"I think my back hurts.." Hey Pete, if you only *think* your back hurts just keep on composting the way you are and soon you will *know* it hurts! LOL You are doing very well and I'm sure a lot of us would love to see pics of your compost operation. Keep going and you might end up with a system like Lloyd's! If you can get wood shavings they work well mixed with compost as a mulch. I use it regularly and the shavings disappear within a few months. Actual coarse chips from lumber mills are OK for paths but take ages to break down in my experience. Fresh wood chips from tree services are faster. So it all depends on what a person means by the term wood chips. Cardboard is useful placed between plants under mulch as weed/moisture control. Easier to work with than newspaper IMO. Paul, I never realized you live on Cape Breton Island. We have fond memories of towing a travel trailer all around the Cabot Trail back in the 70's. No one had told us that was ill-advised because of the grades. Of course we were from BC and didn't think the mountains were all that high! We also learned during that trip summer was over in the middle of August and we "enjoyed" a lovely storm coming off the Atlantic while we camped on the far side. Great memories!

Im going to have to definitely look into that! Thanks for the source. I would love to see some pics when its all potted up. And Hawaii is definitely in a terrible drought. When I was there recently you could see the entire forest was dried up (the forecast wasnt very lush on that side of the island, it was kind of like a savannah. They said that the trees would become green again when it started to rain. The hotels didnt show any signs of drought and neither did any of the nearby streets because it was amazingly well maintained, but once you got past the hotel, a lot of the island was suffering from the drought. They also had a huge fire on the island of Maui which (If I remember correctly) was started by someone, but it took out a large portion of the savannah-like forest. At least we are getting some small amounts of rain here every once in a while. Some parts of hawaii arent even getting that (although there are parts of Hawaii that do get rain every single day even in this drought). Hawaii has such a diverse climate, but even though they are in the middle of the ocean, they seem to get droughts too! Good luck! -Alex

They seed like mad. once you get some you should never have to buy them again. I have a diff types in the back and am now starting to think some of them have cross bred. There is also one at a tire and lube place I found that is something special. the leaves are 3 ft across the vein is bright yellow and the leaf is a blue/green..The man let me take some seed and hopefully they all mature. it really is amazing how these grow. If you want some seed around oct. let me know I will have BUNCHES

Good luck Kate! I am in a similar boat. I too know what works but finding the motivation has been so hard lately. I don't know why I can go along smooth sailing for several weeks and then all the sudden just not have the will to keep going. grrr! DH and I have decided to jump back on the boat together which means portion control and exercise. We are going to Chicago for Christmas so that is going to be our short-term goal and we'll set another after that. Stephanie