Jill Dyer

Bonfire if I absolutely have to - I tend to be the Grinch of Halloween, thank goodness we live far away from everybody.  Pranks are just plain annoying - why inflict them on someone else.

Suggest making cords by finger loop braiding and/or using a lucet tool(sub. a carving fork if you trust the students not to poke at each other) or even a short length of woven braid a la inkle  then there's always natural dyes if that hasn't been covered yet.
Do you have access to bamboo - not promising, but that might be flexible enough to make a bow.  Length of linen yarn for the string.  Watch everybody's eye though!
Soap stone - is it square-ended - if so it could make a nice stamp with initials or a small design carved into it.  plus handmade paper?

I didn't succumb to random over 40's purchases, but my friend gave me an electric knife for my 40th birthday. She said we need all the help we can get in advancing age. . .  I have only used it a couple of times to slice up biscotti, and then I found that the regular bread knife did a better job.  

Just maybe the problem is soil that is "too heavy"  Seems that carrots like a sandy soil to grow properly.  I've finally cracked it - bought in some garden soil from the local landscape centre, which had a fair proportion on sand in it.  I planted a whole packet of a variety that had round carrots - a bit like the shape of radishes - and what do you know, the little marvels have ALL grown, and I'd sown them thickly in anticipation of minimal germination.  So, anyone who has success with carrots, can I thin out and transplant them?  Please. . .

My library uses the Libby App too. This has enlargement features for the text and the background can be altered - I use the sepia setting. Only snag is it releases a section of pages at a time and can't be used offline. Downloads go to a smallish Hp laptop.  This is slightly problematic as when there is no internet/power only the already downloaded pages are available. Power outage yesterday and my husband set up the mobile phone as a 'hot spot' and there was internet available and the computer worked on its battery. Lucky me!

Really not sure what contributions the birds here make to the fertilizer load, but I certainly gather up the contributions from the 'roos.  It's fine in potted plants, since it's fairly fibrous, and also broadcast about the garden.

Native plant Spiny mat  rush was "dead" for 2 years - latest rain has started some new growth- surprise. . .
Eucalytus trees have leathery leaves which hang positioned to avoid the direct sun. A lignotuber ensures new growth after fire, animal depredation or other disasters  
For the rest - veggies etc, they just wilt, however much water they are given, transpiration exceeds the uptake - most disheartening.

I'm wondering if those really hard to eradicate species have a lignotuber or similar root feature.  Usually just under the surface of the ground - appears like a small swelling on the junior taproot.  Best option there is to use a spade or sharp trowel if bending is an option, to cut them off at the socks.  This is how I deal with unwanted Euclaypts.

It wasn't my fault, honest!  
Turned to the recipe for Black Bread - rye based, coloured with cocoa and coffee.  All went well, followed the recipe to the letter, since I hadn't made it before.  Added the 300g of melted butter. . .  well, that turned out to be a misprint.  The mix went totally soggy.  I see my recipe book now has a note - 30g in pencil and underlined.  I baked it anyway, and it was awful.
Then there's my first fatless sponge cake.  There I didn't understand the instructions about beating the egg yolks. . . flatter than pancakes resulted and even the chickens wouldn't touch it.

This is a great idea, especially since there seems to be a 'world shortage' of trades-persons.  I really hope that it's not some misguided original poster trying to be smart.  Worth enquiring about with Home Depot in any case.