Just made another hummingbird feeder

I just finished making a new hummingbird feeder. It's made from an old bottle I found out in the Arizona desert. I have wrapped this old metal bed spring around the old bottle and use it to hang the hummingbird feeder. There is a rubber cork that plugs the bottle opening which has copper tubing that ends at a copper flower tip.

The hummingbirds really love these feeders. I have over 13 hummingbird feeders in the yard and garden and most of them are home made like this one...I should think about selling some!

Remember not to add any red  food coloring to your hummingbird feeder juice! The red coloring is really bad for the hummingbirds, plus the hummingbirds will find your feeder in time anyway. I like to add in a few drops of orange extract for added flavoring.

Rain barrel update: Finished phase one of three

Rain barrel update:

I have finished installation of the rain gutter in location number one out of our three total locations. The gutter is hung, the down spout has been installed and the rain barrels have been placed in the proper location. I have my flexible hose attached to the gutter down spout and connected to the atrium gate which is installed upside down on top of the rain barrel  lid. I have taken some  pictures, but need to download them from my camera later to post here.

We may get some rain today as a matter of fact. Local reports are calling for later in the evening rain which will give my new rain gutters a good test run for larger storms in the future. I am excited to see the results of our rain collection device.

I will post the images soon as well as a detailed list of what is needed to accomplish what I have done here. It's really very simple and should be very rewarding!

Seeing the benefits of going organic

I am seeing so much more life around the house since changing over to organic. It really makes a lot of sense to me now. I feel almost angry when thinking about all the synthetic chemicals I have used over the years. I am so thankful that I have discovered this old/new tome way of life!

I believe it is now my & our responsibility as organic practitioners to spread the word about how fun, easy and beneficial organic gardening and landscape care can be! Every time I find myself at one of these large home improvement stores in the garden section, I am asked if I need help with finding anything. If I ask a question about a insect, good insect or not, the first thing I am told about is a chemical "killer". I hope that one day this will change and I will be asked to verify the typ e of insect and given a few organic choices on how to deal with the problem, if it is a problem at all :)

Don't forget about the hummingbirds!!!

Can't forget about those beautiful hummingbirds that  need a nice sugary drink right now more than ever.

With the temps hitting 115 and above, it's a nice thing to add a hummingbird feeder to your yard or garden. In our yard we must have about 10 hummingbird feeders. Most of are feeders are feeders we have made ourselves, (and will be for sale sometime in the near future!), that are old bottles we have found in the middle of the Arizona desert in our camping and off road adventures.

These feeders seem to attract so many hummingbirds that you'll always keep them filled as to not dissapoint all the hummingbirds coming to your yard :) Plus they eat some bugs and insects that you don't want in your garden!

By the way, please remember NOT to add any red food coloring to your hummingbird juice! The dye is very harmful to these awesome birds. Trust me, the hummingbirds will find our feeder even if it's not red :)

I like to add a few drops of orange extract for a little flavor kick. It seems to be a hit!

Almost finished with the new two valve set up

I'll have to post some photos showing the two new Rain Bird valves I have installed specifically for the gardens. I am almost done and it couldn't be at a better time! It's hard digging an 8" deep trenche over 150 feet with a pick ax when it's 113 degrees out, let me tell you :)

I'll get them up some with explanations on why I choose what to install.

Let's COMPOST!

COMPOST!

What could be better than home-made compost - FOR FREE!

Well, not much else can compare to the benefits of compost. The best part is that anyone can do it with a little effort. I'm going to build a compost bin out of some cage wire, with the four corners supported by 1" pipe I had lying around from an older project.

Follow along or add tips and corrections, as I am learning all this hands on by myself :)

Here is what I started with: 

- Cage wire (Great for air flow)
- Lock cutters (A pair of dikes works best actually)
- Zip ties
- Hammer
- Band aids (optional, lol)

And all your yard cuttings, leaves, grass and kitchen scrapes (all except dairy and meats).

Here it is after wrapping three corners.

Use the zip ties to hold the cage to the poles. I added one at the top, middle and bottom.

All done! So nice and clean, lol not for long I suppose. Soon it will be filled with great looking compost!

If you layer the browns (dried leaves, grass, hay etc.), with your greens (kitchen scraps), you should not have any odors. Your compost will smell like fresh apples when done correctly, or so I've read ;) Notice I have it located next to the trash cans just n case, lol

Here I have added what I could find around the yard. Some citrus leaves, misc. plant cuttings, newspaper/junk mail and random kitchen scraps. I honestly didn't thin I would have enough items to fill our compost bin, but you soon realize how much you've been throwing away! It's really fun for kids too!

This was completed last week. I will add further photos that were taken today approx. 1 week after this was completed.