alex Keenan

I have heavy clay soil in southwestern ohio.
I have day-lily, hosta, sunchokes (which have a grub issue)
what suggestions can you offer?

So far no real interest. It would be a shame to have to put them in the freezer. But it may come to that this winter.

Once a year meal, pork loin cooked in PAPA's
My trees finally produce their first good crop and I got them before the raccoons did.
So I finally got to make PAPA Pork.

I would start with what is your long term and short term goals.
When my family bought 5 acres one of the first things we did was layout a idea of what we wanted to place to look like.
Then we did soil samples and researched the soil types, drainage, etc.
This let us know what trees and shrubs would grow. They were our first objective since that take so long to grow.
So spend some time to plan and do some research.

I met my wife in Alaska and she was always telling stories of the great gardens her mom had as she was growing up in Ohio.
As fate would have it in 1997 my family found itself in Cincinnati Ohio.
So trying to create a great garden and edible landscape was just a given.

I have collected cast iron for decades and now buy very little.
It use to be much easier to get good deals on cast iron before Ebay. Now many thrift stores have their own Ebay account.
I was in a thrift store lately that did not have a Ebay account and watched people comb through stuff to sell on Ebay.
I new buy mostly what I need unless I get the rare good deal on something I could actually use.
I find it know better to buy some of it new and modify if needed with polishing.
I would recommend that you think about how you cook and how much space you have and make a plan for obtaining cast iron.
I picked up one dutch oven that sat for 20 year before I used it because I had others I always used.
Depending on your cooking style you only really need certain pieces in certain size ranges.
Like I now stick to six quart dutch ovens because of weight.
Cast iron, metal woks both India and China styles, CHAMBA COMAL, etc. there are many great ways to cooks and cooking tools to match.

Got a breeding flock of cotton patch geese that I need to get rid of.
Due to health issues it is getting harder and harder to take care of all the poultry we have.
I have help but really need to cut down on what we raise.
I live in the Cincinnati Ohio area so if you are interested in raising Cotton Patch Geese send me a notice.

In my spice cabinet I have ground mushrooms.
One can find or buy wild mushrooms.
Once dried they last a long time.
You will find a number of vege soup stocks use mushroom.
I use a coffee grinder to grind them into a fine powder.
This is then used in soups and stocks to add flavor.

I have seen logging operations stop in a number of areas over the years and communities that depend on this renewable resource take a economic hit.
Having lived in the frozen north I know that the northern forests do not have anywhere near the biodiversity of the tropical forests.
So there are a number of factors in this discussion that are not raised.

There are always two sides to a argument.

This does not mean that in this case I believe one side or the other. I have too few hard facts to make a rational opinion.


It is clear that the subject line was created to attract a liberal audience who is more likely to be anit-logging.
This tactic is used often and can be very effective because it appeals to ones emotions.
Unfortunately, in USA at this time society is becoming balkenized.
We are seeing similar things happening in the EU areas.

Expect to see more of this we versus them in the next few years.
Rational thought will be replaced with raw emotions!

Here is something you may try to see what is out at night in summer in your are as a food supply for birds.
One guy I know places quarter inch cooking oil in a small kids swimming pool. He puts a light in pool to attract insects.
He empties pool each morning and mixes oil and bugs with chicken feed.

There are grasshopper traps that use light to attract grasshoppers. Grasshoppers hit glass panel and fall into holding container.

Another option, at least in my area, is attractive lures such as Japanese beetle traps.