Old thread, but I found it quite useful! Still spent many many hours hunting down all the gritty mix parts in the Toronto area, so hopefully my update can help some others in the future. Especially for those looking for components on weekends. Turface: Profile Soil Conditioner by Nu-Gro. Found at Van Gongen's Garden Center. 6750 Trafalgar Road, Milton. Gro-Bark supposedly has MVP, but has terrible weekday hours. Fir Bark: Labelled as "orchid bark", approx 1/4" pieces in a smallish sized bag. Looks slightly composted. Very pricey at $8!!! Found at Terra Greenhouses. 280 Britannia Road E, Milton. Fir Bark Alternative: Repti Bark in 24qt bags, pieces need to be broken up since they are slightly too big. Three times cheaper than "orchid bark" above. Call ahead since big bags are harder to find. Petsmart (all over the GTA). Blender Tip: For the Repti Bark, I got a $20 blender from Walmart. Best yield was from filling it 3/4 full of bark and tipping the blender on its side, using a medium-high speed. That way the bark actually relatively evenly while blending and minimized dust. Respirator was very helpful. Chicken Grit: Called "Poultry Grit" here, labelled as "White Star Poultry Grower Grit 25kg". Comes in a woven plastic bag that clearly states Granite. Does not look like Dolomite, it looks like white granite. Found at Sharpe Farm Supplies Ltd. 2150 15th Side Rd, Moffat. Chicken Grit Fail: Do NOT go to the TSC Stores in Milton!! The website says they have chicken grit, but they have no stock and the cashier never remembered them ever carrying it. Grit Alternative: "3/4in Red Chip Brick", comes in a large 1 cubic foot bag. A quarter of the bag made it through 1/4" screen, which wasn't too bad. Found at Van Beek's Garden Supplies, 758 Southdown Rd., Mississauga. Unsuccessful locations: Jade Gardens Greenhouses, Sheridan Nurseries, Bulow Garden Center and Landscaping, TSC, Acorn Landscape Supply (and many other landscape supply stores). Crushed limestone is very common and popular, but of course unsuitable (at landscape supply stores). Sphagnum peat: For 5:1:1 mix. Easily found for 5:1:1 mix. Terra had 1 cubic ft bags. Perlite: For 5:1:1 mix. Cheapest place with reliable stock was Sheridan Nurseries. Photo below of my final gritty mix materials (clockwise from top): White granite chicken grit, turface/soil conditioner, blended repti bark, $$ fir "orchid bark", screened chipped red brick. Canadian quarter for scale. :D

I have a vintage O'Keefe & Merritt stove, built in 1948. It has 5 pilot lights on it and I do not have to manually light any of them. I bought my stove in LA in 1982, from a used furniture store that also had tons and tons of vintage stoves, mainly O'Keefe & Merritt. All had been steam cleaned inside and out. All had new piping for the gas. I have had one service call since then and it was a minor one. Whether the stove in which you are interested would be a good choice, would greatly depend on the brand. I doubt it is an O'Keefe & Merritt as they were mainly sold only west of the Rocky Mountains (stoves traveled by train in those days, so there were "east" brands, and "west" brands). O'Keefe & Merritt were a luxury stove when new and are now considered highly desirable.

Hi all, everything is still growing but slowly. Halloween update Oct 31/17 Pisang Ceylon new leaf popping up Dwarf Cavendish with a new leaf on it's way Basjoo out growing it's spot. Will have to be chopped back in the spring

I think that this new layout give you some very custom features that would be unexpected in a modular home (things like that shelf that allows the inset fridge to make it look built in in the kitchen). I love the window placement in the rear of the house public spaces. I might consider moving the service / side door so that you are forced to go through the mudroom (encouraging a stop there...) and not necessarily having a straight shot out the hallway. Echo the concerns about the mudroom being too small, and passing through the mudroom to get to the laundry. HOWEVER - if there is a garage in the plan for the future - it would be an easy extension to convert a connector to a mudroom and then have the current combo room become all laundry (and separate the functions) Perhaps this was contemplated with the existing design, as I do see the "future garage" / driveway listed. There is really good privacy between the bedrooms here and good access to the full hall bath - I think that design element will really pay off for you in the long run. Looking good!