While some gardeners would prefer not to see so many birds in their well-tended spaces, we welcome our fine-feathered friends to the farm. As we tell the kids, they eat weed seed (less work for you, kids!) and certain insects that could potentially wreak a little havoc with our plant life. And perhaps most importantly, they are pretty. Lest our young urban dwellers start to think that pigeons are the only birds around, we encourage them to notice and maybe even identify the birds they see on the farm.
The winsome creation you see above is the first of what we hope will be many birdhouses on the farm. Our farm operations director, Sarah, picked this one up in Berkeley, California a little while back at an inspiring place called Berkeley Rustic Birdhouses. Where recycled materials become new digs for birds.
The website is a treasure trove of beauties where the difficulty of choosing just one may drive you to distraction. So hard to pick a favorite with choices like this lovely below.
But we will not be buying all the birdhouses we envision for the farm. Our hope is that come fall when the kids come back to school, we can challenge our students to design and build birdhouses of their own, composed of recycled materials that we offer them. Can’t wait to see what our creative and energetic bunch dream up.
