This site is an archive of ChiotsRun.com. For the latest information about Susy and her adventrures, visit the Cultivate Simple site.
Thank you for all your support over the years!

Babies

June 25th, 2020

This is the season of babies, baby birds in particular. You can hear them in almost every tree. This year we had a nest of woodpeckers in the big ash tree out front. We heard the babies for a few days before finally being able to locate the nest.

We watched and watched to see the babies, after a week or two of them being super loud, we were able to spot them.

A week later, they fledged and it’s been quiet in the ash tree again.

The First Tanager

May 29th, 2019

This past weekend Mr Chiots and I spotted our first scarlet tanager of the season. It wasn’t super close, so I couldn’t get a great photo. It’s always exciting to watch for birds to return in the spring. The first bluebird, indigo bunting, robin, and phoebes always give reason to celebrate.


For bird idenficiation, we have both ‘The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North American’ and ‘Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America‘ and use them both regularly. If you’re into birds they’re worthwhile additions to your library.

Are you a bird watcher? What birds do you most enjoy seeing in spring?

Finally Back

November 19th, 2018

Sorry for the lack of posts last week. I was actually sick, something I picked up on our way back from Israel. I had big plans of going through all my photos and sharing the beautiful thing we saw, but instead I spent the week on the couch trying to rest up to make sure I got better quickly for the busy holiday season. I was feeling better this weekend, which meant I was able to get out and get a few things finished in the garden, namely wrapping plants to keep them protected from the nibbling deer.


I find using upturned pots over smaller plants works very well. This is an especially effective method of helping plants that are on the edge of their hardiness zone as well. I cover several roses and my acanthus each winter. I also wrap plants in burlap. This year I used various plant supports I had throughout the garden. I put them over small blueberries, roses, and other plants that the deer find especially delicious. Then I wrapped them with burlap and fastened them with twine. This method works quite well and it looks fairly nice as well.

What methods have you developed to protect plants from deer?

Protection

August 27th, 2018

Protecting our gardens from marauding animals can be quite a task. Over the years I’ve developed various methods for protecting individual plants as well as large plots of edibles. Everyone seems to have methods that work for them. I was at my neighbor’s house yesterday and she tied plastic shopping bags on strings around her garden to keep the deer out.


This works fairly well for her. I have found that for my large vegetable garden, an electric fence is a must to keep deer, turkeys, groundhogs, raccoons, and other pests out.

What methods have you found that work well for these large garden pests?

Friday Favorite: Hummingbirds

August 3rd, 2018

I’ve always loved hummingbird (who doesn’t?). The garden is always filled with things that they will love and we hand a few hummingbird feeders by the windows so we can see them. Lately, one of our hummingbirds has taken to sitting on my rain chain. It’s particularly funny because the rain chain is shaped like little umbrellas (or Humbrellas as we say since our little niece started saying that years ago).

It’s particularly funny since the umbrella is perfectly hummingbird sized.

These little birds are endlessly entertaining. I love sitting on the back porch with my coffee in the morning watching them zoom around. I will always make sure I plant lots of things to keep these little guys fed.

Do you hang a hummingbird feeder in your garden?

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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