I've had a couple of nesting boxes in my Orchard since I planted it. Each year, I regularly check the boxes to see if there has been any activity. Nothing. Not even a sign of interest.
Last year, when I put up my electric fencing, I had to remove the boxes from their existing locations. I sat one up on a railing and the other at the far end near the water barrel on top of some miscellaneous stuff that I needed to haul out of there. And then I promptly moved onto my next project and completely forgot about remounting them somewhere.
To my utter surprise this spring, when I realized I hadn't put them back up and decided it was time to do so, low and behold, there was the beginning of a nest in one of them! I guess it's location, laying sideways on the railing, was the perfect spot after all. It took a while for me to actually figure out who was nesting it it.
And then one morning, I saw them. Dusky Warblers. Well, actually I heard them first. But they were in my garden gathering cobwebs from the trellises for nesting material. Note: Don't always be so quick to knock down those winter webs that have gathered along your fence, roof line, etc. Lots of birds, including hummingbirds, use the soft material to line their nests. I try to provide the wild birds with plenty of nesting materials of various sizes in order to encourage them to nest nearby.
So back to the garden. I realized that I had not seen this species in my yard before. So I pulled up iBirdPro6 on my iPhone, did a quick search, and identified the little beauties as Dusky Warblers. Nice! I love it when new birds find their way to my property. It means I've done a good job setting out the welcome mat and providing them with food, water, and sheltering opportunities.
Shortly thereafter, I spied one of these birds in my orchard and managed to catch a glimpse of it as it popped inside the nesting box. Bingo! Now I knew who had moved in. So I watched the box and their activity each morning and night when I feed my poultry in the orchard. I talk to my birds so I knew the wild ones would get used to my voice. And then very carefully, when it appeared neither parent was home, I would peak inside. Quickly, mind you. Three seconds, tops. Open lid, look, close, done. Not very often, either. I didn't want to scare away the potential parents.
Finally, I found five beautiful little tiny eggs inside. The wait was on. Incubation for this species is 11 to 13 days. I started counting. But I didn't inspect / disturb the nest box again. Each day while in the orchard, I would continue with my routine and talk to my birds so that the expecting couple would continue to be comfortable with my presence. And each time, I would gently lean my ear against the box to see if I could hear anything.
I was just out there and I heard it. Tiny little peeping noises. I knew the glorious moment had arrived. I had seen the parents flitting in and out and around the yard, so I knew they were being active. It was now or never. I grabbed my iPhone and my step ladder. I reminded myself thirty seconds tops! I readied the camera and gently opened the lid. Out flew Mom just as I had expected. I snapped 4 photos and then a quick video, then shut the box back up and went back out the gate.
I waited with my fingers laced into the chain link fence and in less than a minute I was rewarded. Mom was back. Inside she went. I waited some more. And waited... and waited... and watched... and waited. Dad flew up and bopped inside as well, but only for a moment and then he was off. So I watched and waited some more. Once Dad had come back several times, I knew the coast was clear. No damage done. Mom wasn't going to abandon the new hatchlings.
Here they are, in all their itty bitty little glory. To give you an idea of scale, the nest box is only 4" wide. The nest itself is perhaps half that.
I can't tell you how happy I am. These birds are normally ground dwellers. For them to take up residence in a nest box in my orchard is amazing. Spring is definitely here. Oh, Happy Dance!!!
This evening I read this interesting post from Erica over at
Northwest Edible Life and it got me thinking.
Perhaps I shouldn’t keep my private little secret all to myself. I mean others are doing it, right? Maybe not folks I know. But there are books written about the
subject, right? After reading through
the comments on Erica’s blog, I decided that perhaps it was time to fess up. So here goes.
I compost urine. There. I said it.
It’s out now. It’s public
knowledge. I compost urine.
How and why? When did
I start? When did I become serious about
it? It’s hard to say. I think it was a convergence of a lot of
things. First, perhaps was
convenience. I’m out in the garden and
barnyard an awful lot. When I need to
go, I need to go. Yes, I could trudge
back into the house (removing my shoes if it’s muddy) to do my business. Or I could just cop a squat in the goat
shed. I mean the goats squat in the goat
shed right? I practice deep litter for a
reason right? The deep layer of straw
not only captures their feces, but because it’s hollow it traps their urine and
all that wonderful nitrogen as well. So
why not add my own urine to the mix if I’m out working in the back? It seemed perfectly logical to me.
At some point I started to research a more environmentally
friendly way to deal with my cat litter.
After spending hundreds of dollars and several years trying to convince
my cats that a plumbed litter box, specifically the Cat Genie (BRILLIANT
invention, BTW) was the way to go, only to meet resistance from Gabriel and
utter refusal from Max, I had to figure something else out. So I started researching if it was possible
to somehow compost cat waste. I found
information on everything from in ground composting mini septic systems to a
very interesting study by one damn smart kid about vermicomposting cat feces.
After a lot of research and a few unsuccessful experiments
(due to human error/neglect), I decided that scooping was an inevitable reality
for me.But then, while researching
litter systems for rabbits I quite literally struck gold, as in Liquid Gold
(great book, BTW).What was the secret
ingredient?Wood stove pellets!What?Yes, that’s right.Wood stove
pellets.Okay, hold that thought…
The problem with cat litter is that the feces which may contain
Toxoplasma gondii, a parasitic protozoan that can cause birth defects when a
pregnant woman becomes infected. But
there is absolutely nothing wrong with cat urine. Nope.
It’s as sterile as human urine.
And it’s full of nitrogen! Lovely
fertilizing, make your garden green, nitrogen.
The answer to all my cat litter woes had been discovered. Wood stove pellets. What are they? Compressed sawdust. That’s it.
Nothing nasty added. No
chemicals, no nothing. I’ve watched
videos of the machines used in their manufacture. Heck, you can even purchase one if you have
an overabundance of sawdust. Any wood
workers out there? I was convinced. Why?
Because all the research I had previously done about Humanure (not in
practice/use at my homestead) had talked about using sawdust as the layering
material to absorb odors and moisture.
And that’s exactly what wood stove pellets are. Sawdust.
So I started using them in the litter box. At about $5.00 for a 40 lb. bag at the local home improvement store, it’s one HELL of a lot cheaper than any cat litter on
the market. It’s definitely a much more
environmental friendly product than anything I could purchase at the pet store. And it seemed to last longer. The unexpected added bonus of using it is
that it practically eliminates all odors.
Yes, you heard me right. No
litter box odor. Assuming you tend to it
semi-regularly of course.
So now I scoop the feces and flush it down the toilet. When wood stove pellets get wet, they disintegrate
back into sawdust. So when the litter
box is reduced to mostly sawdust rather than pellets, I dump it into the
compost bin. That’s what you call
getting all your greens and browns mixed together in a damn near perfect
ratio. Mind you, a lot of other things
go into the compost bin as well. But the
bulk of my cat litter is no longer entering the municipal waste stream (i.e.
garbage can).
Now although I've told several friends they should try this
at home, very few people know that I’ve taken to this practice myself. What?
I not only piss in the barnyard, but now I use the cat’s litter box too? Um… no.
Some of you may recall that I’m obsessed with conserving water. Recently, I retrofitted my toilet
with a dual flush kit which I had to modify slightly to work with my existing SinkPositive. But as Erica so eloquently put it in her post, “Basically,
the environmental and financial cost to piss in a bunch of drinking-quality
water and then process it back into drinking water is huge.” So even though I was drastically cutting my
water usage, I was thrilled to figure out a way to not only reduce it further,
but also to capture the nutrient rich liquid gold that my own body produces.
Enter the Luggable Loo.
I actually purchased this brilliant little bucket toilet for use while
camping last year. It’s quite convenient
when you wake up early in the morning with an urge that won’t wait until you
can put on your clothes, shoes, jacket, etc. and then trudge all the way to the
privy. Although I was quite suspect of
the chemicals used in their disposable bags, I found that if I put some water
in the bucket before use, the dilution was enough to eliminate odor and it was easy to
dump out once I was up. I simply watered
a tree or bush with the bucket, gave it a really good rinse, put in a few
inches of water, and then put it back in the tent. Presto, ready to go whenever the time came.
And then, after the litter box revelation, it struck
me. Why not put the Luggable Loo into
use at home with wood stove pellets? I
couldn’t think of any good reason not to give it a try.
So into my bathroom it went with a small layer of pellets in the
bottom. It’s enough to last for a few
days. I didn’t want to be lugging a
heavy full loo with my bad back. So I
settled on a more reasonable amount, lighter weight, and regular routine. And if guest are coming by, why it’s super
simple to empty the bucket and put it into the spare room or garage. Out of sight, out of mind where visitors are
concerned.
So that’s it. Human
and cat feces are flushed. Human and cat
urine are composted. Not all the
time. I’m not perfect. If I have to do double doodie so to speak, I’m
sticking with the toilet. But the system
works for me most of the time. It might
not be practical with a family of four.
But for a single gal who has a regular 9 to 5, it works just fine. And yes, I still cop a squat in the barnyard sometimes
when I’m out working in the yard. It’s
just natural to me.
Now, I wonder how many interesting comments I’ll get on this
post.
My neighbor and dear friend Gail's backyard is a bit on the overgrown side, so to speak. She says she's paid numerous times to have it knocked down, dug out, etc. But since I moved in, I've been trying to convince her to let me put a gate in the fence between our yards. I've taken the kids over there a time or two, but the gate has always been a definite no.
That was until her friend Eliza came to visit a few weekends ago. She and I led the goats and the ducks out the gate, around the front yard, up her driveway, and into her backyard for a morning of munching. It was a beautiful day with good friends, pleasant conversation, and frolicking critters. And Eliza told Gail we should put a gate in the fence. See? It wasn't just me. Finally Gail said okay. But only as long as we could lock it.
So this morning, I knocked on Gail's door to triple check that it was actually okay with her. I assured her I would put a double cylinder dead bolt on the fence and we'd both have keys. She said to go ahead. As I was leaving, she said "I love you. You drive me crazy, but I love you." Truth is, I love her too. I couldn't have picked a better next door neighbor if I tried. I got damn lucky when I found this house, in more ways than I realized at the time.
So off to the hardware store I went to pick up the necessary supplies. A couple hours later, and this is what it looked like a few minutes after the initial opening. Nom nom nom on the tree. But no worries. It's scheduled to be chopped down very soon. So they can munch on it all they want. I've already wrapped the trucks of the trees that Gail is keeping.
Pappy, of course, is completely in his element. My little fluff ball is in grass tall enough to touch his belly. But not for long. Nom nom nom.
"Oh, Ma! There's some really TASTY stuff here in the back corner!
And didn't Gail say this rose needed to be trimmed anyway? Ok, Mom. I'll help!"
The ducks, having been there before, only hesitated a little bit before heading over. And Tony, my turkey, seems pretty excited too. He's been back and forth a couple of times. Carol was the first chicken, but I'm pretty sure the rest of the girls will follow soon enough.
Me? I'm going to relax and watch them for a little bit. Then I need to install the deadbolt. But for now? Just enjoying my happy critters!
Havenscourt Homestead
