My 2 c's, for what it's worth. Well maybe 3. ;-) A field that has been in hay for an extended period will have a lot of organic material - which is a good thing. Mowing as short as possible prior to tilling will help. However, it might take awhile for all of that material to break down. In the meanwhile, the decomposing material will use up soil nitrogen, so you might need to add some the first year. I'll second the recommendation for a soil test, since you don't want to over-fertilize, and you might need to add lime as well. If you will be planting as soon as you have broken ground, you might want to mow & remove the majority of the material; this will lessen the time required for the organic material to break down. The roots & stubble will still contain a lot of organic material. Green material will break down more rapidly than dead, brown material. There is also the question of perennial weeds, and how you intend to turn the soil. I've broken several lawns/fields into gardens; and when I rushed into planting, I had some real battles with thistle, quack grass, & other perennials that can propagate from root pieces. A single tilling just makes things worse, since every broken piece will sprout. It takes several cultivations (such as cultivation in Fall, followed by several cultivations in Spring) to kill the majority. If you have such weeds, the wait & additional cultivations can pay off in a major reduction in weeding. If the garden will be small, you could just solarize the area with a black plastic tarp, which would pretty much kill everything. You would need a lot of clear, sunny days for that to work, and you would want to leave the tarp on until inspection beneath it reveals no new weed sprouts. It's possible, depending upon how you maintain your garden, that the soil could become depleted fairly quickly. I lived in the Sound (Whidbey Island) for several years, and I know how much rain you will have. Extended periods of rainfall can leech nutrients from the soil, especially if it is sandy. Large amounts of organic material will help, as would the use of cover crops/trap crops that grow over winter, and are turned under in Spring. Your local Extension office might be able to advise you on the best cover crops for your area. Provided that the property is large enough, you might want to lay out several plots. Rotate the location of the garden every few years; as you are gardening in one, you can begin cultivating the next plot, and raising a cover crop which will help to beat back some of the weeds. By the next year, after several cultivations, the next plot will be ready... and you can let the first plot go fallow (or cover crop, such as clover or alfalfa). I've seen the results of such a rotation, and it is a method I highly recommend for those that have the room. Oh, and one last warning: be prepared for rocks & debris!!! I would highly recommend that if you intend to use a rotary tiller, you first have someone disc the area you will be planting. This will uncover any large objects which might otherwise destroy your tiller. You'd be amazed what you can find in a field... I've found large pieces of buried pipe (with my tiller). :-(

Warning to game camera buyers..BUY INFRA-RED FLASH ONLY! It's clear that animals are avoiding the annoying flash-which always scares me when I hike up there at night-and doubtless explains why there are few repeat animal photos. I can see by their tracks that they are skirting the camera, including the Big Foot. When I took photos yesterday afternoon, the ice was just melting slightly in sunny spots, and there was no new jaguar sign. I thought he'd moved on, but this morning there were several new, now frozen, scrape marks right where I'd been photographing yesterday, meaning that the jaguar had visited and scrape-marked his territory right after I left, before the temperatures dropped again. I could see that he was giving me a warning, so I circled the pond to where he'd previously left his scat, sniffing the air to see if he'd scent-marked anywhere close, like the jaguar websites said they did. Sure enough, I became aware of a very strong, pungent odor, almost a skunk-like muskiness, so I followed the smell to a scrape-marked tree a few yards away from the scat. 3-4-09, farm pond, scent-marked tree with jaguar (?) scrape From 2-24-09, Tracks and scat paw-sized claw marks From 2-24-09, Tracks and scat First scrape photographed, 3-2-09 From 2-24-09, Tracks and scat Old frozen scrape, possibly the same one? From 2-24-09, Tracks and scat 3-4-09, new frozen jaguar (?) scrape made yesterday afternoon in the same spot I'd been photographing, before night freeze From 2-24-09, Tracks and scat Several websites said jaguars are unafraid of people, which makes them easy targets for hunters. Another website claimed that Amazon Indians are frequently followed by male jaguars to escort them off their territories. Still other websites said that jaguars seldom bother to mark territories unless there is a boundary dispute or overlapping territories. Perhaps our constant poking around "his" territory is prompting the alleged jaguar to warn us off. The meerkats in Meerkat Manor are always "furiously scent-marking" bushes and rocks to "see-off" trespassers, so he could be warning us to back off. If he is imprinted on humans from being in captivity as a cub, he might see us as rivals, but maybe all jaguars view humans that way. Of course, I was here first. Websites also say that about their second year, male jaguars move on to establish their own territories, which can be up to 500 square miles, depending on food availability, so he might be moving on soon.

"Sometimes you just have to decide to accept the fact that you will have some condensation at the level of indoor humidity that you consider "reasonable" or else you have to find a way either to lower your indoor moisture-level even when it is already closing in on "nose bleed" or invent a method of warming your window glass." -oberon That's the money shot right there. Ultimately you want the humidity level in your home to be comfortable, yet low enough to prevent condensation on your windows. Unfortunately, here in WI and in your area there are times when both of those goals can't be achieved even with very efficient windows. At some point you will need to make the air a little drier than you prefer if eliminating the condensation is your main goal, or just deal with a little moisture on the windows if comfort is paramount. Personally, I try to get the Rh as low as I can stand, and whatever condensation still happens is what it is. I do not run a humidifier, but do have a very tight house.

Yes, those kids are getting big, aren't they? The Princess is a teenager. (sigh) Lars, we haven't gone to the outlet mall yet, we're going to the one in Birch Run. It's by Frankenmuth, where we are spending the night, it's one of those German/Bavarian themed tourist kind of towns, with lots of Oktoberfest type activities that go on all the time. There is, however, an outlet mall in Grand Rapids too, and they are kind of overwhelming. Plus, they are entirely outdoors, which is not necessarily a pleasant thing in Michigan in the fall/winter. I'm just hoping for dry weather, no rain or snow, so we can actually walk around town and the mall without getting drenched or freezing! Annie