A Wood-Splitting Trick, Hen House Litter, Septic Tank Maintenance and More Country Lore

Image Gallery Learn how to make a cookbook holder for easy referencing while cooking.  ILLUSTRATION: MOTHER EARTH NEWS STAFF

Unless you have goats to keep fast-growing summer grass from turning your yard into a hayfield, it's time to haul the lawn mower out of storage, clean it up, and get with the old push-and-pull routine again. Accordingly, our first tip this time around comes from Kenneth Hubbard of East Aurora, New York, who has some advice on mower maintenance.  

The real key to a smooth-running, clean-cutting mower is to have a blade that's not just sharp, but perfectly balanced, too. To get both, place the blade in a vise and hone both ends with a file, as you normally would. Then remove the blade and clamp a headless finishing nail between the jaws of the vise so that it extends horizontally. Now, hang the mower blade on the nail by the drive-shaft hole. The blade will tilt downward on the end that's heaviest. To balance it, simply file the weightiest end until it hangs level.

The result will be a sharp and perfectly balanced blade that will take a lot of the vibration out of your mechanical goat.

Let's head for the kitchen and give a listen to what Shauna Ellet of Rockdale, Texas has to say: 

Here's a handy idea I discovered a few years ago that helps me when I'm cooking from a cookbook . . . particularly if it's one of the smaller paperback volumes that are difficult to keep open to the page I want. Using a wire coat hanger, bend the corners in and around, then bend a small V in the center of the bottom for the book to rest on (see illustration). Place the device on a table or hang it on the knob of a cabinet door for eye-level reference while cooking. The hanger can easily be adjusted for various book sizes, too.

Whether you're still building fires for cool nights or are already getting a head start on next fall's woodcutting chores, here's a tip that should help you to save time and energy. It comes from Clarence Nye of Hummelstown, Pennsylvania. 

I use an old, discarded 16" tire as a log holder when splitting firewood. The tire's 'doughnut hole' takes logs up to 15" in diameter and has several advantages: It is portable and can be rolled from one woodpile to another, it'll last for years, and it's free. I like it because I don't have to reset my wood with every split I make, and the pieces don't fly all over the place (including into my shins!). And at the same time, the tire cushions the maul's handle and reduces the risk of splitting and splintering. The idea may be 'tired', but I get my wood split a lot faster and with a lot less effort, too.