I'm sure my Pieris is a Mountain Fire. At one time I had over 200 of them I propagated from cuttings and installed most in landscapes I was doing. I never ran into problems planting them in the Fall....or winter, for that matter. Our cold in the winter isn't too different from Connecticut's.The Pieris j., 'Mountain Fire' may look like a P. formosa forrestii because of the way it has been pruned and I took the picture just after the best red new growth color. Here's another picture of it with a taller variegated one to the left. Mike This post was edited by mikebotann on Wed, Jun 4, 14 at 18:16

Since this is posted on the Market Gardener, I would ordinarily discuss in terms of plants, but you're talking about a sustainable lifestyle, so I'm going to broaden it a little to include livestock. The principles are the same, it's just easier for me to talk in terms of farming. While there are some lovely books to read on those lists, I would say as far as reading goes, practicality first, philosophy second. You might do some checking on the lists and prioritize the recommendations. Put in some heavy duty time with the county ag agents. Ours supply farm record books that are a wonder for calculating costs and profits, maintaining livestock and crop records, etc. You can do part of this for them. The agent will be able to give you some idea of the established markets and farming in the area. You'll see what is overloaded and where there's growth. It will also be helpful to know things like: If you're going to raise sheep, it may be helpful to raise the same breeds so you'll have a local source for replacement ewes and rams, or so you can be part of a wool-marketing cooperative. Look at the talents and abilities. I like sheep and can handle most of the care necessary, such as shearing, etc. But I have big hands--not good for helping deliver a tangle of lambs. On the other hand, there have been times when I've needed to wrestle a hundred pound ewe, who has decided she will not walk even if staying where she is will mean drowning, up a steep and muddy bank in the middle of a rainstorm in the dark. We solve this with a partnership that lets us concentrate on our strengths. BUT, in time of necessity, we've each had to tackle jobs we aren't suited for. Those are the preliminaries. As I understand there are 320 acres total, with 300 rented out. That gives the youngsters 20 acres to work with? The main thing I would do is establish a relationship with the farmer or farmers that are renting the land. Offer to work in whatever free time your son and DIL have for whatever wages the farmers can afford in return for learning. Do they raise hay? Learn how to judge when hay is ready for cutting. Learn what grass works in the area, what kind of hay sells, what size bales are easiest to handle on the farm, what size bales bring the best return on the market, what kind of baler to buy, where a used baler might be available, how to handle minor repairs, how to load the twine, how to grease and maintain the mechanism. Perhaps the farmer runs cattle. Could the property support more animals per acre? How? Find out what kind of improvements the farmer would make on the land. Liming? Reseeding? Would a water tank make it better? Should that stream be dammed or diverted? Would bringing in a herd of goats to clean up the weeds make it better? Would the farmer make the improvements himself as a substitute for the rent? Would he pay higher rent for the improvements? Would he pay your son and DIL to check the animals, haul feed in the winter, etc.? Look for improvements that can be made gradually. Does the fence need improving? Find out how to run barbed wire. (It's harder than it looks and there are some techniques that will make the work much easier and much safer.) The field needs new posts? Start putting aside enough money from each paycheck to buy one post. Get the posts in place and then replace one strand of wire at a time. Or one roll of barbed wire at a time. In this way, your son gets experience in farming, the land is improved, and he's working towards a time when he can farm the property himself. Okay, so you have a plan for the 300 acres, what do the kids do with the 20? Market research will be the key. Find either a group that will give you mass marketing strength or find a niche that no one else is doing. Don't go for a kind of medium where you have competitors and some do well and some fail but most do only okay. South Dakota--Are there Indian Reservations nearby? Have the kids considered raising Indian corn--sorry, ornamental corn? Forget cultural authenticity--we're talking tourists here. Most will easily make the connection. Grow one season, dry and store, sell the next summer season. Stores at campgrounds would be potential customers. Would a roadside stand be doable for you? They would also have the fall decorations market. They could sell at the local farmer's market and even if their supply didn't sell one weekend, they could bring the same back the next week with small loss because dried corn doesn't spoil the way cut flowers might. They can also market shocks of corn as decorations. Some of the ornamental corn has different colored stalks--take orders, charge for delivery. They could sell mail order, seeds as well as the ears. The seeds are used in making necklaces for the tourist trade. They might also raise some of the varieties of blue corn, which beyond decoration can also be used to grind blue corn meal for Mexican dishes such as tacos, etc. Since most of these varieties are not hybrid, they should be able to raise their own seed after the first order. Surplus, since it's good corn, could be fed to their own livestock--you know, those goats that are clearing the pasture? The relatively short growing season can be managed since in my experience the ornamental corn sprouts can handle some frost die-back in spring, and they'll need to have a couple of frosts before harvest anyway. Patches of different varieties will have to be separated to avoid cross-pollination--or you can cross them and develop your own variety. Print labels on the computer, put the corn in a baggy, and bob's your uncle. Add gourds and pumpkins, depending upon the growing season, to go along with the themes of Native American crops and ornamental crops. They can even be planted among the cornrows. Ray

Welcome to New England. Another vote for taking inventory for a year before making major changes. Getting someone to ID plants, or taking photos and posting them on the Name that Plant forum will be a good start. (If you do post there, let us know so we can jump in!) Many plants can be ID'd in early spring as they sprout, and woody plants can often be ID'd from winter photos including close-ups of twigs and buds. Also, you can take photos now (before leaves) from your top floor windows or roof to get an overview of layout or measure and make sketches. What plants you have now may influence what choices you make in your ongoing yard and garden plans. For instance hemlocks and pines are both evergreen, but there's an insect, the wooly adelgid, that infests and may kill hemlocks, so which of those trees you have will strongly affect how you decide to manage that part of your yard. (Do you want to deal with pest control if hemlocks are what you have?) Another factor that is much bigger here in New England than in CA is the seasonal changes in light levels. Sun angle, day length, and tree leaves all strongly affect the light levels at different times of year, so what may seem shaded now may get sun in the summer when the sun is higher above the horizon, and places that seem bright now may be shadier once leaves emerge. Photos or sketches will help you keep track of this as well. As others have mentioned, container planting is a great way to get your feet wet. In addition to your zinc planters, you can keep an eye out for other containers - wicker laundry baskets, old buckets or containers from various inexpensive stores or sales, and have containers for sun and shade to move around the yard and dress things up for this year. You can do your veggies and herbs in large containers as well if you'd like until you know where your sunniest areas are. I add a bit of the "water crystals" to my containers and mulch the surface lightly with compost so they don't have to be watered as often. A few things you can do during this year in addition to container planting and taking inventory would include soil improvement of both lawn and garden areas, mulching if needed, getting soil tests done, and starting a compost pile for yard debris. A light mulch (2-3 inches) of organic material like shredded bark or compost on all existing garden beds will cut down on watering and begin improving soil. You may find that your town has a composting program for yard debris where you can pick up compost for free and then use it for mulch or spread lightly on your lawn. I think there was a discussion here in the last year about where to get soil tests done, but if you can't find it, I'm sure another MA resident can help you out. You may be able to take a class at the Arnold Arboretum or one of your local nurseries on pruning, but at the very least get a good book out of the library and a good pair of by-pass pruners and remove dead branches in your shrubs and any branches that are rubbing against another - nothing too severe for now. Start watching sales fliers for yard basics like a lawn mower, a spade, and a leaf rake if you don't have that type of equipment, since often there are preseason sales that will save you money. Both now and once things warm up, you can keep a camera in the car to take photos of yards you like. Since we have so much winter, planning your yard for winter interest is important. If you have photos of layouts or affects you like, it will help you when it comes time to tackle your own yard. Also, you can take photos of particular plants in neighbors' yards or visit some local nurseries or garden destinations to make a list of plants you like. (Arnold Arboretum, Garden in the Woods of the New Eng. Wildflower Society, and Mt. Auburn Cemetary are just a few places in your general neck of the woods that have great gardens.) Good luck! You don't have to tackle you whole yard at once. You can spend this year getting a plan, and then gradually work on putting it in place over the next several seasons. Keep us posted. Here is a link that might be useful: Name that Plant! forum

What a lovely plant, and what fun you must be having discovering things in your old gardens (sort of "Secret Garden" like adventure!) And how lovely that you have more than one of these beautiful plants, too! I wonder if it's possible to tell what variety of Daphne this is (maybe your nursery folks can research it for you, now that you've given them a "hint"??) There are many types, right? And I always wonder with "old" plants like these, why were they IN favor and why did they fall OUT of favor over the years... whatever the reason, you are lucky to have such a lovely shrub! I found a neat link to a document from 1825 describing Daphnes... I'm attaching the link. Also, in reading up (curiosity roused by your gorgeous photos!) it sounds as if all Daphnes are highly poisonous, and they seem a bit capricious as well (Tree_oracle, do you know if that's true of all the them?). Here's another link, this time to a Nova Scotia source (so a more similar zone to yours?): http://www.atlanticrhodo.org/kiosk/features/misc/daphne.html "Daphnes are notorious for being difficult to grow. This is only partly true. Some of the species can be very fastidious about their growing conditions most prefer a well-drained, moist, fertile growing medium. Many seem to enjoy even alkaline conditions but the species and cultivars previously mentioned seem to be very content in our Maritime soils. There is one thing that most species of Daphne have in common, they detest being moved. When one acquires a Daphne, a permanent place in the garden should be selected before the shrub is planted. I have seen D. mezereum moved very carefully early in the spring with most of its root system intact, leafing out normally and then dying the following season for no apparent reason. D. mezereum will some times fail for no obvious reason, this according to Dirr (1983) may be related to a little known virus. I personally haven't had problems growing D. mezereum. The Daphnes make great specimen plants and combine well with other shrubs with similar cultural requirements. This is a wonderful genus of plants that is seldom offered in the industry and are deserving of a place in the garden." Sounds as if none of the Daphnes like to be moved! But what a cool plant and how lucky you are to have it! (Just don't eat the berries!! :) Here is a link that might be useful: Cool 1825 reference to Daphne