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In Poison Ivy and Poison Oak: Identification, Irradication and Home Remedies, Sandra Dark suggests killing poison ivy by hoeing or mowing it. The article also includes several tips for managing an outbreak if you get poison ivy on your skin. But the large poison ivy vine you have on your tree requires a more intensive approach.

Be sure to wear appropriate protective gear: rubber boots and gloves, a hat, goggles or faceshield and long pants. Start by clipping the stem of the vine with a long-handled pruning shears. Then, using a long-handled tool (maybe a channel-lock wrench), pull the stump if you can. If not, hoe off any new shoots as they grow.

The vine in the tree will die after the main stem has been cut. Rake up the leaves after they fall, being careful to wear the same protective gear. Do not burn the leaves or stems, as the smoke can cause severe allergic reactions when inhaled.

In winter, trim as much of the dead vines as you care to, remembering that touching even these dead vines could cause a reaction.

There’s no effective way to destroy the chigger population completely, but in Be Fair To This Fowl, Jonathan Erickson suggests that guinea fowl eat chiggers (and other bugs you don’t want on your property). Chemical methods of killing chiggers are not effective, especially in the long-term.

Give Chiggers the Brush lists several things you can do to minimize chigger bites:

• Mow regularly — chiggers have fewer hiding places in short grass.
• Put sulfur powder in your socks if you can tolerate the odor.
• W…

Different circumstances may cause chickens to eat their eggs, but if they start, it’s a difficult habit to break.

• Raise nest boxes at least 18 inches off the floor. Bored chickens, especially roosters, are less likely to start pecking at the eggs if they’re not at ground level.
• Feed a balanced ration.
• Have oyster shell available to layer hens. This prevents a calcium shortage, which may prompt hens to start eating eggs.
• Make sure the chickens have adequate space — preferably allow them to range on p…

Carpenter bees can be annoying and cause damage to buildings. But you can control carpenter bees and minimize damage with simple, nontoxic methods. A couple of suggestions from Dealing With Carpenter Bees are:

• Paint wood that the bees are boring into.
• Plug carpenter bee holes by taping window screen over them. Remove the screen after a few weeks and fill the holes with wood putty.

According to information in Protect Your Pollinators, carpenter bees pollinate blackberries, canola, corn, peppers and …

Chicken manure is high in nutrients, so it makes a great natural fertilizer for your garden.

According to Commercial Meat and Egg Production, industrial hens produce about a quarter pound of manure per day. That number was calculated from the amount of feed consumed by the hens.

But because these souped-up hybrids are bred for maximum production (under controlled environmental conditions), they consume more feed than heritage breeds — and probably produce more manure.

Eliot Coleman tells us that on…

I think you are referring to the Foxfire books, a collection of traditional folk culture and crafts of the Southern Appalachians that are still practiced today.

For more information and inspiration on traditional homesteading crafts and skills, check out these books on our shopping site. The Good Life, The Encyclopedia of Country Living, The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It, Country Wisdom and Know How, A Handmade Life and Made from Scratch.

The reason not to burn driftwood is that when organics such as wood are burned in the presence of chlorides, dioxin is created in the flue gas. Dioxin is referred to as a persistent, bioaccumulating toxin, meaning it doesn't decompose, and it builds up in the tissues of the organisms that ingest it. Specifically it can concentrate in mother's milk. It has been associated with various cancers.

Chemically, salt is sodium chloride, so salt-water driftwood is a big source of dioxin when burned. Other…

Mary, here is a great article on making an apron from worn out children’s jeans. And if you are interested in the old-fashioned style of aprons check out your local thrift stores for great bargains on retro-material aprons. You also can find free apron patterns online, such as this list of 56 free patterns from tipnut.com.

Joe, you can hang yards of clothes on these all-wooden clothes racks from Lehman’s. Another good source for large wooden clothes racks is Real Goods.

Cardie,

Thanks for asking and we have a very unique response, penned by our gardening expert, Barbara Pleasant. Barbara has been using this old-fashioned method for years and it works!

First locate the hole in the ground where the nest is. Then, get a clear plastic or glass cake cover — yup, a cake cover — and keep reading here.