Baby Bird Update #1: A Half-Empty Nest

Well, I went out yesterday morning to check on our little baby birds and I think for a moment my heart stopped!  This is what I saw:

Only one bird! 

What could have happened to the other one?  The temperature had dropped down into the 50’s overnight.  Had it been too cold for the little bird?  Did something snatch it from it’s hiding place in the tree branches?  I had no way of knowing.

I left to do something else and came back a few minutes later.  This time I noticed a lot of chirping around the tree and the chirping seemed to be coming from all directions!  The parent birds had definitely noticed that their baby was gone!  I could see the Daddy bird on a nearby branch chirping his little heart out.  He looked right at me and it was almost like he was begging me to help.  I thought I heard some chirping coming from the ground so I looked down:

Found!  What a relief!

I inspected the nest again, and it was at a precarious angle.  Obviously the little baby bird had slipped out.  I’m really not an animal person.  I didn’t want to touch the bird.  So I ran for Papa the Farmer.  He gently picked the baby bird up.  As soon as Papa the Farmer’s hands came near the bird, his little beak opened wide for a worm.  Poor, hungry little guy (or girl?)!  Too bad I didn’t get a picture of that!

So Papa the Farmer returned Baby Birdie to his nest.  We also tried to straighten the nest so the birdies won’t fall out again.  All this time, the Daddy Bird stood on his perch watching.  He stopped chirping… in fact all the birds stopped chirping…  and seemed quite thankful to have his baby back!

What happened to the nest to put it as such a dangerous angle?  I can’t say for sure, but the other day Papa the Farmer was cutting the grass.  He rode his tractor close to the tree, bumped against some of the branches and that’s when one of the babies fell out the first time.  Perhaps the nest never got straightened out enough to be safe and the winds from the night before shook the branches, moving the nest.  Of course, I’m just guessing.  We’ll never really know what happened to the nest.  We just know that the baby birds are back together now, safe and sound.

Don’t forget to enter our Baby Bird Giveaway!  To find the details, click here.

Baby Bird Giveaway!

Gotcha!  You thought I was going to give away the adorable baby birds I found last night, didn’t you?  

Well, I’m not.  They’re too sweet.  And anyway, I don’t think their mama would let me give them away any more than I would let Papa the Farmer giveaway one of the Little Farmhands!

But an event as exciting as finding our very own nest of baby birds should not be without celebration!  Debra from NotebookingPages.com has agreed to celebrate with me!

Debra has notebooking pages for all kinds of subjects…  Bible, History, Geography, Language Arts… but my favorite are her Science & Nature Study pages!  And she has graciously offered to to celebrate our baby birds by giving one of our readers a free copy of her North American Birds Notebooking Pages ebook!

This ebook is 680 pages long and has pages for 97 of North America’s most popular birds (including all 50 state birds)!  At only $8.95 it’s definitely a good deal.  I love the fact that all Debra’s pages come in multiple styles of printing lines… So your older children can fill in advanced information:

Your younger children can write on the primary printing lines:

 

and your littlest preschoolers can color the coloring pages in!

 

So, how does the Giveaway work? 

Well… I will be updating the blog every few days about our little birds’ progress.  I’ll also be posting interesting bird trivia and whatever other bird-related things I happen to think of.  When the birds leave their nest and it is obvious to us, “Ok, yeah, they’re gone now.”  I will close the Giveaway and randomly select one winner from all the entries.

That’s right… I have no idea when this giveaway will close.  How long does it take a baby bird to grow up, anyway?  2 weeks?  A month?  3 months?  I really have no idea…  I guess we’ll find out!

You can enter the giveaway in any of the following ways:

First Mandatory Entry:  You must, must, must go to NotebookingPages.com and browse their products.  Then come back here and tell me which ebook topic was your favorite!

Additional Entires:  AFTER you have picked a favorite ebook, you can earn additional entries by doing any of the following:  (If you already follow us in one of these ways, just leave a comment on this post telling me so!  It still counts!)

• “Like” NotebookingPages.com on Facebook
  
• “Like” Good Old Days Farm on Facebook
  
• Follow Us Using Google Friend Connect (link in right sidebar)
  
• Follow Good Old Days Farm on Twitter
  
• “Tweet” about our baby birds on Twitter and leave a comment here telling me about it!  (You may do this up to once a day or once a post… if I do two posts related to our baby birds in the same day)
  
• Share about our baby birds on Facebook and leave a comment here with the link! (Again, you may do this up to once a day, or once a post if I do two posts related to our baby birds on the same day)
  
• Blog about our baby birds (2 entries – leave two separate comments telling me you did this!)
• Email somebody about our baby birds, copy the email to GoodOldDaysFarm (at) gmail (dot) com and then come back here and leave a comment telling me you did this!
  
• As you follow the progress of our baby birds, leave a comment on any post on this blog related to these two baby birds.  You do not need to come back here and tell me about it.  When it is time to select a winner, I will account for all the comments before selecting to somebody.

But, what if I really like the Bird Notebooking Pages and I don’t want to wait until the baby birds leave their nest???

Well then, my friend, you can always purchase the ebook for only $8.95 right here.

I Hope You Enjoy Bird Watching With Me! 

Babies!!!

I was doing my evening rounds last night, cleaning things up from the day when I noticed that the Little Farmhands had taken my stepstool outside and left it near a tree.  “What on earth were those two doing with my stepstool outside?” I wondered to myself.

So I went over to put it away and something in the tree caught my eye.  What could it be?

 

So I looked closer….

 

Babies!

Aren’t they amazing? 

So perfectly formed… Two whole, complete little birds, right there!

And then I remembered… Yesterday Papa the Farmer told me that he and the Little Farmhands had found a baby bird on the ground.  (Now how did I ever manage to forget such exciting news?)  It had fallen out of its nest.  Try as they might, they couldn’t get it back into the nest without touching it, so they did have to touch it.  Some people say that if you touch a baby bird the mother will smell human scent and will reject the baby and not feed it.  Others say that it’s perfectly fine to touch a baby bird.  Papa the Farmer had explained both sides of the controversy to the Little Farmhands and I guess they decided to drag the stool outside to check on the birds by themselves!  It seems like this mother came back because they still seem to be doing alright.  The little one on the right was breathing well.  It was harder to tell with the bird on the left.  Were those little movements coming from the bird itself, or was the little bird’s dead body just being shaken by the movement of its sibling-bird? 

After writing that last paragraph, I decided to run outside and take one last peek to make sure that the baby bird on the left really is still alive before announcing to you all that we have two baby birds.  I went over to the tree and as I started to peek into the branches, I scared the mother!  So, she’s there taking care of her little ones!  She hasn’t rejected her babies!  Happy News!

I don’t want to disturb the babies more than I already have, but I will continue to watch from a distance over the next few weeks and when I see the mother leave I will sneak over and take more pictures for you to see!  So check back on our new little friends over the next few days and we can all watch them grow together!

$25,000 Idea! FarmLady Style

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been working on the Homemaker’s Challenge at JoyfulMothering.net.  The challenge is based on the book “31 Days to Clean:  Having a Martha House the Mary Way” by Sarah Mae… and let me tell you, the book is fantastic!  (To read my review, click here.)

 

Each day there are two challenges to complete.  The “Martha” challenge is a task to organize or clean something in your home.  The “Mary” challenge is something that reaches your heart. 

One of the assignments this week was about the $25,000 idea…

The story goes that a young consultant by the name of Ivy Lee told Steele Company CEO Charles Schwab, “I have a method that can teach your executives to manage their time so well, that your company will become 50% more effective.”  Lee was so confident in his method that he didn’t charge a set price for the consultation.  Instead he said, “Try it out for as long as you like and then send me a check for whatever you think it’s worth.”  Schwab was intrigued and agreed to try it. 

The method was simple.  Lee asked Schwab to write down the 6 most important things he had to do the next day and then number them in order of importance.  The next day, Schwab simply had to work on the item with #1 beside it.  If he could get to the next item, fine.  If not, fine.  Each night he was to rewrite his list of 6 tasks, removing anything he had completed from the list and adding something else in its place. 

Simple.  Well, two weeks later Schwab sent Lee a check for $25,000, along with a note of thanks saying this was the most profitable business lesson he had ever learned.  The company went on to make millions…

One of the “Mary” Challenges this week was to apply this lesson to our homes and to learn to manage our time more efficiently by working on our most important 6 priorities each day. 

A lady on a farm has an unusual Top-6 List… I thought it would be fun to post mine! 

1.  Find out from the neighbor how to get those two nasty snakes out from under the shed.

(That hole is their front door.  Sorry folks, I am not going to stick around to get a picture of the actual snakes… Ick!)

2.  Inspect Beehives

3.  Get outgrown clothes organized into Bins and Packed Away

4.  Finish Sewing Dress in Preparation for Surprise Pattern Giveaway on the Blog

(Oops!  Did I just say that out loud?!)

 

(Hey, FamGirl!  Where did your other leg go?  It was there a minute ago!)

5. Collect Urine in a jar and have somebody sprinkle it down near where where those two skunks live.

(Dont’ judge me!  I heard that’s a natural way to get rid of skunks and so far nothing else has worked!)

6. Write Menu Plans for Next Month so that I can place a bulk order and start posting vegan, gluten free menus again!

So, what’s on YOUR top-6 List?  Is your list similar to mine or does my list make you laugh by how unusual some of the “to-do’s” are?

Baby Meets Hand Cream

If you follow us on Facebook, you know that last week I was experimenting with making homemade hand creams and body lotions.  (If you don’t follow us on Facebook, click here to “like” us!)

I think the creams turned out pretty well… and the littlest farmhand thought so too.  He “sampled” some while I had my back turned.  Unfortunately, he chose to put it in his hair….  (Why do babies always do that… put something messy in the one spot that will be the hardest to clean?!)… but I’ve read that oil is an excellent conditioner so I let him rub it in and then we styled it a little bit….

  

I think he bears a striking resemblance to Einstein, don’t you?

Will Work For Food

Papa the Farmer has a friend who reminds me of Passepartout from “Around the World in 80 Days” (by Jules Verne – for all you homeschoolers out there!)  Passepartout was the French Butler who accompanied his master around the world.  He was loyal, but he was always getting himself into scrapes and basically provided the antagonism in the story.

Well, our Passepartout grew up in the Brazilian countryside.  Now he lives in Dallas and he misses being in the country so once in a while he asks if he can come out to our place and do some work.  (Um, let me think about that OK!  I can use all the farming help I can get!)

Even though I call him Passepartout (because he does manage to get himself into some scrapes!), this man’s agricultural knowledge and skill are amazing!  He can shove a dead stick into the ground and a week later it will be practically bearing fruit.  (This is a welcome relief for Papa the Farmer, who happens to be married to someone who can touch a fruit-bearing tree and a week later it will be a dead stick!)  This week Passpartout came over with his friend and they worked magic in my herb garden: 

(Passepartout, Little Farmhand and the Friendly Helper planting herbs)

They did an amazing job getting all the weeds out and turning over the soil.  They put black plastic down around the edge so that no weeds and grass will get in to the garden and held it down with bricks.  

They used the hoe to measure out sections and then dug little paths for me to walk down.  Then they planted my herbs.  Actually, I was disappointed that they planted them… That’s the only part of gardening that I actually like!  But, if they are going to do all that work for me, I can’t deprive them of the pleasure of planting!

I appreciate Passepartout’s help!  Each time he comes I try to give him something in exchange for his work.  Sometimes it’s handmade soap, sometimes it’s food… This time I made him and his friendly helper lunch-to-go:

(The Menu:  Collard Green Salad over French Dressing, Broccoli Sprouts, Celery Sticks, Garlic Noodles, Almonds with Vegan Lemon Mousse for dessert!  Our EasyLunchBox containers are so handy for making complete meals to give away!  If you’re looking for a new lunch box, be sure to check these out!)

So, to Passepartout and his Friendly Helper…. Thank you!  You did a great job.  The herb garden is way better than if I had done it.  (Truly!!!)  And please bring those lunch containers back soon…

31 Days to Clean ebook Review

The day that Papa the then-software engineer came home and said, “You know what I really want to do with my life?” was a defining moment in our lives.  Now it has been almost a year that we have been pursing his dream and I can say with certainty that this has been a good change in many ways.

Well, do you know what I really want to do with my life?  (hint:  It’s not farming!)  I want to spend more time playing with my children… enjoying them while they are still little.  But sometimes I feel like there is just so much to do that I can’t take the time to stop and play. 

Enter Sarah Mae.  She has written a new ebook called “31 Days to Clean.”  Now between you and I, I’m pretty sure I could keep this house clean if I didn’t have children running around behind me messing it up.  There are 3 of them and only 1 of me and any one of them has infinitely more energy than I’ve got.  Sometimes I just feel so overwhelmed and exhausted.  So honestly, when I saw this book I thought to myself, “Hmmm… Another ebook about cleaning.”  But there’s a great challenge going on over at JoyfulMothering.net and I always clean better when I know that there are other people “out there” cleaning with me.  So I signed up. 

Wow.  Wow.  Wow.  This book is just what I need!  It’s all about finding a balance between having a clean and tidy “Martha”-type house, while still having a “Mary”-type attitude.  It recognizes just how very exhausted we mommies can be sometimes and it covers topics that really relate to a mother’s daily life.  Each day’s entry is short and to the point and is followed by two challenges:  the “Mary” challenge is something to bless your heart and the “Martha” challenge is a specific cleaning task.

Sarah Mae gave me permission to let you peek at the table of contents, so you can see for yourself what you think!

Now maybe you’re never overwhelmed and exhausted, maybe you love to clean and you have a cleaning schedule all worked out (that you actually stick to!).  Perhaps you never get overwhelmed with laundry, your house is perfectly decluttered and organized and you’ve found a way to balance it all  But for the rest of us, I strongly recommend heading over to 31DaysToClean.com and purchasing your pdf copy of this ebook (or buy it for Kindle at Amazon) for only $4.99.  Then be sure to head on over to JoyfulMothering.net to join in the challenge!