Catie George

I like sand. I grew up in Alberta, where it's often too cold for salt, so instead there are sand yards, where the sand is stored for the summer, then applied over the winter, and then swept up by trucks in the spring. Also in a location where you'd get fined, or sued,  for icy sidewalks. We used sand, and just swept it in the spring.  I really missed that law where I moved to somewhere maintained by the city, who left 1-2" of ice/slush on the sidewalks, to avoid damaging their plows!  

Now in Ontario, the local municipalities put out a sand-salt mix for people to grab for free. I like it, because it doesn't freeze solid like wet sand, and is far less salt than actual salt, plus it adds traction, so you use way less salt... Also, admittedly, I like it because it is free, and I am cheap. I also use ash, but wouldn't in the city. The eco friendly ice melts work well, are less damaging, but very expensive. I use it on my north facing landing, where I don't want to track in sand or ash.

If you can, another solution is physically reducing how much ice you have to deal with.

Making sure your sidewalks are edged before winter, which creates little mini drainage channels for small amounts of meltwater to drain. And, of course, scraping sidewalks to the ground after a snowfall. My mother reduces the ice on her sidewalk by trenching over to a drain in the fall, which often gets clogged with weeds, ensuring that water has a path away from the sidewalk.

I have encountered 3 kinds of adhesive labels.

1. Comes off with hot soapy water.
2. Comes off with oil (I tend to use vegetable oil)
3. Comes off with alcohol.

I also like a little razor scraper, for the stubbornnest labels on smooth jars or to save time on thick plastic labels which can't be soaked easily.

Razor scrapers are also great for removing countless pieces of old tape and stickers someone has decided to put on every single window in a building, and then allow to sunbake for years, completely bypassing the 'what kind of adhesive is it?" question entirely, though it might take a few days to get them all.

'Tis the season.... For fenceline clearin'!

Well, at least at my house .

I'm slowly 'buying' myself more land from what's currently covered in wild grapevine. Early Winter, before there's a ton of snow and while I don't have much going on in the garden is a pretty ideal time to work on it. Late winter works too, but the ground tends to be soggier.

I've been enjoying making grapevine wreaths this year, and decorating them with other bits from my yard, to make completely biodegradable (and free) gifts out of something that's otherwise a never ending chore.

I like to grab a huge multi branched, 20-40 ft piece, wrap it in a circle, tuck in the ends, then wrap shorter thinner bits around that base to fill it out and keep everything together.

Really thick grapevine trunks can also make interesting wreaths if you find a large enough piece and are flexible about the wreath being precisely round!

Christopher Weeks wrote:I'm curious, do random non-UScians know that our states, by name, are part of the US? If I tell rando international folks that I live in Minnesota is it usually more meaningful than saying I live in MN? (And I now live closer to Canada than I do to any of the other four states where I've previously resided, so it doesn't surprise me that Jay, specifically, knows Minnesota, but I wonder more generally.)

Minnesota is that place across from Thunder Bay which also likes Hockey and has lakes and fishing. I think it has a lot of state forests?  I've generally heard about it in media. I'd say I can probably name a stereotype or impression and a general geographic region and climate for most US states.

MN is... Probably a US State, since someone assumes I know what it is. Erm.  I dunno, Michigan? Montana?

It's pretty common to learn US states either formally in school, or just through cultural osmosis. I recall labelling state maps at one point, and having competitions in the car with my dad, naming as many as I could (we did this for countries and capitals, too).

I am guilty of using provincial abbreviations. I've lived or worked in BC, AB, ON, NL, and NU. Have driven through/stayed in SK, MB, and QC. Would love to visit YT and NT someday, and the Maritimes. But they're really not helpful for communication even with other Canadians!

General rule of thumb is to prune no more than 30% at a time, and to use winter pruning to control shape, summer pruning to control vigour.

The goal is to avoid crossing branches, too many branches emanating from one spot, upright branches, branches facing down, and branches facing into the centre. Think vase shaped with 3-5 main branches, equally spaced.

It took several years for the plum to get to that shape, I would expect it to take several years to fix it. I'd start in late winter with any diseased or damaged branches. Stop, walk away, come back another day with fresh eyes, do a bit more, working on too close branches. Then summer prune to keep the size in check, and go back next winter.

Try to remove branches to the branch collar, rather than leaving a stub that will resprout and leave mess next year, and tip back branches you want to shorten to a bud in the direction you want the branch to continue growing next season.

Do you have room in the house for a systems room of some sort? Like an internal closet?  

We had a super insulated pump room on the exterior of our basement free house, but it needed an electric heater to keep the pump room warm. An internal closet (probably needs about 2 ft×2 ft of floor space) would be better if you keep your house continually warm.

I currently have a shallow, surface well about 200 ft horizontally, and with the intake maybe 30 ft downslope from my house, so I have a jet pump, although mine requires 240V.

If you expect to drink the water, I'd try to make any pump room/house large enough for water treatment equipment to be installed in the future, like filters and UV. My water treatment to get my surface water potable takes far more space and energy than my pump!

Edit : I just have a standard pressure tank, mine is ludicrously small, I believe 5 gal. If I were designing my system new, esp using solar power, I'd chose a large pressure tank.  Part of my water treatment systems is an under sink RO that works on the water pressure, and has another maybe 5 gal pressure tank. It would be nice to have more water available without running the pump. My exterior tap for watering my garden  bypasses the pressure tank and filters.

Challenge update:

My grapevine wreaths are made, and I will decorate the wreaths right before gifting with a bit of boxwood, dried hydrangea flowers, and thyme, all harvested from my yard. My test wreath looks great

I am just finishing up the 3rd round of seasoning on the antique cast iron pan I am giving a friend.

I have bought two gifts  (wool dryer balls, and a stainless steel frying pan), which I know will be appreciated, using reward points.

Grocery shopping tomorrow, then onto baking - first gift food I am making for gifts is frozen, reheatable hubarb crumble, made with my own rhubarb.

Money spent so far ? $0.


In slightly related musings, I heard someone on the radio advertising a local holiday market this weekend, that they claim is 'Perfect for last minute shopping '

To be clear, that's November 29th.

I think part of this personal challenge is proving Christmas can be joyful, include lots of great gifts people qppreciate, and NOT involve stressing that you are running out of time to prepare, in November, or spending buckets or money!

In a situation with neighbours, I had a lot of success with a 36" tall dog exercise pen formed into a circle, and kept covered. You can pick them up inexpensively used. I liked how portable the exercise pen was and it looked tidier than just a heap or my attempts to make circles with wire fencing, and the volume it contains is about right down a pile.  I operate my piles as 1-2 year cold compost piles, with each year getting a new pile, and ideally, the pile sitting another year before use.

If one is inclined to flip their piles, the ex pens open up easily to allow you to do that, but I decided the increase in speed want worth the increase in work to me!

Of course, keeping the pile covered with carbon rich materials to avoid smells is important too.

I hate the standard garden hoes. They're too heavy for me, and too big in the heavy soil I usually work in. I do better to do multiple passes to dig trenches than try to force a heavy hoe through heavy soil. I can see how they would be good if you had more arm strength.

Lately my most used tool is the hand Korean Ho Mi Digger. Bought it this spring and feels like an extension of my hand, perfect for digging holes to plant things, creating a furrow, hilling, weeding, etc. I love it, but it isn't ideal for longer rows. I have used it for everything from planting bulbs in my lawn, to planting tomatoes to moving mulch, to weeding between onions.

For long handled hoes, for planting, I most often use what that image calls a nursery man's hoe, but sometimes also a Warren hoe.  

The nursery man's hoe is my favourite, very versatile and much lighter than my 'normal' garden hoe. I like to make a narrow furrow with the side, and it also is good to scrape up small-ish weeds and is weirdly my favourite tool for dragging wood chip mulch into a wheelbarrow, and for spreading it.

For strictly light weeding, I had an onion hoe I loved, and I also use what they are calling an action scuffle hoe, which is only good if you don't have rocks, and really struggled in the heavy till of my last garden.

I haven't been impressed by the Dutch scuffle hoe (mine is a garage sale find might need sharpening).  All but 2 of mine were garage sale finds (the Ho Mi and the oscillating scuffle hoe).

Jay Angler wrote:A friend of mine really likes to see lots of presents under her Christmas tree - it brings her joy.

Soooo... the household rule is that anything that gets purchased in December for any reason that isn't *needed* until after Christmas, gets wrapped and goes under the tree. Anything from a package of paper clips to extra toilet paper is fair game! It works for her, and her family is happy to indulge her. .

We do this too (albeit not with toilet paper). ! It's super fun to wrap things like a new set of work gloves, and label them as from the dog who ate the last set. Or address a new set of kitchen scissors as 'For she who opens the kibble bags'.  My dad would occasionally address gifts to himself as 'To: the Handsomest Man Alive.  From: (his name)'. If you wrap them early enough, even if it's a gift you wrap for yourself it ends up being a nice surprise. I have moved to a lot of reusable boxes/bags, so other than a label it's a fairly free thing to do.

Occasionally you end up rummaging under the tree on December 19th or something, when you really DO need the thing earlier!