Greenhouse...3.21-16 to 3-23-16

Jim got tired of buying milkweed plants. He figures this will pay for itself.

 We put it on blocks in case it does not do well here....we can move it...

 This is a Queen caterpillar....they eat faster than the plants can grow.

 This is a Monarch caterpillar....almost big enough to find a spot to pupate.

 Queen laying eggs.

 This is one of the milkweed beds...it's just starting to come back. We had to buy a bunch of plants to put in here.

 This is the second one....starting to grow.

 This was the top of my Butterfly house....we took it apart to put plants in. I started little seedlings in the beds but the butterflies laid eggs on them and the little caterpillars ate the seedlings...That is why we need a screened greenhouse.

The other half of the butterfly house.

Jim is a hard worker...does not stop unless I make him "take 5". He's putting the 2 x 4s around the top.

 He put a board for a peak.  Now he is using the sabre saw to cut the tops off the landscape timbers.

 almost done.....you can see the 3 beds he put in. A bottlebrush in the middle and milkweed in each corner.

 When he got all the vines out of this area it opened up 3 nice Needle Palms.....

This is why they are called "Needle" Palms...

 all the extra has been cut from the top....the peak installed and all the cross support.

 He cut 3/4 inch strips and screwed them to the edge.

then we put plastic down to hold the water. This way we can go away for a few days and not worry about watering the plants....if going to be longer we can put a soaker hose around the edge.

all screened and water on the tables...they dont leak yet.

 This morning I did some transplanting...Jim figured these would pay for the greenhouse. The milkweed in these pots were $5 each.

 I have more seeds that are just starting to grow. After I get them transplanted they will go in here too.
I will collect all the seeds I can and maybe we can keep up with the caterpillars.
We went to a flea market last weekend....I could not pass up this sign...love the expression on his face.  Looks great on the wooden building.




































Since we have beehives ..I am hopeing that if a bear comes up the road he will see this one and go the other way.. My neighbors saw one in the road less than a mile from here.

Our backyard...03/2016

When we got back from the Tin Can Tourist meet ..I put the catfood that was in the "feral" cat feeder out for the Racoons. I have 4 that come in regularly..I put them to work by tossing dog food in the weeds...when they get done most of them are trampled down.

 The African Blue Basil has bloomed all winter...I can always tell when there is nothing in the area...the bees are all over this.

 The Zebra Longwings have been laying on the Passion Flower vine all winter...Here are a bunch of caterpillars.

 Spotted this weird looking bee.  black and yellow like a Bumblebee but had lime green eyes.

 The Painted Buntings have been here since late October...I have at least 6 Painted like these and 5 greenies...the greens are either juvenile or female.

 When Jim cut down this tree he took the top part and put it on the stump....a Racoon is checking it out.

 The Squirrels and Birds are not the only animals that use the birdbath....even though I have a "frog" pond at the end of the deck that has water in it from the condensation dripping...2 use that and 2 use this.

They climb up and down this branch of the Bottlebrush Bush.

 My "Pink" hive had a lot of bees on the front. I've seen several very nice orientations and lots of pollen going in ...so I removed the robber screens and one of the reducers...looks like I need to remove the other one.

 This area behind the bee hives was a big tangle of vines. Jim cleared it out. He then built 3 4'x4' boxes. We put a Bottlebrush bush in the center of each and 4 milkweed plants....one in each corner....Bee food and Caterpillar food.

 One of the boxes...the Bottlebrush will be awhile before it blooms. More African Blue Basil in the the 2 pots.

This Palm tree must have blown down ...started to grow again and blew down again....it curves around the box.

This is our wetlands....there are several Needle Palms and a milkweed bed around the birdbath...they are in boxes because it has standing water after a big rain. The one with the white flowers on the top..to the right of the feeders...is a Butterfly Tree....at least that is what I was told.

Everything we plant is food for the bees and butterflies and caterpillars.We use no pesticides or herbicides so there is plenty of insects for the bats..birds..armadillos..possums..raccoons...we have a few holes in the lawn and lots of weeds...that weird skirting around the feeder pole keeps the Racoons out. I also have a squirrel feeder on a pole.

We have several stumps that will not split... Jim  cuts them almost through with the chain saw ..

He then uses the maul/splitter to quarter them  

This is his latest tool....he made this for the quarters to sit in so he can cut them up with the chainsaw.

We don't waste anything....our wood splitter died so we have to use some Yankee ingenuity.

This is what we end up with

 Still have a few more to go....

  

This is one of our original wood piles.

 This is the other...we now use them for the kindling.

 After taking down several trees this summer..(.trees that were getting hollow inside and could have fallen on our home during a big storm)...Jim built this woodshed.

This is the wood stove that is on our screen room/porch. 

We built this room for my Mother when she was here. It has sliding doors so it can be closed in. This stove  is what we heat with during the winter. If it is below 60* we have a fire. Jim even put in kitty doors so the cats could come in and enjoy the heat.   I have chili cooking on the stove....great place to do stew and spaghetti sauce...                                                                                                          

I don't think I would enjoy Florida this much if I could not have a wood stove and a reason to use it...not that I'd want to live in VT or NH again....toooo cold.  I enjoy snowy photos on others blogs.

The Robins come every year ..just about the time the Pepper Bush berries are ripe. There are huge flocks.

 I am planting all the "stalks" left over from the caterpillars. I hope to have 2 large beds of Milkweed for the Queens and Monarchs.

 There are 2 Cedar Waxwings with this group.  Don't know why but they come in with them each year.

 Love to see them....so...if there are none in your yard you know where they are.

Raccoon House? Squirrel House? Who knows. 12.17.15

When the stray cats adopted us, Jim took an old washing machine and made a cat house out of it.

It sat on the back deck under cover and made a good place for them to sleep. They have since become a little more friendly so we put kitty doors into the screen porch…now they sleep there so we decided to make a house to put in the woods for the critters.
This table leg has been sitting around for a couple of years…we don’t throw anything away…just in case.

Jim put the door on the front.

A few minor adjustments and it fits on the stand. It is aluminum so it shouldn’t rust out for awhile.

 He put a small overhang to help keep the rain out. Since it will be in the woods it shouldn’t get a lot of blowing rain unless it’s a big storm.

 Now we need to keep it out of eyesight. We had some old black paint so I gave it a coat.

 Jim added some tree limbs…this should camouflage it a bit. Had an old ramp out back so painted that too.

 This is part of our view when having coffee on the porch in the morning. You can hardly see the house.

 We have at least 4 teenage Raccoons who come in each morning…maybe one of them will move in.

 I keep binoculars by my chair to see what the bees are bringing in and will be thrilled to have a Momma Raccoon move in and raise some little ones. Jim wants a Bob Cat to move in…says if he sees one eyeing it he’ll cut the doorway bigger for it…
I hope it is back in the woods far enough so the Honey Bees don’t decide to move into it when they swarm in the spring…but if they do..well..they will be back out of the way and we have a beekeeper down the road who would love to have them.
Jim decided to get artistic.
We did away with the original ramp. Used one of the boards to block the screen, it now has eyes and used the other board to make a ramp right to the entrance…it now has a tongue.
I even put one of the old cat beds inside. 

 I’ll be looking forward to a resident of some sort.

Looked out tonight and he had changed it….guess he was afraid the bees would head for the red or it might scare off his Bobcat..
It does blend in better.

 Love my critters.