permie mama

I'll send a seperate message so as not to post in the wrong place.

Btw, I'm going to hang on to the "Ms. Mama"! 

Hi Larry,

Your medicinal properties comment makes sense. It would hold true for chamomile since the very scent is calming. Of course, if I laid down on my tiny patch of lawn I would likely be ran over by little feet and that wouldn't be so calming although the kids would be laughing and that's good medicine! 

On a different note, I have been talking to Sochi Budin in Indonesia. I guess you are aquaintenc es. It turns out that I was next to his town when I was there last month. I visited the rice fields there. It was amazing!

Hi Paul,
Your lawn mix is almost identical to mine.  It sure looks pretty in the spring!

Yep, I didn't have all my "irons in the fire" when I typed that out.  I meant I wouldn't want to plant a monoculture. Thanks for catching it. I shouldn't be on the computer when I am tired. Thanks!

How about an all yarrow lawn?  I've seen one - it was lovely on the bare toes.

Or an all moss lawn - I've seen that before too. 

Even in planting a lawn, I wouldn't want to plant a polyculture. How about a fescue, yarrow, clover mix? These will all support each other and still be lovely on the toes.

Oh, I see what you are saying. Sorry for the confusion.

Yes, if he should find bees that work in his climate. Italians do well here in Western Wa. I don't know where Jiggy is.

I would like to try a top bar and a warre hive. They make sense to me. For the time being I am using what I have. I do believe that the bees need to make their own comb to help combat the varroa mite issues.

I just don't have the time to do it all.

Addressing local bees, honeybees are not native to the U.S. Where one might be able to find some available wild or what have you in different areas, you would be hard pressed here to find any. There are swarm lists that one can get one but those are just other peoples bees that swarmed so they are usually from the Apiary Supplier. Swarms are not difficult to catch except that you have to be at the right place at the right time and have a way to get them if they are really high.
height is the biggest challenge to me.

I'd like to know if anyone had been able to get access to honeybees bees that were wild from their area and where you are.

To answer your question, I would first ask if you can share one with someone near you? Broadforks are not needed every day and can easily be shared. Also, if you had one, would you use it? What gain would you have? In other words, Will lit save you work, save your back form injury, complete a task you could not otherwise achieve... For me, tools that help protect me from injury are worth it. (I was soooo much more invincible in my 30's!)

The broadfork in your photo looks really delicate. I would not go for that style.

I have two styles of broadforks. I bought small one that was affordable and helped me break up some ground but it was not all that effective for the bigger jobs. I use it for small jobs and for helping at others places. It has 12" long tines and is rather light. It has a place to step on that is traction friendly. Stepping on it helps it to sink in to the soil. It has a single handle that comes off of the shovel head and comes together in a kind of flattened semi-circle at the top. This allows me to use both hands to pull it back. The leverage is pretty good but it is not for serious work.

My larger one is really not mine. My friend Steve made it and has given to me on long-term loan. It is well appreciated This one was welded from heavy steel and the weight makes it easier to get down deep in the soil. The tines are about 18" and are tapered so they slide right in. It has a super long single handle which makes it easy for me to pull back after stepping on it to sink it in. The long handle makes for more leverage. It is a bit hard because the handle is square so it is uncomfortable to grip. I keep meaning to wrap it in pipe insulation or something.

I like that both of these tools have a single center handle. The others that I have tried had handles on the outsides. If you are not a big person, this can be really hard on the upper body. Furthermore, if it is heavy and you have to lug it across your land, one handle up the center is better than two spread out.

Both tools are handy and help improve porosity which is an issue in amending my clay soil. This is not to say that I do not encourage worms and microbial activity. It simply means that I am accelerating the process.

I am not sure how much it cost Steve to make the one that he did but if one could weld, I could see this as a good project. Last I heard, he was still making them in our area.

Okay, I hope this helps.

I just typed out a long reply comlete with photos and got an error message. What's up with that? Any ideas Paul?

I have bulb fennel in the house all winter. I keep it in a wide mouth mason jar (half pint) so just the bottom is in water. I take cuttings and it continues to grow. In the spring, I'll plant it outside. This fennel bulb is two or three years old. I plant way more to eat when I plant out but this one is my "pet" fennel. 

I also keep herb pots indoors and cut all winter and then put out in spring but thats not anything new.