I guess that would work. I'll look into it and yes there would be thieves. You can count them in on any endeavor. No police to call, but hunting motion sensor cameras can be of some assistance. Of no assistance for a pack of wolves or coyotes. Thanks for the reply. I'll check into it locally and see if there is any success on raising stock without being there 24 hours. It's cattle country here and they are allowed to roam in fences with hundreds and hundreds of acres. It would be just as easy to thieve from your backyard and miss being able to protect your animals in most of those situations.

vgabrov, There's way too much in that post for me to tackle! Maybe you could break it down a bit. Are you or you partners experienced horticulturalists? Do you plan to have off-farm income while you get things going? It can take a looong time to break even, let alone turn a profit. I'd write a pretty serious business plan. Are there any good restaurants and organic/farmers markets around you? I'd talk to chefs about providing what they want. Actually, I'd talk to anybody about providing what they want... I definately wouldn't want to be growing stuff, then trying to find a market. Go high-end, high-value crops. I suggest checking out permaculture, I think there's several places in Bulgaria

Yeah, the 2 yr old Dick Ward I have (from PDN) is about as hot a yellow gold in the middle, heavy substance, and the dark green border. Very little has bothered it from being moved out of the ground last fall into a pot, where it presently is, no slug problems, and don't think I have any sawfly larva issues either. You'll love having that to look at. It just glows! I also got my order from LOTG, and they could not ship the hypoleuca due to frost damage, will give me a $25 credit, wish they'd have called, I'd have asked for extra Masquerades or a bigger venusta. My Irish Luck was a single eye, big around as a leek though, and it is fine. The Honeybells has about 4 big shoots and about 8 or more eyes that are trying to poke up. It looks like a division of a mature plant to me, a humongous fat round bunch that has a satisfactory set of roots to hold it up. I got a So Sweet which was a mature division too, sort of sideways growing, and I replanted it sideways as well, because the big mass of roots and crown had a lot of eyes ready to pop up it seemed. And yes, Ken, I taped the leafed out guys up by their petioles. The problem plant was the small venusta, which I am giving some intensive care in a terrarium. It had a nice top okay, but there was only one big thick 1/8" thick root going straight down with only a few fuzzy little feeder roots on the side. Today I dosed it with RootTone, put it in a small pot with new media, and closed the lid until it started condensing, then I gave some ventilation. I've rooted a lot of things this way, much easier. I figure the nursery is familiar with the return/repeat customers and has no idea what my preferences are, or my gardening style. So I'll probably order from them again, just do it at the end of the season instead of the beginning. Wonder if I can get a hypoleuca at the end of the season? Oh yeah, I always comment on the way the order was packed, and LOTG packed perfectly, very close together to keep the wrapped plants from drying out any more than could be helped. They were not wilted on arrival, nor damaged. Still one order yet to arrive, from Savory. Also in the far north. They were my last order placed, so I just lumped everything else with them. Next time, I will have a better plan. Getting 12 plants so late in my growing season is a problem I wish to avoid. Oh yeah. And I have a First Choice winning, Afterglow, that is supposed to ship soon from Walters. So far no notice though.

Unfortunately, we're already thinking along some of these lines. Towing and/or sinking his boat and then buying him a new (unapproved) boat would cost us less than years of legal wrangling and loss of property value. We have no idea what his thinking is...he had told some folks he was going to sell, but obviously that isn't going to happen. His mental state is definitely in question because of things he's told people. (Asked me to keep it a secret that he was going to law school, which it turns out, he isn't.) Also, FYI, THERAPY dogs have no "rights". These are the dogs that go into hospitals (etc) to soothe groups of patients. Each state has different training and certification requirements, but are generally considered "pets". SERVICE animals are trained and certified, are for a specific person's disability, and have all rights, including no housing restrictions (ADA). These are seeing-eye dogs, service dogs, etc. COMPANION animals are specific to elderly persons in public housing situations (HUD). An EMOTIONAL SUPPORT animal doesn't need training or certification, but is for a specific person's disability, and has housing rights (FHA). ESA's do not have general ADA rights, such as public access, transportation, etc. For example, an ESA might detect an imminent seizure or help someone with a mental disability. Many, many people take advantage of the fact that most don't know the difference between these categories. Anybody can buy a doggie vest or patch online that says their pet is designated as one of the above, and most everyone will allow them to go wherever they want because they see a dog with a vest on and think it's what we think of as a service animal. I believe a previous board allowed the therapy dog because they didn't know the difference between a therapy dog and a service animal.