I realize I'm being premature with my suggestions, in view of all the preliminary steps that need to be taken, but just as food for thought I'd like to suggest some plantings of older roses for this older house. I'm thinking for instance of hybrid musks that make large, graceful bushes, some of which can even be used as climbers (Lavender Lassie comes to mind or Cornelia) in order to soften the rather tall facade of the house. Toward the street, above the new proposed retaining wall shorter roses, such as polyanthas, could be interspersed with daylilies and other companion plants for a colorful and low-maintenance display. I would also consider some strategically placed evergreens to give structure to the plantings and to provide interest in the winter. You might want to investigate on-line nurseries that have a good reputation such as Palatine, Pickering and Roses Unlimited to give you an idea of what kind of roses I'm talking about. These roses are much hardier and more disease-resistant than hybrid teas or floribundas, and have much more attractive bushes.

Kirk - Birdhouses are my summer/spare time adventure - I teach too - Horizon MS - CVSD. We probably do not live far from you - Chattaroy. There's a fairly active hand full of insulator collectors in our area. A fellow here in Spokane used to have 300,000 in his backyard! No #%&@! He was selling them for $.25 each when I found out about him, then $.05, then free. They were mainly from old phone lines between Spokane & Ritzville that they put underground. He had worked for the phone company. The insulators got to be a liability for him (20' x 30' waist deep bin in his backyard which recycling outfits would not take). I ended up with at least 3,000 and my neighbor was one of the ones who took his remainder (he has 50,000). I don't think I'll be running out of them any time soon! Back to birdhouses.... they're fun to make. We get lots of birds along the Little Spokane R. I'm trying to have a bunch made for the Inland Craft Warnings show in Nov. It'll be their 25th anniversary so it should be a good show. Email me via my website if you'd like and we'll discuss education/insulators/etc. Steve Here is a link that might be useful: Inland Craft Warnings group and show

Ease up guys, Gregg hasn't closed yet and may not. We should all support his nursery, buy roses for a friend, buy his rose book for a friend. Don't have any friends? Offer a stranger a band from Vintage, then you'll have a friend. If you are angry and depressed, why not take it out on the public gardens who have lost interest in growing and displaying his roses and old garden roses in general? Some of our most famous collections ( I can only speak for the current status of east coast collections) need a kick in the ***. They are letting the rose collections fall into the hands of the "Knockout" queens. Write your local botanic garden president. If you believe in Gregg, he will appreciate this support as well. stephen

Garden and foraging and hunting influences on new kitchen design: 1) "prep" sink was chosen because it could hold lotsa produce, including pumpkins, squash, apples, etc. but also can hold flowers for hardening off before arranging or game being prepped for freezing; purchased a grid for bottom of sink to allow sand, etc. to fall through. 2) food processor and blender will live on countertop, at least in summer 3) knives, peelers, cutting surfaces, compost containers close at hand 4) cutting station has temporary reservoir for receiving cut-off veg material positioned under veg cutting board; sit-down stool; large countertop area for laying out veg and fruit for processing or doing flower arranging 5) pantry area will hold Foley food mill, dehydrators, blancher, apple peeler-corer, vacuum storage device. 6) three dedicated spots for flower arrangements within the room--in front of prep sink, at table, before window in beverage area 7) vases stored on top shelves of upper cupboards; "Oasis" and pinholders nearby; stool in vertical storage area for quick access to flower arranging gear 8) lots of knives, lots of spatulas, lots of containers for freezing all at hand 9) gel mats have been ordered for when I'm on my feet for sustained time 10) sufficient space for dehydrators to run two or three days without interfering with other kitchen activities (we're going to have to decide about using them in pantry soon, before we decide whether door to pantry needs louvers) 11) have just purchased an immersion blender and a hand-held chopper to speed summer veg and herb prep 12) have plans to add herb garden near entrance closest to kitchen; am arguing with DH about creating new compost heap close to this door to receive kitchen compost 13) budget has allowance for me to purchase plants to be seen from kitchen windows for morale We have decided to retain our modest refrigerator instead of buying a larger one; we have two freestanding freezers. Our goal is to NOT keep unprocessed veg material for very long--we're just two people, so we have to keep up with preserving the garden produce or just give it away; we don't need to store it fresh until it gets old. We buy very little in canned goods or frozen veg compared to our habits thirty years ago, so I guess we're doing pretty well at preserving for winter. We haven't canned for years, except jelly. I make some tomato sauces when we have a lot of tomatoes but I also buy canned Italian sauce typically. We're dehydrating tomatoes primarily, but also eggplant, peppers, morel mushrooms, herbs, summer squash, apples, wild berries, and prepared foods for backwoods travel. We freeze broccoli, brussels sprouts, some eggplant, pesto, apple slices, lingnon berries, green beans, game, fish. Some years we can keep onions and winter squash and apples in cold storage well into the winter. Some herbs go into small containers of vinegar for salads. We plan summer meals to take advantage of fresh foods. We have a concept called "Tuscany" for deck meals, which means "live as if we're the heroes of one of those food movies where other people discover themselves when they go to Europe and eat well." We purchase wines to fit the meals and have no guilt about this. We have the deck (two tables) and a dining room (two tables) so we share good meals with others frequently. We were planning to buy a new grill as a Christmas present (until building inspector told us we'll need an air exchanger before we can pass final inspection--not in the budget, wah!) but not sure when that will happen. This last summer was atypical for us in weather, growing conditions, and effort, so we're short on preserved veg this year, I fear. But...once we get the construction finished, we hope we'll be back in our groove. We believe that we ingest a lot fewer chemicals and generally eat better because of our garden and foraging.