in the library on cleaning, but the one that worked for me was the flylady system - the book is called "Side Tracked Home Executives" and recommends using a card system to keep track of your cleaning chores. Since I started using the system, I: Put away all my clothes immediately (shoes too) and have got dh and dd to do this (dd with help.) Make the beds first thing every morning. Keep the public rooms (entry, dining, living rooms) clutter free. Have all the dishes done and counters cleared and wiped before going to bed. Keep the bathroom clean and tidy. Vacuum the house at least twice a week. Doesn't sound like much, but just doing these things has made a HUGE difference. There are things I still get stuck on - I hate cleaning the refrigerator, and keeping the toys in order is a never ending battle, though dd is becoming more and more helpful with that. I'm shooting for "presentable" rather than "spotless" and it's working, without giving me a nervous breakdown. Having a system really helps to clarify what needs to be done. I don't worry about the dog hair on the sofa if it is not vacuuming day; I let the laundry pile up until wash day (and encourage everyone to wear things at least twice. It's not like we're coal miners here.) I have also made changes in the furniture to help keep the house clean. For example, I put a big dresser in the entry for gloves, hats, sunblock, gardening things, etc. I put an armoire in the dining room to keep dd's art supplies handy but easy to put out of sight. I put a lot of knick-knacks into storage (a couple of boxes in the laundry room) so I can keep the bookshelves, piano etc. dusted without it being a major job. I have carted MANY boxes of clothes down to the Salvation Army - it's a lot easier to put things away when you don't have to cram them into overflowing dressers and closets. Labeling bins for toys, getting boxes for photos - basically, finding or creating a place for everything and trying to keep it there! So I guess there are really two parts - organizing your home so it is lower maintenance, and then setting up a schedule for maintaining it. To me these two evolved together. I also have a sister who could give Martha Stewart a run for her money in housekeeping - thank goodness she doesn't live across the street! I bet your sister has some good advice on housecleaning though, if it is not too hard to ask her. People who are naturally tidy often love to come to other people's houses and help out - it might turn out to be a real boon! My sister would like nothing more than to organize all my photos and put them in albums for me :-) I have a small dog but still the shedding is a nuisance - see the link below for Shed-stop. I am not recommending the store, just the product. It really helps reduce shedding - my brother has started using it on his two German Shephards and says he can't believe the difference. BTW, I have also created a card system for dd (6) and she makes her bed and puts her clothes in the hamper, helps clear the table. If your kids aren't doing their share, this might work...at least for the 10 year old. I don't recall being super cooperative when I was 15 :-) but it is worth a try. Good luck! ps - one more thing - dh and I now take turns (weekly) doing the dishes. This has worked out really well (though he does say we always use more dishes during HIS week.) Here is a link that might be useful: Shed-stop

Vaporvac: Thank you !! I post info. here to help myself & family toward better health. The kelp & iodine info. posted in Feb 2017 helped me to get down to 118 lb. in August 2017. I always snack 2 hours before bedtime, and keep a diary of what's eaten before bedtime and the quality of sleep. I notice that when I had Multigrain Cheerios before bedtime, my sleep quality was poor (zero dreams), plus icky chemical-acrid-after-taste. Then I bought gluten-free FREEDOM ancient grains (rice & corn & sorghum & buckwheat) imported from Australia .. and was surprised how improved my sleep was (with vivid dreams). Glyphosate is known to kill beneficial bacteria in the gut. Other effects are cancer, kidney and liver damage, endocrine/hormonal disruption, autism and depression. https://www.ecowatch.com/monsanto-glyphosate-cheerios-2093130379.html The tests conducted by Anresco were done on 29 foods commonly found on grocery store shelves. According to the report, glyphosate residues were found in: General Mills' Cheerios at 1,125.3 parts per billion (ppb) Kashi soft-baked oatmeal dark chocolate cookies at 275.57 ppb Ritz Crackers at 270.24 ppb Concerns about glyphosate comes as new research shows that Roundup can cause liver and kidney damage in rats at only 0.05 ppb, and additional studies have found that levels as low as 10 ppb can have toxic effects on the livers of fish. The U.S. has set the ADI for glyphosate at 1.75 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight per day (mg/kg/bw/day) while the European Union has set it at 0.3. https://detoxproject.org/alarming-levels-of-glyphosate-contamination-found-in-popular-american-foods/ On the heels of the growing controversy surrounding glyphosate’s safety, this unique testing project that started in 2015, has found alarming levels of glyphosate in General Mills’ Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Raisin Bran and Frosted Flakes and PepsiCo’s Doritos Cool Ranch, Ritz Crackers and Stacy’s Simply Naked Pita Chips. https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.fooddemocracynow.org/images/FDN_Glyphosate_FoodTesting_Report_p2016.pdf Glyphosate Food Testing Results: (in parts per billion – ppb) General Mills Original Cheerios - 1,125.3 ppb Honey Nut Cheerios – 670.2 ppb – 14.5 Wheaties – 31.2 ppb Trix - 9.9 ppb Gluten Free Bunny Cookies Cocoa & Vanilla – 55.13* ppb Kellogg’s Corn Flakes – 78.9 ppb Raisin Bran – 82.9 ppb Organic Promise - 24.9 ppb Special K - 74.6 ppb Frosted Flakes - 72.8 ppb Cheez-It (Original) – 24.6 ppb Cheez-It (Whole Grain) – 36.25* ppb Soft-Baked Cookies, Oatmeal Dark Chocolate – 275.58* ppb Nabisco Ritz Crackers – 270.24 ppb Triscuit – 89.68 ppb Oreo Original – 289.47* ppb https://www.bestfoodfacts.org/glyphosate-in-food/