I have five giant dogs (700 lbs total), two cats, two parrots and a snake. My plant areas are off limits to all of them unless I am in the room and they are behaving. There is a way to have a plant/plants on a shelf with kittehs around. You can also keep them out of a room this way. Use a Scat Mat on the shelf or across the floor in a doorway. It gives off a slight low powered shock that animals do not like. They only have to feel it once and they will never step on the mat again. You don't even have to have the 9volt battery in it once they know what it does. They come in many sizes and are sold by most chain pet stores. If you can keep your AV going until it warms up a little, if you would like to, I will trade you a named hosta of your choice from all of the extras I have(many)for a couple of leaves from your AV. I will propagate it for you and give you back plants from it. I don't want you to lose your plant beacuse of what it means to you.

As the northern Italian hills and mountains empty of people, wild animals come flooding back. Roe deer and wolves have returned since we came to live at the farm in 2002, for example, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit if bears and lynxes eventually followed them. I'm generally for predators; of course I don't pasture livestock, and I would hate for my dog to end up in the belly of a wolf. I see no reason to expect a (human) repopulation of rural areas in the near future. Nik, is the same thing happening in Greece, everybody going to live in and around cities? Oaks are the dominant trees in dry woods in the hills where we live; chestnuts are found a thousand feet (300 meters) higher, though perhaps beechwoods are more common. Wild boars will stay quite close to human dwellings. After they tore down a dry stone wall ten yards from our front door, we called the boar hunting squad and they shot eight or so of them that had taken up housekeeping in the woods immediately below our house. About the boars rooting, I'm repeating what I read and can't vouch for its accuracy. I have read elsewhere that the boars are one of the threats to our rich but diminishing population of wild orchids (other dangers are the abandonment of grazing and, of course, agriculture and development). Hunters don't seem able to keep the boars under control. I heard that last year they shot 900 of them in our and the two adjacent townships ("comuni"). That's a lot of wild boars. Apparently wolves are hybridizing with dogs here, presenting problems for the wildlife biologists. I had read that the European wild cats can't hybridize with domestic cats, whether tame or feral: the offspring are weak and don't survive. True or false? They do seem like the kind of animal that would escape notice, being neither edible nor likely to cause economic damage. Suzy, I'm a vegetarian and have never held a gun in my life. Though I think I could eat game, just because most of the reasons for my not eating meat don't apply to them, and in fact I realize they need predators to limit their numbers. Then there's that murderous rage when I find a young recently planted tree or shrub destroyed by their nibbling teeth. It does no honor at all to my principles. I was glad yesterday evening when the dog scared up a deer in the woods below the big garden and chased it all over the hillside. I want them to be uncomfortable here. fduk, that's interesting: thanks for sharing. I do learn all kinds of things here. Melissa

To whoever put the alma paprika and Santa Fe grande seeds into the holiday swap, thank you!! They are positively prolific so far and I'm definitely going to enjoy this year's harvest. Would love to see photos of what others planted from the seed swap as well!

Bingo Graywings! Thank you! As stated in my post above regarding the beans in today’s kibble. “I’ve read that the ingredients on the dog food label have to be listed by the order of the ingredients by measurement or weight (I don’t recall which) however the first item is the primary ingredient and so on; and the first 4 ingredients are what the food primarily is made of. The reason there are several kinds of beans in a dogs food isn’t because they each have a different nutritional value, they’re all protein, it’s because the weight of a single type of bean will move that ingredient to the first item listed and the meat product will look insufficient to the buyer reading the label. It’s a trick.” I couldn’t agree with Dragonfly’s comment about animal needs differing more. Every animal is different, as are it’s owner’s preferences and resources. One training method may work for one, while it won’t for another. Some people crate, some don’t. Crating was not, is not and will never be for us. I feel very fortunate that even as a puppy, our dog has never destroyed anything or purposely had accidents in the house. I can leave a roasted bird on the living room table and she’d never touch it. It’s her breed and training, she’s never needed a crate. Some people prefer Raw food over Grain Free or normal kibble. I know of someone who’s dog can’t tolerate any kind of kibble or manufactured food and a boutique mix does the trick for the little guy. IMO, Dogs have been domesticated way too long and do not have any of the same needs a wolf would. When I was talking to our Vet about all the variety of food options, his response about a lot of the specialty foods was that even if a dog does still have similar food requirements as a wolf, the life expectency of a wolf is not very long and one reason was/is because of their diet. “The pet food industry is one of the most regulated industries out there. Nearly all pet foods sold meet AAFCO standards "Most state feed laws and regulations reference to the AAFCO Official Publication as part of the nutritional adequacy labeling for pet foods. This reference is to an AAFCO-established, science-based, nutritional standard." I find this claim to be almost laughable. “Nutritional standards” must not cover animal biproducts (which can get pretty gross) and chemicals that aren’t fit for anything to consume. Sorry but that whole idea is BS.