Homestead mailing list

["Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>]

From: "Bevanron" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
> How did he split the rails?  Conventionally with wedges or some other
> way.  Is it stacked rail or did he use some kind of tenon joint?
> (That's probably not the proper term, but it's the only thing I can
> think of right now) I had two trees hit by lightning a few weeks back..a
> split rail fence along the front of the property might be nice....

Well, a little history.  DH is a city boy, born and raised outside Boston. 
The country to him was going to a park <g>  It has taken years and baby 
steps to get him into "real" country.

So, he set out with his trusty chainsaw (a toy he has become quite fond of 
<g>) and decided the trees shouldn't go to waste.  There weren't enough of 
them to make a load to the mill and you can only burn so much wood.  So he 
cut them into manageable lengths and then sliced them up with the chainsaw. 
He's still a city boy, so he dug out some screws and used them to attach the 
rails to the posts he made.  I'm not complaining that it's not traditional. 
I figure that will be the next step.  It has been a real interesting process 
to see him now scavenge and not waste anything and complain when he sees 
people throwing "perfectly good stuff.  I could have used that to . . . ."

> Yikes!
> The east end of my garden is low, but it drains well and water doesn't
> stand there.  The ground does stay soft, however, rarely drying out
> totally.  I have often thought of trying to make some kind of rice paddy
> at the east end.  Have you thought of turning that terrace into a rice
> paddy, or is it just not suitable?  I have oft waxed philosophic about
> growing rice-I know there are highland/dryland types-maybe Lee will
> chime in and give us some of her expertise on the subject.  Back during
> the Olympics this past winter, I researched a bit on the rice grown in
> Italy, but never acted on it.  The area around Turin is a big rice
> producing area.  If they can do it there, we should be able to do it here!
The weather and land here is WEIRD!  It is dry in the extreme!  No humidity 
to speak of even in the winter.  So these "soggy" spots really surprised us. 
In the summer it is dust dry but given a little rain it becomes a bog.  Most 
peculiar but we are getting used to peculiar <g>  I'm not sure there is 
anything that likes moldy roots in the winter and the Sahara in the summer! 
Well, except oaks trees because they sure like it.

We're putting in laminate flooring, the click kind.

Before we sold the old house, the folks behind us sold theirs.  It had been 
a rental for years and when they were cleaning it out they found a bunch of 
Italian porcelein tiles and were going to haul them to the dump.  Being the 
generous and kind neighbor that I am <g> I offered to save them the trip and 
expense of the dump.  We are going to use them in the mud/laundry room.

Lynda