Thom Bri

Easy tip for daily commuting. Leave home 5 minutes early.
If you don't feel rushed and stressed for time, you drive more carefully. Saves a bunch over time. Trying to 'make up time' is what costs gas.

Woo-hoo! Down to the last few steps formatting my manuscript, getting ready to upload to Amazon.com. This will be my second novel. Took a ridiculously long time to get to this step. It sat half-written for nearly 20 years and I only got serious about it last fall.

Japanese tools are just 'different', aren't they. I really enjoyed shopping in Japanese hardware stores. I never saw a western style scythe that I can remember. Bet you could order them off Amazon.co.jp though.

A draw knife is a really useful tool.
For roughing out the bow it's a lot easier to use green wood than dry wood. Then set it aside to dry and do the final balancing once dry.

Timothy Norton wrote:How early can you plant peas in the spring coming out of winter? Will they do all right with some chilly overnights as we haven't reached the last frost date?

I have had up and down luck with early peas. I suspect a lot of them rot in cold, wet dirt. But I put a few rows in last week anyway. And this week we just got 8 inches of snow and 5F temps (-15? C). Hoping the snow will keep the soil from freezing but not sure it matters. We shall see in a week or two after the weather warms up again. Plenty more seeds to plant again later.

Expecting no harm from the temps to the carrots and lettuce seed I put down recently.

Elm and hackberry are good as well. Should be some there in NH. Mulberry is great but it's hard to find long enough pieces.

These books are wonderful. In terms of choosing woods, they go into detail on how almost any wood can be used as long as you adapt the design to the wood.

https://www.amazon.com/Traditional-Bowyers-Bible-Jim-Hamm/dp/1721670076/ref=pd_lpo_d_sccl_1/135-8381573-6962631?psc=1

Bee trapping is fun.

Looking forward to seeing your results.

I prune only the overgrowth. My 3 vines produce more grapes than we can eat or process, so I have no interest in max production, so I don't prune much at all. They have been growing wild for 20 years and appear healthy. That's enough for me.

As for cleaning the hives, it is not that important. Brush off the dead bees and scape off the wood. If you put new bees in the same hive they will clean off all the mold from the frames and wood.