Luther Burbank was VERY UPSET when the man who bought rights to his plant introduced them as "Wonderberries". He thought that greatly overstated it, and he wanted to call them "SunBerries", which is the name Seed Savers Exchange uses when selling their seeds. My Arkansas-born neighbor ( a sharecropper's daughter who has lived a life of extreme poverty) spit them out on first tasting, then asked to taste them again a week later, and said, "I know we would have ate them as kids, cuz we were just so hungry for anything to eat.." When my mother made cooked fruit dishes with them, she added a bit of lemon juice & grated peel to them as well. This really does wonders for their rather flat taste. Also dead ripe tastes a bit sweeter, but not quite ripe is awful! The biggest problem is you'll be picking 15 minutes to get a half a cup cuz the berries are so small and they ripen progressively on the cluster. So far the deer haven't touched them, but this is no guarantee they never will. I would expect more problems from woodchucks. Solanums as a group ain't deer favorites.. they eat pepper plants for me sometimes, but not eggplants, potatoes, tomatoes, and I haven't noticed brouse on wild solanums,which here are mostly thorny. I lost a lot of the plant growth to tomato hornworms and blister bugs early in summer.... which was what told me to go check the tomatoes better... yep, insects just arriving on them, too. If you live in a warm and wet climate where they will grow big, you might try planting outside the fence but letting the plants kinda grow up and thru the fence for support. That would help with their tendency to get so big they rip apart from their own weight. Just remember that what's outside the fence but next to it is sharing root space (and food/water requirements) with the plants inside the fence, and if they get several feet tall they could become a shade problem, too. A lot of my berries are now disappearing... ain't sure if it is wild birds or my neighbor's free-roaming guineas, but I ain't too concerned either way.... both are welcome to whatever they want cuz they give me back so much in bug control.

Thank you everybody for sharing my excitement!!! This is just crazy...and bestlawn, I love your idea, how thoughtful is that? Another shock for her system~ I love it!!! Just a little background on my family. Our parents both died within several years of each other, in 1987-1990. I think the three of us were so devestated, that we all just kept on with our lives. Nobody really spoke about it. There are three of us. I am the middle kid.We live in three different states. Oregon, Washington, and me in Texas. I noticed that my brother and sister just were not talking, and had not for years. Some stupid personal tiff that neither wanted to back down on. Something stupid from the 70's. Ok, so here it is guys....mom and dad are dead, are we really going to not talk to each other for the rest of our lives? I am not going to let this happen. My lifes goal, if I did nothing else, would to get my brother and sister back together again. Whatever it took. I kid you not, I spent years sending them pictures of each other, and keeping each other up on their personal lives. I was determined as hell, and nothing worked. Then, sis was diagnosed with breast cancer. I had a hint of them getting back together again. This situation screamed we would not live for ever, and you two knock it off!! They finally called each other, and my heart is at peace. It just took for one of us to have a brush with death to get everybody there. I know I have gone on too long about this, so I will keep it short, but, sister is coming to see me, and we will be calling brother when she gets here. What ever I can do to keep our family the way it was meant to be, I will do. This Texas trip is a huge, and, I do mean a huge, step in that direction. I will spoil sister with ever ounce of energy I have in me. This trip is an icon for us kids. Trin

Thanks for that link - I've looked at it over and over (found it when searching myself) and Maddie copied from it, I believe. I realized I was confused because part way down the list, it switches to items allowed from other countries (not the US) and says milk is prohibited: Dairy products cheese: up to 20 kilograms per person Please note that quantities in excess of $20.00 may be subject to high rates of duty. The CBSA is responsible for determining customs and duties for items coming into Canada. These items are not allowed milk milk products (whey, cream, skim milk, butter oil, and so on) in these forms: dried, frozen, reconstituted, or fresh I didn't notice the heading change so was VERY confused! Now I think I have it straight. I tried to follow the link to inside the link to get specific fruit and vegetable info, but it's impossible to use (at least from my Mac). I'll just not spend $10 on organic cherries and risk having to discard them. I'll put some raisins and dried apples in his pack. I realized I'll want to go to the grocery anyway before we leave so I can get some Sultanas and Ketchup flavored potato chips to bring back for my friends!

Losing your so loved Elvira is so hard to bare, I know. That love is what drives most who loose one to put themselves in position to go through it over and over again by bringing in a new pet to love. The love of a dog or cat we want to have always in our lives. Elvira is gone but will never be forgotten even though you can love and be loved again.