If you live in the Midwest, in the country, try to get your hands on as many osage orange posts as you can lay your hands on. Anita, from Indiana, said she and her husband used these at each corner of their fence. They started with ten-foot long posts, then buried them four feet deep, with plenty of concrete around them. They don’t expect they’ll ever need to touch these posts again. Anita also said they buried 350 metal posts. They didn’t skimp on the concrete, they put them four or five feet apart instead of eight or town (to keep their fencing from sagging or getting blown or knocked over) and used an auger attached to the back of a tractor. They put in several miles of fence, so this last thing was mandatory. Using as much concrete as they did could get expensive, but they budgeted for it and stretched their project over two year’s worth of weekends. They wanted to do it right the first time, then have the rest of their lives to enjoy their work.
A word regarding hammocks....
Bernie, in South Euclid, Ohio, had some tips for hanging a hammock: I used a three-inch thick metal pipe that weighed about forty pounds. I buried it three feet deep and used 400 lbs of concrete(!). A friend of mine welded the thickest piece of metal across the top of the pole he could find. It was only two feet long but weighed about as much as I do! The first time I laid down in the hammock, I watched that slowly bend until the two sides were touching and my rear end was touching the ground. And I only weigh 140 lbs. I was talking to a salesperson at Forest City, and he told me he had snapped two oak 2 x 4s he’d bolted together for this cross piece. I finally bought one of those pipe hammock holders. The only trees in our yard that are thick enough to hold a hammock are pine trees. I’m afraid I’d pulled them out by the roots if I tried hanging from them.