Oh, Annececilia, you have precisely nailed the specialness (terrible grammar, I know) as it truly has become something of a family endeavour. Although the wood means different things to all of us, it has bonded us together better than any single thing I could have imagined. The youngest, Tas, has bought a second-hand cargo net to string between trees and is already planning ziplines, ropeladders and platforms. Naomi, my middle daughter, lives nearest the wood and is deeply involved, along with her daughter Phoebe Rosa, (our grand-daughter), making themselves a tipi to stay in (and scavenging timber for a tree-house) while my eldest. Rowan, already a committed gardener, has invested in many green woodworking tools and he, and my sweetheart, Reuben, have made a sawhorse (Champion, the lumber horse) and a pole-lathe with plans afoot to make charcoal, coppicing and other woodsy things. When we have children, I guess we start to think in a longer term than the next week or so and even the idea of 'legacy' has been sneaking into my thinking. Obviously, we have nothing to leave them with apart from their wits and even if we had money and property, I have seen families torn apart by the very things that had been meant to protect them......but a bit of woodland, too small for much and not saleable in parts (by covenant) really is something quite remarkable to sustain our family. Neither Reuben nor I have much of a family ourselves - I was adopted and Reuben's family are no longer alive......so our little dynasty starts with us, really. To to have this project, glueing us all together, is infinitely precious to me. I loved your story of remembrance daffoldils - such a special act of thoughtfulness which resonates every new season - what better celebration of life could we hope for?

Glad to hear that Woodlanders appears to be hanging on. I got my stuff from them very quickly. The ruellia caroliniensis is doing fine. I'm patiently waiting for the salix nigras to show some life. The salix came from pots so I'm not worried. KC

Oh, me too! Can I jump on the âÂÂoverwhelmedâ bandwagon? This weekend was my busiest weekend of the year because IâÂÂm the music director at my church & there was a celebration every day - Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday! So, of course, my family decided that Easter supper should be at my house! I still hadnâÂÂt gotten all the kitchen cabinet doors back up from the repainting, the dining room was a mess from re-varnishing to of the room doors (drop cloths & saw horse) and the whole house needed cleaning because like Calamity J, I was sick for 2 weeks. So it was a mad scramble to get everything presentable for the big supper yesterday. The one good thing about having people coming is that itâÂÂs motivation that I wouldnâÂÂt normally have when itâÂÂs just me having to look at it - haha! But the darned quack grass has been busy outside while IâÂÂve been busy inside & it all looks a mess. I had piled whole newspaper sections (not just a few sheets) covered by literally 10 inches of wood chips & still the quack grass comes up. And you canâÂÂt buy Grass-B-Gone in Canada, so after a lot of internet & Gardenweb forum searching, I have decided my only option is to go with the aluminum flashing underground around all the beds, because I just canâÂÂt keep up with all the weeding. And like Kokszta Kid, I didnâÂÂt cut anything down last year, but at least the house it tidied up, so as soon as the good weather comes back, I can get out there & get started. The problem is I also have gadd like Thyme2dig (gardener attention deficit disorder - or is it gardener add because IâÂÂm always add-ing projects to my list!!). So I want to get started on lining those beds, but then there are the window boxes I want to add, and I have vowed that I will not have a single unsown seed this year! So I might alternate - do one bed, then build a window box, so a couple packetsâ¦

Gary, I guess that what I mean is that the water temps that influence the whole system are kept at or below room temperature. In the winter, the average temps are in the 50's or lower. I generally keep it in the high 60's to low 70's in the summer. I can drop the temps back into the 50's with a good water change and frequently have to do so. I understand that temperate is probably not the correct term, but it helps to show that it's not a tropical set up from the start. Out of all the setups that I've had, this has been the most stable and easiest ever! When I lived in areas with hard water, I tried to stay with my Tanganyikan cichlids. I now have very soft and very cold water, so I'm taking advantage of it. If I didn't and still wanted this setup, I'd have to invest in a chiller. There is really no top on it. I think that I have said before, that I never finished building it. I ran out of spare time at a point and just threw the fish in and let it go. I also could see that I wanted so much more than one this size could do. I've been impressed with how little tech I used and how well it all works. I have to radically trim the plants back or I'd never see anything. Nothing has been added for several years, with the exception of live foods for the fish and new orchids. Scott