Alex Everette

Alder Burns wrote:Two ideas come to mind, both of which I've done in different settings:
1. Pound sections of pipe into the ground where you want your poles to be. Pull them out as you pound them in to knock the soil out, so that when they are sunk in, the inside of the pipe is empty. Have these wider than your poles and simply drop the poles into them. The other way would be permanent stakes, say two or three feet tall, that your poles (pipes? bamboo?) fit down over.
2. especially for hard or rocky ground, use tall tripods made of bamboo or other lightweight material....these would be moved with the net....

Another hint...a jar, or even a metal can, over the end of the poles allows the net to slide over them and stretch without catching on the end....

I would vote for using bamboo poles. Not only is bamboo an incredibly sustainable resource, it's also stronger than steel and more robust than concrete, and way healthier for the environment than PVC pipes.

This is such an interesting thought........ I love it!

Noah Elhardt wrote:I am working on in-ground, outdoor, colony-style rabbit systems for the sahel. One of the primary challenges is keeping the rabbits from tunneling out. Bricks is an obvious solution, but end up being fairly expensive (~$100 for a 2x4m rectangle at 1 m depth). I'm looking for alternative ideas that would be cheaper, but wouldn't rust or rot away in the first few years. Structural integrity is unimportant - it must only be able to withstand rabbit burrowing.

Any ideas? A thin ferrocement is the best I've come up with so far....

Use clay to hold a wall of glass bottle together, and reinforce with chicken wire?

Thanks so much for the advice! My family always asks for my jalapeno poppers for big events, and sometimes I get burned even when doubling up on gloves. I didn't know about the milk, but am happy to have all of the tips.