For food, try a nice big pot of beans: put a lb./half kilo to soak overnight, then put in a pot with lots of water, a few cloves of garlic, some fresh sage leaves if available, and a couple of bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then simmer until done. Wait 15 minutes then add salt. Great as is, with toasted plain bread and olive oil, or as a basis for or element of pasta e fagioli, minestrone, or on salads, etc. The semi-empty house sounds delightful. My own fantasy is to have the house to myself for ten days, while my husband and daughter are safely and fruitfully occupied elsewhere. Since my daughter's birth twelve years ago I have had exactly three and a half days alone at home. The new garden space sounds wonderful; and, Spring is coming!!!!! Here we're waiting for the worst of the most recent deluge to run off, and then I'm heading out in the garden. February has been springlike here; too much so: I'm afraid the plants will take the mild weather seriously and begin setting buds and flowering in earnest, only to be cut short by a freeze. We still have a month of winter to go. Enjoy your possibilities! Melissa

I've had a couple loads of compost go anaerobic on me (a five gallon bucket in winter doesn't heat up much) and the compost is excellent. The odor is something else again though. The neighbors never notice when I'm working aerobic compost. I've been gardening for over 30 years both organically and inorganically. The longer I garden the more I move to the organic methods. I'm really a novice on Japanese Gardening but it would seem that organic is organic regardless of the plants and the country. The the lab firm "Soil Foodweb Inc." has done literally over 200,000 tests on compost, soils, and compost teas. Elaine Ingham, Ph.D., the founder, teaches courses on aroebic vs anaerobic and acts as a consultant to farmers, orchids, and cattle ranchers all over the world. Anaerobic compost will still have beneficial nutrients but often many of the best nutrients are lost to the air when the compost goes anaerobic and the microbiology selected is mostly harmful. The beneficials will either be outcompeted or go to sleep or be consumed - it is just the opposite in an aerobic situation where the mostly only good guys win. Also in nature the process for plants to thrive and survive has developed in an aerobic envornment. When nature goes destructive the anaerobic biology often goes through a bloom and bust cycle to clean up the materials that are left and the envornment becomes aerobic again given enough time. With a compost that has gone anaerobic much beneficial biology is lost but if given time it will come back so your compost that went anaerobic may have recovered sufficently or it may have only provided foods for the bacteria and fungi to grow in the soil in a recovery phase. Without testing it is all ancedotal. I took a 2.5 day course from Elaine in March and I'm going back in November to take another class from her. She has about 6 sets of CD's that I have listened to and 3-4 books which I have read. My point is there is just too much information to post it to a forum like this, especially when this is off-topic. Also I want to disclose my background only to let you know my weaknesses and bias up front. I've studied this area and know more than most but when I get with the experts I'm still a novice. I also brew my own compost tea. I say "brew" as I use an air compressor and molasses. I know it it aerobic because I brew it for over an hour in an oxygenated environment. The molasses feeds bacteria. When I brew a compost tea I no longer add molasses but I add fungal foods fish hydroysate and kelp. The bacteria grow so rapidly they can overwhelm a system easily even when oxygen is added constantly. Most teas are brewed for 24 hours and if they go anaerobic even with oxygen diffused through the tea they are most likely to go anaerobic somewhere between hour 16 - 20 and they could actually come back aerobic by the 24th hour. Anaerobic teas are also used as well as leachates but tests of these teas show them to be inconsistent as to what is produced and at times they can brew some really nasty things. Actually with a one hour brew it is really more like a leachate. The typical goal in brewing an aerobic compost tea is to extract and grow the beneficial bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and nematodes. In reality only the bacteria will grow of any consequence in less than three days so extraction becomes very important and you can only extract what is there. When using compost and not Actively Areated Compost Tea (AACT) all of this is irrelevant because in a natural system the biology has all been worked out over eons of time and a cold compost pile functions more like a natural enviornment. EM Bokashi helps stimulate the soil by providing the anaerobic component (Lactobacilli and photosynthetic bacteria for example) that helps plants thrive Lactobacillis is a bacteria that grows on milk protiens. I don't understand why it would be beneficial in soils. The photsynethetic bacteri is one of the very first bacteria to show up in an early evolutionary envirnment. In primitive soils such as is found in deserts like Moab Utah it will make up 50% of the bacteria. Also bacteria dominated soils select for the very earliest successional plant such as early successional grasses and weeds. As soils become more complex the variety of bacteria will grow to as many as 30,000 different bacteria per teaspon. As systems become more complex the early successional grasses are replaced by meadow grasses, then perennials and then trees with conifers being the latest in the succession and requiring a fungal dominated soil with 1,000 times as much fungi as bacteria. It is the fungi that makes the soils acidic which is required by pines and conifers typical of Japanese Gardens. Even Azaleas need at least three times as much fungi as bacteria in the rhizosphere to thrive. Most manipulated soils are bacterial dominated because the slicing and diceing selects against fungi. Consequently when I brew a compost tea I try to make it as fungal as possible by using highly fungal compost and then using only fungal foods in the brew. Fungal to Bacterial Biomass ratios for selected plants: Lawn grass 0.5 to 1.0 Carrots 0.5 to 0.8 Lettuce 0.5 to 0.8 Kale 0.5 to 0.8 Wheat 0.8 to 1.0 Tobacco 1.0-3.0 Flowering annuals 1.0-3.0 Flowering perennials 3.0-5.0 Grape 3.0 to 5.0 Apples, cherries, peaches, pares and orchard fruits 10.0 to 50.0 Deciduous ornamental trees 10.0 to 100.0 Pines 50 to 100.0 Alders 5.0 to 100.0 Conifers 100 to 1000 Ornamental shrubs 10.0 to 100.0 I know this is not explained well nor are the thoughts cohesive. I'm feeling dizzy today so I appologize for the lack of editing and clarity that I know should go into this.

Perhaps the question should first focus on the process and not the result. For me, gardening allows me to participate in the process of creation...specifically, the ongoing creation that continuously renews the natural world as well as those who take the time to notice. The subtle change in the angle of incident light as autumn approaches, the appearance of next year's flower buds alongside this year's fruit on a Dogwood, the almost imperceptible increase in root flare of a specimen tree...these are unnoticed by most and likely not appreciated by most even after it is pointed out to them. Is it more worthwhile to garden in the 'Japanese' style, or does that sentiment imply a sense of superiority of one's sense of aesthetics? Can the gardener who specializes in the traditional English garden, or even the homeowner who takes pride in his/her vegetable garden, realize as much satisfaction, or take as much pride in, or feel as connected with the natural world as does the 'Japanese gardener'. I would submit the answer in many cases must be yes. On the other hand, characteristics that a casual observer would interpret as a 'Japanese garden', such as asymmetry, subtle use of color, water and stones and the appearance that all this happened without the hand of man (or woman!) would more easily evoke the sense that the garden is a place in which to celebrate nature. The real afficianado/professional can chime in on the cultural traditions, religious metaphors and subtly profound wabi-sabi stuff and then half fill cyberspace discussing it. ;-) Which brings me to another point discussed on an adjacent thread. ;-) Does the Tradition suffer by the use of non-traditional techniques and tools? I think the answer must be...not necessarily! ;-) Does the Tradition suffer from this most non-traditional form of electronic communication and research? If you are reading this your answer must be 'no'. More efficient tools, whether it be the internet, a better pond filter or some power tool, enable the gardener/artist/homeowner to do more then one could otherwise. It remains up to the practicioner to see that the end result is acceptable. There are many similarities to bonsai design and development. Some are more stylized representations of the ideal tree, some are styled in a more naturalistic form. Some may have their deadwood carved with simple hand tools, some using a power die-grinder. The top bonsai artists in Japan currently have designed their own power tools as the art progresses. John

Tony C: It is very late in the evening and I am too tired to read all of the responses in your post, but I wanted to at least post something in the wee hours of the morning. The Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis is well noted for having the largest Japanese Garden in the continental United States and is also noted for its Japanese Festival held over the labor day weekend. If you link to the site below, you find that there are various links to take you to the international gardens located within this wonderful gem - one of which is the Japanese Garden. While these links will provide some "inspiration", there is nothing like a 2 day visit to this outstanding garden. While I currently live in northwestern Michigan, I was born, bred, and lived for more than 5 decades on the Illinois prairie, where I was able to visit this garden more frequently. If you plan to head in that direction and are the type of person who enjoys staying at a bed & breakfast, I recommend that you contact Maggies Bed & Breakfast in Collinsville, Illinois. She is a retired Librarian who has traveled in the far east via freighters and other means of transportion. Her rates are reasonable, the conversation is excellent and the breakfast are very delicious. If you're a person who enjoys staying at a motel/hotel, there are several excellent choices in the Collinsville, IL area. Collinsville is located very close to one of the Interstate Highways leading into St. Louis and the MBO - not too far west on I-44 - is about a short 15 to 20 minute drive. Hope this information is somewhat helpful and/or inspiring. Bill Here is a link that might be useful: Missouri Botanical Garden - Virtual Tour - International Gardens