Matt McSpadden

Just to clarify the piece about making nitrogen available to other plants... it is my understanding that the nitrogen (either nodules on roots or in the plant itself) is not available to other plants until the nitrogen fixing plant dies. So the nitrogen is not available while the field peas are growing... they must be killed either by harvest or chop and drop or be at the end of their life cycle before the nitrogen can help other plants.

Denise Lacara wrote:That link didn't go anywhere, and I think that berkey dealer went out of business. I bought from this dealer https://www.bigberkeywaterfilters.com/

Thanks for catching that. I have edited to give a different link that works.

I am blessed to live in an area where I have not had to deal with forest fires. So I do not have any first hand experience, but from watching and reading, I think the current suggestions are on track.

Make sure your house is built from stuff that doesn't burn.

Make sure all dead wood is removed from a very large circle around your house.

Increase the amount of water in the landscape and in the soil will help over time. This one is not a quick fix, but the more green and moist an area is... the harder those plants will be to burn.

Conversation over text with an old friend.

Hob: "How are you doing?"

Nob: "I don't know..."

Hob: "What's wrong?"

Nob: "About three years ago my doctor said I was starting to go deaf... and I haven't heard from him since".

I don't have a lot of experience with RV's... but I did just rent one for a week long vacation with my kids. It was great having everything so close... and it was kind of nice to be forced to keep things organized and put away :)

The issues that I hear about are usually related to repairs. Almost everything is proprietary which increases the cost of repairs significantly. Most of the animal and chewing problems are related to parking it for long periods of time... this can happen to any vehicle in those conditions. Also, depending on the class (and type) of RV... they have non-standard engines and not as many places will work on them.

It was recommended to me by mechanics who work on these things... to get a skoolie (a school bus converted to be an RV). This allows you to use standard parts when retrofitting... and just about any diesel garage can work on buses if you have trouble. They are also a bit more tough than some RV's as far as the outer structure and can often be bought from school systems on auction.

A second vote for sunflowers for the big pollinators and a second vote for sweet allysum for the small pollinators.

Another vote for drying them. Then you can crunch them up into powder or flakes and they will keep for a very long time if dried properly.

Nancy Reading wrote:...That ridge line looks odd to me. Why are the ridge tiles doubled up at one end?

It looks like a ridge vent to me. They are becoming more common. A plastic piece is inserted and lifts up the ridge shingles to allow hot air to escape out that way. Could certainly be a water entry point too with wind.

The USDA announced today that they are planning to outlaw round bales of hay, citing concern that cows are not getting a square meal every day.

When I first moved to a previous property there was about a 1.5 acre field that was crawling with grasshoppers and crickets (pun intended). It must not have been as bad as your situation though, as my garden was barely hit. I guess they had enough food elsewhere. I rotated my chickens all over it and boy were the yolks dark yellow/orange that year :)