I don't know what I expected my wisteria to produce in the way of seed, but this wasn't it. 
As if the fact it finally bloomed wasn't surprise enough, now I find this. It is covered in the softest velvety green I've ever seen. About 3-4 inches in length, it seems as though there is likely only one seed or "bean" in the fat end, but then maybe it is a cluster of many seeds. This is the only one I've noticed so far, but I hope there are more. I have no plans to try to start more wisteria - I just like the way they look!
The 90+ temps we've survived this last week should be enough without stewing over how best to heat our home this coming winter. But, that is what has hit the top of our priority list, considering we spent almost double last winter over the year before. Propane has been our only heat source since 1999, except for a small electric radiant heater (looks like a radiator) we have used on the coldest days to warm the bathroom before a shower.
I've been researching and have found lots of interesting information - maybe too much. It's confusing trying to understand it all, and enlightening to find things I wasn't aware of. Like a masonry furnace. 
They can be gorgeous, use a renewable resource - wood - and do it very efficiently and cleanly. They resemble a fireplace but work differently in that you burn a very hot fire to burn up the wood quickly and then you are done for the day. The heat is absorbed into the masonry (brick, stone, etc.) and radiates warmth for the next several hours.
Far less expensive is an outdoor wood heater that pipes heat directly into your home through a tube. Cheap, unsophisticated, not pretty - but worth consideration when you don't have a lot of money to throw at this problem. 
There are other types of outdoor furnaces - mostly boilers that run heated water through pipes - lots more expensive, and far more work to install. Worth it? Wish I knew.
And solar - seems that our house is all wrong for that choice. Our covered porch blocks all the southern sun exposure and gorgeous mature trees in our yard shade the house in winter too! And after suggesting to hubby that they should probably be replaced with shrubs and shorter landscaping and getting a resounding "no way!" I guess that idea will need to be tabled for a while.
We want to avoid high propane bills this winter, and in the future. We want comfortable warmth, for a reasonable trade-off of time and money. We want to be earth-friendly. We want it to be easy to determine which way to turn - and that certainly doesn't seem to be in the cards! Suggestions welcome - especially if based on your own experience! 
I had my doubts that I could actually start strawberries from seed. I had more doubts that they would survive the seedling stage. And here they are - with blooms even! I ordered 'Red Wonder Wild Strawberry' seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company's 2008 catalog. 
There isn't much information in the catalog about them other than to start them indoors like you would tomato seedlings. I know they won't produce much this year - if anything. I should probably pinch the blooms off, but, I don't want to. There aren't enough to do more than enjoy a berry or two anyway, and I still have more seed to try again next year, so, think I'll do as I please!
I'm always trying to grow something new. Thanks to a generous valentine gift from hubby, I got to order tons of new-to-me seeds from Baker Creek this year. Meet some of the new characters growing here this year...
Painted Mountain Corn - 
my family struggles with blood sugar issues, so high-carb goodies like sweet corn are off the table. But growing pretty colored corn for fall decorating is do-able so I selected this variety, even though it is advertised as a "flour" corn.
Lemon squash seems to me to be nearly identical to any other yellow summer squash in flavor, it just has this fun lemon-like form. I have 2 of these
in the garden, one full and healthy, but the other wilted. I couldn't ever find signs of vine borers, so I can't say for sure what happened. I feared it just wasn't getting enough water so I watered it well, mulched it heavily, and watered then watered some more. It continued to die a bit more each day for about a week - until the last few days - now it seems the few unaffected vines are growing new leaves! Keeping my fingers crossed it pulls out of it.
Hollyhocks and wild strawberries...odd combination but I'm proud that I started both from seed! 
The bed these are in have a mixed and unplanned variety of plants, including marigolds, petunias, sweet william, coleus and calendula. The hollyhocks won't flower for another year, and I doubt the strawberries set fruit until then.
I want to make salsa, with the majority of ingredients coming fresh from my garden. So, this year I added 2 varieties of tomatillos to my plant list. 
I love the paper-lantern look! The verde variety has these husks growing in large numbers. The giant variety has only one husk on each of the 2 plants and the leaves are curled up....too much water? Anyway, the trick is to be sure I have enough peppers, onions, tomatoes, cilantro and tomatillos all at once. We'll see....
As if the fact it finally bloomed wasn't surprise enough, now I find this. It is covered in the softest velvety green I've ever seen. About 3-4 inches in length, it seems as though there is likely only one seed or "bean" in the fat end, but then maybe it is a cluster of many seeds. This is the only one I've noticed so far, but I hope there are more. I have no plans to try to start more wisteria - I just like the way they look!
