Birdfeeding

[ysabetwordsmith]

Today is cloudy, cold, and snowy. It started spitting snow last night around 4 AM, falling straight down. It wasn't snowing when I got up, but there was snow on the ground. It's at "flurry" level now with occasional swirls of breeze. In a few places it's deep enough to cover the grass now, so probably about 2 inches.

I fed the birds. Lots of activity earlier but none now; I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a flock of starlings, three male and two female cardinals. They've already discovered the second suet cake.

EDIT 1/5/25 -- It's snowing more briskly now. Much of the grass has disappeared in the house yard, though some still shows in the south lot. The streetside yard has heaps of snow in the trees, and so does the Midwinter Grove. The wind has picked up somewhat, blowing billows of snow off the roof, and low drifts are starting to form in some areas.

I did a bit of work around the patio. My partner Doug has been shoveling it periodically, so that helps.

I fed the birds again. I've seen large flocks of them crowding the feeders. It's four-bird-cold outside today, meaning they're more interested in stuffing their faces as fast as possible than in chasing each other away from the feeders. I've seen a pair of cardinals and a few mourning doves, one of whom was sheltering inside the fly-through feeder. I should keep an eye out for a bird roosting box, which is designed for shelter instead of nesting.

I am done working outside for the night.


EDIT 1/5/25 -- It is still dusting snow a bit, but not much is falling now.

I spent about 45 minutes rough-sorting seeds into the larger seed storage box, which is for seeds in packets or bags. I threw out all the old shipping envelopes. I sorted the seeds into very broad categories and put them in the box. I have reduced the total volume by about half. Progress.

So far, the box is pretty full. It would probably be a good idea to get a second one of these for storing the big bags of grass seed and wildflower seed, leaving one for the smaller packets. But this is not yet urgent.

(Requested 11/26/24, arrived 12/2/24)
ArtBin Super Satchel Double Deep Compartment Box - Art Storage with 8 Removable Compartments, Smart Closure for Craft Supplies

This is the larger the two items I picked for seed storage, intended for organizing packets I've purchased. It has a bunch of removable dividers inside, which is awesome, as it's big enough to fit even the larger bags of seeds. Probably. If I run out of room I can always buy another one.

EDIT 1/5/25 -- My second round of seed-sorting focused on the flowers. In packets I have mostly flowers, some herbs, and a few fruits or vegetables. Sorting the flowers into categories, I discovered that I have many older, partial packets of favorites such as marigolds, morning glories, sunflowers, and zinnias. Individual packets are only a handful. There's another good handful of mixes, mostly wildflowers or habitat blends.

EDIT 1/5/25 -- My third round of seed-sorting went through batches and alphabetized things. This will make them easier to find later.

One of my goals for spring will be to go through the packets and plant as much as I can from earlier than 2024. Since so much is flower seed, a lot of that can just be dumped together and sewn in the mass plantings around the prairie garden.

The two biggest batches I have are marigolds and morning glories. Interestingly, any of the marigolds could have contributed to the Shithouse Marigolds, my landrace of tall marigolds. But only one type of morning glory has really lasted, a dark violet.

I also have several partial packets of sunflower seeds. I'm kind of starting to explore whether I can get a landrace of these going, since last spring I had volunteers around the septic garden. So I'll probably plant the leftovers there. A particular challenge with sunflowers is the overwhelming tendency to cater to the floral arrangement industry with flowers that produce little or no pollen. Sadly that means 1) they don't reproduce well and 2) they are much less useful for bees. I've seen exactly nobody breeding flowers specifically for pollinator needs, which means gushing with nectar and pollen, which is what wildlife gardeners also want in order to attract wildlife (including birds that will eat the seeds). I'm not picky about flowers; I like big single heads and small multiple heads, all colors, preferably single because double is harder for insects to reach. I am partial to big, tall plants with thick sturdy stems that 1) stand up to windy Midwest weather and 2) provide a haven for insects which the woodpeckers love to drill out later.

Marigolds
'Crackerjack Mix' -- Livingston
'Crackerjack Mix' -- Pinetree Garden Seeds
'Old Garden' Tagetes patula -- Buffalo Seed Co.
'Petite Mix' -- Livingston
'The Pots of Gold French Marigold Mixture' -- John Scheepers
'Sparky' -- Back to the Roots

Morning Glories
'Clarke's Heavenly Blue' (sky blue) -- Fredonia
'Early Call Mixed Colors' -- Plantation Products
'Flying Saucers' (purple stripes) -- Plantation Products
'Giant Mixed Colors' -- Ferry-Morse
'Grandpa Ott' (deep purple) -- Plantation Products
'Scarlett O'Hara -- Burpee
'Tall Mixed Colors' -- Fredonia
'Zeeland Hybrid Mix' -- Burpee

Sunflowers
'Arikara' (a tribal landrace) -- Annapolis Seeds
'Florenza' -- Pinetree Garden Seeds
'Giant Grey Striped' -- Burgess
'Mother Garden Mix' -- Siskiyou Seeds


EDIT 1/5/25 -- My fourth round of seed-sorting involved going through things gathered from the Charleston Food Forest. I bottled the garlic chives seeds and the giant marigold seeds. I tried using the little folding silicone funnel, but 1) the lower tube was too small for the garlic chives to fit more than a few through, and 2) static electricity made everything cling to it. So I just dumped in the seeds from the wider end. Sadly the asparagus seeds molded, but I'll put them in a sunny window and see if they survive.

The big baggie full of zinnia seeds won't fit in the smaller case at all. The larger case is almost full, and at that, the big bag of recently acquired seeds won't even fit in that one. I should definitely get a second one of those. I'd be fine if I only had packets, but native grass seed comes in bigger bags, some wildflower seeds come in bags the size of 1-2 fists, and when I gather seeds myself sometimes I wind up with big handfuls. Tiny seeds like cypress vine, no problem, they'll fit in a jar. But big fluffy ones like marigolds or zinnias need more space. And I don't even grow the big bulky stuff like corn or beans.

So if you're planning to store seeds for a survival garden, forget fitting that in one can. A suitcase at minimum, and a trunk or even a closet would be better, because you actually need more of the big seeds, before even getting to things like seed potatoes.

EDIT 1/5/25 -- My fifth round of seed-sorting involved going through more envelopes of stuff I had gathered. I put the cypress vine seeds and the purple morning glory seeds in small vials in the smaller black seed case. I managed to cram in some envelopes into the big clear seed box, but then they don't sort properly into categories. The new bag of little bluestem grass seed doesn't fit anywhere. :/ So yeah, I need a second ArtBin so I can divide the small packets from the bigger bags of stuff.

Also, I need to rethink how I store the stuff I gather. Tiny seeds will go in vials in the black case, that's what it's for. But it won't do for large masses of fluffy seeds. I was using regular paper envelopes, which are plenty big enough, but they don't fit well into the ArtBin. Maybe a different size/shape of envelope, but the little seed packets won't do at all. I thought about cartons like corn or beans sometimes come in but haven't found those. Maybe leftover, reused cloth bags that some of the wildflower mixes come in. I could certainly make more, and it's not too hard to find them for sale online. I'll have to think about this.

But at least things are mostly organized now, other than maybe hunting down some older stray packets. In any case the ArtBin is crammed, so that's a good stopping point for this project. \o/