One thing that I did get done was putting up our new bird feeding station. Rommel and I try to always have food out for the birds, believing it is good karma,etc, but we have had some trouble with feeders, etc. First I made the mistake of getting a wooden bird feeder, which the squirrels chewed holes in. I hoped moving it from the palm tree to a shepherd's hook would help keep them away from it, knowing the whole time it probably wouldn't. We finally bought a "squirrel proof" feeder that uses a weight system. It does work, but is so heavy we had to hang it from a hook on the side of the house instead of the shepherd's hook. This means that all the excess bird seed falls in a pile next to the house which I absolutely hate because I know it attracts rats. Yuck.
I finally found this bird feeding station that would hold up to three feeders, a water dish, and a mesh tray for nuts, etc. It was only $30 which was definitely appealing, but you never know how sturdy the poles will be. Surprisingly it is really, really nice. I did place a wooden dowel through the hollow pole to make it extra strong since the bird seed can weigh a lot. It is the perfect solution to all our bird feeding problems. Eventually I will make a base of some sort with rock or mulch because the birds will kill the grass underneath the feeders.
Since I moved the feeder away from the house, we have be getting a lot of new visitors, including larger birds like blue jays. One of the birds we have seen is the black-headed grosbeak pictured below. It is a gorgeous bird with a vibrant orange chest.
(picture from Whatbird.com)I also had my first "harvest" from my vegetable garden, which was some sugar snap peas. Only a few vines are producing anything ready to pick, so there were not very many, but Rommel said they are really good. Of course, almost anything that comes from your own organic garden is pretty good.
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