Jill Dyer

I used to cook on top of the old wood stove - two heat"settings" hot at the front and much lower at the back - "boil" and "simmer"  New stove is 'boil' all over, even the kettle has to have a trivet to raise it above the top a bit.  However, having a left over sandstone floor tile 30cm approx square on the top I can get a crisp finish for the bottom of an otherwise baked in the regular oven pizza. (Stone gets put in place before the stove gets lit). I miss the old stove, even though the new one is better and more efficient at heating.

Maybe consider those mostly hollow concrete building blocks* sunk into the ground, filled with soil from the excavations to put them in place then planted with the same ground cover/grass as the rest of the project.
*sometimes referred to as breeze blocks
Edit to add:  this is what I mean - no need for a close mow!  https://www.gardenista.com/posts/everything-need-know-grass-block-pavers/

A friend who grows copious quantities of beautiful garlic was recently extolling its virtues as a 'gentle' pest control solution.
Made up by crushing the garlic, soaking in water for a bit, then straining and putting the solution into a spray bottle.  Particularly useful for those little black bug critters that attacked his cherry tree.  Also good for aphids (it's a devil when they get into a broccoli head when it's ready to pick).  
Has anyone tried this method?   It's all very well relying on birds or ladybirds to do the job. . .any good for other critters?

French press is my go-to when traveling. All the hints above should produce a good tasting coffee.  Recent TV viewing of New Zealand TV series "Brokenwood Mysteries" had a hint that I haven't tried yet - coffee + the hot water, steep, then "wibble" before pressing.
The "wibble"involved gently shaking the pot from side to side to produce a "nipple" in the crema (the foamy stuff that comes to the surface)
I saw the "nipple" like the result of a water drop into a puddle.
Happy wibbling! 😉🍰and cake to go with.

Here for 18 months or so.  Always grown some kind of veggies, more or less successfully;  getting better with age and Permies help.  Rather cook and grow than buy where ever possible.  Well into the textile aspects.

Well, I had one, a beautiful "Double Delight" which started out yellow, then changed to pink as the flower aged.  Then the kangaroos got at it; then the feral deer.  It reverted to a single dark red flower of the rootstock.  Then, same again, aided and abetted by a couple of hares that could have been saddled they were so big.  Sad to say, that was the end of my rose, it's now just a stick.  Just waiting to see if there is any further attempts to re-grow. . .😒

Just watched an episode of "How things work" presented by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki  and available to watch via  - iview.abc.net.au  Australia's ABC TV.  it's how acoustic guitars are made in a factory - all the processes are similar to artisan methods, just more mechanised, but still with that personal attention to the fine details.
The timbers used are absolutely stunning!

Predators around here are foxes (digging)  raptors (swooping) and snakes (who knows how they got in!)  
Solution for the diggers was to buy the widest chicken wire available (about 1.5 metres) and bury about 30 cm under the surface on the outside of the fence.  The fence was also slack (i.e. slightly less tension than normal because foxes can climb and the slack nature of the fence discourages this.
The chickens were sensible and hid the moment a raptor was spotted, but the fishing line and flagging is a good solution, as long as it is above head height.
Mice attracted the snakes;  never found a working solution for either, though once we no longer had chickens, both vanished.  The chicken feed attracted the mice . . .

Leigh!  look what dropped into my in-box this a.m.
https://spinoffmagazine.com/spin-and-weave-a-sunset/
So, incomplete stripes, crammed warp for tree trunks, my fingers are itching to go.  😊

Washington navel;  mandarin;   and non-oranges - Tahitian lime, and Meyer lemon.  
The latter are more "cold" tolerant and grow well sheltered from the wind off the ice - i.e. from the south.