Oregano herb off of the stems: I dry it completely, then, while wearing vinyl gloves from a restaurant supply store, I grasp the top end of the sprig and pull the leaves off against the grain from thin to fat end of the sprig. This gets the leaves and little leaf stems and the bare the stalk intact and out of your herb container. It takes no time at all to do this to batches of oregano I pick and dry here in my yard.

It is sad to read that the school venue didn't attract many people to the demonstrations. I imagine that in off hours the school is off the beaten path, and for many current and former students it represents only its educational role, not that of a welcoming and diverse public space. I have always thought that we waste a lot of space and dollars by not putting the Open Schoolhouse program into effect everywhere.

I cooked up a few pints of Roma tomatoes last night, and now have some juice in the fridge and another pint of sauce in the freezer. And a buildup of peppers. I didn't wash the dishes last night or this morning so tonight or tomorrow I'm going to have to tackle the steam juicer and food mill stacked up in the dishwater.

Nothing much more will probably be accomplished until next weekend. Looking forward to a rainy day on Thursday, and that will moisten the garden soil enough that by the weekend I'll be able to easily pull some of the weeds that have grown large. A couple of my fall tomato plants have grown large, but two others seem stunted. I need to clear the weeds, mulch, fertilize, and pamper them to coax some fall fruit.

SRS