chelsea’s Recent Comments

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  Christmas Trees

  While I'm all for a live tree at Christmas, the concerns expressed by various commentators are also valid.  My solution was to buy a potted tree, keep it until January and then plant it.
  My reasons were twofold - I wanted to establish a snowfence of trees along the driveway of the farm I own and have soemthing besides a dead tree shedding needles all over the place.
  The first Christmas was not very successful - I live in Ontario and where the farm is located the ground is usually frozen by January.  
  The following year was much better - a hole was dug, the soil from it piled nearby and all would have proceeded well if it hadn't been for a snowstorm that filled the hole and froze the soil!  After nearly breaking a leg trying to find the hole and taking a pickaxe to the soil, the tree was successfully planted and has grown mightily.
  So here's the way to do it:  dig your hole before the first frost.  Mark it (a broken hockey stick works well), save the soil in a bag (or two) in the house or  basement, where it can't freeze. After Christmas, pop your tree out of its pot, having watered it well and place it it in the prepared hole.  Backfill the tree and hole with the saved soil, making sure to leave no air pockets.  Mound the snow (if there is any) around the base of the planted tree to act as insulation and as a source of moisture when it melts.  My snowfence of living conifers is almost complete so I'll be starting a new site for the trees of Christmas future.
  (A final note about the very first tree that taught me what to do: it was a Douglas fir and did manage to survive, despite my bumbling efforts and now towers over the others.)On On organic Christmas trees posted 2 years ago 20 Responses

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  Water shortage

  An action that must be taken as soon as possible is to stop flushing toilets with drinking water.  There must be technology available to re-route the grey water from showers, tubs and clothes washing machines to a holding tank and then to the toilets.
  While composting toilets sound great and would be useful for new installations, let's modify what is already in place i.e. pipe and sewage systems which could be used with the addition of storage facilities.  On U.S. states face water shortages posted 2 years ago 5 Responses