there really is not a lot of easily found information about permaculture or the things we have been alluding to in this thread. Skooby's videos were great because it was a bunch of information all in one easy place. since i finished the videos, i have looked for more of the same, but there really is no good source i have yet found. i have ordered a few books through the library, but don't have them yet. much of what i found on the web is not much more informative than this thread. it is like you have to know what they are talking about to understand. i think this is because permaculture is not so much a technique so much as it is a philosophy. there are several techniques that are permaculture, but permaculture cannot be defined by them. an example would be forest gardens are permaculture but permaculture is not forest gardening per se. from what i gather permaculture is about sustainable agriculture (and living) and self sufficiency as individuals and communities. it uses systems to create easier, healthier and more efficient and sustainable food production. some people take this as going off-the-grid and becoming hunter gatherers, while for others it is just gardening a little differently and using natural systems rather than artificial means to keep aid in production. as much as i would like to go off-the-grid and live in a forest, it is not practical for me. but i do grow a large portion of my own food in a very small area. i plant plants that have edible parts before those that do not and rather than practice monoculture by planting in rows of one species i mix them up as little forest systems where companion plants help each other perform better. i want to add a few chickens, bees, solar power and a cistern to have a little more self sustainability, but i started with a forest garden. the thing that i liked the most about the videos were a few gardening techniques that filled in the gaps in application for what i already practice and believed. they are: plants work better in systems of many species. gardens can have multiple layers like a forest to maximize production per square foot. animals, insects and flowers are as important as the fruiting plants for a healthy and productive system. nothing needs to imported into a system including fertilizer. nothing should be exported from it. raised beds. mulch. less water. micro climate creation with ponds, hardscape and shade. biodiversity in species as well as varieties. last saturday i prepared a few beds for production with a technique i saw in the videos. you prepare the soil for the last time. i mixed in a bunch of compost from the dump. then you mound the beds. my bed was already part of a terrace. it takes the run-off from part of my house, garage and driveway. so i created a swell (channel) to pull that water through the bed to spread and store the moisture. i then covered the mounded areas to be planted with cardboard (this was the new technique i learned) and then mulched heavily on top with more compost (chipped wood and yard waste) from the dump. i will be planting heavily with everything from artichokes to zucchini and will research which plants work best in systems and put them together. i will mix in flowers. the result should look like a riot of texture and color like an english flower garden, but much of it will be food. i will probably produce several hundred dollars and months worth of food in just a few hundred square feet and without tilling, poisoning, fertilizing or exporting any waste and using much less water to boot. not going to change the world, but it helpsi think that is the essence of permaculture. it is a true think global act local sort of movement. i have not found any how to books or websites. most of my searches ended with come sort of commercial design service or class. i hope the books i reserved are more of the how to and hands on sort of info. if anybody has any recommendations i would welcome some advice. would also like to here more about what others have done alone these lines. wikipedia has a good article tha links to a "companion plant" spread sheet i found useful.

As one who adopted a large, untrained dog I applaud you for doing the right thing with respect to training. Had we adopted Rex as a puppy we'd have been "in class" too. The window of opportunity with puppies is fleeting and to capitalize on it is wise, indeed! For us, it's been a struggle. A "jumbo" dog with a puppy's need to play is too often mistaken for a rogue, out of control, intact dog. Keep it up! Obedience work is the best way to socialize your dog. (what a face for ice cream!).

I think it is possible the SD does indeed keep caught in the middle of Mom and SM. I also don't think she 'lied' or told a half truth. At the time the discussion first took place, SD had not yet made plans for the summer break with Mom...after reading some of your previous threads, I can't help but notice there has been long standing feud over exact days/visits. The SD was wrong in that she committed and did not follow through on what she agreed to. The mother is wrong for pressuring her daughter to take 'a summer job committment' seriously and making a big ta-do over a day or day (something that this mother though has been known to repeatedly do). And you are wrong with withholding your relationship with the SD in a temper tossing hurt feeling mode. The girl really is stuck between the two 'moms'. One screaming 'be an adult' one minute while treating her as the 'child' the next. The other one still playing the same old games of rearranging schedules no matter who it affects in an all out path of having her daughter 'at home' as many days as possible (while still treating daughter as a yung child/early teen). In an attempt to keep somewhat harmony between the SD's 'moms' daughter ends up being indecisive, nonresponsibile and still kept very much the child while being told to act the adult. If I were the girl, I'd be tempted to remain where I attend school. Maybe visit for a a short spell with each side and work my summer at a job that would enable me to have something more than 'babysitting' for references. Because you are disappointed and your feelings are hurt you intend to punish the SD. You'll just after 15 yrs of being mommy #2 you'll just suddenly begin being 'her fathers wife'. And you'll label a 'test' to see if the relationship can withstand the 'test'. The first time SD expresed her newly found 'adult views' aka opinions (example, daughter's eating habits) you took a personal offense to it and again you're feelings are hurt and deny the SD who you say you want to start acting/thinking like an adult for her effort in doing so. The SD can't win here. Send LS to the daycare as now planned. Quite frankly you can read all the books you please on 'disengaging' and 'teaching assertiveness', but but until you start practicing actually raising the SD with the open mind that she is becoming an adult (even when her new found adult views annoy you), and continue to treat her as the child (both 'moms') it's just setting up more hurt feelings and keeping the girl a girl stuck in the middle. She's young, socializing with a whole new group of people, seeing different lifestyles and discovering who she is and what she believes. My niece as decided her new found 'thing' in life is to be a veggie,...she'd have a stroke to think you're LS eats skittles and poisons her body blah blah blah. LOL. Once 'kids' start expanding their social network, experiencing new groups and ideas, well they can be quite crazy in their new 'worldly views'. My 2 cents. Good luck to you. Sd has reached the age between childhood and adulthood and she's likely to say many more things that appear to be 'anti-you' (or mom or dad or the neighbor) while she opens those wings and begins to shape her own ideas.

Jerry, awesome plant! I'll definitely keep couple of pinks if I'll ever get them, lol. Patty all together I have around 200 seedlings from Mr Ko's seeds, only six bloomed so far. Two doubles: thise one #35 second is Double blush and other four from Ko's #31, 52, and 24, all looked the same: So I didn't get anything pink. Or anything spectacular, hahaha. Hopefully some more will bloom this fall, I'm about to get them from under the tree on a full sun, our crazy temp finally dropping to high 90s.