My backyard and most of my front yard is all garden. I call my backyard “Linda’s Serenity Garden”. This is my happy place,the place where I am free to express myself.

My backyard “Serenity Garden”

My vegatable Garden

I have one area where I grow my own organic vegatables. My greenhouse an also been seen in the background.

My Front Yard

Here is a picture of me that Bob took this spring as we where working together to get my garden ready.

Stokes 3 in 1 Platform Bird Feeder

A new item that was added to the website today is the  Stokes3 In 1 Platform Feeder.The  open, fly-through design allows all birds to feed comfortably. Constructed of 100% Recycled materials, this feeder can be used as a hanging feeder, ground feeder, or mounted on top of a pole. This feeder can be filled with a wide variety of seed mixes to attract a number of different birds. With its open design, both large and small birds can feed from the 3 In 1 Platform Feeder. The platform feeder can also be used as a ground feeder for squirrels and other critters. The Stokes 3 in 1 Platform Bird  Feeder includes hangers and ground pole; there is a built-in pole socket to allow the feeder to easily mount on top of the bird feeder pole or on the ground pole. Hangers can easily be attached to the feeder to hang from any accessory product. This feeder is easy to fill and clean — the open design allows you to watch the birds from any angle without obstruction.

17in. Yellow Spiral Finch Tube Bird Feeder

Bird feeders needed to be cleaned regularly to keep them disease free for your feathered friends. Depending on the weather, they should be cleaned every two weeks. Hummingbird Feeders should be cleaned every four days. Bird baths should be emptied and refilled every few days. Unclean bird feeders can develop fungi such as Aspergillus fumigatus, a fungus which causes respiratory infections in birds. Molds and bacteria that cause the birds to get sick or even die also can grow on the feeders. The communal feeding and bathing by feathered friends allows for the easy spread of disease. Bird Feeders and Bird Baths can be using ready made cleaners such as those sold at our website or you can make your own.  To make your own cleaner mix 9 parts water with one part household bleach. You also can use vinegar as a non-toxic way to clean your bird feeders.
 When I clean my bird feeders I start with 2 plastic buckets. I got mine at the Dollar Store for just a couple of dollars each. I put all the supplies I will need into one bucket,  a tube feeder cleaning brush, an old vegetable scrub brush, some small plastic bags (a old bread bags or plastic grocery store bags), 2 sponges, a clean rag,  a 1 inch putty knife and a 2 inch putty knife. I use the putty knifes to clean out the caked on old seed and hulls from the bird feeders.  In the second bucket I have a mixture of my cleaning solution. You will also need your garden hose with a spray nozzle.
I dump any seeds left in the feeder into a plastic bag and save them to put back into the feeder. I clean the old seed and hulls out of the feeders by putting into another plastic bag that I keep in my bucket. This keeps the seed off the ground where it will become moldy. Never let the seed stay on the ground, keep cleaning it up off the ground daily. Seed on the ground that becomes moldy will sicken your feathered friends.
Next I take the sponge and use my bucket of cleaning solution to thoroughly clean all the surfaces of my bird feeders. I take the feeders apart and make sure that they are cleaned on the inside as well as the outside. I make sure all the surfaces are wiped with my cleaning solution that birds might come in contact with. I then use my garden hose to thoroughly rinse the bird feeder to remove all traces of the cleaning solution. I then take the other sponge and use it and the clean rag to wipe the bird feeder clean. I then put the feeder out in the sun to finish drying out.
By the time I finish cleaning my last feeder on a warm or breezing day the first feeder may have dried. Living in the Pacific Northwest we do not have a lot of warm dry days. When it is wet outside I take the cleaned feeders in to my garage to dry. 
Once the feeder is totally dry I then refill it with seed.  When refilling with seed on my hopper bird feeders I put the old seed back in first and the new seed on top of it. In the tube feeders I put some new seed in the bottom first, then the old send from the plastic bag and then top it off with new seed. You do not want to let the seed that is below the eating holes of your tube feeder become stale. By always putting some new feed in first you are preventing this.
Once you have your feeders cleaned you know that all of your feathered friends that come to visit your backyard will be eating seed in a clean, safe bird feeder that is free of disease.

Bluebirds are found throughout most of the United States. The bluebird is very beneficial to us. Bluebirds eat large

Eastern Bluebird

quantities of insects, such as cutworms and grasshoppers which damage our crops and gardens. These types of bluebirds make their home in North America: The Eastern Bluebird, The Western Bluebird and the Mountain Bluebird. These beautiful birds were once very common in much of the United States. However, over the past century their numbers have diminished due to the loss of natural habitat, overuse of pesticides and predators.

· Bluebirds prefer to live in open areas such as parks, pastures and meadows. Bluebirds eat large quantities of insects. Insects make up 60% – 80% of a bluebirds diet. They like to perch in small trees or fence posts and swoop down to eat insects on the grassy ground. Bluebirds will not typically visit your seed feeders, but will eat berry or insect suet that you place in a suet feeder for them.

· Bluebirds nest in natural tree cavities and old woodpecker holes. When natural nesting sites are scarce, bluebirds will use nesting boxes. Bluebird nesting boxes should be mounted on a fence post or pole, low to the ground, but no higher then 4-5’ above the ground. Situate the nesting boxes along woodland edges facing open land. Keep your nesting boxes as far away from human habitation as possible.

· Providing nesting materials is a very important factor in attracting nesting bluebirds to your backyard. Collecting nesting materials can take 100’s of trips. Bluebirds like soft grasses and fragrant pine needles as nesting material. Provide these nesting materials in a specially designed container, an empty suet cage, or you can simply gather bunches of material and situate it in the bark of a tree.

· Bluebirds, like all insect eating birds drink lots of water daily. Offer plenty of water sources, such as bird baths, in your bardyard.

Plant scattered fruit and berry trees, mixed with open lawn and herbaceous flower beds to make an excellent Bluebird habitat. Bluebirds enjoy the berries and fruits from red cedar, Virginia creep. Holly, dogwood, sumas, blueberry, bayberry, hackberry and elderberry.

· Bluebirds will also eat chopped fruit, berries and chopped peanut kernels from a platform feeder.

· To learn more about bluebirds join the North American Bluebird Society.

Numerous brands of wild birdseed contian seeds that can sprout and become a noxious weed!  If seeds sprout beneath your own feeder, it is not that difficult to control the sprouts.  However, when birds fly off and distribute seeds in their droppings, wild areas can be affected.

The prevention of noxious weeds is one more reason I prefer whole black oil sunflower seeds only for my feeders. In addition, black oil sunflower seeds attracts a wide range of birds and the majority of seeds are consumed at the feeder resulting in minimal waste.  When some seeds are dropped, the ground feeders and squirrels will usually get the seed.  If some seeds do sprout, a sunflower growing is easy to see and pull and is not considered noxious in the wild.  When I clean up the shells under the feeder, I place the shells in my composter, worm bin or rake it in to my flower beds.  The shells provide good areation and nutrition to the soil.  My favorite feeder for black oil sunflower seeds is the Squirrel Buster Plus Feeder.  This feeder allows the smaller birds to have their feeder and I have a different feeder for the larger birds.

Thistle or niger seed for the finches is the other whole seed I use.  It is prety unlikely that the birds will transport seeds in droppings to India, Nepal or Ethiopia where thistle seed is primarily grown commercially.  The Squirrel Buster Finch Bird Feeder is the perfect niger or thisle seed feeder.  In the North West, you will attract American Goldfinches, House Finches, Purple Finches and Pine Siskin most of the year.

One other thing we bird lovers can do is choose foods that won’t sprout such as peanuts, sunflower hearts, and high quality suet cakes.

Just a couple more ways for each of us to be happy birders and be good stewards of nature.