I rarely look up YouTube videos on anything and now this thread has me looking to see what else I can find. [g] I do like PIet Oudolf ever since I saw the Lurie Garden, and I find this video fascinating, of PIet Oudolf explaining how he got the job of doing the Lurie Garden and what his design was.... PIet Oudolf explaining the Lurie Garden Naumkeag Garden in Stockbridge MA The organic garden of Highgrove UK Alan Titchmarsh tours Highgrove

Shirley, forgot to thank you for the recipe postcard you attached to my seeds. I did ok on the 5k. After working 6 hours on Small Shop Saturday, (we were swamped all day), my feet were tired. I ran a bit slower than usual and finished in just under 43 minutes. The weather was perfect for a run. In the high 40's. There was a night light holiday parade immediately following. We had fun. Thanks again to all who participated in this swap. I just finished organizing all my seeds and can't believe how many great seeds I have received. Have a good week. Margo

A forest will choke out a thicket, I often recomend that fruit and nut trees be planted on purpose, so that we lock up carbon and produce food for ourselves, and chocke out the brush plants that are unpleasent to walk through. When you go on a hike along a tail it seems that you are always either bordered by clearing/lawn or by a thicket, but once you break through that thicket you can useually travle quite quickly and easily and have plenty of space to move about. The main reasonfor removing trees and brush historicly wasn't to make things more pleasent, it was to open up land for agricultural use. with a field we can grow staple cerial grains, or legumes, or use it as pasture for animals, while some trees may provide seasonal food for some critters it takes alot of work to survive off of them year round (and trust me when I say thing, willow does not taste that good) . Our modenr day lawns were not contrived from thin air, you need to look at were they came from to understand how they fit in. Lawns are popular mainly in the south (sure, lots of people like them, but in the south they are sick for them) the south had a large portion of its caucasian inhabitants come from scotland (the southern drawl is very closely related to the scots accent) in schotland they have huge green field that are kept down to a few inches all summer long, this is because there is alot of rain and people raise sheep. Now, in the south there isn't as much water in the summer, and there aren't as many sheep, but people still liked the look of home so a lawn with mowers and irrigation is what they came up with.

NC RE Guy- We have a terrific A/C guy who actually fixes stuff. Your question reminded me....the tenant in our 2nd floor condo calls us for everything. Fortunately it's only a few miles away, but she has no idea what to do if the A/C stops working and I do all the troubleshooting myself - (once the thermostat needed a new battery, once the drain was plugged up (easy fix with a shop vac) and once the repairman had to put in a new circuit board - yay! - didn't try to sell us a new unit even though this was really old). We've had to replace the hot water heater which was leaking and the catch tray that was installed with a big hole in it (!?!!?), not difficult to do ourselves. The auto garage-door opener was the worst. She called one of those companies that came out and declared we needed a new one to the tune of $350 or something (she paid for the service call of $100 or so since we did not authorize it). My husband made a trip to the local Ace Hardware and replaced the belt drive for about $5. That was about two years ago and it's been working fine since then. Same local A/C guy, our home A/C needed a new electrical something (can't remember) so that was $130 or so, and then a few weeks later mid-summer, he sold us a new fan for the cooling unit which we installed ourselves because he was too busy for a few days - nobody else would sell us the proprietary Trane part since we weren't authorized service people. That was awesome of him to do that. Unfortunately, the leaks are going to have us replace the whole thing before next summer no matter what. We've also changed out the 2nd circuit board on our pool heater after the warranty ran out (chewed up by fruit rats both times, now protected by a wire cage). The salt generator needed a new circuit board, but that one was covered. I just put new wings and feet on the pool vac. A used-to-be SubZero but no-longer-authorized guy fixed our fridge for next-to-nothing (another electrical do-dad). Anyway, yes, there are still people around who fix stuff, but honestly, they can only fix stuff that is high quality to start with. Friends of ours with a bike shop have a difficult time with folks who bring in their cheap big-store bikes to get fixed up and there's pretty much nothing they can do for them. Our last no-name dryer (came with the house) was not worth fixing when we could buy a brand-new dented high-quality one for the same price at the Sears Outlet store. Basically, there are the fix-it people and the people who have to call for service or just replace. Fix-it is definitely a more frugal way to go. I mean, I'm always amazed that there are people who don't know how to change a tire in their own car. Really? That's the lowest level of fix-it and everyone should be able to do it - it's so easy! I just wish my tenant was even just a little bit of a fix-it person! (batteries? really?)