S.O., I use traps that look like . They are very durable in the garden, some of mine are over 10 years old. All I need to do - other than bait them - is to clean the mud out of the mechanism if it starts to bind up. The only part that ever breaks is the plastic release tab... and sometimes the traps get bent (or go missing) if a predator finds the mouse before I do. The alligator-style traps that I tried never caught anything. The small traps that I use are not really strong enough to to hold a ground squirrel; if caught, they usually pull free (leaving a little fur behind). There are larger versions meant for rats (I have about a dozen of those) which will kill ground squirrels. The ground squirrels can be just as destructive as voles, if you grow anything for dry seed... a pair of ground squirrels "harvested" nearly all of my pea seed one year, before I caught them. The only reason that they might drive voles away is that they compete for the same habitat & food supply. If you caught more field mice than voles, either that was a reflection of your rodent population, or the bait you used was more attractive to mice. In my home gardens, I caught a lot of field mice early in the season, but by late summer, all I was catching was voles.The vole population always seems to explode when the late tomatoes begin to ripen. In my rural garden, I had a period this year where I was catching toads - about 5-6 of them. (!!!) Not something I wanted to catch, obviously... can't figure out what might have attracted them to the traps, since that never happened before.

Stack, you certainly have sufficient room there for an AB-or for any full-sized shade tree. I like this tree just fine. As the other gentlemen have pointed out, it has become ubiquitous. The only knock I've got against it is that it's not exactly a "plant it and forget about it" kind of tree, simply because for best results, considerable structural pruning should be done in its youth. It has a propensity towards narrow crotch angles and these are often weak points in the tree later on when limbs get large and heavy. "Subordination pruning" is the answer but not every guy with a saw knows what that is. For my part, I like the idea of genetic variability. As such, I'm into species, not just named cultivars which are clones. But ironically enough, it is harder to find straight species of many, uh, species than it is to find named cultivars! Some kind of oak could be a good idea there too and they don't grow as slowly as you will sometimes hear. I put two swamp white oak whips in my folks yard oh, eight or ten years ago, and they're nice good-sized trees already. One final point-the oft-heard rule that fast-growing tree=weak-wooded tree is true among broadleaved deciduous trees. But while you're not asking about conifers at present, that rule breaks down quickly within that class of trees. Out west for example, there's this tree called the redwood. Grows very fast, lasts a thousand years or more! There are similar though less dramatic examples throughout the conifer kingdom. +oM

Tommy, you might have BSF (Black Soldier Fly) larva. Some BSF larva in a worm bin is OK but if there are too many of them, the worms get distressed. BSF larva help break down matter for worms and these larvae work VERY fast compared to worms. This means increased composting process and depending on bin size, ventilation etc etc might overheat the worm bin, hence distressing them. Just keep an eye on them and adjust things accordingly. Did you buy the oyster shells? You could get egg shells for free from places serving breakfast. In summer, like now, I do my runs on Mondays because the cafe is busier on week-ends. In the process, I also get the trays the eggs came which make good bin bedding, very absorbent. I used to wash/rinse them in the past but don't do that anymore since last year. I put them in the sun to dry and once dry, roll a bottle over them and put them through a grain grinder. That's how I get my powdered egg shells. Got the grain grinder from amazon after I burnt 3 blenders. Too much egg shells will not hurt the worms or the bin condition. Egg shells will bind acid but unlike lime, if there is no acid to bind, it will not change the bin into alkaline. It will just sit there as egg shells. I have not used ground oyster shells but I guess it would be the same.

Zeebee, having cleanup in the middle of food prep is my own horror, so I understand the problem. However, if you designated your cleanup essentially on the left wall/corner area, that would confine cleanup to the sink and area to its left. Prep would be from the sink on to its right. When I designed the kitchen in my new house, my two big priorities were plenty of work space and cleanup totally separated from it. Well, the kitchen isn't terribly large, but I have all that, prep on a spacious island and generous areas on both sides of the stove. It's great and I love it, but having had it I know I could be perfectly happy and do just as well with much less work space--just as long as it was well designed and I didn't have to push dirty dishes away to get at it. When I look at your current plan, I see an L counter that, properly set up, would work well for me. That 39" to the left of the stove is actually almost exactly the amount of space I work in daily here (the rest mostly just gets a drippy mixing bowl, busy spoon, or some such thing set on it so I have to wipe it down anyway). Regarding kitchen as hallway, I don't see it. What those doors do is create a view for the interior space, same as any large expanse of glass, plus provide the opportunity to open the house to the garden when you choose. I personally would want to be able to draw drapes or shutters, or whatever, when the weather's unappealing or you just want a cozily introverted space, and having learned from my mistakes would choose my window treatments as part of the design profess for my windows/doors. Your garden's going to be lovely. I'm a big gardener, but agree for sure, definitely no "cottage" garden for you. Been there, love it, but it is THE most challenging of all garden styles to keep really good looking all through the flowering season. I've spent years trying to get good enough to pull that trick off and had a lot of fun--but! At least I was in California. These days a temperate climate means 6 months of drear. Over the years, I've really come to love finely designed green gardens full of lovely foliage juxtaposed against handsome hardscape to provide structure and contrast. Occasional flowers throughout the seasons can provide variety but mainly just serve to set the main feature off. A garden like that can be gorgeous in all seasons, with and without floral accents, and when well designed also be the easiest to care for of all. The foliage also softens all the masonry and other construction around and adds privacy. It can also serve as a home for birds. We really enjoy watching the birds from our windows, and my gardens now will always be designed to attract them. In any case, beauty's a function of good design. It truly doesn't have to be heavy maintenance at all. In your case, I think you owe it to yourselves to create a beautiful view for your home so you can enjoy it both at the kitchen/dining level and from above. :)