Oh, THAT's why all of us had guineas! LOL! I never knew what a help they were, only that they were a darned nuisance and if someone pulled into the road they'd all take to the trees and SCREAM!! ;)

Thanks for the trip down memory lane...

Oh, yes, the Guinea Scream. Like peacocks, the best two-footed perimeter alarm going.
Nothing like going into a three-foot hover over the bed when the peacocks scream at 0400.

Tractor Supply Co sells several natural bioinhabitants to help keep algae down in your pond. We used to use it a lot in our old cattle pond to keep the it from getting overgrown, and clean. Totally safe. I forget what its called now, however.

There are some other remedies for them as well, we used to do.

Add 1 Barley Straw Bundle per 1000 gallons of water. Keep submerged but do not let them sink to the bottom of the pond. They need light and oxygen to break down. Barley Straw improves water quality by reducing pond algae, other particles and odors. As the straw decomposes, it releases materials which control algae populations. It will not kill existing algae, but prevents new growth from occurring. As the existing algae naturally dies off, and new growth is inhibited, water clarity and pond health is restored. Will not harm plants or fish

Also you can manually rake in the surface algae. The less Algae there is, the less it will grow, however a certain amount of algae is needed to keep the pond in balance. It eats excess nutrients in the water and helps oxygenate the water Plant coverage should be 50% - 70% of the surface. Add a variety to compete with algae for the nutrients. Water lilies will shade the surface of the pond. Submerged plants (Anacharis) and floating plants (Water Lettuce, Water Hyacinth) absorb nutrients directly from the water with their roots.

Add nitrifying bacteria (Microbe-Lift or Bio-Pond Tabs) which will help to starve out the algae. Both feed on the same nutrients. Have a place for the bacteria to grow, such as a bio-filter, rocks, plants, filter media.

There's a Huge variety of cheap test kits available to help you to decide how you want to proceed.

Guinea's are awesome for removing ticks.

So are chickens and Martin birds. You can get a good Martin Birdhouse at Wal Mart for less than $70 bucks, and the good thing about Martins are, as soon you have them established, they will come back year after year to the same location.

If ever I can be of service for idea's or such let me know :)

Guinea Fowl are commonly found in farms all along the Island. Their independent, self-reliant behaviour surely make great farm denizens. And they make good eatin' too.

Grandma' used to make a mean Guinea Fowl stewed rice. Ahhh, the memories those gray honkers bring.

Mostly I've been going over the county land-use plan, and the proposed zonings for now to 2020. We're in the "discourage high intensity development" area of the county, which makes sense, it's the agriculutural core of the county in the northwest portion and the urbanizing areas are the south and southeast portions. We're currently zoned as Rural Resdidential 5-10 Acre lots (as is *all* the farmland in the unincorporated areas of the county) and may get rezoned to RR 38 - or 38 acre lots, that being considered around here to be the smallest size plot that is viable from an agriculture perspective.

Since We're *two* of those, I'm jiggy with it.

They don't want leap-frog development in the area because of what it does to county infrastructure requirements - without generating sufficient revenue to pay for those infrastructure requirements.

So, not likely to have Gun-Fearing-Wussies as neighbors anytime soon. In fact, yesterday when we were out - someone was out shooting. It sounded like a firefight about a mile away. No zings! or whizzzz! near us, which is good. Not even the patter of shot in the leaves - which you can hear while horseback riding on the Fort, behind the skeet range.

The gentleman who owns the land to our east is moving to a nursing home - which may open up a chance for us to snag some of his acreage - he's got the other side of the creek that bounds the upper 40 and it would be nice to get that and the hill - good backstop, and more woods to ride through with the horses. I'm hoping we can do the same with the land to the south, as well - at least get the 10 acres of it that is woods, that buts up against our spot.

I'll spare you the soils and land use analysis...

X-Cept for the ticks, sounds like Petey will be in galloping heaven

picked more ticks off each other.

Sounds like a romantic interlude...You know who your friends are when you need a tick inspection.

I suggest poults. Guinea hens, chickens, and other fowl are GREAT tick hunters.

Melaluca, or tea tree oil is a good repellent.

Another way to keep ticks down is to keep the grass short. They don't like the heat. If you want yer woods cleaned out of bottom stuff, get some pigs in there to clean out everything. They also hate snakes, so they will kill what they see and even eat it for you...which is why I sorta pass up wild pig every now and then...

The old gent neighbor may have other ideas for his land, but would likely be interested in a lease, for a nominal sum. If you get lease + first right of refusal, you are golden, but then there is the matter of heirs.

Get a lease while he's still competent to sign one.

His greedy little nephew is reportedly eager to sell.

We'll have to wait him out, because I suspect he over-values the land.

As a native Oregonian - at a time before it became so Californicated - I knew farmers who used guineas as "watch fowl" instead of dogs. Easier care, eat less, and as aforementioned,raised an UNBELIEVABLE racket when strangers appeared. The tick thing is new to me, however. Just an added bonus!! ML

I hope that you both are able to make a successful purchase of that piece of land as it sounds like a little piece of heaven....ticks or no ticks.

Would you please accept my thanks for one of the most interesting, and delightful, sites which I have visited. Thank you.

Veritas et Fidelis Semper

Sounds wonderful. Just watch those tick bites! Spud one desperately wants chickens but they are banned in our little patch of county.

Beth I like your approach to use a natural remedy to clear out the ticks, Shiver, I hate the thought of ticks crawling on me.
Guinea Fowl, chickens, martins, all sound the way to go. You and John have much work ahead, but I am confident it is going to be a labor of love.

I don't know if you're country fans or not, but go to http://www.bradpaisley.com/ and select the Jukebox under media. A lovely little tune called "Ticks" you and to Armorer can serenade each other with... :)

PS - Sorry if this is the 500th time someone has suggested it...

Another option for cleaning up the lake is a type of fish you could stock. I believe they are called "grass carp" but not %100 sure. They supposedly eat the "moss" and other vegetation.