Will Fletcher

Beth Wilder wrote:... buying bras remains one of those horrific things: they cost too much, never fit right, and I end up with drawers and boxes full of the discards

I've never had a bra fit perfectly, despite being professionally (and not so professionally) fitted...

What I've been planning to do for years is make my own bras. !!!

My wife started sewing her own bras for many of the same reasons in addition to choosing the fabric and prints. She thought wires were right out for her until she made one for herself with some changes. She took a work shop with someone who calls herself “The Queen of Cups”, and found the advice valuable but is still on a quest for the perfect fit, though happier with her hand sewn then any store bought bra so far.

Eat Your Yard! Converting your Lawn to Food Production
May 20, 2017

Tantallon Public Library
3646 Hammonds Plains Rd, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3Z 1H3

'Eat Your Yard!' will be hosted by Transition Bay St Margarets, an organization putting on well organized workshops for the past since 2011 to build resilience within the community. I have attended a couple and have been pleased.

Jenn Scotland will be teaching the workshop, she lives in Nova Scotia, has a Permaculture Design Certificate, and sold me my first batch of worms for vermicomposting.

++++ Below information copied from the FaceBook event notice: ++++

Edible landscaping is a rapidly spreading idea around the world, with many people switching from ornamentals to edibles: plants that give back by not only looking good, but also providing fresh, delicious produce to consume. The best motto: EAT YOUR YARD!

Join us for an engaging presentation by Jenn Stotland about permaculture and edible landscaping, where we will learn easy ways to convert lawns into garden space for growing food. We will cover the basics of permaculture and edible landscaping – all aspects of increasing the productive capacity of your home during times of rapidly rising food costs.

Following the library presentation, we will head out for a field trip-Permablitz to a nearby St Margarets Bay resident who is in the process of such lawn conversion. This is your chance to get your hands in the soil as we will be learning by doing. Refreshments will be provided.

This two-part event will be family friendly and is open to all. The address for the on-site visit will be provided at the library event to those in attendance. If you are unable to attend the library presentation but want to come by the house, please email info@transitionbay.ca for further details.

I hope to make it up to the Wolfville Nova Scotia's Seedy Saturday on Earth Day, April 22nd. It is a beautiful university town, with a bountiful farmer's market that is hosting the event. I miss living in that town sometimes. I haven't been to the seed swap, but to the market many times.

+++cut and pasted from the Wolfville Farmers Market events page event posting +++
Celebrate the Seed

The Wolfville Farmers Market is Celebrating the Seed at their 10th annual Seedy Saturday event on April 22, 2017, 8:30am-1pm. There is a good reason to celebrate seeds as they give us so many daily gifts. Our abundant local harvests began with a simple seed planted in the rich valley soil.

Join us for a fun-filled Market day full of Seeds, Plants, Art, and more. Kid’s of all ages are invited to an interactive seed game. There is something for everyone, whether you have a green thumb, are just learning or are a seasoned veteran and you have a chance to win a basket of seed goodies! Be sure to bring your seeds to swap at the Community Seed Exchange Table. Everything starts with a seed!

I've been happy with the Lee Valley digging spade and fork. Unimpressed with the mulch/compost fork, as the tines bent badly out of shape while moving a couple dozen yards of wood chips, though I haven't taken it back to see if it is covered for life.

James Wheeler wrote:Bees, worms, natives, nitrogen fixers, diverse perennial edibles.

Hearty kiwi, sea berries, Hawthorne berry, black alder, black locust. Ameranth, comfry etc...

If you are still looking, I'm in Dartmouth and have worms (not in large quantities, yet but growing population). I'm using my urban property to propagate lots of plants, to hopefully start a larger site in the Cumberland county.

I've found Charlie the Tree Guy outside Truro to have some of the best prices and good stock on a great diversity of natives and edibles trees and shrubs. For more herbaceous fare I look to Ocean View Nursery & Garden Centre outside Chester (They also have good trees/shrubs but aren't as competitively priced).

Yes, more mass can absorb more heat. But this won't be the only physical phenomenon at play. There is also the conductivity of materials to consider. Air is a order of magnitudes better at insulating than water (and ice), so having that water nearly exposed to the winter (though a thin layer of glass) would actually act as a thermal bridge to planter and root mass, allowing the heat stored in the planter to be conducted back into the winter air much more quickly than if there was an air pocket.

The planter wall will already be interfacing with the mass of the earth, so the additional mass off water in bottles would be inconsequential, what you are really after is insulating the planter from the winter. If you feel you need solar gain, consider making the front of the planter a Trombe wall.

In "Worms Eat My Garbage", Mary Appelhof details how a Canadian set up a roughly 1 cubic metre outdoor worm bin for year round composting. It was a simple design, Styrofoam insulation board lining four plywood walls fastened by a couple bent eye-hooks on each edge. The cover was a sheet of 6 mil plastic vapour barrier with a four inch thick Styrofoam lid, slightly smaller than the bins width to float on top and allow sufficient air for worms and other composting lifeforms.

Sounded excellently simple, I'm going to try it this fall, as my worm population has outgrown my kitchen bin and I want more castings with as little maintenance/work as possible. I'll just build it on one of my existing raised vegetable beds, and move it around every time I need to empty it to benefit the soil.