Feeding Your Neighborhood Birds

I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn. ~Henry David Thoreau

I remember the first year my husband and I moved to a duplex, and though it was still in the city, it had a backyard with a maple tree. I hung my first birdfeeder and was hooked. I love feeding and watching the birds, especially in the winter. We live in the country now, and I still put out birdfeeders, but I also plant flowers and herbs that I can leave the seed heads on for the birds. I wrote an article for OFL this week explaining which plants will provide seed for the birds in the fall and throughout the winter.

The article is here:
http://oldfashionedliving.com/Providing-Food-for-Neighborhood-Birds.html


I hope you have something planned for outdoors this weekend. We are visiting my son at college, which has a beautiful campus. It's homecoming and they have family activities scheduled all afternoon. I can't wait:)

~Brenda

Freezing the Summer Harvest

A tangerine and russet cascade
Of kaleidoscopic leaves
Creates a tapestry of autumn magic
Upon the emerald carpet of fading summer.
~Judith A. Lindberg

I meant to blog this weekend but we ended up taking a family outing to an art festival in the city. We've went every year for four years now, and it was nice to walk and chat
with the kids. We even picked up my son at college to come along with us. We shared Chinese food from a stand outside a sushi restaurant, and had a lovely day.  Our next outing is apple picking!

Fall has been in the air, and I realized I hadn't given any harvest tips yet, so I wrote an article on freezing homegrown produce and herbs .  Freezing is a good way to go for preserving many vegetables and herbs. I share what freezes best, and which methods work well.  

The article is here: http://oldfashionedliving.com/Freezing-the-Vegetable-and-Herb-Harvest.html

~Brenda