SteveA

Not sure about the fine? Leave it long enough and the wild flowers will come. Have you tried suggesting cutting paths instead of mowing the whole area?.... and maybe with a larger mown circle somewhere in the middle for people to sit or lie amongst the sound of the bugs and critters? Cheers, steve

I've also had problems with UKmail before. They were entrusted to return a package to us worth a couple £k ....we paid extra to cover the insurance (heaven forbid, in case the worst happened). They said it was delivered to us - but we hadn't received a thing, not even an attempted delivery note. So we contacted them to make a claim for the missing items... They said we'd signed for it.... so we asked to see the signature, but they didn't supply it. That went on a couple weeks and then we got a knock on the door. Turns out they had posted it to the same number as our house (number 28) but in a completely different street!.... a builder had signed for it whilst the owner of the house was on holiday. The owner of the other number 28 kindly returned our package. Insured or not, there is no way I would use UKMail again. Other delivery companies are probably just as bad. Fortunately some are excellent. cheers, steve

If you gather any further info and photos on that would you mind plopping a thread for it on Arbtalk? I think Robin mentioned they were putting a brochure together for it, but I've not chased it up. We're hoping to get a bit of funding towards the cost.... via EU money, that's because we're part of the EU. ie, not everything is unfunded by the Tory party, yet.... cheers, steve

Yep, here's as far as I got.... "We can also offer a smaller vertical machine that will produce 25-30kg per day. It is made of stainless steel and the current retail price is £2500 plus VAT. This retort may be more in keeping with your requirements. Demonstrations for this machine can only be carried out at Exeter." That sounds great & should be more suited to the scale of our farm... I had considered using standard oil drums but from what I understand they only last for about 10 burns. How many burns might we expect to get from your vertical stainless steel machine? cheers, steve "Ah, yes. Oil drums are meant for carrying oil, so are very thin low quality steel. Hard to say how many burns because none have yet reached a stage where they are yet showing any serious signs of wear. Hundreds of cycles, certainly."

I doubt it. It's a beast of a machine! cheers, steve

Exeter make a smaller upright retort but it's still a few grand. Some people use oil drums but they burn out pretty quick.... within about 10 burns I think. cheers, Steve

Yeah, Kevin's link made me wonder the same thing. I've gone off the idea of the decimator pretty rapidly. cheers, steve

Not heard that before but thanks for the mention & link Kevin. Our Florabest came with two metal brush blades so pretty sure it'll be fine with the two blade Oregon mulcher (fairly similar in design aspects). Fitting metal chains on a strimmer head seems totally nuts considering they only have a flexible plastic guard for protection! cheers, steve

Haha! Looks good and exactly the kind of thing I'm thinking of getting. cheers, steve

Our Florabest is still running and cutting great. I've ordered an Oregon two tooth brushcutter blade for it today, for mulching a big wodge of bramble.... looking forwards to seeing how it copes with that. Also thinking of getting a fixed line head for grass strimming duties but I'm not sure what to get.... can anyone help me decide? At the moment we've got a standard two line bump feed fitted. cheers, steve

yep that's a pretty low mileage for that age. Maybe they drove in reverse a lot? cheers, steve

....that looks amaaaaazing, I particularly like how you've burnt the wood around the exit wound to represent blood. Do you have a photo from the front of the guy who's been sworded? cheers, steve

Humpty Stumpty.

Positive git cheers, Steve

What's in bird poo?.... the remains of squished up insects and stuff innit. cheers, steve

That sucks. Have you informed the police?... not that they tend to do a lot about it though. cheers, steve

Chances are that he doesn't have a groundie helmet, suitable footwear or education. I've tackled similar a few times with: "it's very kind of you to offer to help but we're not covered on our insurance, especially without a helmet. But it's very kind of you". Cheers, steve p.s.... but I only do groundie stuff as part of a team.

Positively thinking about eating cake and not nomming a shitsandwich. cheers, steve

Achieve every goal by only rewarding yourself with cake upon completion. More goals; more cake. Cake is where it's at. cheers, steve

He pours a bit out onto a metal workbench, adds a dusting of sand, beats it for half an hour with a peening hammer, sieves it through some old stockings and then does a final taste test. Quite simple really! cheers, steve

Maybe Pick Your Own Family Apple & Fruit Farm Chelmsford | Lathcoats Farm could help?... or maybe Kew could put you in touch with someone? cheers, Steve

Yeah there are still some very excellent business's with quality customer service out there. Here's a couple more I rate very highly... a) Chainsawbars ? chainsaw chains, chainsaw bars and chainsaw accessories b) http://firsttunnels.co.uk cheers, steve

Looks ace & goes well with the exposed stone. Suns out too so that's a bonus! Are those peg joints?.... be nice to see a few photos of those too if you have any.... cheers, steve

Nice building. I've seen others in a similar design so can't see any problems with that. Architects tend to draw on other buildings for inspiration and from what you've said you are doing the same. Cheers, steve