Hi Johnny, sorry it took me a while to get back to you. I didn't catch Daniel's talk about the rabbits (was sitting in another building listening to a different topic) but I did see a harepen that was sitting next to the summer Raken house (it is covered with an opaque cover and is much, much larger than the ones they use in the winter.) In the winter they use hoophouses that have the translucent covers so the hens will get as much daylight as possible, and the sun will warm up the house too. I think you are talking about the portable harepen that he has made to go on pasture?? I seem to have overheard that these are a work in progress so I don't know how well it works. It looks like a regular rabbit house but instead of a traditional floor it has long slats that may have been 2x2s that only ran in one direction. The distance beween the slats was about 2 or 3 inches. I am assuming that this would give the rabbits access to the grass without as great of a risk of them digging out the bottom. Since I really didn't know what I was looking at this is the best description I can give you. I don't know much about rabbits or their housing in general. I haven't gotten my film back yet (someday I will get a digital.......) so I don't have pictures. I may have a picture of it since I took 2 rolls while I was there, I will post it here if I do have one of the harepen. HTH, let me know if you were wanting to know more about the raken house where he has the rabbits above the chickens. I got a better look inside one of those and I know I have pictures of that. Skagit and Roberta- I went ahead and made a virtual copy of a Plamondon hoophouse (with a few small modifications that were suggested by people on a different list). It is light enough for me to move by myself, even though it has gotten tougher since I mounted the nest boxes in the back. I did attach a rope to both the front and the back which makes it easier to get it just where you want it, especially if you live in an area that is not flat and smooth and have a constant need to dodge obstacles. The bottoms of mine are 2x4s so it is plenty heavy enough to not flip but the top is all cattle panels, plastic and wire so it is very light. Mine is only about 9x10x6.5 tall.

Gosh, I'm really really sorry that you don't have any deer to experiment with. Brings tears to my eyes - if only the rest of us could bring you some! I mineralized a big patch of sweet potatoes at my place in north florida, planted the slips in early april and worked hard to keep them alive in very dry windy weather. The patch grew spectacularly once the rains came. In the past five years of gardening there with cow manure and mushroom compost, including sweet potatoes, never had a deer graze anything. Put in a whole range of minerals and bang, they smelled it from miles away.

Thanks everybody! Jeanerz, I believe it was Kay who said to pour some detergent around a daylily. To repell ants. Chris, I need to google those flies, after I put vanilla on my skin I became an 'attraction' for some new flies I haven't seen before, pale orange with black transparent wings. Thanks Kay for Oil of Peppermint tip! I looked for it in Walmart but couldn't find, they told me to look at the baking aisle ;) People are complaining here about gnats, we didn't have those before! I heard a suggestion to put dryer sheets in your hair :) My Soul on Fire was one of the best performers last year and increased well as you can see in the pic. If you lost yours and want it again I can share. Bunnies have been behaving so far, knock on wood. Lalaland :) :) Get Shores of Time it is pretty! Though certainly not among my best budded and doesn't increase rapidly (which is actually a plus for me).

I never heard of cows in the graveyard, but I remember playing a road trip game called zip. You got one point for a white horse, two points for a white donkey and three points for a white mule. If you saw one, you said zip! Actually, only played that one time when we went on a road trip with another family. It's hard enough finding a white horse, much less a white mule. I had a stick horse too. I painted it black with one end white...blaze face...and the other end white...stockings. My grandmother lived next door and she was a mean old buzzard. I went over to play with my cousins who were visiting her one time, and at lunch time, she told me to go home for lunch...she didn't have enough to "go around." So when I came back, after lunch, she had my stick horse in the trash fire, and when I tried to pull it out, she tried to hit me with her cane. She actually ran at me...she was in her 70's. I remember my cousin said, "Git her, granny!" I can laugh about it now, because my cousins loved horses...just like I did, and said when they grew up they were going to have stables, etc., etc. As it turned out, one became an alcoholic and had 5 kids and the other had about that many marriages. I went on to raise horses...the first one I got was when my grandmother died and the estate was settled. "Get her, granny!" :))