I have to admit that I don't know a whole lot and that I haven't "gotten out a lot", but I can comment upon what I see. First, I live in New Hampshire. The backbone of our economy is the wood products and tourism industry. Let me clear up something. A responsible forest owner, with the help of a forester, can manage an established woodland property well. By selective cutting, the health and vigor of a forest can be sustained. If you see someone with the diamond-shaped "tree farm" sign, you will notice that a tree farm isn't just rows of trees growing up just to be chopped down for paper. A well-managed woodlot should encourage recreation, aesthetics, promote wildlife diversity and population, and provide a sustainable source of wood products, while protecting forestland, open space, clean water, etc. Also, being a tree farm doesn't necessarily mean that you inflict the same harm as a commercial agriculture operation. By the way, there is a comparison between a tree farm and a forest. A well-managed tree farm can be coached along to promote certain species of trees, wildife, etc. and can contain even- or unevenly-aged trees. Such a tree farm would be a pleasure for recreational activities of any kind. I used to think like many of you that when I saw a tree being cut that it was a negative thing. However, by thinning a forest, you are promoting the healthy growth and development of the trees within. NH is heavily forested, much more so than the early 1900s etc. These forests should be put to use to product wood and non-wood forest products. Since I haven't weighed all of the pros and cons of recycling, I can't give you a complete, thought-out opinion, but I must say that wood is really a material we should use more of. At least wood is biodegradable, renewable, much more than I can say for plastics and synthetics. In addition to recycling and composting, I wonder if there would be ways of more easily tilling used paper into the soil to provide carbon for soil microbes, or putting thin shreds on the lawn for a little extra OG. Ok, just a thought. I would like to pick your brains with all of the possibilities for non-wood forest products. For example, pine needles could be used more extensively for mulch, (pine nuts????), etc. Finally, what's wrong with logging trails? Sure they look bad and destructive when logging is going on, but look at them a year or two later. Ferns or saplings will take full advantage of the new sunlight, and the animals will have a hayday feeding on new growth. Thanks, and HAPPY COMPOSTING!!!!!!! Bruce_NH

James et all, Go to your search engine and type in - growing figs in Japan. This should bring up a site called Hawaiifruit.net/Figs-Japan. Scroll down to the first set of links, and it is the second from last link, I think it's called field station. Anyway, there are several pictures there of the bins used for fig trees. Herman, weight does not seem to be an issue for the Japanese, apparently the bins remain stationary as they are already within some type of enclosure (greenhouse?)(if Mohammed won't go to the mountain, then etc., etc.). I do get the feeling that watering must be done frequently. Still, I enjoy playing with new ideas....Elder

We had sections of straw matting in places to prevent washout. The green plastic mesh was sticking up in places and a trip hazard. We just pulled ours up with zero damage to the grass. We had to give it a good yank in places but still, the only thing that came up was the plastic and some of the straw. Also, someone mentioned it will biodegrade over time. I could be wrong, but I don’t believe that’s true...it’s a fairly heavy duty plastic and ours wasn’t biodegrading after 6 months. In any case you should have no problem pulling it up.

@pricklypearcactus, of the three co-workers who have had facial plastic surgery recently, I would call it about 33%. One has had several procedures done over the years and all have been done in a very directed sort of manner: fat bag removal under the eyes, etc, and the latest one was a neck lift. Very well done, not too much, not trying to look younger. Many people may not even notice it. The second one has been kind of a botox and filler junkie for a while and while her work was not over the top, I don't like it. Her eyes are pointy and they never were before. She doesn't look like a younger version of herself, she looks different. Whatever she did to her lips is okay. The third woman looks like a freak. She went from having a normal to slightly big nose to Latoya Jackson, I am not exagerrating, and she looks like she is making that duck lip face. And she has vaguely startled look and like it might be hard to actually keep her eyes closed. Some of this will probably settle in a bit over the years but her nose is ruined for ever. I think she looks much worse than she did before surgery. Not younger, not better, not just different.