In honor of Mother’s Day, today’s Craft Corner is a two-in-one column with a focus on Mother Nature.
First up, bird lovers can give a second hand birdhouse a springtime facelift by adding a few decorative buttons.
Nesting season has arrived for our feathered friends here in the Pacific Northwest. We know because our house was recently under siege by a robin who was zealously guarding his territory.
In a valiant attempt to chase off – or seriously injure – any rivals for the affections of his lady love, our robin would begin flinging himself at his reflection in the windows at 5 a.m. and finish just before dark each evening.
We tried several methods of deterring him: a stuffed toy cat in the window, closing the draperies, hanging bells outside the windows. The bells seemed to slow him up a bit, but didn’t stop him completely.
Worried that he might hurt himself, we called Wild Birds Unlimited for suggestions and learned that they offer a decal strip that works quite well and sells for $11. We were just about ready to try one of the decals when his blustering stopped.
Apparently he didn’t do himself any damage and found time to woo his soul mate between bouts with the phantom rival – as a brand new nest has appeared in the carport this week. Of course, we don’t know for certain that it’s our friend and his Mrs., but we like happy endings, so we choose to believe it is.
But getting back to the birdhouse renovation project, we found a couple of woven birdhouses at a rummage sale last summer and decided this was a good time to put them to use.
We didn’t have to look beyond our button box to find some suitable decorations for the houses.
For the oval birdhouse, we chose several floral buttons and a couple of sparkly dragonflies; for our “hippie” house, we selected a colorful peace symbol, flowers, a bee and two butterflies.
Since we’ll be hanging the houses outside, we decided against glue and sewed the buttons in place using a curved needle. If you’ve never used a curved needle before, play with it a bit before trying it on the birdhouse; it takes a little getting used to.
We added a cotton yarn tassel to the oval house for a little extra pizzazz.
This is the first time we’ve tried putting out a woven birdhouse, so we don’t know if a family will take up residence, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed. We’ll also keep our eyes peeled to make sure that a wasp colony doesn’t move in, as was the case with one of our large watering cans a couple years back.
Mantis time
As for our second project this week – they’re back! We know you’ve been waiting anxiously for this year’s mantis hatcher idea, so here we go.
For new readers who don’t know about the mantis hatchers, they are jars, bags and other containers that we spruce up a bit and use to hatch praying mantis eggs.
Mantises are beneficial insects with voracious appetites that will keep garden pests under control without the use of pesticides. Hatching them out is also a great science project for kids.
You can order the eggs online by doing a search on “beneficial insects praying mantis.” Each egg contains a couple hundred babies. Be sure to read the hatching and releasing instructions when your eggs arrive.
Making a mantis hatcher has become a rite of spring for our column. This year’s suggestion is different from those of the past few years, in that the eggs will be outside in the garden when they hatch rather than inside.
The down side of this hatcher is that it doesn’t work as well as an inside jar if you want to see the babies; they’ll probably exit the egg and disappear into the shrubbery unnoticed unless you happen to catch them at just the right moment.
To make the outside mantis hatcher, wash and dry a 20-ounce plastic bottle (we used a Gatorade bottle), remove the top cover and cut out the bottom of the bottle.
Make a hanger by tying three lengths of string or cord around the neck, knotting the lengths together above the top opening, then tying another knot a little higher up to form a hanging loop.
Take a mantis egg and tie a length of thread around it (gently, so as not to crush it), then tie the end of the thread to the first knot in the hanger so that the egg hangs like a bell clapper inside the bottle. You can decorate the bottle if you like, but it’s not necessary.
Hang the hatcher on a bush three or four feet from the ground, preferably on a branch that won’t support a squirrel’s weight. The bottle should serve as protection from birds until the babies hatch out, but an enterprising squirrel might be able to carry the whole thing away.
Contact Jonetta Coffin at jrocoffin@aol.com.
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