Humming bird feeder

Quite a while back, like mid summer, I took the kids out to spend some gift cards and their allowance. Now, most of the money was gift cards that I had held onto since Christmas for a "Special treat" day. I like the kids to have a day to just go out and browse without too much pressure so spending their money is fun and its a great way to cure the mid-summer "I'm bored."

On this day, Pooka had been asking for a humming bird feeder. I refused to buy one because she had a garden. I figured what did we need with another thing to maintain and that she would forget about. Boy was I wrong.

Pooka's hummingbird feeder

Pooka is nothing if not determined. She wanted a hummingbird feeder, and asked if she could use her money.  I told her it was her money, she could do what she wanted with it, but I had veto power. I wouldn't veto this. Pooka bought this little hummingbird feeder with her gift cards. I made the food from a recipe online. I figured it couldn't be that hard to make. We filled the feeder and hung it by some of the tomato plants.

Her humming bird feeder in place

Yet again, I was wrong. The clear food didn't work as well, since it was still there a couple of weeks later. I will admit when I am wrong so we broke down and bought a bottle of the concentrate. That was gone in a couple of days. It worked like a charm and there were so many things that ate from it. I know I saw a few butterflies and some bees, and it helped Pooka finally see her hummingbird. Hopefully Pooka learned from this that sometimes things are better when you buy them than when they are given to you. 

Lady bugs everywhere

Pooka found a surprise in her lady bug houses the other day. We officially had lady bugs. Part of this plan I will admit was to get some good bugs for the yard as well as let Pooka see their life cycle. But of course it was a great thing for her to see them grow up so quickly.

Ladybugs wandering around

The lady bugs were walking all over the inside of their little domes. Pooka loved to sit and watch them, but I told her we didn't have much in the way of food in their for them so we would need to let them go soon. 

Pooka's picture inside the dome

So the day came where I thought the weather would be nice to the lady bugs and really, I wanted to get them out of the garage. We opened the tops of dome to see through there what we could see. 

The domes at the release point

Once we were sure they would be safe outside, we took the two houses out front and released the lady bugs into the front bed. Now I would not be at all surprised if you told me we may of traumatized the silly things getting them out. The picture shows just pulling the glass off the bottom and they fly away. We couldn't get the glass off, so we took off the eye piece at the top and gave the worlds a bit of an earthquake. All the lady bugs got out of their homes and into the front bed. Pooka of course named them all, and told them to get to work saving her herbs. Then she asked when we could order more. Not today, Pooka. Not today

At war

We are at war. You see, I planted the broccoli and it started getting snipped off. I think Mr. Bunny has a taste for broccoli. Once I found one whole plant GONE, another looking rather sad and a 3rd and a 4th with teeth marks, I declared war on the rabbits.

Rabbit damage

I do go by the rule of thumb that 1/3 of what I start from seed will never germinate, 1/3 of what I plant will go to the critters, and 1/3 will be ours, but it is very frustrating to have your newly planted broccoli all disappear suddenly. Especially when it is the only thing in the ground.

Bunny had some Geometric broccoli

I shored up our defenses. I pulled out my trusty stakes, zip ties and some chicken wire we had bought a few years ago but never used and built myself a wall to prevent Mr. Rabbit. Now, I know it wouldn't slow him down if I hadn't staked the chicken wire into the ground. My hope was that this would make our broccoli look a ton less appealing than any of the neighbors yards and if it didn't I may have caught him and could re home him somewhere a bit farther away.

Cross your fingers this works. 

I can say since the wall has been up, the broccoli has been unharmed. My neighbor did say their lettuce is getting a bit of the bunny treatment, but I also know for a fact a set of rabbits live under their deck next to their garden. One plant did not come back but hopefully once the rest of the garden goes in, I can remove the wall and let nature do it's thing. I am so over buying produce at the store. 

Broken Broccolli

During a morning walk down of the garden the other day, I saw this small broccoli plant laying on its side. Completely. Well, I grabbed it and it turns out something caused it to break off its roots. It had a small floret of broccoli. We decided to harvest it and it made a decent snack. 

Broccoli down

When I looked at the end of it, I think it just broke off. What would of caused it to break off, I have no idea. However, I don't plan to find out anytime soon. I sometimes think I need to put a video camera outside at night to show us what is going on, but then I realize I am probably better off not knowing. I will leave it a mystery. Pooka decided to blame Bugs (the bunny) and happy moved on to more important things, like if her carrots are ready to be pulled.

the broken end of the plant

Sunflower seeds anyone

Over a couple of weeks, I started to harvest sunflowers. Whatever was making a meal of the sunflower seeds was not leaving that many seeds for us. So we decided to do something we have never done before, harvest the heads and then let the seeds dry in the garage.

Sunflowers are being eaten

I will say we had sunflowers EVERYWHERE. They were hung on tool racks with the garlic and the coriander (both of which need dealt with as well). We hung up the two really good sized flowers from the mammoth sunflowers. Sadly, we didn't get many sunflowers from these since the critters seem to love the taste of them. 

Things drying out to be saved

We also had bags and bags of sunflowers sitting on Daddy's table saw. We are letting them dry, but we should have plenty of seeds for us, for the school's butterfly garden and some to eat. We will probably even have enough for swapping like we did last year. I know Pooka's Aunts love sunflower seeds. I guess I need to figure out what the price of sunflower seed for seeds are, as well as the price of roasted sunflower seeds. I think this year is our last year having bought sunflower seeds.

Bags of sunflowers

Although I have a feeling we will need to deal with these soon since Daddy seems to want his table saw back. Pooka is so lucky to have a very understanding Daddy.

Mantis failure

Well, I don't know if we missed it, but we are calling the praying mantids a failure. They never seemed to hatch and since it is getting so late in the year, I doubt they will. In fact, they better not because the food the company sent to feed them has died off. 

unhatched egg sack

Now it is very likely we did something wrong. I may of missed a step or something, but we never saw anything. So the other day I convinced Pooka that it was time to let Mother Nature do her thing. We removed the egg sacks from the little house and Pooka loved being able to touch and look at them. She was amazed that something like this held eggs.

Egg sack in it's new home

Pooka decided that we would place the egg sacks in the herb garden just in case they actually do still hatch. That garden is doing well, but I think some natural pest control would not be a bad thing. Pooka is still a bit upset by the whole idea, but I promised her next year we will try again earlier in the year. I also told her that we may even try ladybugs. I swear my house is slowing becoming a haven for insects. At least they are the good kind for now.

Butterflies and caterpillars oh my

Around here, we seem to be on a butterfly and caterpilar rollercoaster. We are constantly finding new caterpillars in the garden that we have to "raise" In fact, as soon as ones go into cocoons, we are bringing in more caterpillars. I think Pooka is on her 4th Generation this summer. 

Everyone takes a nap

Time to move guys

Once the caterpillars are in their cocoons, I gently take out the cocoons (which would be much easier if they would use the darn stick instead of the walls 

New babies

Then we clean out the old/dried herbs and frass (yes thats the term for caterpillar poop). Then the new inhabitants of the bug house are placed in their new home. Generally they are sometimes even collected off the carrots or parsley before the bug house is vacant. Good thing I keep enough jars around.

Look at them growing up

Then the cycle starts over where we feed them daily to make sure they get enough food and are happy. The upside to bringing them inside, I can decide what they eat instead of them eating all of one plant. Pooka says they are getting a more balanced diet.

Someone woke up

Meanwhile the cocoons we removed from the bug house move into Pooka's butterfly house. This house sits in the garage and we give the butterflies time to develop.

Fly free Sushi

Once they are awake and happy, Pooka is allowed to spend an afternoon with them and watching and naming them before we release them back into the yard to do their thing and make more caterpillars for Pooka. The butterflies also help to pollinate the garden.

Another mystery.

Saturday Morning, we had a bit of a surprise. Pooka and I were about to leave to do some errands and she noticed what she called a "giant yellow spider" in her basil. I went to investigate.

The yellow spider

As I headed that way, I saw lots of debris on the ground. It looked like some sort of plant had a rough night. Now the night before was a fairly normal night, but I do remember hearing a small thud, but attributed it to the cats.

debris everywhere

Apparently, it was a sunflower. This wouldn't be the first time we had a sunflower fall over, so I grabbed Pooka from the car and got out our plant tape and shears to tie it back up.

Kaboom

Once the sunflower was standing once more, I noticed this little mess. Looks like something likes our sunflower seeds.

Someone is a very messy eater

It was eating out of the giant sunflower next to the one that fell. Best answer I have gotten is something climbed the smaller sunflower to eat off this guy, and at some point the sunflower couldn't hold whatever it was and it fell, sending our little friend with it. Fortunately, there wasn't any damage that couldn't be fixed. We did lose one branch on the Thai basil, but nothing else. Hopefully our little friend learned a lesson, but since that giant sunflower is missing more seeds since this picture, I doubt it. At least the plants are a bit studier now.

Dinner for 1 I hope

Filling in

Since we harvested the garlic in the front bed, it was looking a bit barren. This would not normally bother me, but since it is in the front of the house, it looked very sad when I would pull in. Not to mention to come to our front door, you had to walk past a completely empty bed. Add to that, I got an email from our local nursery that all the veggies and herbs were 50% off. Off to the nursery we went.

So empty looking.

After some looking and thinking, Pooka and I decided on some nice plants. I will admit they were a bit thin on plants, but that is what you get waiting on clearance. We decided to plant the dill that was in the red pots on the front porch, as well as the oregano that was potted on the back deck. From the nursery we brought home a French and a Spanish lavender, an oregano, a 4 pack of celery and some milkweed. Yes, Pooka and I decided on a flower when they are $0.80 and they will attract butterflies for Pooka. She wants to see how many butterflies she can get to visit.

Laying the plants out

 I laid everything out to see how we liked it. Most of these are annuals, so I won't feel bad in a few months ripping them out and putting in more garlic or anything else. I made a point to put the lavender on the edge so I can plant around it if needed.  Another issue we have had with waiting this long, is some of the plants were fairly root bound. We are keeping them well watered in hopes it helps them get established.

In the ground

However, upon further thinking, we decided to stick the Spanish lavender between the bolting cilantro and the sad chive plant. It seems to really like this location and now I won't need to move it later this fall.

Lavender

Again with the bunnies

Today we rescued yet another little bunny from our yard. He is the second one this summer that we have rescued. I am tired of the darn things since they keep me from being able to put the dog out unsupervised. What is even dumber is they seem to be nesting in the yard with the biggest dog on the block.

Scared little bunny

  It is not fun, but we managed to save this little guy that keeps giving me heart attacks. Let hope he is the last one. He froze and Daddy was able to put him in a box and then the kids and I took him to a wooded area and said goodbye to Bugs.

Run free and stay away.

Oh, and if you do a search on how to keep bunnies out of your yard, the number one answer is get a dog. That is the problem.

Surprises

The garden continues to surprise.

On Monday we found flowers on the potatoes. This made Brother and Pooka both very happy since it has to bloom and then it will die back and we will have blue potatoes. Pooka decided that they were very pretty flowers as well. I will admit it is a nice pop of color now.

Blue potato flowers

Then Tuesday I walked past the green easter basket of marigolds. These were planted in "extra" dirt from holes where we planted or seed starters that didn't start. What did I see? Two possible squash plants. I am trying to decide if they are zucchini or the mystery squash, but surprise there are extra plants. Now to move them to something else and then probably restart the marigolds. Again.

Is it Zucchini or mystery squash

This morning, I was doing my morning walkdown of the garden and I found a caterpillar on one of the tomato plants. I didn't have the camera so I didn't get a picture of it, but I did have Pooka grab her bug house and we collected him. My preliminary research is saying this is an armyworm that turns into a moth. I am not sure we are going to let him live in captivity, but he is not going on the tomato plants again.

Not the best picture, but it shows he has probably been out there a while.

Goodbye to Spot

On Monday Pooka said goodbye to Spot. He was a good butterfly, but I wanted to make sure we released him before he got too old. Not to mention the weather is perfect for out little friend being in the 70's yesterday.

Pooka and I took his little house in the backyard. I let Pooka do the honor of saying goodbye and then opening his house. She was just about to reach in and see if she could be brave enough to hold him when apparently he panicked and started fluttering around everything.

Goodbye Spot

At this point my normally calmish Pooka freaked and jumped away because she was afraid he would land on her shoulder. I went over to help her get him out of the house when he suddenly found the door and was gone. Sadly the above is the only picture of him that day.

Spot flew off the deck, and into the sky. It was then Pooka chased him for a minute and looked over the rail with a very serious expression. "Mommy, Will Spot be okay?"

Yes Pooka, he will be okay. His body knows what to do, its part of who he is.

"But he has never flown in the wind, and doesn't know what rain is. What if something tries to eat him? Mommy, I am going to miss Spot. He doesn't even have friends." She never cried, but she was verry worried about her little friend.

I told her that he would make friends and he would figure it out. He was a smart butterfly after all. In a month or 2, Spot will bring friends back to the garden, and maybe even leave some eggs that we can grow into caterpillars and then butterflies all over again. Spot would want you to care for his babies since he knows what good care you took of him.

That seemed to help, but my Pooka loves with her whole heart, and Spot will forever be in it, just like the bunnies and the Black Swallowtails. So goodbye and goodluck Spot. Don't be a stranger once Pooka has flowers that will need you.

Spot Via his Hello to the world.

Rain, Rain, rain...Rain.

Like most of the Midwest, there is rain everywhere today. It has been raining or cloudy for most of the week and some people are questioning if there is a sun.

Me, I am wondering if this is Mother Nature's way of grieving over the events this week. While we have been lucky, and the rain isn't that bad where we are, I did walk outside to find the blueberry bush underwater.

Do you think it needs watered?

This is not the first plant that has had a drainage problem this week, but with it being fairly new and the fact that blueberries HATE wet roots, I decided to drain it. Now normally when I drain something like this, I tip the whole pot over, but I was nervous to do so with it being so wet and the blueberry bush so new. Instead I pushed in the side a bit and noticed a nice little waterfall coming out the bottom.

Waterfall

I managed to drain quite a bit of the water out and turned around to see this.

Mother nature 1 - Robins 0

It turns out a robin has been trying very unsuccessfully to build its nest on the light by the back door. The number of ways I don't want a robin there (not being able to use the door, fear of a robin coming into the house, ect) makes me glad Mother Nature decided to knock the nest over. This isn't the first time we have seen this bird try, but maybe not it will get the point.

Hopefully not the site of a bird nest

If not, I just hope the fact the light itself isn't very big which would mean not real stable will be enough to keep the Robin family off my deck. I may send Daddy out to put some vinegar or something up there to make it smell bad for awhile (nothing that would hurt the birds).

Mommy engineering

As for the blueberry, it needed to finish draining and I have stuff to do, so I used our little strawberry table to help hold the pot in place so the blueberry can dry. Hopefully soon the rain will end for good. Although it does seem to agree with the green onions. We can finally see the little guys.

Hello Green Onions

An odd visitor

This morning we were trying to get ready for school. Kids were packing up and Pooka saw a birdy on the deck. Now, I will be the first one to tell you, I have NEVER been good with birds, so we are going to call this one "Bird that is not good to eat" or just "Bird."

Well Bird was quite happy sitting on the deck amid Pooka's pots. But something about Bird made me pause.  Maybe it was the fact that as I opened the door, expecting him to fly away, he continued to sit there. However, our female cat (who hates anything that isn't inside), was interested. I opened the door for a moment and watched as she struggled with "I can get it.. but it is out there... But I can get it" Realizing that I am wasting time, I walked outside and stomped. Again noticing that Bird walked deeper into the pots.

Now I start to wonder (and I closed the screen door) if Bird is hurt and what I am going to do with a hurt bird when Kiddo is due at school in 15 minutes. Bird continues to go deeper into the pots and while I am staring at him, he attempts to take off, and proceeds in hitting the oregano pot he is hiding next to.

At this point I am kinda thinking I may just let it be, see if he is still here when I get home. But the dog needs out before we leave. I open the door, and she does exactly what I think she will, she walked straight at it and that is when Bird flew rather erratically up to the top of Audrey's trellis.

Bird continued to sit there staring at me and making this very pathetic little chirping noise while the dog went about her business. I collected the dog and had decided to leave Bird to his chances. I also made a mental note to check the back yard before I let the dog or Pooka outside upon our return. As I open the door to walk into the house Bird takes off... not majestically. In fact, he looked like he was hurt and missed landing on a bush in the neighbors yard. He fluttered and flapped and tried to not crash. Reminded me of Woodstock actually now that I think about it.

Whatever happened to Bird. He made it to the neighbors yard. And while we wish him luck, I am glad he isn't in my yard and I am glad he didn't trill "Doom"  (if you don't catch the reference, it is from a book called Sleeping Beauty by Mercedes Lackey. It is a wonderful book and is well worth the easy read).  Good Luck Bird and don't eat the Carrots.

Rascally Wabbits part duex

Yesterday you all heard how we found a burrow of baby bunnies.

After talking to a Master naturalist, I did some more research. I found the Department of Natural resources list of approved animal removal guys. I called one at our local Orkin. I talked to him briefly and he told me what the master naturalist did. They wouldn't survive if he moved them, it would cost a pretty penny, and he recommended just fencing them in till they were big enough. 

He did say he knew a lady that took in orphaned animals but that given the time of year it is, she is probably too full to take them. He said he would call me later Friday with her number. I decided it was going to be fencing in, and I was trying to figure out how when the phone rang about an hour or so later. 

It was the Orkin guy. Apparently he had found the number of the lady that took in animals. Turns out he had called her on my behalf and she agreed to take them if I could get them in a box and across town in an hour. 

I said "Sure, this is wonderful, thank you so much." Hung up and went in search of a box. The hard part came in telling Pooka and brother that we had bunnies, but we had to move them so they didn't get hurt playing with the dog. 

Brother was more excited that we had bunnies and wanted to see them. 

Pooka had a hard time wrapping her head around how our gentle dog might accidently hurt the bunnies. But I explained that she wouldn't mean to, but the babies were super fragile and Dog doesn't always know how big she is. I put some gloves on and tore apart the burrow. Turns out we had 4 baby bunnies in there. From the looks of things, the dog never got anyone (thank goodness), she had just torn part of the burrow's protective fur out. 

Why hello little Bunnies...

Now I brought the box to the back door, showed the kids who immediately fell in love, and we all went to get in the car. 

Off to be saved.. and in the front seat.

That was probably one of the longest car rides in my life. Pooka and Brother decided to name the bunnies. Martin, Aviva, Blur and Spotsquatch (They said it has something to do with Wild Kratz). Pooka also asked if we could please keep them and raise them ourselves. She promised to take care of them, and when I explained they were wild bunnies, she said "if I raise them they won't be."  

With a Pooka's heart broken, she helped me carry the box of babies into the building, they said goodbye one last time, told the poor receptionist their names, and we left. The nice lady would be there later to collect them. 

Goodbye little ones and good luck

I would love to tell you Pooka was okay, but she cried for a bit. In an vain attempt to cheer her, we stopped at Target and I wanted to show her toys to take her mind off it. Turns out Target also had a toy baby bunny that was a bit larger then ones we just dropped of. I let Pooka have one to remind her of the bunnies and that cheered her up. Spotsquatch has now gone just about everywhere with us, but at least if we leave him in the car, it won't hurt him. 

So Pooka is happy, the dog has free rein of the yard again, the Bunnies are safe and with someone who will care for them. The burrow was destroyed. All in all, this is the best end to this story.  

Martin, Aviva, Blur and Spotsquatch, Good luck. To Momma Bunny, PLEASE find a new yard to nest in. 

Rascally Wabbits

A couple of days ago, our dog got a bit sick. Vet thought it might be from Rabbit poop. We live a bit in the country but in a subdivision. Okay, rabbits happen. We got her meds, we moved on.

This morning, I was out walking in the garden. I had no idea what I was going to talk about today, and hoped inspiration would strike. I noticed some gray fur in the middle of our yard. I had Pooka with me, and I sent her in the house. Our big dog has managed to catch a rabbit or 2 in her past, so I figured we would have to clean it up and move on... But there was no blood, a relativity small amount of fur or anything else...

That's when I rounded the corner and saw another Rabbit against the house... I had the mental thought that she was kind dumb being that close to what could be a dead relative. I took one more step and she bolted... That's when I saw movement behind her...

Guess whats living in our yard? A burrow of baby bunnies. Now while these pictures don't show it, there were maybe 3 of them, all with eyes closed. I will admit to telling Mom she was very very dumb since I have a 80+ lb husky lab mix. Great place to put a nest in the open. No protection what so ever.   

I just got off the phone with a master naturalist friend of mine. She said I can't call the city to come collect them but we can move them as soon as they open their eyes and are hopping around outside the nest. Which could be 10 days to 2 weeks. The city won't move them.

Meanwhile, I am worrying for the bunnies, the garden and my dog (I don't need to relive the last time she had raw meat... I almost went vegan after that.).  Oh and did I mention I am watching my mom's rat terrier this weekend... Or worse, the kids finding either dog bloody or having the dog trying to share with them.

I know the fur will need cleaned up, I am leaving that to Daddy. Beyond that, well I guess I get to make more phone calls. I found a link with some phone numbers of people Department of natural resources says can remove nuisance wild life. I may call to see what it would cost to get them removed to a safer location. 

I guess this should teach me to hope inspiration would strike. Be careful what you wish for.