Birdfeeding: Friends of a Feather Flock Together

Today we visited the Charleston Food Forest. These pictures show the front and right side. (See the left side and the Coles County Community Garden.)

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Are you looking to grow things for attracting and supporting birds?

Seed Library Network
This website has extensive resources on seed libraries and seed swaps.

Seed the Map
Is your seed library open? Take 5 minutes to get on the Global Seed Library Map.

Explore the Map
Search the map to find other folks in similar regions or at the same type of location.

Seed Library Networks
Check out the other seed library networks & learn about how you can create your own.

On Monday, I picked out what I wanted for the Select Seeds order.  Of these, penstemon, yarrow, and coreopsis are cultivars of native wildflowers that attract various pollinators.  Penstemon has tubular flowers that bring hummingbirds and bees, while yarrow and coreopsis have flatter flowers that bring bees and butterflies.


Old-Fashioned Climbing Petunia (plant)

Lantana 'PassionFruit' (plant)

Penstemon 'Dakota Burgundy' (plant)

Painted Tongue 'Select Superbissima Mix' (seeds)

Yarrow 'Flowerburst Red Shades' (seeds)

Coreopsis 'Corusco Cream-Red' (seed

Today is mostly cloudy and cool. Looks like it rained a bit last night; there are small puddles in a few places.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I put out a fresh cake of peanut suet.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I cut and labeled 4 more water jugs. These will hold native grasses: little bluestem, side-oats grama, northern sea oats, and switchgrass. It will be interesting to see how they do. Potted grasses tend to survive well but are more expensive. Broadcast seeding on the ground has variable results. So if I can find more and better ways to pot my own from seed, that's an improvement. Native grasses attract wildlife with food, shelter, and other resources. Many birds devour the seeds. Some butterflies, especially skippers, and other insects use native grasses as host plants. My prairie garden swarms with skippers and other butterflies in summer and into fall.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I filled, sowed, and taped the milk jugs. This potting soil was wet enough that it didn't need watering. I thought I had some topsoil left, but I'm out of that; I'll need to restock in March. I put the four new jugs in the parking lot and tied them together.

While I was out there, a honeybee buzzed around, wishing to pollinate me, perhaps attracted to my bright coat. I had to explain that I was not a flower.

I've seen more sparrows and two male cardinals.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I set up a simple worm bin in the log garden's leaf enclosure. I used an old 5-gallon bucket with a cracked bottom and a hole in one side. This will allow worms to go in and out as they please. I put some leaves inside to start, and packed more leaves around the bucket. Now I have somewhere that I can drop food scraps for the worms to eat, and cover with a handful of leaves. This gives me a place that will likely have plenty of worms when I want them -- such as for dropping into large planters -- and also where I can take a handful of very bioactive material to jump-start pots filled with potting mix with little or no bioactivity. When the bucket gets full, I can dump out the worm castings to use for fertilizing plants, sort out some worms, restart the bucket with more leaf litter, and drop in the worms.

There are, of course, commercially made worm bins that are much fancier and allow access to more outputs. However, these are expensive. Also they trap the worms inside, which is not great for an outdoor setup. This is free and better suited to its situation.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I picked up the empty trough from last year's mini-water garden and moved it to the log garden, where I surrounded it with extra logs. I have taken pictures of the worm bin and the water garden.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I heard a woodpecker drumming but didn't see it. I have seen a fox squirrel up a tree.

I am done for the night.

Today we made the Cold Stream Farm order. This is one of the few remaining nurseries with affordable prices, focusing mostly on native species of trees and bushes. Most have wildlife value. Some are good for permaculture.

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Today we ordered seeds from OPN Seed. This completes my goal of making at least 2 catalog orders by the end of February. I still have more catalogs to go through, but I got two of the most important done. \o/

OPN Seed also offers a variety of bird-oriented seed mixes, along with other themes.

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Continuing from Charleston Food Forest Part 1 Right Side, these photos show the remainder of the right side and the left side. Continue with the Coles County Community Garden and Seeds.

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These pictures are mostly from the prairie garden.

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Today is sunny.

I took the flats of pots outside and watered them.

I've seen two starlings, a mourning dove, and a blue jay in the forest garden.  Two vultures flew overhead and landed in the tall trees.  :D

EDIT 4/28/25 -- I fed the birds.  

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 4/28/25 -- We walked around the south lot to decide where to mow a path.  Now my partner Doug is out mowing.

EDIT 4/28/25 -- We walked around the south lot to see what had been mowed.  Yay, progress!

EDIT 4/28/25 -- I planted a peppermint in the strip garden, a catnip in the cistern garden, a pineapple mint and a rosemary in a trough pot on the old picnic table.

EDIT 4/28/25 -- I planted the 'Ohio Treasure' black rraspberry in the patch at the edge of the prairie garden.  This concludes the Edible Landscaping order.

EDIT 4/28/25 -- I planted hepatica and Jack-in-the-pulpit, each 2 in the forest garden and 1 in the streetside forest yard where the trilliums are growing.

EDIT 4/28/25 -- I planted Dutchman's breeches, bloodroot, and white trillium, each 2 in the forest garden and 1 in the streetside forest yard where the trilliums are growing.  This concludes the American Meadows order.

EDIT 4/28/25 -- I planted Dutchman's breeches, bloodroot, and white trillium, each 2 in the forest garden and 1 in the streetside forest yard where the trilliums are growing.  This concludes the American Meadows order.

EDIT 4/28/25 -- I raked the mowed north-south path that is second in from the west in the prairie garden and connects with the east-west flower path.  Last year this north-south path was sown with wildflowers, this time I put Little Bluestem grass seed.

EDIT 4/28/25 -- I raked the mowed north-south path that is farther west in the prairie garden, sowed it with 20th anniversary wildflower seed mix plus extra zinnia seeds from the Charleston food forest, and watered it. I raked the mowed east-west path and sowed it with Monarch Butterfly Wildflower Seed Mix plus extra zinnia seeds, and watered it.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.