We used to raise goats, chickens, a pig now and then, geese...made our own yoghurt and utilised "mexican" refrigeration, which is to say we'd kill whatever we were going to eat the day of eating. (Highest regards to Mexico for teaching us this energy saving concept)... We now limit our meat intake to that which is around us. Venison, grouse, squirrel, rabbit, woodchuck on occasion, and fish from the many lakes and streams around us. Keeps us from having to feed and water the critters, or hire a caretaker when we travel, or use costly refrigeration/storage/transportation techniques. We are fortunate to have 50 acres within the confines of over 80 square miles of state forest. However, I've read complaints from cattle ranchers in North Eastern Arizona that the elk herds (which number in the hundreds and perhaps a thousand) are grazing on "their" BLM leased land ruining it for the ranchers 400 head of cattle. I say, take the cattle off the land...allow the elk to thrive and allow the ranchers to "harvest and cull" the herd periodically. It would provide healthier meat in greater quantities than the beef provides from the equivalent land. Same goes for Buffalo on the Great Plains.

Amherst sells compost at a great price, and open to anyone, not only residents. It's NOT sewage, so no heavy metals and ok for veggies. I buy it by the truckload - $20 for a full size pickup heaped. Or you get it by the bucket. It's great stuff, however, it is full of little plastic pieces from landscapers who dump all their trash, not just plant material. So you will probably have to spend a fair bit of time pulling all that plastic out. I also buy shredded wood mulch from a place on Route 33 just west of Corfu. Much more expensive ($60 per truckload) but still lots cheaper than bags, and has no plastic in it. So it's good for mulching the top. You may not want to drive that far. $40 truckload for big wood chips. Topsoil I get from a local excavator. They all seem to charge about the same. $20-$25 per yard delivered. Here is a link that might be useful: amherst compost facility

When I was getting bids for my cabinets, I spoke with Larry Jones at Heartland Furniture out of Arlington. He came highly recommended to me and I was very impressed with him and his work. My building consultant used Heartland for his personal residence. I ended up using someone even more local to my build, but Arlington seems to be a good middle ground for the DFW area. Here is a link that might be useful: Heartland

The front door is just ugly aside from not being very weather tight. During the winter it leaks a lot of cold air from all sides of it. It's a solid core door, that has been dinged up through the years, no window either. We want something which will let in light to the hallway. Plus, the existing screen door, is a cheap one with fake stained "glass" in it and is falling apart. We recently painted it which improved it's appearance dramatically but doesn't take care of the problems it has. Plus it does nothing for the overall appearance of the home. We've been able to stop some of the air leakage with weather stripping, but because of the way the lock is installed it tends to jamb and not close properly if we use enough to really make it as leakproof as it needs to be. Thanks for the links for the French door tho. I do agree with you on the point of it going to look like a front door in the living room if I use something else - which has been part of my problem all along and why we haven't yet jumped into replacing this one. I want to make sure I pick the absolute right door here or it's going to really look terrible!