The article seems fine. However, there's also a lot to be said for having a mixed flock, especially if you're not a breeder. Also, I've found the difference between what are reportedly the friendliest chickens, such as orpingtons and bantam cochins, and birds that are considered somewhat flighty, such as auracanas, not particularly extreme or even significant enough to weigh my opinions. So, sometimes, articles like this can be a little misleading. It's nice to have the information, I guess, but I think it also leads to a little too much hand-wringing. Sure, I have a couple really cuddly chickens, but uh, I don't feel a strong urge to cuddle every single one of my birds, and am pleased to have some diversity of personality in the flock. On the other hand, I'd imagine that some of the other info, such as cold tolerance, can be really important to think about. But the priorities are all kind of lumped together, there: life and death issues alongside color of egg issues. --Jonathan

We call it a hula hoe where IÂm from. DonÂt ask me why, maybe because itÂs hoop shaped?? IÂve started a new system we like in our garden last year and will be working on it more. Plant the whole acre in wheat and clover in the winter. Turn the goats in at kidding early spring. Let them crop and fertilize. Then strip till just where weÂre planting. The wheat eventually gives out, and the clover takes over adding nitrogen all the time. We just mow the paths when it gets too thick adding the clippings to the growing rows. Hit it with a hula hoe thing-a-magiggi when the weeds are small if I can catch it in between the rest of the 99 acres. ItÂs true once a week is easier. The best part about the clover paths beside the added nitrogen is that I can go out in my garden any time of the season and not sink knee deep in gumbo or come out 6 inches taller then I went in. Hill the potatoes with straw and theyÂre easy to get at any time I want. I think IÂll try newspaper mulch under the vine crops this year. If anything gets away from me on weeding itÂs the vines. And yes Seramas, you have a beautiful garden and homestead anyone would be envious of. What are the orange flags for? Wish the hubby and I were younger to keep up with the 100 ac now that weÂve lost our free labor. Kids are all grown and gone.

In addition to local nurseries you could check out this great business called Edible Landscaping, which specializes in fruit trees. They're located in VA so most of what they carry will do well in our area. http://www.eat-it.com Juneberries/Serviceberries (amalanchier) are one of my favorite native fruits, and will do fine in some shade since they often grow in the forest. They have small red-purple berries with an edible seed inside. My husband says they taste like blueberries and I think they taste like Sweet Tarts (maybe I don't let them get all the way ripe!). The birds will love whatever you don't eat. I'll eat a pawpaw or two in the wild but the kerosene like aftertaste stops me after that, so I wouldn't plant them in my yard. Some people don't seem to be bothered by them though. Gooseberries and currants can also apparently take shade, especially afternoon shade (which side of your yard is the forest on?). Otherwise most fruit trees will do better in full sun. Figs THRIVE in my neighborhood in Takoma Park/Silver Spring. (There are so many trees within a few blocks of us, I have the theory that they're all cuttings off of one or two trees that have been passed around over the years.) I think the ones I like the best are Celeste, if I've identified them right. Animals seem to leave them alone, which is a major plus. You can dry whatever you don't eat fresh. If you've never had a fresh fig, there's nothing quite like it. I'm a huge fan. In general most folks I know seem to think apples and peaches are too high-maintenance to be worth it. I have a peach tree in my backyard that produces massive amounts of fruits but the squirrels like to eat them when they're green, so I get very few. It's kind of heartbreaking -- every year I see the number of fruits and my hopes are so high for good, fresh peaches, and it never quite comes out that way. We also have a pear tree that is not nearly as productive, but just as attractive to the squirrels. I have yet to eat a pear. I have a neighbor who grows plums somewhat successfully but loses a lot to the plum curculio bug. Mulberries grow pretty much as a weed tree in this area because birds eat so many of them and spread the seeds. I find them very tasty. You can easily feed yourself and the birds. You'd just have to stay on top of any seedlings that start coming up where you don't want them (especially along fences where birds perch). This year I have plans to plant a sour cherry. Birds are supposed to like them less than sweet cherries. We'll see. I'm also looking into Japanese persimmon. Blueberries also can do well here if you amend the soil to be acidic enough for them. You will have to fight the birds for them, too. Good luck!

Bizy, are you sure it's gophers? There's a vole that digs into my yard sometimes. I think he's looking for grubs. According to what I've read, they don't eat plants, they just uproot them. This year I've put down some Milky Spore Disease in an effort to kill Japanese Beetle grubs. Hopefully this will solve my vole problem too. Kelly, if I wanted to just shade out things so that I could plant veggies later, I'd plant a cover crop. One year I needed some "green manure" so I just threw handfuls of black-eyed beans that I had in the kitchen out in the new raised bed. There's also alfalfa that's mighty good for the soil. You could also mulch heavily. I got some bales of old hay from a friend this spring. She used to keep cattle on her place but has gotten too frail in the last several years to do it. She probably weighs 100 pounds soaking wet and she used to throw bales of hay around like a man. But anyway her barn has quite a few bales left in it. Some of the wires have broken so it was hard to get it into the truck bed, but I got probably 6 bales. The hay comes apart in layers and you can peel off a layer that is thick enough to lay over the top of the bed and it stays put, even will hold down a good thick layer of leaves. It will shade out most things. This year I'm trying to grow potatoes in mulch, which is what I got the hay bales for. I had a terrible problem with weeds and bermuda in my raised beds till I started mulching. Grass clippings do a good job too, but fresh grass clippings generate a lot of heat. This can be good and bad. Now I only get bermuda in the corners of the beds and I can keep that pulled out fairly easily. I did have to give up trying to grow strawberries, though.