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| The pileated woodpecker is rarely seen. Ours posed for our guests, feasting on the wood borers from a dying oak. The oak tree had to be cut down. |
I know people are interested in Creation, because the pileated woodpecker post is one of the all time favorites since June of 1970. It has been read almost 4,000 times.
One wit suggested including donkeys, birds, and kittens into posts, to make sure it is popular, no matter what the main topic.
The temperature hit 77 degrees yesterday, in spite of the December date. Sassy celebrated by finding some horse manure in a garden and rolling in it. She was quite pleased with herself. It was not the older, sweeter composted horse manure but the tangy, fresh, loaded-with-nitrogen-compounds kind. She had an outside bath so she could be trusted inside for a Lemon Verbena bath. She was suitably contrite, although I distrust the sincerity of a drama queen like her.
One of my first jobs in the new house was putting up the squirrel-proof bird feeder. The squirrels in Bella Vista had it figured out after one year, so I was giving up on it. I would have left it in place, except I figured the Springdale squirrels were too far away to have received training from the Bella Vista rodents.
The feeder is placed near the bedroom window, where we can enjoy it in the mornings and evenings, the favorite times for bird feeding. We also have a watering station outside for Sassy, but that will serve the birds and other creatures to some extent. A large clay dish, for underneath plants, will be the birdbath. I hate to spend money to buy a hardware store birdbath that is little more than an elevated ceramic dish. Two dollars for one or 30 for the other? Not much of a decision.
We have two dead trees and four living ones in the grassy, fenced backyard. Dead trees are ideal for birds. They love to have extra perches for observing ground movement and potential food. They feel safe from most predators there. They are natural feeding stations. I will be buying suet again, assuming we are too urban for raccoons. A dead tree is a good place for extra food. I like to place food around the house and create a bird habitat. It does not take much time or money, just a little attention now and then.
We have some good areas for gardening. The front will feature a row of Double Delight roses. The back garden will have potatoes and some other favorites. So - I am starting to compost for the spring.
A compost bin is easy to create. Just take a length of cheap chicken wire and form a cylinder. I will probably buy about 10 to 12 feet. I will place it on the ground and begin filling it with leaves, grass, and organic material. The bottom is open to the soil and grass, so those creatures have easy access to a supermarket of warm, wet food all winter. The top and sides are open to air and rain.
Dog and cat manure do not go into compost, because those pets can be intermediate hosts for some unpleasant creatures. Cow, horse, and rabbit manure are good additions, but grass and other green materials will also supply nitrogen compounds to speed up decomposition. Fresh grass will heat up and speed up a compost pile. It is worthwhile to take a pile of fresh grass and see what happens and observe how hot it gets from the bacteria that heat it up. I have seen "steam" rising from decomposing grass.
Leaves and wood by-products can bind up nitrogen but they do not rob the compost of nitrogen, as some imagine. Leaves and wood use the nitrogen to decompose and then release it. One study showed that wood adds to total soil fertility. So does clay, which is good for the transfer of minerals. Clay, if handled well, is the richest of soils.
All soils benefit from large increases of humus (organic material) from manure and compost. Sandy, loam, and clay soils become more fertile and support a larger earthworm population. Richer soils attract more birds, and birds reduce pests. Therefore, simply keeping the free organic material in a yard will increase its production and beauty in time. No gardener has ever said, "I have too much compost."
In Midland, I was the guy who collected as much grass and leaves as I could from neighbors. I either mulched or composted what I collected. Everyone smirked until the Silver Queen white corn grew six feet tall and ripened. Then my neighbors asked, "How is that sweet corn doing?" I was happy to share it and tell them how they were eating corn planted in four feet of compost, a goldmine of balanced chemicals and soil prepared by an army of earthworms.
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bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Garden Plans Start in the Fall and Winter. Birds a...":
Use shiny 8" chimney pipe slid over a post for a cheap baffle to keep squirrels off feeders on posts, or fit over ledges to stop squirrels from using ledges as a diving platform (the chimney pipe opened up lengthwise can attach itself to ledges with its spring action). If they can't get a good grip, they can't jump as well, since unlike humans, squirrels need a grip to make long jumps.
I found that an upside-down 5-gallon pail fits snugly over a 3-hole cinder block, and that serves as a nice firm base for a bird bath.
A submersible de-icer can be had for $30. They only heat the water up to just about freezing, so the heater won't crack pottery bird baths, nor fry plastic bird baths, nor use a lot of electricity. The heater element has a couple bumps on it to keep it off the bottom of whatever it is placed in. Buy a cheap timer so it only runs from 8AM to 4:30PM when the birds are out. The larger watt heaters are best because the 75 watt ones may need hours to work, and if the birds check out the water and find it frozen, they won't come back as much. For safety, use a GFCI adapter if your outside outlet doesn't have GFCI built in:
Farm Innovators "Around The Farm" Submersible Cast Aluminum Utility De-Icer Model C-250, 250-Watt:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001E8X2CA/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00
