I'd better start working out so I'll be strong enough to dig those pots in. *** I hear you sister! This is not a task for the weak-backed. DH says that he used to be an engineer, but now he is a ditch-digger. :-) Is there a specific height to the pots? Are they wider than tall? If so, do they have a specific name to them for ordering? *** The ones we use are called "Squats." And they are in fact "squatty." They're wider than the normal nursery pot. If you look to order them as "Squats," you'll get the right thing. We HAVE used non-squattier pots. But of course, they need a deeper hole, which does not appeal to us. Do you prefer the 15 or 20 gal? *** We had only a few 20's, and they were used for things we particularly prized. "Old Town Novato," for instance, is in one. The size matters little, once they get their roots out of the squat, and headed downward. We are told that gophers (I don't know about voles) stay about 18 inches below the surface. I believe that, because Miss Brisa tracks them, listening and sniffing, across the "lawn." So as long as the roots are much below that point, they're not very vulnurable. The pictures REALLY help. *** They do. We were fortunate enough to first see it in someone else's garden. Jeri

Easy and fast to make evergreen wreaths with this type of machine. They have wires at several suppliers that are in the form of a wreath or other such as candy canes, squares, etc. The form you use has wire clamps and all you do is insert a handfull of evergreens cut to the same length, into the form and bends, the clamps together. I usually hit it with a hammer to stabelize it., then one on top of the other and you have a mighty nice wreath. Make sure you have a large clump of greens, so you can hardly close around your fingers when you hold it. Have fun..

I've not tried a bread machine. I do a lot of cooking down in a big electric turkey roaster (fruit butters, tomato sauce/paste),and in my over-sized crock-pot, and have, with unhappy results, used a large pan in the oven. I would think that not enough water would be evaporated using a bread machine efficiently since it is a closed machine, like the oven is, but then, I don't have one that has a "jam" setting. What does your instruction book tell you to do? There is also the matter of quantity. Can you fit enough tomatoes in there to make the cooking time worthwhile? My unusual sized 2 pound bread machine only holds a max of 8 cups. When you use tomatoes that are other than a paste type you will have a lot more liquid that needs to be removed via evaporation to get the sauce or paste consistency that you want. If you do it on the stove top you risk scorching and have long cooking times - meaning your electric bill will be a lot higher that month. Same so with oven roasting. I use a variety of heirloom tomatoes for sauce/paste because I like the complex flavors that paste tomatoes won't give you. So I use a Squeezo to extract the juice and pulp, but then let it sit overnight in the fridge and only use the dense stuff on the bottom for making sauce/paste (the liquid goes into the freezer for making soup base). It also makes for shorter cooking times since I'm only evaporating the remaining liquid from the dense stuff. My suggestion for making a large quantity of tomato sauce/paste is to use an over-sized crock-pot or an electric turkey roaster. They both keep a uniform temperature, use a whole lot less electricity than the oven, and with an off-set lid, evaporation is so much faster and therefore cheaper, than the other methods. One thing that is important to remember though, is that you need to bring the temperature of the finished sauce/paste to boiling before you ladle it into your canning jars. That means putting it into a pan on the stove top and bringing it to a boil, stirring constantly - it only takes a few minutes to accomplish this. It works out well if your BWB only holds so many jars - you get to control how many jars to fill while holding the rest of the tomatoes safely hot for the next batch, turning down the heat or taking it off the burner between batches, of course. If you don't bring the product to a high enough temperature equal to the BWB's temperature you risk your jars breaking or the product in the jars not being hot enough to kill the inherent bacteria. Nancy

I finally got to see it today too, Kathy! The look of the pulp reminded me of Celluclay, but she had a nicer clay-like body to it and her surface was not as bumpy, but more like a pleasing sandstone texture. I loved her use of twigs and copper pipe embedded in the forms. What an inspiring show! I even liked Dee Gruenig's segment using resists to create images on the compressed stamping sponge. So which is cheaper Braun or Thunderstick? Any other similar products? Guess this non-cook needs to head to the small appliance department, lol!