Birdfeeding: Friends of a Feather Flock Together

Today is mostly sunny, windy, and cool.

I haven't fed the birds yet, but I've already seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

EDIT 2/27/25 -- I fed the birds. I've seen a small flock of mourning doves and a small flock of starlings.

I put out water for the birds.

I walked around the yard looking for flowers. Nothing else is blooming yet and the snowdrops aren't even sprouting. 0_o

EDIT 2/27/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 2/27/25 -- I laid the base for the next bonfire.

EDIT 2/27/25 -- Today Doug picked up the Gorilla dump cart, which holds 9 cubic feet, at Costco. We managed to shove it onto our trolley and haul it into the garden shed for later assembly. \o/

EDIT 2/27/25 -- I gathered wood from the brushpile beside the driveway and hauled 2 loads of it to the firepit.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night. The sun has just set and it's 6PM so there's much more daylight available now. :D

Here is my order for Prairie Moon. This is the second of three paper catalogs.

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Today we ordered these from the Buffalo Seed Company. This nursery offers native grass seed, native wildflower seed, and eco-friendly lawn alternatives in both single species and thematic mixes.

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My Breck's order has been placed for the spring preview sale.

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These are some gifts you might get for fellow fans of birds and nature, or put on your own holiday wishlist.

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Our new garden shed arrived today! :D 3q3q3q!!! I'm so excited. It's made by Everlast, which has distributors in a bunch of places around central Illinois.

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I grow sunchokes. These are Native American perennial sunflowers that produce many small flowers with small seeds, and a lot of edible tubers about the size of baby potatoes. The plants are enormous -- they get up to about 12 feet tall and form a small forest of stalks with big leaves. Although often listed as wildflowers because they're native and now do run wild, they are actually the escaped agricultural crops of lost civilzations. Sunchokes make fabulous bird plants for a lot of reasons...

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Today we ordered bulbs from Breck's for fall planting. I used my list from Planting Ahead to shop, which was very helpful. I also compared it with what I bought last fall, ordering mostly different things except for few favorite bargains.

If you like to order your fall bulbs from catalogs, now's the time, because they typically ship September-October depending on your zone.  The current Breck's sale says it ends July 26.

If you prefer shopping in person, bulbs often start hitting the garden and farm stores some time in August or September.  I usually like to start planting them in September once it rains after the late summer dry spell.  So if the catalogs ship early-ish then I have those to plant, and if not, I can check stores to pick up extras.  I also like to hit the late-season sales if it's not snowing, because it's often possible to pick up lots of good stuff cheap, if you don't mind the random factor of "whatever's left."

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Today my seeds arrived from Pinetree Garden Seeds. :D These are more for me and the pollinators than the birds, but some are things that birds will peck at the seedheads later like asters, bachelor's button, and marigold.

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My seeds arrived from Anapolis Seeds, which is in Canada. \o/  Both of these are wildlife plants -- sunflowers for pollinators and birds, dill for swallowtail caterpillars.  Landrace sunflowers should be A) hardy and B) full of pollen and nectar.  It's hard to find good sunflowers for wildlife because so many are sterile florist varieties that are fuckall use in landscaping because they won't feed pollinators or set seed for birds.


Anapolis Seeds

Arikara Sunflower
Both single and multi heads on sturdy stalks ranging from 4 to 8 feet in height. Probably best described as a landrace, with seeds varying from black to grey displaying lots of diversity. 50 seeds (3 g)

Bouquet Dill
Compact plants, about 36" tall. An excellent dill grown primarily for leaf production. Also produces large seed heads in late summer, just in time for pickling season.