Woo hoo! My chock-full package of wonderful seeds arrived today, and what a fab lot they are (mostly veggies, too)! -Beans- Kentucky Wonder Appaloosa Pinto -Peppers- Siling-Labuyo (hot) Red Peter (hot) Tepin (hot) Balloon (hot) Pimiento Habanero (hot) Purple Beauty Bell -Tomatoes- Black Mountain Pink White Beauty Snowball Big Rainbow Pink Caspian Mortgage Lifter IXL Bolgiano's Extremely Early -Squash- Acorn Waltham Butternut Zucchino Rampicante (a.k.a. Tromboncino) White Bush Scallop Patty Pan -Other Veggies- Rhubarb Thai Basil Leek - "Lancelot" Parsley - Dark Green Italian Parsley - Italian (commercial) Long Purple Japanese Egg Plant Dill - "Grandma Einck's" -Non-Veggies- Blue Potato Vine Burgundy Sweet William Maltese Cross Hopi Red Dye Amaranthus Amaranth - "Golden Giant" Great fun stuff! Thank you, Ann, so much for hosting this! And thank you, everyone, for being so very generous!!

I'm late for your party, but when I have hamburger and want a hurry-up dinner, I'll fall back on hamburger french dips. Lightly butter and warm the rolls while cooking the patties, shape them depending on the size of your chosen bread. Packaged au jus mixed with water and simmered a few minutes while the hamburger cooks... If you serve with steak style fries, bet those teenage boys will be dipping the fries in the au jus too :)

The trip was great! DH& I hadn't been on a week-long vacation in 10 years. It was indeed very cool in SF. I was prepared with plenty of warm clothes but was still surprised at how cool it was. I think I took off my coat once. We didn't get as much sight-seeing done on the trip as I'd hoped. DH is a more relaxed vacationer than me. I like to get up early & see as many sights as as possible; he prefers a more laid-back schedule. We enjoyed Chinatown and Pier 39, but I'm sure most everyone who goes to SF goes to both of those. The Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory was quite interesting. We like jazz, so we very much enjoyed Les Joulins Jazz Bistro. After leaving SF, we stayed at the Gaige House in Glen Ellen. We were in one of their Zen Suites, which was just beautiful. We would definitely stay there again. The Sonoma Wine Trolley was very nice (they have one in Napa too). We went to four wineries and had a lovely catered lunch on the grounds of Buena Vista Winery. Each winery gave us a short tour and tasting. I highly recommend the blending class at Ravenswood. They teach you about what different wines do to a blend and then you get to make your own and they bottle it for you. If you're a Peanuts fan, the Charles M. Schultz Museum is nice. The Petrified Forest was quite interesting as well. This post was edited by kittiemom on Thu, Jul 4, 13 at 14:38

For what it’s worth, there’s a University Extension program that explains “a few .. tests are useful for back-yard composters [that] helps composters understand the many criteria involved in assessing ((( compost maturity ))) from pH to microbial activity to temperature.” I understand that what we are discussing in this article is different. However, understanding the properties of gel-pack contents and their impacts on plants can probably be tested in a similar manner. We many not be able to *directly* find out the properties of the gels, but we can *directly* observe the impacts that its (hidden) properties have on plant growth and germination. If you’re interested follow this link: http://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/sarasota/natural-resources/waste-reduction/composting/what-is-composting/when-is-compost-ready/compost-maturity-test/ or type something like this into google: Compost Maturity Tests plant growth and germination Incase the article ‘disappears’ (dreaded 404 code!!) I’ll do my best to give a rundown of the type of procedure that can be used: PLANT GERMINATION TEST Performing the Test Put 1/4 cup of ((( the test agent eg: gel )) in the paper cup Add the 1/2-cup of clean water (( perhaps consider using bottled water )) Mix After two hours, filter the mix through cheese cloth and collect the liquid (called filtrate) Prepare six glasses by putting a piece of tissue or paper towel at the bottom of the glass and adding five seeds to each glass (( consider using radish seeds if you can easily get them as they germinate quickly )) Place about 20 drops of clean water on the paper in each of three glasses (this will be your control, to see if there is a problem with your seeds or your testing agent), seal the glasses with aluminum foil and tape, and then label the dishes "control"; Place about 20 drops of testing agent filtrate on the paper in each of the other three glasses, seal the glasses with aluminum foil and tape, and then label the dishes “gel filtrate“ and Keep the glasses in a dark place at room temperature (around 80 degrees F, or 27 degrees C), and then observe and record germination after 24, 48, and 72 hours using. PLANT GROWTH TEST This test helps to see if the test agent provides nutrients to plants or, potentially, robs nutrients from plants or even ‘poisons’ them. To complete this test, you will need the containers and seedlings started in the ‘plant germination’ test. Note: these seedlings will be y days old. Performing the Test . Trim samples to leave just three seedlings per container . pot seedlings up in a straight gel mix or a potting medium + gel mix … ensure all mix amounts are measured to ensure each mix is the same . Irrigate regularly to keep containers moist (( using a spray bottle allows a roughly controlled amount .. eg 3 full sprays each ))) . You may fertilize once, if you want, but fertilize no more than half each of the compost and control containers, taking care to add the same amount of fertilizer to each container (( perhaps add liquid fertiliser to watering spray bottle)); . After 21 days, harvest the crop from each container, wash the roots to remove gel / gel + potting medium mix, weigh the sample, and record the data from each container separately; . Calculate the average weight per plant for the fertilized versus the unfertilized plants in each media type; and . Arrange/rearrange your containers to set up a new random pattern of control and compost containers, and repeat this step every seven days. Hopes this is of use to someone out there! Best of luck, and remember: SHARING (your results if you do these tests) is CARING!! ; )