Don't smoke or drink either. And there's no question that desert is a major food group! :)) I use Olivia Care Olive Oil Soap on my face and in the shower - love the Verbena scent and all those suds! In the winter I don't need moisturizer. I buy it at TJMaxx. For 20 years I've used a Buff Puff on my face. For facial moisturer Jergens Skin Firming Lotion. I've used several others that I really liked, and every time I ran out and went to buy more, they were discontinued or had added obnoxious fragrance. How exasperating! I don't like the strong fragrance in the heavier duty "regenerating" lotions. I find that smiling works best on the Howdy Doody lines - hate those things! Can't bring myself to lay out $20 for a tiny little jar so I guess this is it. Sherry

I was just taking a moment to catch up on all the posts. Susan, I am glad they found your car in good condition too. That must have been an awful ordeal. Shirley, I am so sorry about your day lilies. The deer came over my fence and ate the top two feet off my roma tomato plants and helped themselves to zucchini and other squash plants as well. They also ate my my oriental and Asiatic lilies down to the stubs. I told my husband he is going to have to create an 8 ft tall fence inside our fenced back yard. I was so heart broken. I have been spraying to keep them out and everything but it is difficult to keep them out when they are hungry. My neighbor down the street built a 7 ft tall cyclone fence structure and added his raised garden beds all around the perimeter of his garden "room".. He said it has worked really well for him and I am going to have to resort to the same thing if I want to have a vegetable garden I guess. Tammy, many thanks again for hosting. I was so glad to participate and learned a lot too. I have posted August's OBF Be Well Swap this morning.

No way could NYC markets compete with California markets. Though the HudsonValleyNY and NewJersey have excellent growing lands. Mostly foot traffic in NYC so no cars are needed but when i used to shop the UnionSquare market years ago just before Thanksgiving i had no issues parking. I did walk through a few times Fall 2020 and was impressed with the 3 dozen varieties of apples and the many new winter squash varities i saved seeds from. We now prefer roadside farm stands. Most great, some dismal. One favorite is all about the corn,... 4 varieties still being unloaded from the fields through the morning hours. Still cold and damp from the morning temps. One crop i stopped growing is corn when i found that farm. CSA's must be excellent in California as Plllog has experienced. Much more variety than i can get here in a short season. Would be nice to make some selections like, "more peas please!". Our local grass fed meat farm share has a request box for 'no chicken', no 'pork', extra dozen eggs, etc. What i like about farmers markets is it allows start-ups to get their feet wet in a new business. Same with food trucks. All supported if the passion is there. Not wanting to switch into farming/gardening, but if your land/soil/environment is not balanced, you have destrutive insects in higher numbers. @dcarch, i believe some of your unconventional garden practises are detrimental to your crops. Yet you get, and accept, what happens no matter. Your choice of course. Identifying the culprit that can be different each season, identifying the insects that visit every Spring....covering is so simple. I learn from the best and it is so available. Charles Dowding. A market gardener but one of the best to learn from. (...and so many more) A cover is only needed on a crop for a short time then moved to another....so simple. 20bucks and has lasted me 4 year so far. (i have a variety of mesh covers but not a big expense if i spread it out over the years....)....my blueberries have similar. And my concord grapes being toxic to pups...the seeds. Holes in leaves are no big deal in my garden if i miss a bug infestation, but try selling a buggy/holey crop. So cheap for years of protection....

"Nothing priggish about it"  "Of course that's your view."  Of course it's my view. That's my point.  I am allowed to express my own views. BTW, your experience of Europe is similar to mine: they shop more often, and are fussy about where and what they buy. And they do place a much bigger emphasis on seasonality than North Americans do.   Your understanding of apple harvesting and storage  is simply incorrect. If you eat apples year round  you're not eating freshly picked apples for a good part of that time:  you're eating apples that have been kept in Controlled Atmosphere storage. The US has a picking season that only lasts for about 3 months in autumn. After that you are eating apples that have been in sophisticated, species specific, controlled conditions in which they essentially hibernate. Look it up if you don't believe me.  Start here: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/11/26/668256349/thanks-to-science-you-can-eat-an-apple-every-day The apples I buy are stored in similar fashion.  They are Australian products and labelled as such.   As for eggs, I didn't mention a 30 km drive. I mentioned buying the eggs from a vendor at the farmer's market. He brings eggs to the market every Wednesday. My travelling distance is about 500 metres. All on foot.