A Favorite and a Bird Nest Supplier

What a surprise to find that one of my bloggie friends in England handed me this award:

Liebster is a German word that means dearest or favorite, and I am so happy to be one of those!

You know how the rules go: I gotta share my favorite blogs with you and introduce you to the sweet gal who passed this torch to me.

1. Alexandra, Overflowing Laundry Basket, lives in England with her five, soon to be six, children. She home schools, bakes, knits and raises a few hens as well. Thank you for sending me some love, Alexandra! Now you all really should hop over there and pay her a visit!

2. Christy, Paper Hearts and Fairy Houses, is one fantastic lady! She is the mother of one sweet little boy and spends time knitting, baking, and running! Go see her now and I bet you will find a fabulous recipe for Bacon and Cheddar with Chives Scones.

3. Michelle, The Story of the Sparkmans, is actually married to a high school classmate of mine. Let me tell you right now that this is one amazing family...they have 2 sets of twins! Yes, you heard me correctly, and somehow she manages to keep everyone and everything running in an orderly fashion! Go visit her, especially if you are at all interested in fixing up the interior of your house. She has a talent for decorating!

4. Anne, Bringing Borya Home, is a blogger I admire because not only does she farm but they also adopt!! You will find funny farm musings and quite a bit of adoption info over there. Drop by and pay her a visit!
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Today was another warm day outside and so the kids took advantage of it by playing in the woods for hours! I think they are building a fortress out there and they cannot wait to go back out tomorrow.

This morning while sipping coffee and catching up on Pinterest and FB, I came across some mighty inspiration.
It was a bird nest materials station, a place for the birds to gather materials for their nests this spring.
Well, I decided that we would it a school project, because that's what home schoolers do!

We looked up a reference site by Cornell University, and it gave us some dos and don'ts for this project such as keep string and yarn under 8 inches long. Use natural materials such as wool and keep wool stuffing pieces small, under an inch wide. I did not use dryer lint because chemicals in fabric softener might not be safe and synthetic material lint shrivels up in the rain.

 First we cut an old orange juice carton into 2 boxes and gathered an orange mesh bag for another. Many people like to use bird suet containers, the wire box kind. I use florist wire to create a "weaved" cage for one of the boxes, similar to a wire suet box.

 Next we gathered hay, grass, wool stuffing I had in my sewing stash, and scraps of wool yarn.

The girls also gathered fine downy feathers from chicken lot and a few goats hairs that were caught on the fence.

After we "stuffed" our three containers we ventured outside to find the best spots to hang them. We chose near the tree house because it sets back into the woods plus it will make it easier to keep an eye on the containers.

 Indiana hammered the mesh bag one onto the tree and we pulled a few of the items through the bag some so that it would be easier to get started!

 Willow decided to take some leftovers and place them on a piece of bark and set it on a branch. Good thinking!

Gotta love a nice productive day!...and the girls are still reading bird books this evening, looking at different types of nests!

I am also happy to share that after months of no eggs....we are back in the eggs!

The hens were all sick last summer. After we cured them, we were unable to successfully get any weight back on them, therefore no eggs still. The last few weeks I was able to tweak my feed mixtures and also add some other new management details. Well, they have put on weight and Rose was able to gather 15 this afternoon!
Even the ducks are happy! My lady mallard has been giving us an egg each morning too!

Here's to inspiring blogs, new friends, inspiration, and a warm spring day!