Ginger, thanks for your interesting questions. Sort of farm--During my growing-up years when my father ran it (I was born in '51), it was basically a hog and grain farm. He grew lots of corn for the pigs and to sell, plus some oats, but started growing soybeans in the sixties as a cash crop as well. We had a few chickens early on, but found it more convenient to buy at the store. (I think even store-bought chicken used to taste better back then.) My mother was a city girl from 200 miles away and hadn't inherited the gardening genes of her father. She did like to grow yellow wax beans and freeze them, which we all enjoyed. During my father's growing up it was much more diversified. At present, having retained about a third of the acreage, 122 acres, our renter/manager/neighbor specializes in grain--soybeans and corn. Organic veggies?--I've gradually gone to organic and permacultural gardening for fun. I really love fruit, and since my husband and I can be on the farm only three months of the year (we teach up in Alaska and fly our Cessna down every year), time is at a premium. Therefore, perennial edibles are my priority, with maybe a few yellow wax beans. So I've planted fruit trees and small-fruit shrubs, asparagus, rhubarb, hardneck garlic (not really perennial, of course), garlic chives, and (my namesake) Egyptian onions, plus many other kinds of herbs. All of these are just jumbled together for a permacultureal type of system, though I do plant them in such a way as to enhance the ability to mow around them. In the east garden, for instance, I planted over the years three rows of fruit trees, plus another row of currants, rhubarb, and grapes. In between the trees, I planted within the rows all kinds of herbaceaous plants, for organic companion reasons, but also so that I could just run the mower all the way up and down without having to go around each individual tree. (I initially scoffed at the by-word "easy to mow around," but soon incorporated it into my criteria of good gardening once I actually started mowing.) Rainbow garden-- Blue: blue flax Darker blue: Veronica austriaca 'Crater Lake Blue' Annual blue salvia that either survive or reseed every year, c.r.n. (can't remember name)--Victoria? Purple: annual reseeding larkpur, Consolida ambigua Veronica spicata 'Blue Peter' Veronica 'Sunny Border Blue' Salvia X Superba 'Blue Hill' Salvia 'Superba Blue Queen' Red: Ground cover rose 'Red Ribbons' (Jackson & Perkins) Dianthus, 'Flashing Light' and 'Brilliant' Orange: Asclepias tuberosa Gaillardia, 'Goblin' and a bigger c.r.n. Gold: Coreopsis, tall c.r.n. Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm' Yellow: Achillea filipendula Coreopsis 'Zagreb' Green: Juniper horizontalis 'Plumosa Youngstown' Euphorbia cyparissias (am phasing out as juniper grows) Historical restoration--As I view pictures that go all the way back to 1900, I see many changes, including the location of fences, the coming and going of huge trees, and in the ground itself as I describe before with the double terracing. And yet there are still a couple of barns and a corn crib that endure. Times change and new personalities come in. My blood link to the past allows me to both have some knowledge of the past, as well as the capability of gathing more knowledge from pictures, written material, and friends and neighbors whose relationships with the family go back for generations. I cherish this, and often repeat plantings to mimic the past. Yet I can't put it all back and I don't feel the need. As long as I have the family blood, the farm is still evolving as the family farm. I try to do it justice, and though I enjoy it tremendously myself, I'm really only borrowing it from the next generation, whether it goes to my nieces (we're child-free) or whether it changes over to a whole new set of genes. Please check out the gallery again as I will soon have some more pictures in it. Egyptianonion

I’ve had a 30” Shaw at a second home for 10 years and still love it but decided on the 33” Kohler Whitehaven for our new kitchen reno at home - it was such a price difference and looked so similar. I actually like it better! I especially like the slight slant of the bottom to the offset drain. Much easier to rinse scraps into the disposal. It’s still new but it does seems like the Kohler finish is easier to keep clean. We removed the Kohler logo (which was crooked anyway) so it’s just all white and looks great!

Believe me, there are NO plumbing issues involved. What MAY be an issue is finding a hardware store--or other source--for the parts you need to do a changeover. The best thing you can do for yourself is get down and climb under your present sink, the neighbor's sink, your family member's sinks, and familiarize yourself with the plumbing that's under there !! While you're down there, check for leaks, and use a ruler/tape measure to get an idea of sizes. Bathroom sinks are usually 1 1/4" diameter thinwall pipe; the tub/shower and the kitchen sink are, or should be, 1 1/2". One thing to remember: the 1 1/2" thinwall pipe hooked directly to the bottom of your sink, and tied into the "S" or "P" traps under there, is NOT NOT NOT the same as the 1 1/2" drain piping; HOWEVER--there are adapters to mate the thinwall to the heavier piping. By the way, you ARE gonna go to the store and find out what a "P" or "S" trap is, aincha?? Dont be afraid to ask Q's, and do realize many of the guys you ask are about as ignorant as you are when it comes to plumbing....many--not all of 'em. THEN: when you find somebody who sounds like (s)he can help you do this project, and they put down on paper the parts you need, the best thing you can do is repeat the process--go find somebody else at another store who can do likewise, and then compare the parts recommended, &c. Maybe this soundz like plumbing 101--you're right, it is. Anything else spellz disaster in the making, not to mention the resultant feeling you bin ripped off and jerked around, and that you coulda done a better job yourself.... if only.... you'd taken to heart the suggestion of: kenn 1RmSchlHse millersport oHIo -- there's a time and place for spontaneity....

Pella or Marvin architect series it is a trading game for anyone. You already learned that with your gables (good choice IMO-too many gables is mcmansiony). I chose certain high quality materials over square footage. 2900 sf was more than enough for my family of 5, and I didn't want to heat and maintain huge spaces that I rarely use (I don't have any need for a bedroom suite, for instance: I would never use my bedroom for sitting on a sofa or whatever people do in their 800 sf bedrooms) but that is just me. Another thing that baffles me is the 3 car garage with cheap doors. I'd rather have a smaller garage with wood doors. But everyone has different needs and priorities. Take some of these things in to consideration as you drive around and browse Houzz. Look closely to see differences between houses that you love and houses that look similar but don't have that special something. I thought I posted this last night but I don't see it here. Another thing you never thought you cared about but makes all the difference: eave returns!! http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/2013/12/13/eave-returns-interpreting-gyhr-details/