Johanna Breijer

Hello thank you for the amazon info.  I have ordered a new key.

have tried the nail suggestion and no joy.  I tried other shaped items with no luck.  But thank you for the suggestion.

I'm trying to change a chicken coop twelve feet by 2o feet into a workshop.  I have a bunch of wood they has come from a deck.  It is pressure treated so not safe to build raised beds for food use.  The coop is  old and not well maintained so the wall that gets all the weather is completely rotten.  I'm carefully replacing the laminated support struts.  Next is replacing the outer wall's ship lapping.  I can't afford the ship lapping so I plan to over engineer the wall with reclaimed 8 by 2 inch support boards.  I have 1 by 4s to cover all the joints.  They are very weathered.  I thought about sanding them and then thought my Ryobi 13 inch portable planer would be much faster and I would control the thickness of all the boards and keep them consistant.  I moved across Canada and I'm still finding my tools and stuff to made my new house and garden functional for me.
Along with some off my larger tools parts are missing.  The other tools I've found a go around to make work until I can get the missing pieces.  I'm missing the switch key to the planer.  It's the little plastic thing that allows you tool to start.  It is a safety feature to make it so children can't start it.  Does anyone know a work around so I can get the job done?The planer was discontinued and  this part is unavailable.  Help!
Thank you for any suggestions.  Johanna

Hi I had cancer.  Put a little water at the bottom of the bucket.  It will make it easier for emptying the bucket, and rinsing it out.  Drink or at least take a mouth full of water after vomiting.  Dry heaves can rip the throat and  bleeding on top of the puking is not a good thing.  

I have been planting water cress under leaky faucets outdoors for a long time.  The cress grows just fine with the hose being run every couple of days.  It's not finicky and easy to grow.   This way I use all the water and don't have to feel guilty about the occasional drip.

About 40 years ago, we were dropped off by the college and we had to survive in the park.  We were limited by what we were allowed to bring.  Ever slipped a mini axe down your boot to hide it and drove with it there for a couple of hours to get there?  I had camped there a few times before.  I found the park was slowly being over used over time.  I really noticed it in Gatineau Park as well.  They had paved over the paths to make it more accessible.  There were far too many campsites that were over used and stripped bare.  To keep the park open they had to have enough people to pay for the park services and personnel.  Sadly permaculture is pretty low on their list of priorities.

I haven't planted marigolds for the last three years.  I leave the entire plant to over winter and then dig them in the next spring.  I live in zone 3a.  I have been transplanting the volunteers all over the garden.  The excess plants have gone to friends and neighbors.  They self seed everywhere.  I have large marigolds and small ones.  All sorts of colours. They seem to breed true to the parent plant.  They are a tropical plant so they aren't supposed to do that here.  You get more protection for you other plants by letting the marigolds overwinter.  You should try just digging the plants in and see what you get.  I used to start my seeds indoors but these are actually bigger faster than the ones I started in pots.  
I prefer to just let the marigolds just do their thing.  It is one less thing to start indoors, harden off, and transplant.  Most of them come up where I want them, so there is very little transplanting.  That leaves me time and space to baby other plants for the garden.

Hi
I have been under the dome(AKA the giant magnifying glass that helped put everything on fire.)  My thornless blackberries are doing fine, but blackberries with thorns have been acting as one of my canaries in the heat.  By noon it's wilting from the sunshine.  I have placed shade cloth over them.  It helps but it's not a perfect solution.  It has been quite happy in the smoke.  The brown horizon and blood red sun seems to agree with the berry bushes.  I've been thinking of moving the bushes to a shady location of my yard.  I would prefer them there.  I'm allergic to sunlight.  Is it a good idea to move them to the shade or am I setting myself up for a different set of problems?
My raspberries have made bumper crops this year.  The ring the neighbor's doorbell and run away is a good way to get rid off the excess berries.  Food bank will not take them.  Neither will meals on wheels.  I have preserved  two years worth in the freezer and dried a bunch.  I use metal fencing to keep them confined.  There are raspberry suckers popping up twenty feet away.  They have invaded the hedge and I have left them there to keep out the wildlife and people.  I pull the suckers when they first appear.  I have left a few for neighbors who want raspberry bushes.
My blackberries are only 2 years old.  The thornless are producing berries this year.  The other blackberries haven't bloomed yet.
     

I have Monarda that does not spread or self seed.  Also bee balm.  For me the Sashta Daisies are hell bent for world domination but the killed off every couple of years by harsh winter.  Also clove pink attracts bees, and other benificials.   I start most of my perennials from seeds.  I have several types of Calendula.  They self seed and have many garden uses so I let them go.  I only take them out of where I really don't want too many of them and transplant them else where in the garden.

I'm phobic of fire.  I wanted to make biochar.  I was standing by my garden gate asking the passers by(mostly RCMP)if they would light my fire.  I was holding my fire starter.  This was just an other thing the crazy old lady did.

Sadly we would lose our power for 5 days to 2 weeks each winter (freezing rain would take out the lines).  The moment the power went out, I would fill the containers for drinking water.  I would drain the hot water boiler, and fill the bath tub with water.  I then drained all the water from the lowest place in the house.  This precaution meant I never had damaged pipes, or burst hot water heater.  I didn't bother canning my produce because it was so cold that if the power went out frozen items would be put in the garage.  Glass jars have a tenducy to burst when too cold.  I saved money by having frozen stuff in the garage for the winter. The draining of the pipes didn't take too long, and when the power came back on I would turn on the water again right away.  The hot water heater running without water to heat is a bad thing. I used Swedish candles to keep one room warmish. Winter sleeping bags helped with the cold.  Putting bricks in the fire, and putting foil around them when we were ready for bed, kept our feet warm in the bottom of our sleeping bags.  Putting up a tent over your bed could be warmed quickly.  Cats and dogs kept us warm as well.