pls8xx and gardenga148: I completely concur that the project should be broken down into 2 broad areas: (1) Land use/land planning for the overall 70 acres (2) Conversion of a small part to residential use I am still contemplating #1. However, I do believe I have settled on an aspect of overall land use. I believe, basically along or near the nature path, an area of sufficient width and composition to benefit bobwhite quail usage. In the old days, farms had small fields with lots of overgrown fence rows. That habitat was ideal for bobwhite quail. I believe I want to lay out the farm along those parameters (knowing that certain desires/goals compete with others). My research, consultation with my pastor (former horitculturalist and quail plantation manager) and personal experience are leading me to a strip approximately 15 feet wide of lespedeza intermixed with something like switchgrass or one of the other native grasses. I believe I want to combine the "habitat utility" of those or similar plants with a stepped (height and width) variety of native flowering, perennial plants, choosing a variety which is consistent with the wildlife management goal and visual appeal goal. There is a substantial likelihood that I would also break up the 28 acre agricultural field with a couple of cross corridors of similar plant material. These are among the types of things I am struggling with now. Comment on layout, continuity, plant selection and the like are what I am seeking. As each of you have said, this is a huge, long-term project and I seek input from others who's experience may bear on the layout, design and plant selection. I understand there are many, many different "right" and "wrong" ways. However, respecting the opinions of those participating in these forums, I would be interesting in reading your opinions and views and why you have those opinions and views. With respect to what I hoped to achieve with the pond. I like water. I like the ocean, rivers (large and small), lakes and ponds. I like to fish ocassionally but what I REALLY like is to feed the fish. It is very soothing. The pond can be an attractive focal point to the landscape. It can provide the "mirrored" images of the foliage surrounding it. And, if need be, it can provide for some irrigation. I have always liked looking out across the water, of sitting on my porch and looking across the water. I liked the idea of driving down the driveway into the house site and looking at the house across the pond as well. Back to another aspect of the overall land use. We initially intended to put the entire property into a pecan orchard, for both looks and future revenue. However, knowing there are always bad years along with good years with any crop, we decided that was not very smart. We also became interested in muscadine vineyards and fruit production. So, we will probably incorporate a bit of the pecan orchard, vineyard and fruit orchard. We want approximately 1/2 to 1 acre vegetable garden site. I believe we also want a "gardening" experimentation site of approximately 1/2 to 1 acre as well as a small greenhouse. I strongly expect we will leave the remaining oak ridge in mostly an as-is condition for the wildlife usage, but, with some modification to make in more friendly to the turkey and quail. I seem to have rambled a bit and apologize. But, with such a large overall project, it is difficult to include all the desires and keep them organized and coordinated. nandina, with respect to the observation of native flora, existing but possibly hidden features, I will try to do some walking and photographing this weekend. One focal point at the northern most point of the property where you see Potential Well Location, there was an old homeplace there. The shallow well still remains there. I expect to clean that well out and hang a usable well bucket there. An arbor is a possibility there. It could be purely decorative or be a "natural" appearing arbor with cultured muscadine vines so one could sit on a draw a bucket of cool well water, pick a few grapes, sit on a wooden bench, eat the grapes and look out over the landscape. One feature I didn't know about until buying and spending time on the farm is that for whatever reason, it attacts substantially more summer and fall breezes than most areas in the surrounding countryside. Thank you all again for your input and I look forward to more comments, critiques and suggestions. I will attach images of some of the wildflowers or weeds growing in the cut-over areas now.

Hello everyone! I'm so very excited to have finally discovered a remedy for GT! As I described in my previous post, certain foods such as coffee bean oil (in espresso and minimal processing coffees) and chocolate without a doubt bring on my GT. I believe that these foods compromise my immune system's ability to fight certain foreign invaders, particularly fungus on the tongue. How did I come to this conclusion? Because Nystatin Oral Suspension rinse works! It totally caught me by surprise, but in my desperation, I gave it a try. GT (in my case anyway) is a manifestation of a systemic defect. Nystatin takes care of the expression of the symptoms of a systemic problem. I was so focused on fixing the problem from the inside out (Vitamin B12 helped) and missed a huge part of the boat! Since I don't want to stay on Nystatin for the rest of my life, I began researching for mouth rinses that have anti-microbial activity. My adventure lead me to an alcohol free natural mouth rinse that contains herbs. It's called "PerioWash" by Nauture's Answer. I'm so excited about having gotten to the root of this problem. I hope the PerioWash will continue to work for years to come and not result in fungal resistance. I hope my discovery helps all of you as it has helped me. Ask your doctor for a prescription of Nystatin Oral Suspension rinse and see if your problem is a fungal one like mine was! I had read that Nystatin helped other people, but didn't believe and thought it was too far out. I finally experienced it for myself.

Ah, bustopher --reporting in from southeast Kansas where the ice storm has done SEVERE DAMAGE. Haven't had heat, electricity, TV, nor internet since Sunday morning. Got heat and electricty back this morning (that was two long cold nights!) and my cable (TV and internet) about an hour ago. Some people in town won't get heat, etc., until the end of the week! Haven't had time to worry about roses yet. Instead, trees falling down all over town. Hardly a yard that doesn't have big branches laying around. In many yards, big old trees split in half. BIG branches from my neighbor's oak tree took out my cable. Same thing happened to my neighbor on the other side. Saw a big pear tree split down the center, all the branches (except one)laying in a perfect circle around the stump/trunk. Got four big branches down in my yard, but fortunately they didn't hit anything except the ground. It is truly awful around here. It will be a wonder if we have any decent looking trees by next spring! Poor roses--yes, they took a big hit with the big Easter freeze last spring--took most of the summer for them to rebound. Now the big Xmas freeze--2 inches of ice on everything out there, including the roses (which were not dormant)--2 inches of ice for 2 1/2 days. It rained this afternoon, will freeze tonight--have no idea what things will look like by tomorrow. I have no idea what will survive, but I'm fearing I may have to buy lots of replacement roses in the spring. Just never have seen anything like the freezes we have had this year. Will let you know next spring what happens. Kate

Let's keep this thread going!!! My general contractor purchased a Carrier split system for our new home in 2007. He told us that we had a 10 year warranty on all parts and labor on it. Less than a year later it BROKE DOWN! So the original dealer came out and fixed it for free. I think the very next year, it BROKE DOWN AGAIN! But when they came out and fixed it, I was given a bill! So I called and told them I had a 10 year warranty on all parts and labor and shouldn't have been given a bill. That is when I found out that I DIDN'T HAVE ANY WARRANTY AT ALL because THEY HAD FORGOTTEN to register my system within 60 days of installing it! Since that was their fault, I wasn't paying for it and they ate that charge. The very next year, it broke down again! Ridiculous! So I called a different dealer and they fixed it for ~$150 which I had to pay since I had no warranty. I think it was the next year that it BROKE DOWN AGAIN!!! That time, I went back to the original dealer because the other dealer was covered up and they replaced a $200 part on it they said was bad but it didn't fix the problem. They eventually figured out the problem was that we didn't have enough air vents open so I didn't even need that $200 part! Idiots! But even more stupid was me agreeing to pay that bill! Then the next year it BROKE DOWN AGAIN! So, since I didn't trust the original dealer by then, I called another dealer and they fixed it for ~$175. Finally, after BREAKING DOWN 4 TIMES IN 5 YEARS, the system ran without breaking down at all for 3 years straight! Woo hoo! Unfortunately, this year, it's ALREADY BROKEN DOWN TWICE! Once for $165 and just this week for $1100! That is BS! I'm back with the original dealer who is telling me that my blower motor BURNED OUT AFTER ONLY 9 YEARS! And I live in middle TN so we only use our heat and/or AC maybe 8 months a year! So, IMO, Carrier products are TERRIBLE QUALITY! My old house had a Goodman heat pump and it's still there and working after 23 years and still has the original motor and compressor!!! I've only had to pay $100 on 4 different occasions in 23 years for a burned out relay switch on my old Goodman heat pump. So, CARRIER STINKS in comparison! There should be a lemon law for heat pump systems because I sure got a LEMON FROM CARRIER!