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Hello again: Just an FYI that if any of you are grade school teachers, Bonnie Plants had a wonderful vegetable contest in which school teachers could apply and Bonnie Plants would send out some free cabbage plants to the class. When my daughter was in 3rd grade, I got her teacher on board with this program and it worked well. The kids took the plants home in April and posted pictures of their results by the end of August. It would be nice if the school gave a prize to the child with the biggest cabbage! My wife is a 2nd grade teacher. I will repeat her story so any teachers out there will not repeat her mistake. Her class did a science segment on plants and then planted seeds using "a science plant kit" that the school had on hand. The kids were so excited but then dismayed when all was a failure. Nothing came up that they planted. Other teachers at the same school had the same result. I was asked to find the problem. It turned out that the "kits" were 8 years old as they had been saved in storage. The seed was no longer viable but the teachers did not realize that. I felt sorry for the students.

I've never taken formal gardening classes altho gardening has been a lifelong passion for well over 60 years and I've read a lot of books and magazines, picked a few brains, and more recently found so much info online. I used to want to do the Master Gardeners' course but it's not offered here in this backwoods area. I don't think it would benefit me much at this stage of my gardening life anyhow and I have so many other interests that take my time. I'm hoping to get my friends more excited about gardening, too Do you have a Garden Club in your area? IMO it can be a great learning experience for anyone, and especially for beginner gardeners. It might be a way to interest your friends if you all went together. Also for me was a good source of plants as everyone would freely give their extras. When we moved here from warmer zones it was a great help to me to learn which plants grew well here. Connecting with like-minded people is also great. I've finally gotten the solution to the deer problem and that is 7' tall fencing around my main garden. Nothing else worked well for me. As far as the yellow jackets I've never heard of anything that gets them in a 'better mood' LOL but seldom have a problem here. However I'm learning to place those plants that bees love away from my patio. Hated sitting there and having all that buzzing going on and wondering if I'd get stung.

I guess I should be thankful that my parents do not shower my kids with toys and other material things. I remember when my kids were little and were always getting stuffed animals as gifts. My mother saw how many they had and vowed never to ever give another stuffed animal as a baby gift to anyone-she didn't realize so many people gave them as gifts that kids were overwhelmed by them. My mother, as mentioned before, frugal as well as extremely practical, asks me what to get my kids for Christmas and birthdays. Much of the time, I can't even think of anything much, so often she'll get them one thing they want and then give them cash for their personal savings accounts. MIL used to give us things that my kids had no interest in or were just clutter toys they didn't use (she lives far away) but thankfully now she sends Visa cards or a check. Coincidentally, today I went to visit my parents for lunch - my father wanted to show me where he kept all their personal financial/bill paying info in case something should happen to him (my mother is mostly computer illiterate except for googling on an iPad). While there, my father mentioned that he was going to clean out the attic soon. When I mentioned that I didn't think he had anything up there, he said it wasn't much, but much of it apparently mine! I didn't even realize they still had it (an old bike rack from my car, an old ride on toy my kids used to use). I looked around their kitchen and told them I was so thankful they were not collectors/consumers. If they ever downsize or when they both pass, it won't be too difficult a task going through their things. Well, except for the hundreds of books on my father's office. Aside from that, not too much stuff. For the most part, my friends, though consumers, do not live amidst clutter. In fact, the majority of my friends have fairly well-kept, clutter free homes. Even when I stop by unexpectedly...their homes are not full of clutter. Do they look lived in? Sure, but that doesn't mean clutter necessarily. There might be stuff on the counters from breakfast, or a laundry basket full of clothes waiting to be folded, but not toys everywhere or piles of stuff everywhere. Offhand I can only think of one friend who has a lot of clutter...mostly toys, and yes her kids are totally spoiled and are the definition of spoiled brat. I totally agree with TheRedHouse that it doesn't take much energy to acquire things, especially in my family with four kids who seem to bring home paper and more paper from school despite being a "green" school. As for projects, I stopped being sentimental long ago and throw most of their projects out. If something took a lot of effort and they want to save it, we take a picture of it. My son has a science project due soon and they've even stopped doing the tri-fold displays...now all the info is entered into a google doc online where they can be creative using downloaded images, fonts,etc. Heaven!!!!! And to think I saved my other kids' tri folds for him to use as examples-now I can throw them out! Oh, does anyone have any use for Madame Alexander dolls? :) I'm not sure why MIL thought they made a good gift but for years she gave them to my dd-knowing we had absolutely no storage/display space for them. And why a kid would want a doll that just sits on a shelf? for years they've been sitting on a shelf in her closet in their original boxes b/c I couldn't bear the idea of just giving away these expensive dolls! And too lazy to try to sell them on Craigslist or eBay. See, this is how some of us obtain clutter....