Copyright © 2007-2015 Foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, All Rights Reserved

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Save Your Strawberries From the Birds

*waves from the hills*
FergusonsIris
We, recently, went to a farm where they grow 200 varieties of irises. (First 3 are pics from my phone, sorry.)

RoyalCrusader
I bought several,  but I especially liked these purple ones called Royal Crusader. I wish I’d taken pictures of the farm because it was beautiful on the way back to the hill where these were planted, but I didn’t think they’d appreciate that. If you are near Maryville, TN and love irises you may want to visit Ferguson’s Iris as they have so many to choose from and charge only $2 for them.

Pearl2 

We had gone to see the granddaughters and one of them showed me a nest that some barn swallows built on the underside of a utility trailer. That’s horse hair hanging down from the muddy nest.


Here’s the source of the hair. o.O I’ve watched birds pluck fur from a dog’s back so I reckon horses are fair game, too.

DSCN3624
In my last post I mentioned that we had to do some preventive maintenance in order to save our strawberries. I had left several berries on the plants to ripen fully, but when I went to pick them - look at that strawberry eaten to a nub!

DSCN3663
The Culprit. I saw this robin and a mockingbird leave the raised beds every time I looked out at the them. Cheeky isn’t he.

DSCN3632
Goodman cut some small rebar posts in 3 sections ea., for 16 in. posts and put them in the beds to hold 1/2 in. plastic pipe in place as a frame. He used 10 pieces per bed, and they stand up about 4 inches above the soil level in the beds. The pipe was cut long enough to arch over the beds and simply placed over the posts.

DSCN3623
We then covered the plastic piping with bird/wildlife netting.  The netting and pipe he bought at Lowe's Home Improvement Center.  The spaces in the netting are just under an inch square, big enough for the insects that pollinate the flowers to go in and out easily but too small for the birds to enter. Yay!

DSCN3625
We used small plastic wire ties to hold the netting in place. It’s workin’.

DSCN3656
Robin = 5 berries,  Us = 2 bowls full, so farWinking smile
Have a great week, Y’all. 

Participating in Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop,  The Art of Home-Making Mondays

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

A Pretty Yellow Bird And A Useful Blue Rug

DSCN3614

Goldfinches always add such a bright spot when they visit our feeder and birdbath.

DSCN3616

Its springtime plumage wasn’t quite in when I took this picture.

DSCN3500

As you can see better in this photo.

DSCN3501
His little black cap is really more of a fascinator than a cap. ;)

DSCN3602
In gardening news the strawberries in our raised beds are starting to ripen. I’ll have more on that soon as we had to do emergency prevention a few days ago in order to have a harvest.

DSCN3643
The broccoli plants are are doing great. I’ve been feeding them a sprinkle of coffee grounds now and then.

DSCN3640
I finished crocheting this rug recently to use in my kitchen.
DSCN3641
I was hoping to have a tutorial up for it by now, but I’ve just been too busy with all the springtime chores. Click anywhere in this sentence to find free crochet rug patterns. 

DSCN3617
What’s for dinner … homemade  Red Lobster Clam Chowder with cheese toast. That was good.

DSCN3588
Peter Rabbit munching the springtime flora.
Oh yes, we have uninvited company for dinner quite often, lol.
Have a great week, Y’all!
Shared at The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Roses of Inspiration