What are sickle pears? Never heard of that<<

Tom,

They are small reddish pears and are delicious. When I get into mood for 
canning (very rare occurrence),I can raw sickle pears in rum and water 
without any added sugar since they are very sweet.
Some nurseries carry the hybrid variety ,our tree here  is about 100+ years 
old. I will take a picture of it,fruits are still in immature state and will 
be edible by mid August and that will give you an idea.

Ah,those pesky Canadian thistles. I go out there every day and hack them to 
bits by their roots. I finally managed to clear of a whole 1 acre but 
working on it for 4 years,you also have to work on the soil to enrich it and 
try a thick cover of clover which you can turn it down for further soil 
improvement and nitrogen prior to planting your garden. I've been saving and 
planting purslane seeds around any bare unused areas. They make a delicious 
cold dishes or added to salads.

Do your parents raises any livestock on their farm?

Regards,

Inci