pat- you seem to have a great perspective on it. When I do get an lgd I will be looking for one from someone similiar to yourself. good proven working dogs as parents. don't care about papers or breed standards other then what is neccessary to do their job. so many working dogs look like they have been ruined by show breeders. I also worry about some of the fancier lgds. seems alot of people breed them just because they can get lots of money for them because they are somewhat of a novelty,(I suspect) not because they are superior working dogs.
I think this may be one of those unusual cases where the more you pay for something the less likely it is to actually be what you want.
I always have a few slurps of coffee left in the pot in the morning. I figure I might as well try to find a use for it!
I dont' think I would be brewing any just to pour on the ground though! I wonder if I watered my squash with it if the squash plants (already established) would take up the caffeine and feed it to the squash bugs and fiddle with their little bug "brains". not likely I guess.
argh! the sound of a shod horse skidding on barn flooring and going down. shudder.
I think the pig idea is worth looking into. would lots of bedding on top undo the packed ground though? just as layering hay or straw on packed earth works to prepare it for planting?
often we don't know when or if an animal will die from it injuries. it can be difficult to judge how much suffering is worth a possible positive outcome and that is for each person to decide for themselves.
I have seen animals recover from some crazy injuries. my dog was hit by a car. she couldn't stand up to urinate and was urinating blood. she suffered no doubt. the vet gave her something to keep fluid from her collecting in her lungs (maybe some sort of diuretic?) and said that beyond that just the diagnostic expenses would be tremedous. so we went home to watch and wait and give supportive care. she still has some trembling in her right front leg and a scar over her eye, but now, years later she is happy and healthy, loves her job and still the best dog I have ever and will ever have and I am glad I gave her a chance.
I cared for a horse once that darn near ripped his back leg off in a freak trailering incident. it was a horrible injury but he lived and worked as a beginner school horse for many years after teaching first time riders the very basics.
sounds like they are like "color blind" humans (if I am remembering correctly). gives some people a distinct advantage when detecting camo people and equipment.
Gwen Lynn wrote: Our language has got to be one of the toughest to learn.
there are so many things I didn't ever notice or think of until I had a little one full of questions while learning to read. Now I wonder how any of us could figure out our language! It is so confusing! It still amazes me how fast she picks stuff up even with all the quirky language rules and words.
I was given a small clump of garlic chives that just went wild in my old garden. very easy to grow for me! great in soups and stir fry type dishes as well as vegie dips. It has a mild garlicky sweet flavor. I am very much regretting not digging and taking it with me!
what sorts of dishes do you use it in?
any good companion plants?
does it grow well from seed outside? (if this is an easy doable option this may be the easiest way for me to get it going in this garden if I can't find it started somewhere locally)
when reading up on caffeine a bit recently I found a suggestion that the caffeine in certain plants acts as a pesticide and is also found in the soil surrounding the plant and could possibly act as an agent to inhibit germination.
if this is true could we have a solution to bug and weed problems in our morning cup of coffee?
thyme is great antiseptic! the active ingredient in listerine is found in thyme and "thyme tea" is an effective treatment for sore throat when used as a gargle.
In my experience the best flooring differs with each situation, goals, and animals. here are some of my observations....
concrete - cold, hard and absorbs urine smell. but if you need an ultra clean enviroment and it will get cleaned well and frequently and always have fresh bedding (or no bedding) you can't beat it for keeping things sanitary. I would like a sloped area with a gutter like drain for my milkers and have bunks for sleeping. so those times when they refuse to leave the shelter due to weather I can keep them as "sanitary" as possible by sweeping it out a few time a day and hosing it off.
dirt - well draining soil really can be a good flooring. if you want to practice "compost bedding" (adding bedding to the top periodically to create a "clean" surface and allowing the bottom to compost and produce heat all winter) then it is probably the best choice. a big con is that you have a big cleanout ahead of you in the spring and you will have to dig out and replace some of the dirt after the cleanout. It isn't as "sanitary". animals will sometime dig a hole down to the composting stuff. but for alot of situation, especially when you have plenty of room, dirt works well and I think is perfectly acceptable.
sand - coarse sand works pretty well. it drains well, is easy on the feet and legs of animals but it can be difficult to clean out imo. after a while the manure and bedding turns it to mush and it has to all come out and be replaced.
It seems so easy. do you think it has potential as animal feed? it seems brassicas have some contraindication for making up a really large portion of the diet. but I can't remember why......something about uptake or absorption of a particular nutrient???
I need to do little more then scatter some seeds half heartedly, pat them into the ground and make sure they recieve adequate water. the only trouble I have had is with bunnies (I think it was bunnies ) munching them.
they mature fast, you can eat the whole plant, they are good cooked or raw and have a mild sweetish flavor and just are a nice overall, easy/trouble free addition to the diet.
For some reason the chicken picture makes me laugh. Reminds me of a blurb on 'the onion' about a free range chicken making it all the way to bolivia...or something like that.......can't quite put my finger on why I thought it was so funny......but it makes me chuckle everytime i think about it.
along the lines of scent.....I recently read that menstrual blood is a deer deterrent. I guess it might have some potential. not sure its worth the hassle though.....
the key would certainly be catching and riding the trend or finding something that is rather difficult or intensive to raise and has therefore not been taken up as a business venture by every tom dick and harry.
some animals that have already gone through the trends...
pot bellied pigs pygmy goats various reptiles
I don't know what the status is now on hand raised parrots. For a time they were quite expensive(at a time when I had some involvment in the pet trade). they are very needy and you must adhere to strict care guidlines so not everyone is willing to invest in them and a reputable breeder had no problem finding homes for them (once again this was years ago). If I were to raise parrots I would raise pionus. They quickly became my favorite. more quiet and sweet and low energy. http://www.pionusparrot.com/
love the little ads about fixing your grammar at the bottom. it just adds to the fun.
I figure.....if I know what people are trying to say.....then who cares about their grammar especially punctuation. spelling can sometimes be confusing. I read my own posts a few days later and am sometimes appalled at my mistakes! I need more coffee less auto fingers stuck on letter sequences!
with a little ingenuity you can use t-posts to create some simple cornerposts so that you could apply some light tension on the fence to make it more attractive and sturdier. some pipe with a 45 angle adaptor that would fit over the top of the t-post and angle to the ground would give some added stability. another option is to stake out the corners. drawing a tight line from the top of the t-post to a deep stake to help it stay upright.
I have finagled many a fence. it is always better to do it right the first time if you can but if circumstances don't permit then you can rig up something and just understand and accept its limitations both in keeping animals in or out and its useful lifespan.
if money isn't the problem and you are thinking that it would just be easier consider you might be surprised that building fence "right" isn't that much harder then building a rigged contraption and it involves considerably less frustration over the long term.
but what other (if any) uses/benefits does it have? other then simple forage material how could it be incorporated into plans to maximize its positive impact?
$500 per dog make sure and do research where you live and spend some time checking out ads. I guess it depends on where you are at. a regular 'ol pup from an actively working pair of pyrenees on someones homestead can often be had for around $50 here if you just wait till an ad comes up, and if you are willing to wait a bit longer and scan ads for awhile, you might get one for free. I had someone trying to give me a 6 mo old one last month. last year I was offered an actively working (goats) anatolian/pyr. beautiful great tempered dog. I used to sit for her and the goats while the owner was away. just didn't need her.
so many people like to breed dogs just for fun including their working dogs. they are just too easy to be expensive i guess. the more "exotic" lgds seem to be more pricy because they are difficult to find. and of course if you want to go with someone who has a good marketing speil a "name" and pedigrees, vet records and all that stuff and have a special puppy reserved then you will pay bucks for it.
my neighbor breeds yorkies and boston terriers. ships them all over the country. It seems people will pay big bucks for them. I know few people that would pay $500 for a pyr. unless they were the type to like the status. I have found livestock people tend to be pretty practical.
I was thinking when I have leftover "fat" that is no longer suitable for cooking or just too much to use (chicken fat, coconut oil etc...) I could make some sort of bird food out of it. I'm not so sure on all the logistics and ingredients though and would like some ideas and input.....
no herbal advice here. only advice I have....get pregnant and refuse to endanger your baby (that might be kinda hard for you ). Be depressed and isolate yourself for about 3 months. sell the car you smoked in. stay away from the things you did while smoking and the people you were around. look back years later and think. why did I ever smoke those things? that is not the person i want to be. the longer you smoked the harder it will be I suppose. bummer situation I know.
I don't think fenugreek is quite as fool proof to grow as some other herbs. I have so far avoided it just for the ease factor and the factor that i really prefer to create some raised beds to have a bit more 'soil control' and with easy kitchen access to grow herbs in and haven't got around to it. but I plan to put together my raised beds this year and I am thinking of putting fenugreek on the short list.
what have you found fenugreek to like as far as growing conditions? what other herbs would compliment it?
what all can it be used for? this is what I know already...
flavor enhancer/appetite stimulant for animal feed
maple flavor could be used to make immitation syrup where none is available
traditional supplement for nursing mothers to increase milk supply
the sunny day thing would depend on the climate I suppose. this was a locally oriented piece and we just get surface ice on ponds temporarily. I think its the deeper warmer water and the concrete tanks proximity to it that (along with the ground temps) are supposed to do the job.
we looked at several places that were around 100k that were 10-20 acres with a stick built homes in pretty good condition. if outdated somewhat. but you would probably want to renovate to make them off grid or more eco anyway.
I don't know if you would even consider such a thing but I think it fits with the overall idea. as I am sure they have elsewhere there are shops in the area here where you can go in, pick out your ceramic project, paint it and have them fire it adn pick it up at a later date. its fun for kids and grown ups! this would take considerably more input but I think it has potential for considerably more and consistent income in comparison to simply making and selling your own artwork also.
An enviroment that fosters a bit more artsy and or eco feel.... maybe making/incorporateing more useful end products could be a good niche. the shop I have experience in has primarily small figurines and trinkets to choose from. I would have enjoyed being able to purchase and finish things like crocks and storage containers etc......stuff that I could really use.
awe geez. I always have to walk away when a dog finds a mouse house full of pinkies. the squeeking and crunching combined disturbs me. i don't mind them eating them I just don't want to have to hear it!
my dogs love eggs. they would be a great way to grow a dog food supplement without having to deal with the killing aspect for those that can't quite bring themselves to raise and kill livestock for them but still wish to contribute home grown food in the diet. milk might also be an option depending on the individuals tolerance of it.
I think stevia has got to be the least scary of the artificial sweeteners. I do believe that anything used in excess has potential to cause problems in the human body and stevia doesn't get a free pass. after all, lots of natural substances used in excess can be harmful. The best thing to do is of course alter your tastes so that you don't want such sweet things in large quantities but I think it is unrealistic to expect that we will never want anything that is sweetened to make it more palatable.
so.... I would like to learn more about Stevia. how to grow it and get it to the table in a convenient form that can be used for some typical applications such as sweetening tea, coffee etc...
some initial questions
from my understanding it is tropical. Can it be overwintered successfully indoors?
what about preferable conditions during the growing season in more temperate climates?
Since this has been going more and more commercial and widely known, I would also like to explore the economical and social and enviromental impact in regions where it is or could be grown for market.
I didn't need pitocin! alhtough even at that it wasn't pleasant due a variety of reasons, the major ones being that I was on a magnesium drip for a few days and the fact that I hadn't slept for several days either (before I even went in), which leaves me pretty amnesiatic (is that a word?) about things. in fact there is a whole 24 hours that I remember only a few notable moments of. like trying to get out of bed and crumpling onto the floor. nice. the magnesium really wacked me out. its like being stoned out of your mind and having someone take all muscle control/strength away also....... baby is safe and sound though and I don't have to worry about what wacky things pitocin or pain meds may have done to her brain. can't help the magnesium or BP meds. so I try not to think about.
blitz1976 wrote: In your opinion is it more work to do espalier than to just keep pruning a dwarf tree?
I don't have any experience with espalier but I just can't imagine it being less work then a dwarf tree. my dwarf peach was never pruned. made a nice full bushy screen, wasn't over 10 feet at 8+ years old. I'm too lazy to train trees though!
I'm pretty clueless about mallow and their cultivation. I do know that they have a long history of, and are still used, as a food source. I like the fact that their native range is so widespread. to me, that equals a high liklehood of them being an extremely low input addition (if they don't already occur naurally on your property!)
what types of mallow are there? their specifc uses? growing condition preferences?
alot of wormers and medications are wholly broken down by the animals own system and do not pass through, others can pose problems. Ivermectin is a bad one for dung beetles. It would really pay to do your research and find out what is being used, what is ok and what is not. this could give you exceptional product and increase your access to material.
I am thinking along the lines of the "scale" of organic such as we have discussed elsewhere.
#1 - from exclusively organic operations #2 from farms that worm and use medications judiciously, infrequently and use products that are as freindly as possible to the soil. maybe incorporate some testing of hte finished product. #3 regular compost with who knows what residues in it.
having "grades" of compost that have prices that reflect it creates a bigger market.
it looked like the waterer was only slightly lower than the surface of the pond so I am not so sure pressure is the problem, although that is certainly something to address. I don't know about the gunking up of a hose. I got the impression that the concrete went almost all the way through the berm to the pond and that it was the thermal mass of the berm and pond and the passive transfer of the heat that kept the water from freezing. I just can't quite picture the float system or the portion where the water actually entered the waterer. it must have been very simple as it appeared there would be no way to access it after the project was complete. although that could be completely wrong and I just couldn't see the access or they didnt elaborate on it.
I caught the last half of a show about cattle where the farmer had constructed a freeze proof waterer. From what I could tell he had built a concrete in ground tank outside the berm of a pond. it had a gravity fed float system that released water from the pond into the tank from what I gathered. does anyone have any more details or tidbits about creating and using one of these?
the common witch hazel sure seems like it could be a useful and beneficial plant to have around. the extract has a variety of medicinal uses as an astringent. i suppose that my curiousitywas again peaked about it due to its common offering in labor wards to ease post partum swelling but it can also be used on insect bites etc.....
I am curious how one would create and extract of witch hazel. anybody?
its reportedly tolerant of a variety of conditions. I am particularly interested in its reported ability to tolerate polluted conditions. could it be used to help clean up polluted land?
its kinda of neat looking shrubby tree like thing too. aesthetic interest is always a plus for me.
so give me your thoughts and experiences on witch hazel!
) munching them. 
make sure and do research where you live and spend some time checking out ads. I guess it depends on where you are at. a regular 'ol pup from an actively working pair of pyrenees on someones homestead can often be had for around $50 here if you just wait till an ad comes up, and if you are willing to wait a bit longer and scan ads for awhile, you might get one for free. I had someone trying to give me a 6 mo old one last month. last year I was offered an actively working (goats) anatolian/pyr. beautiful great tempered dog. I used to sit for her and the goats while the owner was away. just didn't need her. 
but it can also be used on insect bites etc.....