When our children reached 12 years old it was time to transplant the seedlings into the garden. Our 12 year olds were never teenagers to us – they were young (very young!) adults. Between the ages of 12 and 18 we gave our growing adults more and more responsibilities and privileges as they were ready for them. Because of the work we had done earlier, our 12 year olds were confident in most situations, whether it was a night of babysitting or a week at scout camp.
During these years between 12 and 15, we tried hard to instill into our growing adults what it meant to be a mature adult: a personal relationship with their Lord Jesus Christ, a servant’s heart, a willingness to take responsibility for their own actions, a knowledge that at times they may be asked to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others. It was a growing experience for ourselves as parents also as we tried to teach these values by example – we couldn’t teach our young people to do anything that we weren’t willing and able to do ourselves.
Our 12 to 15 year olds didn’t learn these values only by our example, though. They also had the benefit of observing others – both real people and fictional characters became role models. One of the benefits of carefully selecting the adults our children would spend time with at church, in the neighborhood and in organizations like scouts was that they spent time with other adults that were worthy role models. These were people who were living the values we were trying to instill in our young people, and we are always grateful to them for the influence they’ve had on our family’s lives! We also held up fictional heroes for our children – heroes are larger than life and inspire a child or adult to attempt great things. Reading good literature does more than make an impressive entry on a college transcript. Reading good literature enlarges a life.
Each learning experience built on the next, until by around 15 years old those growing adults were able to take on adult responsibilities in controlled circumstances. This is the age when our children got their first jobs, went on mission trips, and organized social times with their friends. Our oldest son was part of a trip to New York City and enjoyed youth group retreats; our daughter went on mission trips to Appalachia and volunteered at our local public library; our younger boys are involved in scouting activities that have them involved in camping and service projects and regularly have a group of their friends over to our house on a Saturday afternoon to play games.
Dating, which is a huge time and energy investment for most people this age, became a non-issue in our family. We encourage our young people to involve their friends in group activities and to put off one-on-one dating until at least college. They appreciate how they are able to avoid the “drama” of broken hearts and broken relationships at this age, and we are encouraged as we see them waiting until they are older to give their hearts away.
But at the same time that our young people are establishing themselves in the world, we are all too aware that they are newly-transplanted seedlings facing their first experiences in the garden. Just like a gardener keeps a careful eye on the weather, we keep a careful eye on our young people’s environments. It not only matters that they are working, but where they are working, and with whom. It not only matters that they participate in our church’s youth group, but who the leaders are and what they are teaching. It not only matters that they welcome their friends into our home, but what they are planning to do and how they are organizing the event. Just like a gardener keeps a cover handy when frost threatens, we keep ourselves available with help and advice – and celebrated each time we realize we are needed less.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Kinder-gardening: The Gentle Art of Raising Adults. part 3
Our young plant is thriving in the greenhouse. The stem is getting longer and stronger, second and third pairs of leaves are growing: the plant seems ready to be set out in the garden. But there is also important work going on at this point in both our plant’s life and our children’s lives that is hard to see – they are growing roots. I don’t know how many times I’ve taken a young seedling out to the garden to plant it only to find that even though the stems and leaves look mature, the plant has a weak root system. It just needed more time before transplanting.
Our children were doing important work between the ages of 7 and 11 – developing strong roots. They were in the process of establishing a firm base – a solid confidence that home was secure. They identified themselves as part of our family.
Also, if you have observed children, then you know that at about 7 years of age there is a turning point in the child’s life. Part of it is physical – the round chubbiness and straight baby teeth of the preschooler are replaced by growing gangly limbs and missing teeth – but a big part is also emotional. The growing child starts to separate from the parents in a way that a toddler and preschooler never would. The 7 year old is becoming an individual.
I know it sounds like I just contradicted myself – read through those last paragraphs again. The growing child starts to separate from the parents at the same time that they are establishing a firm base? There’s a line from a poem by John Donne – “Thy firmness makes my circle just”. What he’s talking about is a compass, the kind used to draw circles. John Donne was saying that his wife was the “fixed foot” – the foot that establishes the center of the circle. He was the other foot, the foot that must “obliquely run” – but no matter how far he went, his wife was the fixed center to his circle. I don’t want to get too far from my greenhouse illustration, but I think it’s important at this point to see that this is one of our roles as parents of growing adults – we are that firm, fixed foot of the compass that brings our children back to the center, that makes their circle just (or true, or perfectly circular).
So the strong roots make the separation possible and almost unnoticeable. It is the secure child that can take risks. Consequently, around 7 years old we started the serious hardening off work at the same time that we reassured them that the fixed foot of the compass would not move.
It was time to put our seedlings in a larger pot – but still under the protection of the greenhouse. In controlled circumstances we put our children into the larger world, the same way you put young seedlings out on a sunny day. They would have a sleep over at a friend’s house or go on an outing to the zoo with the neighbor family.
Between the ages of 7 and 11 we would expose our children to the world outside our home in increasingly large doses. The activities we allowed our children to participate in were carefully chosen – even at the ripe age of 11 years old when our children went on their first week long adventure without us (usually camp), we knew who they were going with, what they would be doing and who was going to be responsible for them.
As they were exposed to the outside world, our young plants were no longer in that strictly controlled environment that I wrote about in my last posting. If you leave a young plant in those conditions for too long you’ll have a weak, sickly plant. A young plant needs to be exposed to adverse conditions to help it grow stronger – but that exposure is carefully controlled.
During this hardening off time they experienced life in different families and different environments, and learned that different places have different rules. Sometimes they would encounter things that we didn’t anticipate, or things that we wish they had never seen, but those experiences helped them see the differences between our family and others. They also learned that they were expected to live by our family’s rules no matter where they were. Home was still the greenhouse – but they were getting ready for the garden.
Our children were doing important work between the ages of 7 and 11 – developing strong roots. They were in the process of establishing a firm base – a solid confidence that home was secure. They identified themselves as part of our family.
Also, if you have observed children, then you know that at about 7 years of age there is a turning point in the child’s life. Part of it is physical – the round chubbiness and straight baby teeth of the preschooler are replaced by growing gangly limbs and missing teeth – but a big part is also emotional. The growing child starts to separate from the parents in a way that a toddler and preschooler never would. The 7 year old is becoming an individual.
I know it sounds like I just contradicted myself – read through those last paragraphs again. The growing child starts to separate from the parents at the same time that they are establishing a firm base? There’s a line from a poem by John Donne – “Thy firmness makes my circle just”. What he’s talking about is a compass, the kind used to draw circles. John Donne was saying that his wife was the “fixed foot” – the foot that establishes the center of the circle. He was the other foot, the foot that must “obliquely run” – but no matter how far he went, his wife was the fixed center to his circle. I don’t want to get too far from my greenhouse illustration, but I think it’s important at this point to see that this is one of our roles as parents of growing adults – we are that firm, fixed foot of the compass that brings our children back to the center, that makes their circle just (or true, or perfectly circular).
So the strong roots make the separation possible and almost unnoticeable. It is the secure child that can take risks. Consequently, around 7 years old we started the serious hardening off work at the same time that we reassured them that the fixed foot of the compass would not move.
It was time to put our seedlings in a larger pot – but still under the protection of the greenhouse. In controlled circumstances we put our children into the larger world, the same way you put young seedlings out on a sunny day. They would have a sleep over at a friend’s house or go on an outing to the zoo with the neighbor family.
Between the ages of 7 and 11 we would expose our children to the world outside our home in increasingly large doses. The activities we allowed our children to participate in were carefully chosen – even at the ripe age of 11 years old when our children went on their first week long adventure without us (usually camp), we knew who they were going with, what they would be doing and who was going to be responsible for them.
As they were exposed to the outside world, our young plants were no longer in that strictly controlled environment that I wrote about in my last posting. If you leave a young plant in those conditions for too long you’ll have a weak, sickly plant. A young plant needs to be exposed to adverse conditions to help it grow stronger – but that exposure is carefully controlled.
During this hardening off time they experienced life in different families and different environments, and learned that different places have different rules. Sometimes they would encounter things that we didn’t anticipate, or things that we wish they had never seen, but those experiences helped them see the differences between our family and others. They also learned that they were expected to live by our family’s rules no matter where they were. Home was still the greenhouse – but they were getting ready for the garden.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Kinder-gardening: The Gentle Art of Raising Adults. part 2
In this second part of this series, I want to discuss the early, early years of raising adults, those years from birth to preschool when our young ones are newly planted in the greenhouse.
Think for a moment about how seeds are planted in a greenhouse. First there’s the pot – not too big, about the size of an empty eggshell. There isn’t much room in that pot, but it’s also very protected. Not much gets to the seed by way of outside influences - nothing but a controlled amount of sunlight and water.
Next there’s the growing medium. Gardeners quite often use something other than soil for planting seeds. That first growing medium needs to have the right nutrients and moisture retention for the young seedling, but it also works best if it’s sterile. Dirt is… well, dirt – filled with all kinds of bacteria, mold and bugs that are beneficial to the growing plant, but not the new seedling.
And last, there’s the environment. The greenhouse is a controlled environment – controlled sunlight, controlled temperature, controlled moisture. Everything about the seedling’s first home is optimal - not just for its survival, but for its ability to thrive.
Now let’s imagine our young child as that little seedling:
First, what is our child’s “pot” like? In other words, what is their world like? We found that our infants did best in a small pot – their world consisted of home, family, routine. There were occasional, random (in the infant’s mind!) trips in the car to the doctor, to the grocery store, to church, but the main world was home. Mama was always there. They slept in the same bed every day. Diapers were changed, crying calmed, bellies filled, and someone was there with a smile when they were awake.
Somewhere around 2 or 3 years old, our children started to make friends outside our family circle. The boy at church or the girl next door became friends. Their world was enlarging – just like gardeners will put a growing seedling into a larger pot – but they were still living in their controlled environment. Home was still the main focus of their lives.
During these years they learned to play with others, first under my watchful eye (after all, play dates are for moms too!), and then as they reached 4 or 5 years old, alone at a friend’s house under that trusted mom’s watchful eye. That was the beginning of the hardening off process – akin to propping the roof of the cold frame open on warm days.
It’s at this point in our children’s lives that we deviate from the norm. Most children go straight into the garden at this point – and yes, most survive and are fine. In the “Greenhouse Method”, there is no thought that “fine” is adequate for these young souls. There are many years ahead of hardening off before these seedlings are ready to thrive in the garden….and that’s the subject of my next posting.
Think for a moment about how seeds are planted in a greenhouse. First there’s the pot – not too big, about the size of an empty eggshell. There isn’t much room in that pot, but it’s also very protected. Not much gets to the seed by way of outside influences - nothing but a controlled amount of sunlight and water.
Next there’s the growing medium. Gardeners quite often use something other than soil for planting seeds. That first growing medium needs to have the right nutrients and moisture retention for the young seedling, but it also works best if it’s sterile. Dirt is… well, dirt – filled with all kinds of bacteria, mold and bugs that are beneficial to the growing plant, but not the new seedling.
And last, there’s the environment. The greenhouse is a controlled environment – controlled sunlight, controlled temperature, controlled moisture. Everything about the seedling’s first home is optimal - not just for its survival, but for its ability to thrive.
Now let’s imagine our young child as that little seedling:
First, what is our child’s “pot” like? In other words, what is their world like? We found that our infants did best in a small pot – their world consisted of home, family, routine. There were occasional, random (in the infant’s mind!) trips in the car to the doctor, to the grocery store, to church, but the main world was home. Mama was always there. They slept in the same bed every day. Diapers were changed, crying calmed, bellies filled, and someone was there with a smile when they were awake.
Somewhere around 2 or 3 years old, our children started to make friends outside our family circle. The boy at church or the girl next door became friends. Their world was enlarging – just like gardeners will put a growing seedling into a larger pot – but they were still living in their controlled environment. Home was still the main focus of their lives.
During these years they learned to play with others, first under my watchful eye (after all, play dates are for moms too!), and then as they reached 4 or 5 years old, alone at a friend’s house under that trusted mom’s watchful eye. That was the beginning of the hardening off process – akin to propping the roof of the cold frame open on warm days.
It’s at this point in our children’s lives that we deviate from the norm. Most children go straight into the garden at this point – and yes, most survive and are fine. In the “Greenhouse Method”, there is no thought that “fine” is adequate for these young souls. There are many years ahead of hardening off before these seedlings are ready to thrive in the garden….and that’s the subject of my next posting.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Kinder-gardening: The Gentle Art of Raising Adults
Parenting is an adventure, it’s a quest, it’s a great undertaking - and most of us face those first few days scared out of our wits. Very few of us feel well prepared and equipped when we become parents for the first time! My dear husband remembers that first day home from the hospital with our oldest – “They just let us take him home. What were they thinking?”
But parenting is also a calling – whether our children come to us through birth, adoption or less desirable circumstances (like friends of mine who are raising their grandchildren), we are called by God to this task. Answering the call to the best of our ability is our duty – to neglect it is unthinkable.
In the last 25 years, I’ve developed a theory of child rearing. I call it “The Green House Method of Raising Adults”. What gives me the confidence to share it with you now is that space of 25 years – I’ve had time to not only develop the method, but to watch it play out in four young lives and to see the results as we reach the end of our child rearing years. The whole idea is that raising adults is much like raising plants in a garden – thus the title of this blog entry.
But before we go on, I have to clarify what I mean by “raising adults.” One thing that my husband and I have had foremost in our thoughts for the last 25 years is that when you discuss raising something, you talk about the end product. We raise lettuce, or tomatoes. When we plant seeds we speak of planting radishes, not little round pebbles. We’ve always had the end results of our labors in mind – not old children, but responsible, mature adults.
The “Green House Method” takes what I’ve observed and practiced in gardening and applies it to children. When you raise tender plants, like tomatoes, from seed, the last thing you want to do is to place those seeds directly into the garden. You plant them inside, nurture the little plants, slowly “harden them off” so they can survive in the larger garden, and then finally transplant them in the garden. But even after all that, you don’t abandon them – you cover them if frost threatens, you water them on dry days, you remove invasive weeds, and you carefully watch and celebrate their progress.
When you raise tender human souls, you go through the same process. My next three blog entries will elaborate on the process – I hope you will enjoy reading through the entire series!
But parenting is also a calling – whether our children come to us through birth, adoption or less desirable circumstances (like friends of mine who are raising their grandchildren), we are called by God to this task. Answering the call to the best of our ability is our duty – to neglect it is unthinkable.
In the last 25 years, I’ve developed a theory of child rearing. I call it “The Green House Method of Raising Adults”. What gives me the confidence to share it with you now is that space of 25 years – I’ve had time to not only develop the method, but to watch it play out in four young lives and to see the results as we reach the end of our child rearing years. The whole idea is that raising adults is much like raising plants in a garden – thus the title of this blog entry.
But before we go on, I have to clarify what I mean by “raising adults.” One thing that my husband and I have had foremost in our thoughts for the last 25 years is that when you discuss raising something, you talk about the end product. We raise lettuce, or tomatoes. When we plant seeds we speak of planting radishes, not little round pebbles. We’ve always had the end results of our labors in mind – not old children, but responsible, mature adults.
The “Green House Method” takes what I’ve observed and practiced in gardening and applies it to children. When you raise tender plants, like tomatoes, from seed, the last thing you want to do is to place those seeds directly into the garden. You plant them inside, nurture the little plants, slowly “harden them off” so they can survive in the larger garden, and then finally transplant them in the garden. But even after all that, you don’t abandon them – you cover them if frost threatens, you water them on dry days, you remove invasive weeds, and you carefully watch and celebrate their progress.
When you raise tender human souls, you go through the same process. My next three blog entries will elaborate on the process – I hope you will enjoy reading through the entire series!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
George Tiller's death
After a long absence (sometimes school just seems to get in the way….) I was going to post today about homeschooling, but then I heard about George Tiller’s death, and school will just have to wait.
For those of us who are “pro-life” George Tiller has represented the worst of the other side for years. Even though he has been investigated for illegalities with varying rates of success (depending on your point of view), his legal activities alone are enough to have made this man into the figurehead of the abortion movement that he is. I won’t go into his activities – there will be enough of that in the media over the next several days to keep everyone entertained.
What I’d like to address is my own role in what Tiller represented – yes, I said my own role. Not that I have ever actively supported abortion – even in my “liberal” days I was aghast at the prospect of abortion, that I or anyone I knew would even consider such an alternative. No, my own role has been the same one we all share – as a citizen of the United States and a human being.
By being a US citizen, I share in the responsibility of the legalization and acceptance of abortion. I am a citizen of a democracy, and even though I may disagree with what our government does, I share in the responsibility of its actions. Because I enjoy the freedoms my government gives me, I have to allow others like freedoms. I have to allow others to have their opinions that abortion, even late term abortion is acceptable. I have to allow others to practice what is legal to practice in our country. That doesn’t mean that I like it, or that I want it to continue. That doesn’t mean that I won’t work to change the law. It doesn’t mean that I won’t pray and work to change people’s minds about what is acceptable. But it does mean that I still share in the responsibility of this horrendous practice in our country.
As a human being I share in the tragedy of abortion – just as I share in the tragedy of all sin. As a human being, each death of each small baby affects me. As a human being, the death of George Tiller affects me. Human life is sacred – we are made in God’s image. As that image is clouded and marred by sin, we all share in the tragedy and we all suffer.
We do all share in George Tiller’s death – as conservatives we will share in the erosion of our freedoms that the backlash to his murder will cause; as Christians we will share in the blame of the actions of one man (whether religion will be shown to be the reason for his actions or not); and as citizens we will share in the blow to the pro-life movement this murder will cause. But most of all, we should share in the grief that one more unrepentant human being has died…..such a tragedy.
For those of us who are “pro-life” George Tiller has represented the worst of the other side for years. Even though he has been investigated for illegalities with varying rates of success (depending on your point of view), his legal activities alone are enough to have made this man into the figurehead of the abortion movement that he is. I won’t go into his activities – there will be enough of that in the media over the next several days to keep everyone entertained.
What I’d like to address is my own role in what Tiller represented – yes, I said my own role. Not that I have ever actively supported abortion – even in my “liberal” days I was aghast at the prospect of abortion, that I or anyone I knew would even consider such an alternative. No, my own role has been the same one we all share – as a citizen of the United States and a human being.
By being a US citizen, I share in the responsibility of the legalization and acceptance of abortion. I am a citizen of a democracy, and even though I may disagree with what our government does, I share in the responsibility of its actions. Because I enjoy the freedoms my government gives me, I have to allow others like freedoms. I have to allow others to have their opinions that abortion, even late term abortion is acceptable. I have to allow others to practice what is legal to practice in our country. That doesn’t mean that I like it, or that I want it to continue. That doesn’t mean that I won’t work to change the law. It doesn’t mean that I won’t pray and work to change people’s minds about what is acceptable. But it does mean that I still share in the responsibility of this horrendous practice in our country.
As a human being I share in the tragedy of abortion – just as I share in the tragedy of all sin. As a human being, each death of each small baby affects me. As a human being, the death of George Tiller affects me. Human life is sacred – we are made in God’s image. As that image is clouded and marred by sin, we all share in the tragedy and we all suffer.
We do all share in George Tiller’s death – as conservatives we will share in the erosion of our freedoms that the backlash to his murder will cause; as Christians we will share in the blame of the actions of one man (whether religion will be shown to be the reason for his actions or not); and as citizens we will share in the blow to the pro-life movement this murder will cause. But most of all, we should share in the grief that one more unrepentant human being has died…..such a tragedy.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
The Slow Good-bye
“Alzheimer’s Disease” is a term I’ve grown to dislike. What bothers me most about it is that word “disease”. That implies that this is an unnatural state, caused by outside influences, and can be cured by medical intervention. Is that true? I don’t know.
My mother has Alzheimer’s. In the last 10 years we’ve slowly been saying good-bye to her, as we see her slipping away a little more each time we visit her. Grief has become so much a part of my life that I almost don’t notice it anymore. Grieving as I remember what she was like when I was a young girl. Grieving as I remember her joy in her grandchildren. Grieving for the loss all of the conversations that we can no longer have. Grieving because we live 600 miles away and can’t visit her every day. Or week. Or month. Grieving because I know that one time very soon we’ll visit her and she won’t know who we are. And grieving because I may never be able to visit her again. This is the grief that has been part of my life for the last several years.
In the last few months she’s progressed (isn’t that a funny way of saying it?) to the point where she can no longer be taken care of at home and has been admitted to a nursing care facility. Saying good-bye is no longer one of the privileges we have: in some ways she’s already gone.
But then she isn’t. When we visited her last week she knew who we were, even though she couldn’t place names and faces together. She laughed with us when we told a story of what the cat did. She exclaimed at how tall her grandsons have gotten. She wasn’t ready to say good-bye when it was time for us to leave. She is still there, inside that increasingly aging body, inside the mind that can’t form words to communicate.
I know people worry about me, how I’m handling the fact that my mother is dying such a slow death. Wondering how I’m reacting to the fact that she’s dying the same way her mother did, and possibly the same way I will die. But I try to tell them I’m okay. I believe in the providence of God. What is happening to my mother is within His grasp. He is in control of it, and He is the one who brings good of every situation. Even this one. I trust Him with the past, present and future. All of it. No exceptions.
And I pray for grace to thank God for even this. And He gives that grace every day.
My mother has Alzheimer’s. In the last 10 years we’ve slowly been saying good-bye to her, as we see her slipping away a little more each time we visit her. Grief has become so much a part of my life that I almost don’t notice it anymore. Grieving as I remember what she was like when I was a young girl. Grieving as I remember her joy in her grandchildren. Grieving for the loss all of the conversations that we can no longer have. Grieving because we live 600 miles away and can’t visit her every day. Or week. Or month. Grieving because I know that one time very soon we’ll visit her and she won’t know who we are. And grieving because I may never be able to visit her again. This is the grief that has been part of my life for the last several years.
In the last few months she’s progressed (isn’t that a funny way of saying it?) to the point where she can no longer be taken care of at home and has been admitted to a nursing care facility. Saying good-bye is no longer one of the privileges we have: in some ways she’s already gone.
But then she isn’t. When we visited her last week she knew who we were, even though she couldn’t place names and faces together. She laughed with us when we told a story of what the cat did. She exclaimed at how tall her grandsons have gotten. She wasn’t ready to say good-bye when it was time for us to leave. She is still there, inside that increasingly aging body, inside the mind that can’t form words to communicate.
I know people worry about me, how I’m handling the fact that my mother is dying such a slow death. Wondering how I’m reacting to the fact that she’s dying the same way her mother did, and possibly the same way I will die. But I try to tell them I’m okay. I believe in the providence of God. What is happening to my mother is within His grasp. He is in control of it, and He is the one who brings good of every situation. Even this one. I trust Him with the past, present and future. All of it. No exceptions.
And I pray for grace to thank God for even this. And He gives that grace every day.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Birdwatching 101
I love birdwatching. I can't remember when it may have started - I do remember trying to identify birds by their songs when I was quite young...probably 8 or 9 years old. I've been trying to improve my skills little by little ever since then, which has been more than 40 years. So why did I title this entry Birdwatching 101? Because I always feel like I have so much to learn! I could spend so much more time at this than I do, and I could learn so much more....
The current birding project that is under construction is a bird garden. The former owners of our house had an above ground pool, which meant we inherited a lovely round circle in our yard, right next to the patio. We've hauled in top soil, landscaping timber and mulch to create a not-so-level area, and expanded the circle in a couple directions. The goal is to make a mini-habitat for the birds, with various levels of shrubs, plenty of cover and natural food, a bird bath, and several different feeding stations. We have a natural windbreak of hybrid willows on the north side of this area, and the birds already love those trees for cover and for nesting.
This is the second winter for the garden, and the birds are certainly enjoying it. The shrubs that have been planted aren't large enough to provide shelter yet, so the birds make good use of an existing Barberry bush and our recycled Christmas tree. We have three different feeding stations and water available, so we are getting visitors. Mostly house sparrows, but I've also seen a couple other varieties of sparrows, juncos, chickadees, cardinals, mourning doves, northern flickers, and once or twice a Merlin - my husband likes to say that we feed all kinds of birds here!
The fun part is watching our new kitten. Maggie-cat has a front row seat on all the action - behind the glass of the patio door. She spends hours stalking the sparrows, crouching behind the door frame, and watching, watching, watching....and of course wishing the glass was non-existent!
And of course, since it's January, the planning for the spring has begun. I think this spring we'll plant some annual vines for color and height while we wait for the holly and weigela to grow - a teepee of scarlet runner beans and thunbergia would make a nice focal point next to the birdbath....
The current birding project that is under construction is a bird garden. The former owners of our house had an above ground pool, which meant we inherited a lovely round circle in our yard, right next to the patio. We've hauled in top soil, landscaping timber and mulch to create a not-so-level area, and expanded the circle in a couple directions. The goal is to make a mini-habitat for the birds, with various levels of shrubs, plenty of cover and natural food, a bird bath, and several different feeding stations. We have a natural windbreak of hybrid willows on the north side of this area, and the birds already love those trees for cover and for nesting.
This is the second winter for the garden, and the birds are certainly enjoying it. The shrubs that have been planted aren't large enough to provide shelter yet, so the birds make good use of an existing Barberry bush and our recycled Christmas tree. We have three different feeding stations and water available, so we are getting visitors. Mostly house sparrows, but I've also seen a couple other varieties of sparrows, juncos, chickadees, cardinals, mourning doves, northern flickers, and once or twice a Merlin - my husband likes to say that we feed all kinds of birds here!
The fun part is watching our new kitten. Maggie-cat has a front row seat on all the action - behind the glass of the patio door. She spends hours stalking the sparrows, crouching behind the door frame, and watching, watching, watching....and of course wishing the glass was non-existent!
And of course, since it's January, the planning for the spring has begun. I think this spring we'll plant some annual vines for color and height while we wait for the holly and weigela to grow - a teepee of scarlet runner beans and thunbergia would make a nice focal point next to the birdbath....
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