Lots of birds...

We have had an array new birds arriving since spring has hatched its multitude. Sadly, there are quite a few starlings as well, but the young sparrows and finches, but we can't all be picky. 

New birds, walks, and don't forget...

We had a new arrival at our bird feeders. It is a Evening Grosbeak or for you latin scholars Coccothraustes vespertinus. The three didn't stay for long, but we hope they'll make us one of their frequent stops.  

Also, a reminder that this weekend is the master gardeners sale here in Tacoma/Puyallup. It is right down the hill from me, but if you need directions, you can google the master gardener sale and it will give them much better than I can.

Last but not least, well not in my book, is a video of what's blooming in our neck of the woods. I love this time of year because everything is changing almost daily. The fruit trees are all in bloom and the tulips are in full swing!

Saturday Morning Jubilee...

What would you do if you woke up early, emptied the rat traps (#4), cleaned out the area where corn is going to be planted this evening, cleaned out the old radishes in preparation to plant more, opened the cold frame and saw that there is a lot of delicious lettuce, pac choi, and spinach that might bolt if not eaten? Why, make a spinach omelet of course!

Well, that's what Lucy and I did. We chopped up some spinach, ham from the pig out in the sty, mushrooms from the mushroom block in the root cellar, and some tomatoes from our hot house - well almost. We don't have any pigs in the back, or a root cellar full of mushroom blocks, or even a hot house (yet) so I settled for stealing from the refrigerator instead (until we get all of those, Safeway and Walmart keep a good supply for us). We all have our dreams though, and I imagined that was where we got all of the ingredients. It makes you feel like ma kettle or maybe Laura Ingles Wilder's pa. 

Then we sat down at the dining room table (possibly hewn from a large tree during the winter snows) and watched the birds eat their breakfast in the front yard. 

Lucy thought it was delicious, but contented herself with "Hot." Which of course means, "Gosh, dad, that was smokin' hot delicious!"

Tootaloo for now and I hope your breakfast was as entertaining and fun as mine! and for the PacNorWesterners in my area, Enjoy the sunshine!

I chopped up Spinach, Ham, Mushrooms, and Maters. The cheese we melted on the top.

Omelet w/ parsley and chocolate mint to garnish (fresh from the herb garden of course) 

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Making bird seed squares...

Due to hazardous, or cold and rainy, weather conditions, we decided to try out making our own suet cakes. We bought the square hanger last year and the cakes only lasted about a week or so but cost a pretty penny so we wanted to try our hand at them without the expenditure. 

This first involved scouring the internet for the best recipe. There are lots of them and guessing which is best is probably just that... a guess. However, we hung three out in the tree and the one that was had the most droppings won. 

The mixture looks rather nasty, but it brought back childhood memories of mud, worms, and all other gooey substances that are lots of fun to squish. Then we emptied our cupboards finding anything that the birds might like and since Lucy likes prizes (m & ms), she thought that the birds would like them as well. 

Lastly, we put the whole mixture in a pan with tin foil and froze it. The next day I cut them into nice squares and viola! its done. 

So far the birds have eaten on average a square each week, so I think that they like it. Below are pictures of the experiment. It was rather less painful than I had anticipated, however if there is anyone in the house with morning sickness, the smell isn't the best. If you plan on doing this, I think you'll enjoy it.

Lots of ingredients

There is nothing like lard and xtra crunchy peanut butter... if you are a bird.

The whole mixture in the freezer

Final Product

Its the offseason for these orchids, so here is their once a month bath with miracle gro