Ethel Gloves Blog

Enjoying What You Have

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:14:00 PST

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not;
but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for"
-Epicurus, Greek Philosopher (341 BC - 270 BC)

I was thinking about this quote while I was down starting a few seeds this morning. For a few years I didn't even have a seed table and my flats of seedlings were scattered about the house in front of windows and under a few lights here and there. Then my mom gave me her old light table when she got a new on. She purchased it at a yard sale for $25 many years ago. I've upgraded two of the lights as the old ones quit working, but other than that's it's been free and it works. I still don't have enough space for all my plants, but I make it work by supplementing it with a few lights hanging from the basement ceiling.

The other day I was pining over this beautiful 16 tray light table at Johnny's Selected Seeds, thinking about how nice and how much more convenient it would be than my mix of lights here and there and the old light table. It would be so much easier I kept telling myself. Then I realized that what I have now was much better than what I had a few years ago and that I was letting my desire for something better spoil what I have.

Have you ever found your desire for something new stealing the joy away from something you already have?

Quotes

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:39:00 PST

Beautiful quotes and images can be inspiring, here's a collection of our favorites.

Green is a Theme

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:47:00 PST

As we've been looking around the cottage, trying to decide what things we should do in case of a possible move, I've noticed that green is a theme at Chiot's Run. Green is definitely my color, chartreuse being my favorite shade. The walls in a few rooms, the couch, the bedspread, the towels are all varying shades of green from bright green to dark green. My garage is painted in several shades of green and I even find myself gravitating toward green flowering plants!

Most of us have a color that we gravitate towards; as a psychology major in college, believe this has strong connections to our mental/emotional selves. Green is supposed to be a soothing color, helping us relax; it's calming for your eyes, your heart, and your body, which is probably why I like it, and need it!

The study of color and how it affects us is a fascinating thing, something I need to read up on a little more to make use of it in my environment. Since my house is predominately filled with shades of green, the result it is a very calming, peaceful feeling. On the other hand, my office is dark green and I need something that promotes creativity and energy more than peace and calm. Yellow would be a great choice for the office because it promotes creativity, it's stimulating and it's said to create energy, all things that would be useful in my office!

Do you find that you gravitate toward one color more than any other, which color is it?

For Further Reading:
Color Psychology on Wikipedia
Psychological & Physiological Effects of Color at Inviting Home
Color, Environment, & Human Response
Color - Messages & Meanings: A PANTONE Color Resource

It Happens to the Best of Us

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:06:00 PST

I meet newbie gardeners all the time and it never fails they say something like:

"Oh, I don't have a green thumb, I've killed every house plant I've ever had".

Well friends, it happens even to us experienced gardeners. Growing houseplants is actually harder than growing plants outdoors. If you think about it, they're out of their native element and many of them are out of their native climate. The majority of houseplants are tropical plants, thus surviving indoors during a cold northern winter is tough for them, even with the protection of being inside. They don't get the heat, humidity and the strong light that they like.

Why do houseplants die?

The most common reason houseplants don't make it, is because of overwatering. Allowing the soil to dry out in between waterings lets the roots breathe and get some air, it also helps with pest/disease problems, particularly mold and those pesky little soil gnats.

Indoor plants often receive a lot less light than outdoor plants; even if your plant is in from of a window, the glass reduces the amount of usable sun. This can be tough on plants that aren't shade loving, try to find out which plants do better in shade when purchasing houseplants.

Sometimes it has nothing to do with you, but could be the actions of other members of your household, those with two or four legs. My cats are enthralled with a few of my plants and have killed a few by smothering them or gnawing.

Plants, like gardeners, prefer to be outdoors enjoying real sunlight and real rain. They want to be planted firmly in real soil in their native climates. Just as we sometimes struggle with either long dark cold winters or summer's oppressive heat, so do they. Don't feel bad if your indoor plants shrivel up, you don't have a black thumb, you probably just ended up with the wrong plant, watered it a bit too much (aka gave it too much care), or maybe it came already sick from the store. Give it another try. Your best way of finding a great houseplant is to ask around, most gardeners who have thriving indoor plants have a pothos or two that they'll willing give away to someone who's looking for an easy care tough little houseplant.

Have you ever struggled to keep houseplants alive? What's your favorite indoor plant?

The Cloak of Winter

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:22:00 PST

I'm a big fan of quotes; from the time I was young, I've been collection quotes on scraps of paper and in my journal. I have a notebook I keep by my side when I read and it's full of quotes from books and movies. A few year ago, when I started getting into photography, certain photos would pop in my mind when I heard a specific quote. I started adding these quotes to the photos and have amassed quite a collection. Every now and then I'll share one of my faves with you, sometimes a classic I made a while ago, sometimes a new one that I just found. I was thinking about this quote earlier this morning as the snow started piling up outside my door.

“Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle…a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl. And the anticipation nurtures our dream.” – Barbara Winkler

Do you have a favorite quote?

Making Pie Crust from Scratch

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:30:00 PST

A lot people are intimidated by the thought of making pie crust at home. It really isn't that difficult, if you have a few key ingredients and a few minutes of time, you can make a delicious flaky pie crust just like your great grandma did. I use my grandma's recipe, which contains an egg and some vinegar, two ingredients not found in many pie crust recipes. The vinegar adds a little extra flavor, the eggs makes the dough more manageable. The key to perfect pie crust is using lard *gasp*. Don't feel guilty, there's lots of research that will tell you how healthy pastured lard is (here's one from Rodale) Here's my how-to:

One tip for working with pie crust: you don't want the dough too cold or too warm. If it's too cold it will be hard to roll out and will crack easily, if it's too warm it will tear and be difficult to handle. Ideally around 60 degrees is perfect. When rolling out the pie dough, if it gets to warm, throw it in the fridge for a few minutes, if it's too cold let it warm on the counter for a bit. For the written recipe, head on over to my new food blog: Eat Outside the Bag.

What's your favorite kind of pie?

I Must Be A Hobbit

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 14:02:00 PST

Mr Chiots and I were watching The Lord of the Rings last night (I got him the blu-rays for Christmas) and I was reminded how much I've always loved the Shire. The little underground Hobbit houses with their round doors and their beautiful gardens with wicket fences. I love the way J.R.R. Tolkien describes the Hobbits:

But where our hearts truly lie is in peace and quiet and good, tilled earth. For all hobbits share a love for things that grow. And, yes, no doubt to others, our ways seem quaint. But today of all days, it is brought home to me: It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life.

I decided that I must be a Hobbit because these are the things that I hold dear as well. The older I get the more I appreciate the simple things in life and find myself gravitating towards those. Peace and quiet are very important to me, perhaps one of the reasons I want to buy to some acreage in a very rural place. It's also one of the reasons I enjoy working from home. There are those around me that perhaps see my journey back to a more simple life as a fight against something, but it's not really. It's more about searching out and cultivating that which brings me contentment and makes me truly happy.

In this day and age it can be difficult to cultivate the simple life. There are so many things that pull us in all directions, jobs, family, bills, computers, phones, TV's and so many other things. Whether you cultivate flowers, vegetables or both, gardening can be a great way to get away from this busyness, it can give you that peace that you need for balance. One of the main reasons I garden is for the peace that it brings. My life is incredibly plugged in as they say, I'm on-line, blogging, tweeting, connecting with people on Facebook, Flickr, Pinterest and so many other places, the garden is the only place I can truly be alone. It is the one place that I can think, away from the distractions that I find just about everywhere else.

What kinds of things do you hold dear? Does gardening help you cultivate those things?

The 365(6) Project

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:24:00 PST

I mentioned the 365 Project on Monday and many of you were very interested. Technically since it's a leap year it's the 366 project, or maybe you can just have one day off this year. The 365 Project is all about capturing what you're doing every day, that way you don't end up a year from now feeling like your life flashed before your eyes; you can look back through your photos and see exactly what you did during the past year. It will be a visual reminder of your year, a photo diary of sorts. Whether your photos are of a mundane task that you're doing that day or a photo from your travels to an exotic destination, participating in a project like this will make you a better photographer. Taking photos of the things you do/see each day will encourage you to look at your surroundings a little more creatively, which will make you a better photographer. Trying to sum up your day in one image will also encourage you to be more creative, and your creativity muscles are like your other muscles, the more you work them the stronger they get! Using your camera every day will also help you learn it inside and out, which will also help you become a better photographer. Being a good photographer isn't an inborn skill, it's learned through lots of trial and error. Join us for this challenge and you'll be amazed at how your skills improve throughout the year.

365:1 - I started my 365 Project on Sunday, January 1, 2012. It was a lazy day for us here, this being the first year in a long time that I've spent it at home. Usually New Year's Day is spent at my parent's house feasting on sauerkraut and pork as my dad's family has for centuries. Even though we were home alone, we still made the traditional meal. Photo #1 of my 365 project features our meal, which has a long history in my family and it was the first day I've ever made it in my kitchen. My grandmother would be proud!

365:2 - On Monday, we went to my family's house to celebrate our Christmas, a little late. I took more than one photo, a few of our meal, the opening of gifts, and other things, but I settled on one of my mom's amaryllises as my 365 Project photo. Why did I choose this one? Because my mom has always had these blooming around the holidays since I can remember. When I see an amaryllis, I think of Christmas, thus I thought it was the perfect way to illustrate that our family Christmas was celebrated on that day.

365:3 - Like most people I was back to work on Tuesday, though for me that's at home. I spent most of my day looking at my computer screen and working with numbers (I dot a lot of accounting for my job). Being self-employed is wonderful, but it's also a challenge. I think a lot of people don't understand the amount of work that goes into owning and operating a business. I think many of the people I know who have "real" jobs think I sit around most of the day doing nothing. Yesterday, I spent 12 hours in front of my computer working. I decided a photo of my keyboard, specifically the number pad, was the way to go. I took a few different photos trying to find just the right one as you can see by the top photo below, this is a screen shot of my photo editing software. This is what the 365 Project is all about, trying to be creative with the mundane in your life!

I set up a Flickr set for my 365 photos, and I'll be uploading them once a week, and you'll probably find them on the Ethel facebook page as well in a 365 album. I'll probably be doing an update here every now and then as well. I'll also be doing a few posts here to give you some tips on improving your 365 images!

Who else is joining the 365 Challenge? Where will you be posting your images (link in the comments)?

The Garden Year

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 08:48:00 PST

I was looking through all my old photos yesterday, seeing how the garden progressed. Usually I take some time at the end of the year to de-clutter my photo files, this past year I took over 20,000 photos (that's roughly 55 photos per day). One of the best reasons to take lots of photos of your garden and your life is to see how things change from season to season and from year to year. The poem The Garden Year by Sara Coleridge is a beautifully simple month-by-month description of the garden. Here is a tour of my garden/life throughout the seasons in 2011.

Seeing how your garden and life progresses throughout the year isn't the only reason to take lots of photos. Taking photos on a daily basis will also help improve your photography skills. I only started taking photos in earnest a few years ago, taking photos daily one of the things I credit with improving my skills.

I'd like to encourage you to join the 365 Project this year, it will be a photo diary of 2012. Don't worry that you've already missed a day or two, start today. I'd also like to encourage you to make these photos public. If you have a Flickr account there's a great 365 group there (make sure you add us as a contact so we can see them too). If you have a blog, post a photo every day, or add one to your Pinterest board daily (follow us there so we can follow you and see your photos). If you don't have any of these upload it to your Facebook wall. Whichever way you choose to do it, let us know - we'd LOVE to see what's going happening in Your Day in 2012!

Do you think you can take a photo each and every day in 2012?

Making Stovetop Popcorn

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 10:43:00 PST

Making popcorn at home is just as quick and easy as microwave popcorn and it tastes so much better too! I've had lots of people ask how I make it on the stovetop so I decided it was time for a video. (See links below for how-to make your ghee, sources for popcorn seeds and coconut oil shown in video. )

Have you ever grown popcorn in your garden?

To see how to make your own ghee or clarified butter, I have a step by step post here at Chiot's Run.
Tropical Traditions is a great source for high quality coconut oil, I use their Expeller-Pressed Coconut Oil.
The 'Pennsylvania Butter' popcorn seeds I used in this video were purchased from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and the 'Strawberry' popcorn that was also shown was grown from seeds purchased from Botanical Interests.

A Good Start to Your Day

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:22:00 PST

All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast. -John Gunther There's nothing quite like starting the day with a good breakfast. I'm not picky about what I eat for breakfast except that it can't come from a box and I prefer it to be warm. We don't go for cereals or other pre-made things, if we're looking for a quick breakfast a piece of sourdough bread toasted in a cast iron skillet with some good pastured butter is our breakfast of choice. We also like scones for quick grab and go breakfasts. These are very rare in our household though, we don't eat a ton of grains.

Most of the time, we like a protein rich breakfast including eggs, bacon or sausage, mushrooms and other vegetables. I like including vegetables in my breakfast, especially in an omelet or in a breakfast sandwich.

Of course there are those days when we start our days with pancakes or french toast, usually those are holidays like Christmas, New Year's and other special days. Our pancakes are usually sourdough and our french toast is usually made with homemade sourdough bread and duck eggs. We love to smother them both with lots of butter and some homemade maple syrup.

There's nothing quite as satisfying as a good hearty breakfast. People ask me all the time how I manage to accomplish so much in my day, I usually tell them it's because I start with a good protein and fat rich breakfast. Give this a try someday, instead of eating your normal bowl of cereal, try eating eggs every morning, you'll be amazed at how much more energy you have! Even better yet, pair those eggs with some vegetables and cheese!

What's your breakfast of choice?

Winter Gardening

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 08:51:00 PST

Just because it's winter for many of us gardeners doesn't mean that edible gardening has to stop. Up until a few years ago I was like many gardeners, I spent my spring starting seeds and planting the garden, the summer weeding, watering and tending, and the fall harvesting lots of bounty from my edible garden. Then I read Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long by Eliot Coleman and my eyes were opened to the idea growing edibles throughout the winter in my cold Ohio garden.

That first fall, I planted some spinach and kale in one of my 4 x 8 ft raised beds in the back garden. I didn't have proper hoops so I propped up some floating row cover with small bamboo stakes. I harvested my first spinach in early February and I was hooked on winter gardening! The next year I added metal hoops to most of my raised beds in the back and I purchased a big role of greenhouse plastic to make low tunnels for my overwintering crops, which included arugula, spinach, leeks, kale, beets and a few other things. I also left my carrots in the ground and harvested the sweetest most wonderful carrots in mid-January.

More and more information is coming out about winter gardening making it easier than ever to do it successfully. Eliot came out with a new book recently that's geared more towards the home gardeners, The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses. Many seed companies are selling special varieties of vegetables that grow and produce best in cold weather. Supplies for low tunnels and unheated greenhouses are much easier to come by now. Johnny's Selected Seeds in Maine has everything you'll need to build a small tunnels for a little bit of spinach or a huge walk-in greenhouse to supply a farm stand with fresh greens throughout the winter. They also have a wide variety of winter hardy vegetable seeds for sale; many of the varieties recommended by Eliot in his books can be found at Johnny's. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, High Mowing Seeds, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds also all carry some winter hardy vegetable varieties.

In October of 2010, I stopped by Eliot's Four Season Farm in Maine. It was the perfect time to visit because all the winter crops were seeded and growing and the cold greenhouses were being installed to protect the crops throughout the winter. If you'd like to see photos from my visit you can see the tour here on my blog. It truly was inspiring to chat with Eliot and to see first hand all the amazing things he's doing to learn about winter gardening in cold climates. I'm certainly thankful for all his hard work and for his willingness to share his knowledge through his books to help the rest of us do it successfully!

Every year, as the size of my edible garden grows, I incorporate more and more winter vegetables into my garden plan. Someday I hope to have a walk-in greenhouse that will keep my plate stocked with greens and other vegetables all winter long. There's nothing quite as satisfying as eating a spinach salad in January that you harvested from your own garden! Currently I have: spinach, winter arugula, leeks, bunching onions, 2 different kinds of kale and a few other hardy greens growing in my garden for winter meals.

Have you ever tried to grow edible vegetables throughout the winter or do you use any kind of plant protection for winter in your garden?

Displaying Holiday Cards

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:46:00 PST

I love sending and receiving holiday cards. Each year I spend hours trying to come up with the perfect card. Time is spent coming up with the creative idea, taking the photos, designing the card, getting them printed, and hand addressing them. In a world dominated by e-mail and facebook, taking the time to send a real card means so much more, at least to me! There's nothing I love more during the holidays than heading out to the mailbox to see who's card will be inside. Once you start receiving all these cards, you have to decide how to display them in the house, for it would be a shame to leave them sitting in a pile on the table.

I've always struggled with what to do with all the cards, then last year I decided to use clothespins to clip them to some fresh pine garland on our banister. It was the perfect place and they looked great. The garland looked better and better as the season went on and it was filled with cheery faces of family photos and the colorful store-bought cards that people sent.

There are so many great ideas out there of how to display cards, I made a Pinterest board to gather ideas so head on over there & check that out, you might find a great one to use next year.

Do you send holiday cards? How do you display the ones you receive?

Baked Grapefruit

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 06:33:00 PST

A few days ago I talked over at Chiot's Run about how much I love in season citrus. I don't buy oranges, grapefruit or lemons at the grocery store throughout the year, I wait until they're in season and order cases from small farms in a sunnier, warmer place. This year I joined the fruit of the month club at G & S Groves. Citrus season is especially wonderful, because it falls during those dull dreary days for those of us in the north. There's nothing more sunny and delicious on a snowy morning that a baked grapefruit for breakfast!

BAKED GRAPEFRUIT
1 grapefruit for each person cut in half
1 teaspoon maple syrup for each grapefruit nuts (preferable soaked crispy nuts from Nourishing Traditions)
spices of your choice: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt... *
optional topping of yogurt, cream or granola

Heat oven to 375. Cut grapefruits in half, cut around each section to loosen (this will make it easier to eat) and put halves in a shallow glass baking dish. Drizzle 1/2 teaspoon of maple syrup over the top of each section and sprinkle with spices of your choice and the tiniest sprinkle of sea salt. Bake for 15 minutes. Sprinkle tops with nuts if desired and move to upper rack in the oven, turn on broiler for 1 minute. Remove from oven, and top with yogurt, fresh cream and or granola if desired. Enjoy!

*Try different spices every time you make them and you'll find a combination that you love!

If you've never had baked grapefruit before you might be thinking it's a little weird, but trust me, once you try it you'll love it and you'll find yourself waiting for grapefruit season just so you can enjoy these jewels for breakfast!

What's your favorite way to enjoy grapefruit?

Make Your Own Photo Canvas

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 08:35:00 PST

Digital photography is very convenient and as a result we can take photos of anything and everything. The problem is that we often end up with thousands of images on our computers and none of them gracing our homes. Canvas prints are a great way to take some of those images, but they can quite expensive. Here's a video on how to make your own canvas prints for a few dollars each.

These won't be perfect, so you'll have to embrace that wabi-sabi handmade look. Personally I think it adds wonderful character to the images. Make a few of these for your own home or make a few for gifts. If you'd like to make one just like this:

Head on over to my personal Flickr account to download the file. Make sure you reverse it before printing so the words come out right.

How many digital photos do you have on your hard drive? How often do you print them out?

Sources for supplies
canvases can be found at:
stretched canvas in a variety of sizes
or at Save-On-Crafts
Matte Gel Medium is available at your local craft/art store or on Amazon in a variety of sizes

When the Weather Outside is Frightful

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 04:21:00 PST

I live in Northeastern Ohio, so from December through February most of my time is spent indoors (unlike the summer when the majority of my time is spent outside). Since I'm not gardening, I have a little extra free time. I'm not much of one to watch TV or movies, I'd much rather read a good book. I read all kinds of books, fiction, research, old books, new books, gardening books, cookbooks, and just about everything in between. The ladies at the library know me well enough to hold new books for me when they think I'll like them.

I find myself reading a lot of informational books and spending a lot of time researching ideas that I'd like to use during the coming gardening season. This winter my focus is on cover crops. I purchased Managing Cover Crops Profitably and I've got my eye on a few other books to request from the library or purchase for my personal library. this information to come up with a 3 year cover crop rotation for my garden areas.

I'm also planning on rereading the Little House on the Prairie Series, which I read so many times as a girl and still enjoy as an adult. This is the perfect series for winter reading because it's so engaging. These books are great for adults too because you notice different things than you noticed when you read them as a child. Along with these favorites I'll probably reread East of Eden, which is my favorite book of all times.

What do you during the winter months? Any great book to put on my list?

Reusable Holiday Gift Tags

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:55:00 PST

The internet is abuzz with people talking about handmade craft items for the holiday season. I too enjoy making gifts and holiday decorations as well, it certainly gets me in the Christmas spirit. Today we're making reusable gift tags.

December is craft month here at Ethel, we'll be making all kinds of great crafts over the next couple weeks. Keep checking back to see what we'll be making!

What kinds of fun crafts are you making this season?

Wooden gift tags and letter tiles can be found at Save On Crafts.

Holiday Traditions

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:11:00 PST

Growing up we had a few holiday traditions that I have fond memories of. The day after Thanksgiving was the day we always loaded up in the car and drove off to a tree farm to get our tree. We spent the rest of the day decorating the tree and the house for Christmas.

During the month of December, we spent many days in the kitchen baking gingerbread men, butter cookies and making cookie press cookies but the thousands. Buckeyes, fudge and caramels were also made. After a week of constant cooking and baking we'd load up trays of goodies and distribute them to neighbors and friends.

Sometime during the week before Christmas we'd all load up in the car with mugs of hot chocolate and drive around our hometown and neighboring towns to look at everyone's lights and outdoor decor.

Christmas Eve was the night we had our small family celebration. It always started with my dad reading the Christmas Story from the Bible and with the lighting of the angel chimes. Then cookies and eggnog were passed out while everyone opened their gifts one by one going around the room. On Christmas mornings we each had stockings filled with lots of goodies to enjoy, while my parents slept in.

All of our traditions centered around time spent together as a family. These are the thing I remember most. I don't remember many specific toy or gift I received, but I remember all the fun we had telling stories as we decorated cookies, chatting as we drove around looking at lights, and laughing as we had to cut off part of our too tall Christmas tree so it would fit in the living room.

Now that I'm married, my husband and I keep a few of our old traditions and have developed new ones. Each year we kick off our holiday season with a trip to a local historic village Christmas Festival (see a slideshow from our trip this year over at Chiot's Run). We still drive around and look at lights, bake and eat lots of holiday treats and we open our gifts on Christmas Eve. I don't have a set of angel chimes to light yet, but I do have my family heirloom nativity set that gets a prominent spot in our holiday decor (shown above). We spend Christmas day at home together, just the two of us watching vintage James Bond movies.

I'd like to encourage you to take some time to develop holiday traditions with your family and to continue ones you already have; your children will remember these things as they are the most wonderful gift you can give.

What are some holiday traditions you remember from growing up? What are some holiday traditions you have with you family now?

For the Birds: Houses and Shelter

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:25:00 PST

Nesting boxes will make your landscape more appealing to cavity nesting birds such as wrens, chickadees and bluebirds to your landscape. They come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes; choose the appropriate one for the type of bird you'd like to attract. If you won't want to bother with finding specific type, you can provide generic birdhouses that a wide variety of birds will use. Be aware that generally, the most aggressive kinds of birds will usually move in in this case.

You can make your own nest boxes or purchase them ready made, visiting your local small garden center is a great place to find them. Make sure you look for the following features to make your nesting boxes as safe as possible for our feathered friends.

untreated wood (pine, cedar, or fir) no paint or stain please as the off-gassing can kill baby birds
sloped roof to keep inside of box dry and protected
rough interior walls
drainage and ventilation holes - you don't want to overheat or drown the baby birds
access for cleaning (some are easier than others - very important feature)
no outside perches, this deters pests, it's highly recommended to add metal flanges on posts and other protective measures to keep rodents and snakes away from your bird houses

If you do provide nesting boxes in your landscape, please leave them up throughout the winter. Birds will often use these boxes during the cold winter nights, often with many birds huddling in them for warmth. If you live in a cold climate, consider adding roosting boxes for the winter months, they are different than nesting boxes and are specifically designed to help maintain warmth and provide healthy room for lots of birds. Here are easy plans to make your own (perhaps a future Your Day video post?).

Providing nesting boxes in your landscape requires a small amount of maintenance. They should be cleaned at the end of the summer when baby birds have fledged. Some birds will rear more than one brood, so waiting till the end of the season removes the possibility of accidentally disturbing a nest that might be used again. If boxes are not cleaned they can become infested with fleas, mites and lice. Please clean them and return them to your landscape for birds that wish to use them as winter roosting boxes. Boxes should be cleaned again in spring before birds start building summer nests. Scrub your nesting boxes with a non-toxic soap mixed with non-chlorine bleach (make your own non-chlorine bleach by mixing of one part peroxide two parts water). If you aren't willing to take the time to clean and maintain your boxes please refrain from adding any to your garden.

Monitoring your nesting boxes to remove invasive and aggressive species like House Sparrows and European Starling is also recommended. These birds can become very aggressive towards other birds and often break the eggs of other birds. To make this job easier, try using only birdhouses with holes that are sized for the species you're trying to attract like wren houses and bluebird houses. If you have trouble with invasive species in your area, monitor your nesting boxes removing the nests of these unwanted species. Plugging the holes on martin and bluebird houses during winter can also help if you struggle invasive birds; they often move in during the winter and take over the nesting boxes preventing the desired species from using the boxes in spring.

Taking a small amount of time and money to add nesting boxes to your landscape will greatly reward you with beautiful birds and great pest control. Consider helping our feathered friends in this way. If you have children this is a great way to get them interested in nature and can be a great learning experience for them!

Do you have nesting boxes in your garden? What kinds of birds use them?

Other posts in the Feathered Friends Series:
For Our Feathered Friends
For the Birds: Feeders & Seed
For the Birds: Fresh Water
For the Birds: Other Food Sources
For the Birds: Houses and Shelter

For the Birds: Other Food Sources

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:16:00 PST

Now that you have your different bird feeders with a variety seed, the suet feeder, and a heated birdbath, it's time to think about a few other things. In addition to providing food and water, you can add additional items like fruit, mealworms and crushed egg shells to your feeding station. Many birds like to eat fruit and providing some at your feeding station might attract fruit loving birds like orioles, robins, bluebirds, thrushes, waxwings, and tanagers. If you do provide fruit make sure to watch for spoilage and mold; change the fruit often. You can simply lay out halves of citrus, hang pieces of fruit on nails, or if you can cut up fruit into chunks and put a few pieces in your feeder tray to see if the birds will eat them. Oranges are especially attractive to Orioles in spring.

Mealworms are another alternative food source and bluebirds are especially fond of them. If you're trying to specifically attract bluebirds it may be beneficial to look into them. They provide a great source of protein and other vitamins for birds, especially during the cold winter months. There are different ways to get them, freeze dried or alive, but most birds prefer the live one. They can be pricey, so only put out a few at a time. You can also buy feeders for bluebirds specifically if you don't want other birds snacking on your mealworms. I don't provide mealworms at my feeding station, we have enough web worms in our garden in the summer and during the fall/winter the birds flock them for food (a great reason to not worry about these pests). The North American Bluebird Society has a lot of great information on mealworms and on specifically attracting bluebirds to your garden in you are interested in that.

Birds also need grit to help them digest their food. You can purchase turkey grit or ground oyster shells at your local farm supply store, but they often come in very large packages. A simple way to provide grit for the birds is to crush egg shells and put them out in a small bowl, on a tray or simply in a pile on the ground under your bird feeder. Make sure you're eggshells are sterilized so you don't pass on any diseases. You can boil the shells in water, used shells from hard boiled eggs, or put them over your oven vent to dry them out and sterilize them.

Some people provide peanut butter, jelly or bacon grease for their birds. I'd recommend against doing this. Many of these products are high in salts, nitrates, preservatives and other additives which birds are extremely sensitive to. I try to provide only foods that are close to their natural food sources. Feel free however, to provide seeds from the plants in the garden like sunflowers and other seeds like the pumpkin and squash seeds.

The best food sources for our feathered friends are their natural ones. It will be very beneficial for the birds in your garden if you try to incorporate plants each year to provide seed, fruit and berries for them. Also be sure to let the plants you do have go to seed and leave the seed heads on throughout the winter. Not only will you be providing food for the wildlife, you'll also be helping your plants as many do not like to be cut back until spring.

Do you do anything out of the ordinary for the birds that visit your garden?

Other posts in the Feathered Friends Series:
For Our Feathered Friends
For the Birds: Feeders & Seed
For the Birds: Fresh Water
For the Birds: Other Food Sources
For the Birds: Houses and Shelter