Our new May/June issue has a good story by Susan Hoffman about some guys from Armour who are experienced at cooking with cream cans. You fill the can with vegetables, sausage, whatever you like, add water and cook it all atop an open flame. Sweet corn is supposedly an almost-essential ingredient but anything will work, they say.

Some in our office have dined at cream can cookouts and they give mixed reviews. There appears to be a partial correlation between the taste of the food and the amount of beer present at the event.

After the magazine was mailed, our friend -- the noted metal sculptor George Heinert of Mission, S.D., called to say that he has a number of 10-gallon cream cans that would be suitable for cooking. He also has wood or coal cookstove parts and warming ovens that have not yet been made into elephants or pheasants.

If you want to contact George, his phone no. is (605) 856-4853. We have no vested interest I assure you.

Our food related stories are always popular and we have more in the works. I hope I get a good crop of prickly pear cactus on the farm this year; if so, we'll experiment with a cactus recipe and give you a report. Any recipes would be welcome.