I don't know if you are looking for meat bird farming or egg farming info, but I have some history about egg farming. My mom used to work in a commercial egg farm when I was pretty young. Since as you can imagine egg pickers didn't make much in the way of a salary, my brother and I would spend quite a few days at work with her during the summer when she couldn't afford a sitter. I'll tell you, there are not many jobs worse than that of a commercial egg farmer during the 70's. The hens were kept in very small wire cages so that they could only sit to lay or stand to eat. The eggs rolled out on a tray and the picker would come along once a day and gather up the eggs. Soem of the buildings had motorized carts, but most of them were push carts. Part the of job was to pull out the dead hens and put them on the bottom of the cart. We ended up with more than one partially crippled hen at home that my mom rescued from the egg tray-hens would try of crawl out of the gap and get stuck. After a day (or 2) stuck in the egg gap they were not able to stand or set any longer. The manager would kill these hens when he found them-my mom would bring them home to add to our small flock. (along with the occasional orphanded hen house feral kitten). I don't know if this is of any help but it was interesting to remember and make me feel so much more appreciative of my own job :) Cheers, Terry

What a lovely house!! It sounds like you have an image in your mind about how you want things but the landscaper has a different image of 'how it should be'. No matter how pleasing to the eye the final outcome may be, if it's nothing like what you see in your mind you won't be happy with it. If you look at the list and think ... "Well, it's nice, I suppose. It'll look pretty, I guess.", ditch it. You don't want to sit on your porch with a good cup of coffee and think "I wish...". You want to sit on the porch and think "My hummingbirds really love that little flower- so do I." To me, there's two types of landscaping. Get the job done and ooh-la-la. I have a steep slope where nothing wants to grow and I'm worried about erosion. It's totally a get-the-job-done type of project. Otherwise, I go for ooh-la-la. Specifically, MY ooh-la-la. It's MY yard and though I'm not above distant dreams of 'envy of the neighborhood', my goal is to please me. Your house is ooh-la-la. It deserves an ooh-la-la yard, lol. Were it me, and repeating some already given good advice, I would... -Wait. It's easier to plant what one wants then rip out what somone else wanted and replant. If everything is done when you move in, within a year you'll wish plant 'a' was a little more to the left, plant 'b' was in the back instead of the front, and that plant 'c' had never set root on your land, lol. Where you think you want an herb garden now may change after you've lived there a bit. -I love the idea of a curved walkway. Instead of having the landscaper work on the actual planting, have them work on the bones of the yard instead. Walkway, driveway, etc. As suggested by someone else, have them mulch the rest. -I also think you can find a lilac that will be happy in your yard. I've lived all over the east coast have seen lilacs everywhere. In fact, when I lived in Conway, SC we had the biggest lilac bush I've ever seen growing near the front porch. -Have the landscaper test the soil. I live on a lot that was once forest and I have fairly acidic soil. I try to work with that as much as possible. I don't have the inclination to go against nature and fight a never-ending pH battle with my yard. -Once you know what soil you're working with, look up local wildflowers. I live in NC and NC native plant society has a webpage that lists all the common plants of NC, whether or not they are native, where they commonly grow, and has a huge photo gallery. I really like that I can browse the photos since 'that little blue flower' may have several names. It also lists the invasives which is good to know. Even if you don't want to plant all wildflowers, it will give you a good idea of what species grows well in your area. -Work with a local nursery. The list you have looks like it came out of a "Landscaping with Lowe's" catalog. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of plants from Lowe's. However most of my ooh-la-la plants came from the local nursery.

I'm loving this thread! DLM - I forgot about your possible move! We LOVE that area and have visited many little cities/towns in NC. Also enjoyed the quieter beaches up through the Outer Banks. Maybe one day we will run into each other! How funny would that be! LOL AWM03 - we also love small town America. Most place we go we will explore the area and surrounding towns. There is a little town in NC (can't think of the name) that is Mayberry, TN!! We love road trips and do not fly. I guess I should mention we are neither one really interested in international travel. So much here in the US to explore. We have been up through Canada and that is beautiful country. Bumble, you said, "I don't really like sitting doing nothing even with a spectacular view, unless I have a great book to read or at least moderately good conversion. The view alone enthralls for about half and hour then I'm bored." I don't have a problem with that. We both lead busy lives and vacation is one of the times I do make time to read. There is also great conversation as there is no one I'd rather travel with than my husband. We can talk about anything and everything - or simply sit in silence. As for the view - it's not just the view for me - it's the surroundings and the sense of peace it brings me. Water soothes my soul like nothing else. An inn where you can cook? I've never heard of that. Gibby - you are right there in my spot! Kiawah Island!! We actually prefer Seabrook - and through VRBO found a couple in NJ with a lovely villa and a private dock. We have rented from them several times. She and I even email. I have found several good rentals from VRBO. We prefer condos, villas, etc. to hotels. On the islands I mentioned, hotels are few and far between. Our small dog accompanies us many times, and last year we even rented a LOVELY little cottage in the Highlands (NC) full of antiques. It was heavenly. Same thing last fall, we rented a cottage in Mt. Pleasant (inland but near Charleston and beaches) with a fenced in back yard. We will probably be renting that place again next spring. Stinky, you are NOT peculiar. Different strokes for different folks. I understand about your cat (see above). I am very, very particular about who I would leave the pup with. She travels with us much more than not. Thankfully she has been doing that from day one, so she is used to it. If she were not able, I would not be going. I meant to say in the other thread though, that we are opposites on the big city thing. I am a country girl till I die, and while I have enjoyed visiting some big cities, I am not completely comfortable in big cities. I have visited NYC and loved many things, but the hustle, bustle, the crowds, etc. are so not me. Loved New Orleans, but felt unsafe there. Have visited DC many times and have enjoyed much there, but we have always stayed outside the city. I remember my first trip there and how weird it was hearing sirens so often! And to whoever mentioned vacationing at home - we did that two different weeks this spring! We did camp 2 or 3 days one of those weeks, but we enjoyed having more time to take the boat out, visiting sites in our own area, lolling around in our backyard, etc. haha I often joke that I work so we can vacation. tina

I stopped tonight to get a "Coney dog" at the local "Coney and Swirl" which is the ice-cream/hotdog stand in my small town, very typical of what was in almost every small town in Michigan at one time. Anyway, while "suckin' on a chili dog outside the Tastee Freeze," I was reflecting on what someone told me once (from NY) that Michigan hot dogs were better than most other states because we had higher standards about what kind of meat could go into them. Not sure about the truth of that story though. When I got home, while googling "Michigan hot dogs" to find out more, I discovered this funny article from the Smithsonian magazine called, "The Annals of Geographically Confused Foods" lol! Apparently "coneys" in NY are called "michigans!" That really cracked me up! In my adopted hometown of Allentown, PA, apparently Mr. Yocco "invented" the chili dog too, and made it world famous to boot. ;) To me, a chili dog is just a chili dog, and little stands with root beer or ice cream and hotdogs do mean summer in Michigan, although for me coming home to MI will always mean, "let's have a lake fish fry!" There are three things I miss when I am away from my home state, one is all the fresh fruit, (but then my ancestors settled in an area just north of "Fruitport" Michigan), maple syrup and lake fish, either pan fish from the inland lakes or Great Lakes fish. I do miss walking down to the diary queen or root beer stand with my best friend and spending my allowance on some kind of junk food, but that kind of pleasure isn't quite what it used to me for me now. What can I say but, "Life goes on, long after the thrill of livin' is gone." Here is a link that might be useful: Michigan hot dogs from New York This post was edited by lpinkmountain on Fri, Jul 18, 14 at 10:09