Maybe now that it is Fall, we can get back to this again. I am glad I am not the only one! I have major medical issues (that involve flare-up & times that are fairly OK), but I was messy before that. The thing about the garden is that when I am feeling pretty good, I just do the garden. That way, it can grow on its own while I am down. One year, I tried to do both, and when "down" came along, the house got messier anyway, and there wasn't much food because I split my time trying to do both. I have kids that do what I ask pretty much (great kids!), but I have to do more fussing with my son to get there. However, he is mildly autistic--Asperger's--so just the transition of going from what he is doing to doing something else is where the struggle lies. Once his mind is on track, he gets the job done. I threatened to buy a roto-tiller, so my husband said he would dig. It took a bit to get him to dig before, but I guess he doesn't want to deal with a machine not used that often. I have always hand-dug--myself, my whole life--but with the med issues, I am not always able. As far as the house goes, I am merssy, not dirty (usually). I am a bit of a pack-rat, but it is good stuff. In the winter, sitting idle is NOT something I can do. I knit hats for babies in the hospital, pack seeds for the needy, all kinds of things to keep hands busy--even while the TV is going. So, I have bins/totes full of yarn (from hitting the sales when they are there), an entire wall shelf that goes withing a foot of the ceiling full of various beads, lots of gardening books...and here is what makes it all look so bad: we have an 850sq ft 2-bedroom house, and there are 4 of us. My husband is a carpenter, so half the one-car garage is full of extra building materials. Really, who could pass up several sheet of plywood? They were used to block stairways so that prople wouldn't use them during construction, and then unnecessary after (headed for the dumpster). We gat a bay window free and sliding glass doors. You get the picture. I do not Spring clean. I Fall clean. I makes more sense for me. I host Thanksgiving for my family, and I do a big thing on Christmas Eve. So, I Fall clean & have the holidays. During the winter, in a clean house, I do my charitable activities, read about gardening, peruse the gardening catalogs, and get ready. Then I bring out the dirt for staring seeds. The windows fill up with plants over the next few months. That can get messy. When it is time to harden off. Plants go in and out. That gets messy. Of course, I clean meanwhile. Then the muddy shoes, then the soil amendments (aka manure), then the filthy clothes. Then losing 5 pounds in the tub at night--hey, if you don't you haven't gardened! When the weather warms, I have kids in and out, as well as myself, and I cannot imagine hollering every time a dirty shoe comes inside. So my Fall clean starts the "cleanliness", and it goes downhill form there. Maybe this is TMI, but it is so great to find others who will focus more on the garden than the house. As long as my health hold up, I garden constantly. I had Lyme Disease in '06 & '08. It is rampant here (doctor's words). I am ready to go to Maine or something. They have a bit of Lyme up there. Well, it may be good for the house too. It would be a longer winter (clean house time) and a shorter summer (poop & dirt time). I do keep the meals, dishes, laundry, bathroom caught up. After that, DIY, or it will stay there. Poop on that too! Mom's need to have fun! The food is plentiful, nutricious, and delicious! Robin

A 2 to 4 inch layer of an organic mulch layer over as large an area as possible around plants is one of the single most beneficial things a gardener can provide. -Mulch certainly does prevent the evaporation of water from the soil surface; an essential function at some times of the year, in much of the country. -Mulch can keep the mowers and weedeaters away from the trunks of trees, and from shrub/perennial beds. -It prevents soil splashing, a cause of erosion. -It prevents the surface of the soil from crusting and repelling water. A mulched soil has much improved percolation of water through the surface. Yes, light rainfalls can be captured by the mulch, but that effect is countered by the evaporation prevention. -Mulch buffers soil temperature, perhaps one of the biggest benefits. In cold or hot weather, the soil temperature remains comfortable for the shallow essential roots of trees and other plants AS WELL AS FOR the microorganisms that abound in a protected soil system. -Soil texture is improved as mulch breaks down into smaller particles and become part of the soil. -Mulches have a nutrient value as they decompose, both for the plants and for the beneficial microbes. Those microorganisms are essential for the plants' growth and development, for their very existance. -Mulched plants have more roots, especially where there is that important mulch layer. This is important for plants of all ages. The shallow, non-woody roots are very short lived and need to be replaced constantly. Where do you think that this will occur on a much larger scale? Under mulch. -Mother Nature DOES mulch. In a natural setting the entire first layer of a soil system is the "O" layer (for organic). The only place where the "O" layer exists anymore is in an untouched native woodland or natural area. Mulching with ANY organic substance (bark, wood chips, pine straw, leaves, etc.) is our way of replacing what has been taken away. -Using the farmer analogy is probably not the best, lol. They would mulch if they could, believe me! Wind and water erosion like crazy, soil depletion of nutrients and water, weed invasion, YIKES! Drive by a newly plowed and planted field and see if you don't agree. If it weren't for herbicides...... -Most would agree that a mulched landscape is much more aesthetically pleasing than a parched soil surface. My mulch of choice is a load wood chips delivered to my door by my favorite arborist. Since they are composed of the woody part of an assortment of trees and not the just the bark, they break down much faster than pine bark, but top dressing isn't a big chore.

I have had two Hearthstone wood stoves. The first I purchased in 1987. It was almost identical to the Heritage except it had a side mounted ash pan door, a cast iron firebox, and a bi-metal thermostat for the air intake. I can't remember what it was called back then. It was prone to overfiring. After about seven years of use the cast iron firebox was burned out and the cast iron smoke baffle destroyed. I purchased parts to rebuild the firebox and smoke baffle only to have the same thing happen a few years later. The stove still worked but burn time decreased. I gave it to a friend of mine and bought a Heritage. This model had been almost totally redesigned since 1987. It has a front door for access to the ash pan and a firebrick lined firebox. Hearthsone must have realized their previous model was a problem design because the Heritage showed no tendency to overfire and it was much more difficult to light a fire in this model. I had to leave the side loading door open much longer than the manual recommended to get a fire going. I also did not like the front door for access to the ash pan. Every time I used it, it caused such a mess. The manual described how to use it: Lift up the front lip and remove, open the door, remove the ash pan, etc. Then it stated at the very end, otherwise just shovel the ashes out from the side loading door. Much easier but without the bi-metal thermostat controlled air intake the coals never burned down to ash. Whenever I went to empty ashes I also had to remove an excessive amount of live coals. Sometimes it got to the point that I couldn't add wood to the stove because of the excessive pile of coals inside. All in all a poorly designed stove. I sold my house two years after I bought the Heritage and left it there. The very next winter the new owner noticed smoke leaking from under the flue collar. I advised him not to take that stove apart anymore than necessary to fix it. He ignored me and took the whole thing apart. Everything. I looked at the parts and you could see where they did a poor job of sealing that flue collar. A simple repair, but an inexcusable example of shoddy work. The next time I visited, Humpty Dumpty Heritage was gone, he didn't say where it went and I don't think the thing got reassembled. After these two bad experiences with Hearthsone, I ordered a Woodstock Fireview for the new house I am building. I don't particularly care for the idea of ordering a stove online but I vastly prefer soapstone performance and looks over cast iron or steel and it can't be worse than a Hearthsone under any circumstances. To sum it up, I do not recommend Hearthstone and hopefully I will have better luck with my Woodstock.

I have the Henredon Cavalier line. I started buying it 2 years ago and just got my last piece 3 weeks ago. The first pieces were made and signed stateside, now it is all made in Columbia with a brass plate on the back of the furniture to that effect. The nightstand made in Columbia is inferior to the pieces made here, although the difference is subtle. I had to refuse the last piece because of dripping stain and dried glue in places where you could see it. On the large chest the keyhole hardware was crooked (my husband fixed it). I do love the look however but now I wish I had purchased it all at one time while it was still made here. The Cavalier line has been streamlined and much of the line has already been discontinued. You can call Henredon to verify but you can see now on the Henredon site that there are only basic pieces remaining. Of course you can always do as others have suggested and coordinate with other lines (Acquisitions) or brands. I have a Stickley Williamsburg dining room table and chairs that I got in NY at the factory store several years ago, I LOVE it. Stickley just seems to pay more attention to detail. The set is well used, needs little maintenance and looks new. Even now if I wanted to add to the set I would have no problem getting another matching piece. Stickley customer service is great. Good luck!