We bought a flame-throwing weeder this summer when we were going crazy in our first season of fighting weeds organically. I'm developing/landscaping a half-acre yard and orchard on a slope -- lots of work. I hire a group of six high school boys. They are great workers, and love the flame-throwing weeder (and riding mower/tractor). When a fire started in the weeds under the gazebo, all work stopped and great excitement ensued; boys raced from all parts of the yard to witness the event. The only woman present had to remind them the water hydrant was a scant 12" from the gazebo: TURN ON THE WATER! The flame thrower makes the 4000 sq ft of graveled area we have in various pathways and patios look great -- after about 8 hours of labor, and for about a week! I'm quite disappointed in the efficiency and effectiveness of this device. We pull all large weeds that pull easily, and spot burn remaining weeds, not until they are brown and dried, but just until the edges of the leaves turn black. We do not bother to pull out the dying weeds; they dry up and flake off and away. Several weeks separate treatments, so any weed whose roots are not killed grows back nice and green. We're going to try treating the same area 4-5 days apart, and see if the effectiveness goes up. But what to do about all the seeds that blow in? Corn meal gluten, so far, isn't doing anything (does one need to wet it to activate it?). We do have landscape fabric under the gravel; I'm quite sure it is not being burned. To Rachel Beagan, how is your hillside of perennials now? Did you get control of the weeds and grasses growing in amongst the plants? I tried to turn a grassy area into a shrub bed about 15 years ago, and lost the intense battle against the grasses reclaiming the area. I didn't know at that time about sheet mulching with cardboard under the wood chips. I have now found that killing the grasses and weeds first by covering with thick cardboard, and THEN planting, then surrounding the shrubs with new cardboard and 3-4" of wood chips gives a much better result. I find, though, that the cardboard has to be replaced about twice yearly (rake away the decomposing wood chips, put down fresh cardboard, and cover with old and fresh wood chips) to keep the weeds away. A lot of work, but gives a better result than constant weeding, in my opinion. Better yet is to take out the sod (also a LOT of work), then plant and cardboard and wood chip. Bottom line for me is that weeds are here to stay; get used to it. I'm sure open to any reports of vanquished weeds in large areas, and how that was accomplished.

Deborah, My comments are mostly common sense, yet probably worth putting in print. I've tried to limit my suggestions to those related to gardening. Avoid any contact with poison ivy. A severe case might normally warrant cortisone steroid treatment, which you clearly can not use during pregnancy. On general principle, avoid anything with toxic plant parts or seeds. Datura and castor bean are two that come to mind. Go way out of your way to avoid physical contact or inhalation of any chemicals, including pesticides, weed killers and fertilizers. Genetic makeup is determined in the first trimester and you don't want chemicals influencing the outcome. If you have cats in the garden stay away from the poop. There is much discussion on this topic elsewhere on GW. I don't believe this is the appropriate forum to discuss the merit of the theories. I say, "Why gamble?" Gardening can be heavy duty business. Speaking from experience, don't lift anything heavier than a baby. You may not even feel the damage done and it isn't worth it. Don't listen to those who encourage you to consume plant products on the basis they are safe because they are "herbal" or "organic". Arsenic is organic. So is ricin from castor beans. Best wishes for success. I'll be thinking of you. Lots.

My husband has done some DNA testing, Autosomal, which is where you match cousins and that is probably what he is asking you to do. The other hubs did was Y testing, trying to find males with the same surname. One thing you can do to have a little more control over the results is to 1) make sure you have the kit number and that you set up the password. I had ordered kits for two people and paid for them myself. This was so I could see the results but I also included their email addresses so they would get results and match notifications as well. Once I determined if hubs was related to them (one yes, one no), then I had them change the passwords so that I can no longer get into their kit information. Our situation is a little different than yours but again in our case, like yours, these were total strangers who agreed to help us out. ] Be aware that there are sites that the DNA information can be downloaded to sites like gedcom where people that have different companies that test can compare results. This person may then have your information out there for anyone to compare your DNA to theirs. Names are not listed, just your kit number and he would probably put his email address as the contact person. There is an option of not putting email address at all but then that limits possible matches from contacting him/you. These are questions you should discuss before you do the test. Know if he is having the results sent to him only, you only, or both. If you have them sent only to you, then you can request him sending his to you and you could be the one who sees if there is a match. The person who hubs did not match still appreciated receiving the information and we still keep in touch. The one who did match has helped confirmed our lines matching back to the GGGF in the late 1700's. The autosomal testing is not as definite. We get matches all the time but the probability is small. It has helped to find some relatives that we weren't sure of. Do you know the name of the company and type of test?

It took me SEVEN YEARS to get pregnant so maybe I am not the best go to for advice on this subject...hahaha. All I know is we were told that Jonathan needed to stop smoking and we need to monitor my body temperature. We had started taking ovulation tests and by mid-month I stopped getting any reading at all. I had a melt down thinking I didn't even have enough hormones to even register on the tests and would never get pregnant....turns out the test line had dissapeared because I already WAS pregnant and my body had stopped producing the hormone. Jonathan is just convinced I never got pregnant before because it wasn't my time and we were meant to have THIS child together. I am 28 and Jonathan is 33. I would go on ahead to the doctor if I was you. We had started the fertility testing process and they tested him first and then told me we had to do the ovulation test strips for a few months before they would proceed with any other tests. They want to rule out the easy stuff first which also requires less abrasive procedures. If you want to get pregnant any time soon you may want to go ahead and get the medical ball rolling since it's a time consuming process. Good luck and happy baby making!!!!