Dan those sound great, let us know how they turn out and post some pics through out the prep process if possible. I'm a slow learner and pictures really help me grasp things lol ;) Sal

Well- I use rectangles of wax paper folded in half with the back a little longer than the front. I then fold back each side to the back, close to the edge, and fold the side again. I try to keep all folds as sharp as possible as that adds to the strength of the envelope. It is now ready to be filled- if you apply a little pressure to the sides- it should pop open to fill easily- or to be used as a scoop. When it is filled- fold the back "flap" twords you- over the top- and then fold close to the edge again- Now you can use the Sharpie to write on the envelope! This is a very affordable- yet time consuming way for me to process seeds to share and store. Hey there Rick- If the defination of cold stratification specificly mentions a planting medium with-in a seperate container- than you are correct that keeping moist seeds in breathable wax paper envelopes does not qualify to be called "cold stratification" but believe me- it works the same way- even better in my book! The wax paper holds moisture in it's fibers- they open slightly and become softand act like sterile medium around the seeds- the air exchange between the fibers is self evident as the envelopes must be "watered" occasoinaly and monitered for dryness- the seeds swell and will germinate too, even in the fridge, if one is not observent. The benifits of this cold strat is yes, you can see what is happening, when the seed is swelling and ready to plant in the medium and put under lights- 2) A very reduced chance of molds or fungus or what ever- espicially if you use well cleaned seed- 3) They take up so little space in the fridge! 4) Germination rates are noticeably higher- at least in my experience of side by side seed starting medium filled pots and wax paper envelope- of monkshood- and anemone sylvestris. If you still need to add medium to your envelopes while chilling - go right ahead- I recieved a few seeds in mid strat from other seed swappers in mini plastic ziplocks with the tiniest amount of vermiculite in them - which I opened and kept cold for another 4 weeks- I may have the correct word or defination wrong- but this is a great improvement for the cold, moist pre-treatment needed by some seeds than pots o dirt in my fridge- in my book- Julie

I have usually made toffee (recipe below), but when I had pecans from my family in Texas, I would make chocolate turtles, using a Madeleine mold, but they were very labor intensive. Toffee 1 2/3 c raw almonds, (7.5 oz) 1 c unsalted butter 1 1/2 c sugar 3 Tbs. light corn syrup 3 Tbs. Water 12 oz. bittersweet chocolate Place almonds on a cookie sheet and toast in 350ð oven for about 15 minutes, stirring every five minutes. Chop the almonds, and then sort out the larger pieces into a one-cup measuring cup. Save the finer pieces in two 1/3 cup measuring cups. Combine butter, sugar, corn syrup and water in a medium-size heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, to 300ðF on candy thermometer. This may take a while if the room is extremely humid. In a dry kitchen, it may take only 15-20 minutes. (A teaspoonful of syrup will separate into brittle threads when dropped in cold water; the color of the mixture will be like peanut butter or caramel at this point.) Remove from heat, and stir in the cup of coarser almond pieces. Pour into a buttered 13x9x2" pan, spreading quickly and evenly - you can shake and tilt the pan to distribute the mixture. Cool the mixture, but not until brittle. Turn out onto waxed paper, and return to the pan with the waxed paper underneath. Melt chocolate in the top of a double boiler over hot water; remove from heat. Spread half the melted chocolate over top of candy; sprinkle with 1/3 cup nuts; allow to cool for about 20 minutes, or until chocolate has set. Turn candy over and spread with remaining chocolate and sprinkle with remaining nuts. Let stand until set in refrigerator or freezer. Break into pieces. Makes l-1/2 pounds. *Note: you can use a somewhat larger pan or combination of pans instead of the 13x9â if you want the candy to be thinner, but you may need more chocolate and nuts for topping. **Make sure you do not add any salt to this or use salted nuts, or else it will taste like peanut brittle. Almonds are traditional, but you can substitute hazelnuts or Brazil nuts and get similar results. Lars

After going 'au naturel' (as cookncarpenter puts it) since our counters were installed 5 years ago, I for some unknown reason decided to oil/wax our counters a few months ago. I had some mineral oil and I had a paste that was for our butcher block and was a combination of beeswax and mineral oil, and I used both on different parts. Then I decided to make my own and used about 50% of each, but I didn't find that to be very successful in that it solidified rapidly (after melting the wax and mixing the 2) and was hard to apply. So if anyone has a successful recipe, let us know. There have been a few threads about this on GW, including a great one in which Florida Joshua did a test trial of a few different things to see which lasted the longest, but the pics he included are gone. Here's the link to that post: What keeps soapstone darker the longest