November 2019

November 19, 2019

You Take Care of What You Love

Kids raised with the love of the outdoors, just good old fashioned playing, exploring, making mud pies and catching bugs, grow into adults who appreciate and respect nature, practice conservation and understand the responsibility to be stewards of their environment.

Most stories in the media present gloom and doom environmental news and we are left with overwhelming feelings of dismay and disconnect. A recently
published study affiliated with the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology detailed the severe decline in songbird numbers since 1970. The report is important to understand, but it is also important to know what meaningful action each of us bird lovers can take to do our part. Kids are inundated with these dire messages yet spend more time in front of a screen than getting outdoors to skip stones, refill a feeder, look for raccoon tracks in a mud puddle or listen for late night owl hoots.

I saved an article from 2004, an op-ed in Newsweek, written by Environmental Educator, Katie Johnson Slivovsky, entitled ‘Save the Elephants: Don’t Buy Ivory Soap’ highlighting how most environmental messages miss the mark, overwhelming, rather than inspiring our next generation of educated
environmental stewards.

Simply put – you take care of what you love.

Think back at how you developed your love of taking care of your back yard flock of wild songbirds. How enjoyable to watch the feeder activity, observe the personalities of the bullying jays, the fun in seeing the woodpecker clean out all the peanuts and the tenacity of the squirrel who just doesn’t give up!
This season, share, encourage and renew your love for nature. Grab the kids in your life, get outdoors, walk, play, observe, and cherish all of it!

Relevant Links:
Decline of the North American Avifauna
Save the elephants: Don’t by Ivory Soap

Terra Depot Open House for the Holiday Season & Extended Shopping Hours

Please join us for our weekend open house November 22-24. That’s Friday and Saturday – 9am to 7pm and Sunday – 12pm to 6pm.

We will have refreshments and drawings for gift certificates throughout the weekend. Our little shop is loaded with thoughtful gifts for the nature lover in your life. Naturally fragrant Thymes Candles, lovely lathering Goats Milk Soap, cheerful seasonal kitchen towels, our very own red raspberry jams
already gift wrapped for the perfect hostess gift!

Pick out a new bird feeder, brass rain gauge, owl house, garden statuary – really cool and one of a kind gifts. Terra Depot has gift certificates to make your gift giving even easier.

The weekend after Thanksgiving – November 29 – Dec 1 – continues our extended shopping hours and we welcome you to the historic Depot to find the
perfect unique gift for friends and family. I wish there was a better name for Black Friday – maybe starting with Grateful Friday, Shop Small Saturday and Joyful Sunday. Whatever you call it, we will be delighted to see you.

Just Do It – Buy Suet

Feeding suet provides the high energy and easy to digest fat needed to help wintering birds stay healthy.

Seed, peanut pieces, corn and other goodies are added to the suet to attract woodpeckers, jays, chickadees, and nuthatches. Cardinals, wrens and some warblers will also occasionally visit suet feeders.

Suet cages, or feeders, come is several styles, and can be easily filled and hung near your seed feeders. If starlings are a problem, a suet feeder with a
bottom screen only accessible to “clingers” like chickadees, nuthatches and woodpeckers can be used. Some feeders have a tail prop, some hold large
cakes or several small blocks of suet.

Terra Depot has a large supply of suet, seed cakes and feeders. Our suet is properly processed and stabilized for safe, year round feeding. Now is a perfect time start suet feeding, as its getting colder.

Squirrels – You either love ‘em or don’t

Every day customers come in and tell their tales of squirrels wreaking havoc at their feeders. No question, minimizing seed waste and possible damage to your beautiful feeder by these destructive little fur balls is the main objective.

Here are a few tricks of the trade.

· Feeder location – place feeders at least 8 feet away from trees and bushes and as high as possible to make squirrel jumping a little more challenging. Use well anchored and sturdy feeder poles to help fend off attacks.

·Squirrel proof feeders, come in many shapes and sizes, all restrict access to the feed supply due to the weight of the squirrel or screening. We carry the quality Squirrel Buster feeders from Brome. For those wanting a little more recreation, try the Droll Yankees Squirrel Flipper, it’s a hoot!

·Feed safflower seed, better yet, give ‘em a dose of hot pepper!. Safflower is bitter – birds don’t mind but squirrels, starlings and other pesky birds don’t seem to like safflower seed very much. Terra Depot seed blends have added safflower or it can be fed by itself. Try seed and suet blends loaded with hot pepper – we carry hot pepper suet, log jammers, seed cylinders, 5 and 20lb seed blends, birds don’t mind but the hot pepper is a real deterrent for the squirrels.

· Squirrel Baffles – plan your counter attack from above or below feeder invasions! We have a selection of under feeder metal pole baffles or over the top feeder domes to prevent the squirrels from stormin’ the castle!

· Throw the towel in. Some experts recommend placing a ground feeder, to lure squirrels away from the main bird feeding station. Terra Depot has a special Critter Mix, loaded with corn, peanuts and sunflower that will distract the most annoying intruder!

QUICK TIP!
Birds need fresh water in the wintertime! Check out de-icers to keep your bird bath functional year-round and maintain flock health.