Okay, I just checked in and I'll try to do all this stuff. Here goes. (i)hello(/i). (u)I'm fine(/u). (fontcolor="red")How are you?(/fontcolor) I've always wanted to (s)learn how(/s)know how to strike out words. (fontsize="6")Okay?(/fontsize)

I laid out my garden in long rows, separated by about three feet. In that space between the rows is where I put all mulch and compost that eventually breaks down and becomes part of the soil makeup. In order for wood chips to break down to compost, from my reading, it requires an absorption of surrounding nitrogen. So, if you have it surrounding the plants too closely, it will be using the available nitrogen the plant needs for early growth. I found this to be the case a few years ago, so I always keep anything resembling mulch a few inches away from my plants. But once the plants have established themselves, the roots are reaching down under those spaces between the rows to absorb their nutrients. At least that's how I explain this whole mystery to myself.

--Pastry is a combination of tenderness and flakiness, and those are the baking characteristics you want to achieve when making it. Pastry how to: Mix half of the fat into the flour until it is well incorporated. Add the remaining fat in much larger (pea-size) chunks and only add until distributed, leaving large pieces in the mixture. At this point, don't over-work the dough when adding the liquid. The first addition of fat will tenderize because it coats the flour. Where fat coats the flour, water can't penetrate and the gluten forms in short strands (and is why it's also called "short crust" pastry). The large bits of fat creates flakiness. When the large pieces of fat heat in the oven it releases steam. The steam lifts the dough in layers and as it bakes creates flakiness. Where does lard come in? Lard has a much larger fat crystal than shortening or butter, which makes it work and melt differently. Lard has always made a great fat to use for making pastry. ------------------------------ plllog- Instead of using iodized salt (I haven't used it since the late 70's), I use KELP granules for a low-sodium seasoning and as a food-form source for iodine (see link below), rather than the chemical form found in iodized salt. I also add other sea vegetables when cooking. You might want to save this as a study session at a later date. --I was re-reading Sue Gregg's "Whole Grain Baking" book so I could pull some more information for you, and she uses the same three methods - soaking, fermenting, or sprouting the grain/flour before cooking or baking to neutralize a large portion of the phytic acid. She covers soaking, sprouting and sourdough methods. (suegregg.com) As little as 7-hours will neutralize a large portion of the phytic acid in grains. Twelve to 24 hours even better, with 24 yielding the best results. She also mentions brown rice, buckwheat, and millet are more easily digested because they contain lower amounts of phytates than other grains, so 7-hours soaking is sufficient. Other grains, particularly oats, highest in phytates of the whole grains, are best soaked up to 24-hours. Sue Gregg uses her whole grain bread dough for making pizza and blends 2 c. warm water, 2 T. apple cider vinegar and 4-6 cups whole wheat flour, spelt or Kamut and soaks for 12-24 hrs. for stage one. In her book, "Whole Grain Baking" she gives instructions for sprouting grain and how to make sprouted whole grain dough (pages 154 and 155) and also uses this dough for her pizza crusts. -------------------------------------- --Corn.... Corn comes in three varieties - dent (those fat nibs with a "dent" on the top), which is field and sweet corn), flint (Indian/calico corn) - which is a small grain with a very hard 'coat' - hard like flint and is how it got its name, and popping corn, which looks like flint corn. All corn can be milled into cornmeal - even popcorn. The large nibs of dent corn are...

Joann, bulls can be very unpredictable, I know. I've had some who were so even tempered they became pets, and the one I borrowed from a neighbor last year was named Ethan and developed a distinct taste for powdered sugar donuts. When it was time to take him home, we just bought a box of donuts and walked him into the stock trailer, LOL. HOWEVER, and it's a darned big however, an animal that weighs over 2,000 pounds and can lift three times it's own weight with its neck muscles must be treated with respect and never taken for granted. You won't get a chance to be careless twice, that much is for certain. And that's why I was in the pasture with donuts but the kids were always required to stay on the other side of the fence. Always. Carol, my mother jumped a fence once and it was a bossy old dairy cow that chased her over. Wasn't so funny then as it is now, somehow, but Mother was not happy until that cow became burger so I guess she got her revenge. Annie