gottahosta~Hope you liked your SS package, sorry no brugs this year but hopefully I will have some to share next year.Wow I could not belive Almond Joys were your favorite too. LOL Hope the seeds and plants bring you much joy to your home and garden;0) Lucy~You know my seed packaging don't ya LOL :0)By the way your castor bean seedling you sent me for Halloween is growing just fine in his new home in the backyard garden. Kylie & SJN send me an email on the ric rac I have 2 others cuttings I can spare for you. Rigo

Thanks Vagas and Tclynx. I had the cocoons in a plastic bag w/o air or food. Just worm doo and cocoons which aren't that recognizable to me yet. I could not imagine leaving them in the plastic bag vagas, so I prepared a bed of peat moss/a couple cups of cornmeal/ and a couple cups of wellllll rotted bagged cow manure that has been laying out in the weather for about 3 years/and a few handfuls of small shredded paper to break up all that dirt looking stuff. Well Mixed and damp. I poured the plastic bag of worm cocoons out onto this mixture in the bin and covered it with a layer of dry shredded paper. I did put some drain holes in the bottom, and I did put another container w/o holes under that to capture any liquid excess or baby worms that might fall through and of course the brick to keep the upper plastic container from falling down below the air holes. And I did put a soaked piece of cardboard box down in my bin to cover the holes for the babies to lay on,first thing. I did that about 3 days ago with the cocoons and I don't see any babies yet, but since I am still afraid I will damage them if I put my hands down in the mixture to look, that doesn't mean they aren't there, I'm sure. In the meantime, I am down to opening and looking at the worms only about 3 times a day and that IS a struggle for me. I put the 3 containers together like Vaga said. The worms are awfully skinny and aren't moving too fast just yet. It has been only about a week and a half since I put them(1000) in there and NOW I can see that they are eating the bedding up and pretty quickly. So, Friday, I set the second prepared container that makes the tiered bin on top of that W/Oa brick (The worms around outside are all laying under heavy stuff so I figured the small weight of the container could be helpful) and I put about 1/2 lb or less of kitchen scraps and coffee grounds and of course shredded paper in it in case they wanted more to eat. They really are skinny. I have never seen such skinny little worms. I am sure they must grow (red wigglers)bigger. Anyway, Today when I looked at them, I DID find that they are migrating up into the food...or at least about 20 of them have so far. Out of fear that they would attempt to escape and inadvertantly commit suicide, I placed the whole 3 layer bin in a large black garbage bag leaving it open and loose in case they try to explore outside the box while I am gone. That way, I won't find them dried up on the floor or step on them. Once I saw that they weren't trying to get away, I took the bin out of the bag. Not one fatality due to escape...not one worm in the bag either. =o) So, I am learning not to sit and prowl through their bedding to see what they are doing.....all the time. Just nervous about them I guess. Trial and error is the way of life, I suppose. I will either get more worms, or they will not do well for me. Thanks so much for your input. It helps to know that you guys are out there willing to share the information with me. =o)

After the curds, I was expecting some whey - I thought it was a Miss Muffet theme. Love Cutco knives. I have a couple of them that my sister gave me one year, and I ended up using them a lot more than I had expected. You should get lots of use out of it! The quiche looks lovely, especially in the red pan. Too bad it's off limits for me, or else I would love it. Nice to see that you made quick use of your curds. Lars

Robin, I am so sorry about your Dad and Julian, hope they are both better. Sounds like you have not had a very good day. When I tore into my package the first thing I saw was the colander, it is beautiful and will sit on my counter until needed and I will use it. You couldn't know how many times I have thought about ordering the ramekins, those are just perfect gifts for me! I love the microplane, just makes the one I bought look like, well what it is, a hand held grater. You know how much I will use the ladle, I am really excited about it, how handy and canning season is getting close! I said I would let DH claim the strawberry jam, well it is already almost gone, it is so good. I don't make strawberry jam, strawberries don't grow to well here. Vermont Maple grade B syrup, if you haven't tried it then you don't know what you are missing. I don't think I have ever tasted anything like it. I thought I had bought Vermont maple syrup, but it didn't taste anything like this. It is wonderful, I think I could drink it out of the can. Thank you again, Robin!