Upcycled Tin Can!

What can you do with a tin can?  Well, in Hartney, MB Edna and Alvin are making little birdhouses!  The body is the tin can, with a little wooden roof, front and back wall, and perch.  I was fortunate to be gifted one when I spoke to the Hartney Hort Club last year.  This year, I have tenants!  An adorable pair of wrens has been building a little nest inside; it's been hard to get a picture because they come and go so fast!  I am all for recycling and upcycling, and if it involves critters or birds, then I'm a huge fan!  Don't know where Edna and Alvin will be selling them this year, but if you're interested in one, email me and I'll put you in touch with them!  They have some great oriole feeders and other houses and feeders as well!  

Say Goodbye to the Robins

We love our birds here at Aagaard Farms. We're not inclined to wear our iPods when working out in the field; we like listening to the sounds of nature. We've been taking down the hummingbird and oriole feeders and dusting off the suet holders! Yesterday, the robins came through, probably for the last time. The big old Dolgo crabapple tree is loaded with fruit; even though I made a couple batches of jelly and shared some crabapples with our friend Nancy, the tree still has tons of fruit! I look forward to different birds visiting it through the winter, we often get a flock of cedar waxwings sometime around Christmas - a thrill to watch! But, yesterday, a flock of robins descended! There must have been fifteen or twenty, something we don't often see. They were all over the tree and underneath the tree, feasting on fallen crabs. Much fluttering, tweeting and chirping for about an hour - and then they were gone! And we may not see them again until April!

Hummingbird Farewells?

I suppose because there has been so much rain, we've been hanging around the house a bit more than usual. Among other things, it's given us the opportunity to view our hummingbird feeder more frequently. In the last few days, it's suddenly been very busy at the feeder. Of course, we have no good way to tell if this is activity is all one hummingbird or different hummingbirds. But, it has definitely been a pleasure. The little guy in the picture hang around for a couple of hours in the rain. He'd rest in the ninebark shrub, have a good, long drink and then return to the shrub. We've never witnessed such a thing before! He even chased off another little hummingbird a couple of times! Although it's a joy to watch, it's rather sad, too. It means to us that the hummingbirds are getting ready to head south. They always leave early - and who can blame them, a small bird like that probably can't take too much frost, and frost could come at any time now.

Wildlife Gardening

The girls at Garden Rant have introduced me to yet another fabulous blog: Wildlife Garden. This one is dedicated to wildlife gardening - understanding the critters, birds and bugs coming to your garden, planting to encourage and support them! It's a very interesting site - check it out here!

I'm Gonna' Fly Now....

Mother Nature is so amazing! It was just a few weeks ago that we found a little broken shell, and assumed our little swallows had successfully hatched at least one egg. A few days later, we could see five tiny, fuzzy heads reaching up anytime Mom or Dad swallow flew to the nest. Just a few short weeks later, and the nest 'runneth over'! There are baby swallows coming out everywhere! Farmer Man put a little platform by the nest; we were a little worried that the babies had no place to go as they tried to learn to fly. Landing on the ground or the small bench by the front door would have made them easy targets for The Old Cat and Blondie the Cat. This morning, the babies are thinking about it....this afternoon the nest is empty! And tonight, seven swallows have been joyously romping around the skies about the house! They are so beautiful in flight! And rather amusing, too, as the babies are still not very good at landing and have been almost falling off the arbour in the flower bed!

Little Finch! Let Me Help!

I heard a small commotion in the sunroom. With small dogs and cats living in this house, you get a little 'tuned in' to disturbances. I go to the sunroom, and see Blondie the Cat in full-on hunt mode: crouched low to the ground, tail very slowly swishing, eyes seemingly intent but somewhat glazed over (rather like The Hens when they are laying!). Blondie pounces, and for a moment I see a flutter of little wings! I leap into action and swat the cat and a little wee yellow finch starts fluttering wildly around the glass room! Now, did Blondie bring the little bird in, or did he find his way through the cat door? No one will ever know for sure. But Blondie's on the move again, so I grab him and throw him in the bathroom, then close the drapes on the sunroom door to try to contain the little birdie. The camera is sitting on the table, so I grab it, like a good blogger should! Didn't close the door firmly enough, 'cause Blondie's back in a moment, pushing past me. The poor little bird is just frantic! I grab Blondie again, and put him in the office, door firmly closed this time. The little bird has followed us out through the curtains and heads for the living room, where there are large patio doors. Now The Bears want to know what's going on and they start nosing around. The little bird finally settles on the floor, beside the TV in the mess of wires and cables under the legs of a plant stand. Talking softly and gently, I reach in and she let me pick her up with out much fuss. Perhaps she was tired, or perhaps she knew I was trying to help. Anyway, a short walk through the patio doors and I set her down on the wall around the patio and she flew off in a heart beat. Then I let a rather miffed Blondie out of the office, and things returned to normal here at Aagaard Farms.

Nature Points All Over!

We are lush with wildlife lately at Aagaard Farms! Aside from watching the swallows get organized, we've been enjoying hummingbirds, a large group of little yellow finches have taken up residence in the big, old spruce trees by the house and baby robins seem to be everywhere (except when one has the camera)! We had the pleasure of watching two mourning dove babies have their first foray out of the nest and the little squirrel is getting quite bold about chattering at us as we sit on the patio. Last night, it was a symphony of frogs down by the dugout. And yesterday, when Farmer Man went to let the chickens out at dawn, a deer was calmly munching the grass right beside the coop! Sparrows, finches and chickadees seem to be having a sing-off every morning; and then, of course, the magpie babies add their raucous squawk! Oh, yes, and the veggies are growing - we'll get back to them soon!

An Executive Decision Has Been Made!

The swallows have decided, and in the last twelve hours half a nest is finished. They chose to build just outside our front door, beside a column that supports the porch. They're building on a little doo-dad decorative division between the roof of the porch and the roof of the breezeway. They are literally five feet from our front door, which is used a lot because we don't really have a back door (long story...) The little swallows must feel pretty comfortable with us! Talk about birds eye view! The construction of their nest is quite incredible - it's just mud and straw and sticks, plastered to the wood siding! And it comes together quite quickly. Hopefully, we'll be spying on babies, soon!

What You Gonna Do, Little Swallows?

We've had barn swallows nest around our house and garage every year. We adore having them: they are a marvel to watch fly and they eat lots of bugs! Last year, they chose to nest in our garage in the peak of the roof; in the heat of July it was just too hot in our uninsulated garage and some of the babies didn't make it. On their return this year, we made sure the garage was always closed up so that they couldn't access it. So they've been dithering around, trying to decide where to nest! They've been back over two weeks, and still no apparent nest. They tried on a plug-in in the roof of the breezeway but because it controls the little water feature we knew we needed access so Farmer Man taped it off. They've been sitting on the porch light, right beside the front door. We could live with that, although it might be a little crazy with them and us coming and going on a regular basis. There is a swallow perch at the back of the breeze way that they have used before, but they don't seem interested this year. They've got to decide pretty quickly - Mother Nature must be calling!

First Hummingbird Sighting!

The first hummingbird of the season made an appearance at the feeder last night! The hummingbird and the oriole feeders have been up about three weeks. My neighbor Rob Holland gave me that tip a few years ago - get them up early, the birds will find them first and will tend to return to them. The little hummingbird came, flew off and then returned for a good, long drink! I just love watching them! No pictures I'm sorry to say - I was waaaay to busy waving at Farmer Man, shouting 'Hummingbird' to even think about getting the camera!

This One Is For The Birds!

We love birds at Aagaard Farms, and not just our chickens!  All winter we put out bird feeders and so enjoy all the chickadees, sparrows, woodpeckers and such.  The birds can be soooo entertaining, especially when it's cold and still outside.  Because we are such a cold climate, we keep three suet feeders on the go, all of which we can see from our living room.  But Spring is on the way, and pretty soon the suet feeders will disappear, to be replaced by hummingbird and oriole feeders.  It's time for the little birdies to go catch bugs and eat seeds!  But I saw this neat trick somewhere - I really need to start making notes when I'm online or reading some of the many magazines that come to the farm.  I can't really give credit for this great idea: it was in one of the gardening/farming/urban homesteading/crafty blogs or magazines that I read.  Anyway, the point is that as we decrease feeding the birdies, we're going to help them build their nests!  We've taken one of the suet feeders and filled it with string, clean straw, some chicken feathers from the coop and dryer lint (which we usually compost).  It's like a home-building buffet for all our little friends!