Laura Hays

Looks to be an amazing tool. The scything aspect is a bit of a surprise, and a pleasant one at that.

Brian,
Thanks, I will check that out.
We only have a weekly newspaper (feel good stuff) and I gave up cable and such a long time ago. Leaves me out of the loop with a whole heck of a lot.

Hello K,
What are you calling "super hot" for the summer?
I am about 4 miles from the CO border and about 25 miles from Durango, CO. I am on the river. The cooler weather flows out of the mountains with the river. Not too shabby here, but it still gets into the upper 90s for a bit in the summer.

Hey Roberta, how beautiful your view is! Amazing.
We have been in an extraordinary level of drought. Up until about 2 weeks ago we may have had an inch of rain this year. I would prefer to have slow and steady, but if we get a ton of snow at once, well, I have done a lot of canning, so we will be OK.

Hey there Brian, we must be in the same 'hood. I sure am hoping to get more snow this year. Looking at river bottoms for the last year plus is a bit hair raising.
Our best to you.

Feidhlim, I have seen a few sources. Here are a few. I did not get too deeply into the issue since it is so easy to simply use other ingredients in my laundry detergent. Since I have alkaline mountain soil (clay and rocks, oh so much clay and a whole lot of rocks), I use a citric acid, baking soda, washing soda, castille soap mix. I don't worry about it being acidic since the soda will buffer, and since I could use some acid in my soil anyway.

http://plantstress.com/articles/toxicity_i/Boron.pdf

http://plantprobs.net/plant/nutrientImbalances/boron.html

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1026186311974 (abstract only)

Robert Lampert
I am just a bit south of CO. I have been making my own laundry soap. I have been avoiding using borax, as I have read that it can build up in the soil and cause problems.
Best of luck with all your projects!

As a resident of the high desert, I agree.
Currently, my washer drains out to the side of the house. I have put that into a wood chip pit hoping it scrubs a bit, and sinks down to water the garden sloping away below it.

Thank you, Chris!
Guess I will find some other really long type of climber. Beans, roses, etc.

I have been trying to figure out how to make a trellis that will go over my 1 story little house onto which to train hops. They will grow more than 20 feet, make great beer, are wonderful animal feed, and would help to shade my northern New Mexico 'estate'.
Has anyone done this, seen this, or have great ideas??