This is a great thread! There are so many considerations for us summer out/winter indoors people. In the summer I have cattleyas, dendrobiums, oncidiums, and bulbophyllums out on a porch, with direct sun in the morning and late afternoon, and shade overhead at midday. This year I put out paphs too, on the bottom shelf where they had more shade. Everything does very well and adds a lot of growth. In the winter, they all move to a sunroom facing west but with a south exposure too. Life for my orchids improved immensely when I added Wonderlites (in the west and south windows) and big humidity trays to this set up, and it cost very little. Most winter days it is about 60% humidity, high of 80 F and low 55F. I have a tiny space heater to boost heat on really cold nights. My electric bill is just $25-30 a month. It helps that this room can be closed off to retain the humidity. I have the catts in clay pots and water about once a week. I think the humidity helps them cope with drying out completely. Another factor I think is that I choose catts that aren't seasonal bloomers but bloom at various times of the year. Originally I chose them just because I wanted to get more blooms, but I also figure they have a built-in urge to keep growing and not go dormant when the light and heat wane. They make lots of leads and lots of blooms during winter. My only basket plants are brassavolas that I water every other day. Calvin, I think your plan to cut back on water and fert until you see signs of growth is exactly the way to go. Generally I think it's important to observe the plants really closely and follow their lead. By the way I suffered from tinted windows for a month or two before I realized what was going on, but mine came with a little label that warned against using ammonia or detergent to clean them. The anti-UV tint was just a surface film that was gone with a few vigorous washings. By the way, I also remove the screens in winter as they cut down on the light. Good luck and keep experimenting! Margo

Newer version of Annie's Salsa - BWB only Annie's Salsa 8 cups tomatoes, peeled, chopped and drained 2 1/2 cups chopped onion 1 1/2 cups chopped green pepper 3 to 5 chopped jalapenos (for milder leave out seeds and ribs) 6 cloves minced garlic 2 tsp cumin (optional) 2 tsp pepper 1/8 cup canning salt 1/4 c fresh cilantro (optional) 1/3 c sugar (optional) 1 cup cider vinegar (see note on subbing lemon or lime juice option) 16 oz canned tomato sauce (to adjust density) 8-16 oz canned tomato paste (to adjust density) Mix all ingredients, bring to a boil, boil 10 minutes. Pour into hot jars, process pints for 15 minutes in BWB. Makes 6 pints. _________ A lot of changes have been made to this recipe over the years. Some people like lemon or lime juice in place of some or all of the vinegar, that's fine. (Note from Sheila - I like half lemon half lime.) Some people leave out the cilantro, that's fine too. Do not increase! Some people add more hot peppers or fewer onions, fine as long as you keep the same total measurements. (Note this is what NCHFP does in their new Choice Salsa recipe.) Some people leave out the sugar, that's fine. You can scoop out the goo in the middle of the tomatoes with your thumbs when I'm peeling and chopping for a less seedy version, so it's 8 cups of chopped tomatoes without the seeds and goo. Most who make it regularly as well as Annie recommend using a variety of different slicing tomatoes, not paste types, for best flavor and consistency. (Note: use the tomato sauce and paste to adjust the consistency of the final product to a "sloshy" consistency.) According to Annie "My salsa is not as thick as Heinz catsup but it's thicker than taco sauce. If you don't like it quite as thick or sweet, cut down the amount of paste. I would add some, then taste. Reducing that ingredient shouldn't affect the safety of the recipe. I use equal amounts of sauce and paste. You can pull it off the heat at any point and adjust for flavor. Before I cook it I check for salt, sugar, check the consistency. Add more pepper or cumin if I want. When I first started making this salsa, tomato sauce and paste came in 8 and 16 ounce cans. Like everything else, they've now been downsized, so now I have to use partial cans." Does anybody have good versions of the other recipes that have weird symbols in them for measurements?

I sent in the "Santorini of Greece" tomato to the swap. After flooding, extremely high humidity, heat, etc. last summer, the Santorini was one of a handful of plants (out of 40+ varieties) that never showed a hint of disease and when everything else stopped producing during the worst of the heat, it continued to pump out tons of fruit. It definitely was the workhorse in my garden and will certainly be considered for another spot in the garden this season. The fruit is ribbed, probably around 4-6 oz. and was meaty like a paste but much more flavorful than most paste tomatoes I've tasted.

One of my doctor friends says a calorie is a calorie. You can eat 2 500 calorie candy bars and call it your calorie intake for the day or you can eat 1000 calories of lettuce. In his opinion, you should have the same result. I do think portion has a lot to do with it, I think carbs play a factor but the most important carbs that we should watch is the refined sugar carbs IMO. And the closer to natural that you can get food (and then you cook it yourself) the better it is for you. So much food which we really don't considered processed food has added sugar which is added carbs. And I don't think artificial sweeteners are any better than real sugar -- in fact if I want something sweet, I would prefer the real deal. We're dieting now -- sort of semi low carb. We're making good progress and are better with our food choices. Feathers -- I've never went with all those "mini meals" -- to be it's just meals and snacks and if you want to maintain your weight when you're off the diet you have reprogrammed yourself to eat 3 more times a day so after diet, it becomes a morning donut and an afternoon candy bar. IMO, learning to eat 3 meals a day that leaves your full and satisfied is the best thing you can do.