Today is mostly cloudy and cool. Looks like it rained a bit last night; there are small puddles in a few places.
I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 2/26/26 -- I put out a fresh cake of peanut suet.
EDIT 2/26/26 -- I cut and labeled 4 more water jugs. These will hold native grasses:
little bluestem,
side-oats grama,
northern sea oats, and
switchgrass. It will be interesting to see how they do. Potted grasses tend to survive well but are more expensive. Broadcast seeding on the ground has variable results. So if I can find more and better ways to pot my own from seed, that's an improvement.
Native grasses attract wildlife with food, shelter, and other resources. Many birds devour the seeds. Some butterflies, especially skippers, and other insects use
native grasses as host plants. My prairie garden swarms with skippers and other butterflies in summer and into fall.
EDIT 2/26/26 -- I filled, sowed, and taped the milk jugs. This potting soil was wet enough that it didn't need watering. I thought I had some topsoil left, but I'm out of that; I'll need to restock in March. I put the four new jugs in the parking lot and tied them together.
While I was out there, a honeybee buzzed around, wishing to pollinate me, perhaps attracted to my bright coat. I had to explain that I was not a flower.
I've seen more sparrows and two male cardinals.
EDIT 2/26/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
EDIT 2/26/26 -- I set up a simple worm bin in the log garden's leaf enclosure. I used an old 5-gallon bucket with a cracked bottom and a hole in one side. This will allow worms to go in and out as they please. I put some leaves inside to start, and packed more leaves around the bucket. Now I have somewhere that I can drop food scraps for the worms to eat, and cover with a handful of leaves. This gives me a place that will likely have plenty of worms when I want them -- such as for dropping into large planters -- and also where I can take a handful of very bioactive material to jump-start pots filled with potting mix with little or no bioactivity. When the bucket gets full, I can dump out the worm castings to use for fertilizing plants, sort out some worms, restart the bucket with more leaf litter, and drop in the worms.
There are, of course, commercially made worm bins that are much fancier and allow access to more outputs. However, these are expensive. Also they trap the worms inside, which is not great for an outdoor setup. This is free and better suited to its situation.
EDIT 2/26/26 -- I picked up the empty trough from last year's mini-water garden and moved it to the log garden, where I surrounded it with extra logs. I have taken pictures of the worm bin and the water garden.
EDIT 2/26/26 -- I did more work around the patio.
I heard a woodpecker drumming but didn't see it. I have seen a fox squirrel up a tree.
I am done for the night.
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ysabetwordsmith
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