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Backyard
A backyard, or back yard (known in the United Kingdom as a back garden or just garden), is a yard at the back of a house, common in suburban developments in the Western world. In Australia, until the mid-20th century, the back yard of a property would traditionally contain a fowl run, outhouse (" dunny"), vegetable patch, and woodheap. More recently, these have been replaced by outdoor entertainments such as a barbecue and swimming pool. But, since the 1990s, the trend in Australian suburban development has been for back yards to disappear as the dwellings now occupy almost all of the building plot. In higher latitudes, it is economical in low land value regions to use open land surrounding a house for vegetable gardening during summers and allow sunlight to enter house windows from a low horizon angle during winters. As land value increases, houses are built nearer to each other. In order to preserve some of the open land, house owners may choose to allow construction ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Backyard In Tampere, Finland
A backyard, or back yard (known in the United Kingdom as a back garden or just garden), is a yard at the back of a house, common in suburban developments in the Western world. In Australia, until the mid-20th century, the back yard of a property would traditionally contain a fowl run, outhouse ("dunny"), vegetable patch, and woodheap. More recently, these have been replaced by outdoor entertainments such as a barbecue and swimming pool. But, since the 1990s, the trend in Australian suburban development has been for back yards to disappear as the dwellings now occupy almost all of the building plot. In higher latitudes, it is economical in low land value regions to use open land surrounding a house for vegetable gardening during summers and allow sunlight to enter house windows from a low horizon angle during winters. As land value increases, houses are built nearer to each other. In order to preserve some of the open land, house owners may choose to allow construction on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Fowl Run
Keeping chickens is becoming increasingly popular in urban and suburban areas. The reasons for keeping chickens are as pets, for eggs, for meat, or for eating pests. Some people will sell the eggs for side income. Keeping chickens in an urban environment is a type of urban agriculture, important in the local food movement, which is the growing practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in or around a village, town or city. According to National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service and experts in backyard agriculture, there are a host of personal benefits associated with urban agriculture and keeping chickens in one's own backyard. History Keeping livestock in cities has been common throughout history and is still practiced in many parts of the world. For example, 50,000 pigs were being kept in Manhattan in 1859. But local ordinances were created to limit this, owing to the noise and smell nuisance, and these were relaxed only in times of war when the urban ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Back Garden
A back garden is a residential garden located at the rear of a property, on the other side of the house from the front garden. Such gardens have a special place in English suburban and gardening culture. Overview A back garden arises when the main building divides the surrounding gardens into two. This happens especially in the high density housing of British cities and towns. A semi-detached house typical of the British suburbs of the 20th century will have front gardens which face the road and provide access. The back gardens in such cases will be more secluded and access will typically be via the dwelling or by a path around the side. A front garden is a formal and semi-public space and so subject to the constraints of convention and law. However, the back garden is more private and casual, and so can be put to more purposes. If the housing is terraced, then no side path is possible and access may be provided by an alley which runs behind the rear of the terrace. While ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Compost Bin
Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant, food waste, recycling organic materials and manure. The resulting mixture is rich in plant nutrients and beneficial organisms, such as bacteria, protozoa, nematodes and fungi. Compost improves soil fertility in gardens, landscaping, horticulture, urban agriculture, and organic farming, reducing dependency on commercial chemical fertilizers. The benefits of compost include providing nutrients to crops as fertilizer, acting as a soil conditioner, increasing the humus or humic acid contents of the soil, and introducing beneficial microbes that help to suppress pathogens in the soil and reduce soil-borne diseases. At the simplest level, composting requires gathering a mix of 'greens' (green waste) and 'browns' (brown waste). Greens are materials rich in nitrogen such as leaves, grass, and food scraps. Brow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Swimming Pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built above ground (as a freestanding construction or as part of a building or other larger structure), and may be found as a feature aboard ocean-liners and cruise ships. In-ground pools are most commonly constructed from materials such as concrete, natural stone, metal, plastic, or fiberglass, and can be of a custom size and shape or built to a standardized size, the largest of which is the Olympic-size swimming pool. Many health clubs, fitness centers, and private clubs have pools used mostly for exercise or recreation. It is common for municipalities of every size to provide pools for public use. Many of these municipal pools are outdoor pools but indoor pools can also be found in buildings such as natatoriums and leisure centers. Hotels may ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Yard (land)
A yard is an area of land immediately adjacent to one or more buildings. It may be either enclosed or open. The word comes from the same linguistic root as the word ''garden'' and has many of the same meanings. A number of derived words exist, usually tied to a particular usage or building type. Some may be archaic or in lesser use now. Examples of such words are: courtyard, barnyard, hopyard, graveyard, churchyard, brickyard, prison yard, railyard, junkyard and stableyard. Word origin The word "yard" came from the Anglo-Saxon ''geard'', compare "jardin" (French) which has a Germanic origin (compare Franconian word "gardo"), "garden" (Anglo-Norman ''Gardin'', German ''Garten'') and Old Norse ''garðr'', Latin ''hortus'' = "garden" (hence horticulture and orchard), from Greek ' () = "farm-yard", "feeding-place", "fodder", (from which " hay" originally as grown in an enclosed field). "Girdle," and "court" are other related words from the same root. In areas where farming ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Deck (building)
In architecture, a deck is a flat surface capable of supporting weight, similar to a floor, but typically constructed outdoors, often elevated from the ground, and usually connected to a building. The term is a generalization from the deck of a ship. A level architectural deck may be intended for use by people, e.g., what in the UK is usually called a decked patio. "Roof deck" refers to the flat layer of construction materials to which the weather impervious layers are attached to a form a roof. It is known as the "roof deck", and they may be either level (for a "flat" rooftop) or sloped. Functions and materials Wood or timber decking can be used in a number of ways: as part of garden landscaping, to extend the living area of a house, and as an alternative to stone-based features such as patios. Decks are made from treated lumber, composite lumber, composite material, and aluminum. Lumber may be western red cedar, teak, mahogany, ipê, reclaimed and recycled ulin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Chicken Coop
Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion chickens are killed for consumption annually. Chickens raised for eggs are known as layers, while chickens raised for meat are called broilers. In the United States, the national organization overseeing poultry production is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In the UK, the national organisation is the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Intensive and alternative According to the World Watch Institute, 74 percent of the world's poultry meat, and 68 percent of eggs are produced intensively.''State of the World 2006'' World "atch Institute, p. 26 One alternative to intensive poultry farming is free-range farming using lower stocking densities. Poultry producers routinely use nationally approved medications, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Guest House
A guest house (also guesthouse) is a kind of lodging. In some parts of the world (such as the Caribbean), guest houses are a type of inexpensive hotel-like lodging. In others, it is a private home that has been converted for the exclusive use of lodging. The owner usually lives in an entirely separate area within the property and the guest house may serve as a form of lodging business. Overview In some areas of the world, guest houses are the only kind of accommodation available for visitors who have no local relatives to stay with. Among the features which distinguish a guest house from a hotel, or inn is the lack of a full-time staff. Bed and breakfasts and guest houses in England are family owned and the family lives on the premises though family members are not normally available during the evening. However, most family members work a 10- to 12-hour day from 6 am as they may employ part-time service staff. Hotels maintain a staff presence 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Gazebo
A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal or turret-shaped, often built in a park, garden or spacious public area. Some are used on occasions as bandstands. Etymology The etymology given by Oxford Dictionaries is "Mid 18th century: perhaps humorously from gaze, in imitation of Latin future tenses ending in -ebo: compare with lavabo." L. L. Bacon put forward a derivation from '' Casbah'', a Muslim quarter around the citadel in Algiers.Bacon, Leonard Lee. "Gazebos and Alambras", ''American Notes and Queries'' 8:6 (1970): 87–87 W. Sayers proposed Hispano-Arabic ''qushaybah'', in a poem by Cordoban poet Ibn Quzman (d. 1160).William Sayers, ''Eastern prospects: Kiosks, belvederes, gazebos''. Neophilologus 87: 299–305, 200/ref> The word ''gazebo'' appears in a mid-18th century English book by the architects John and William Halfpenny: ''Rural Architecture in the Chinese Taste''. There Plate 55, "Elevation of a Chinese Gazebo", shows "a Chinese Tower or Ga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Sauna
A sauna (, ), or sudatory, is a small room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a sauna is typically used to measure temperature; a hygrometer can be used to measure levels of humidity or steam. Infrared therapy is often referred to as a type of sauna, but according to the Finnish sauna organisations, infrared is not a sauna. History The oldest known saunas in Finland were made from pits dug in a slope in the ground and primarily used as dwellings in winter. The sauna featured a fireplace where stones were heated to a high temperature. Water was thrown on the hot stones to produce steam and to give a sensation of increased heat. This would raise the apparent temperature so high that people could take off their clothes. The first Finnish saunas were always of a type now called ''savusauna''; "smoke sauna". These dif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |