My history as a crafter began with birdhouses… I remember feeling so happy to become a ‘wrenter’ when my first little bird moved in.  I loved working with textured old wood scraps & metal odds & ends to stick on them.  I found some interesting fragments of history working the flower beds near our barns & outbuildings.

I began to appreciate them year-round – confirming identification with my little paperback reference guide.  I haven’t been able to attract anything but sparrows in my little Belton shop yard, but winter is a good time to start.  Food is so scarce in the snow; they can spot feeders & hopefully come back to check in at other times.   I haven’t found a good solar birdbath heater & I don’t have an outdoor outlet here to run an extension cord… but if you can, they will use your birdbath in the winter.  I’ve heard a couple of floating tennis balls will keep the water from freezing because of movement.   Still to be tested. 

I hope to continue making a few birdhouses each year for the shop.  I still think they have a place in cozy home décor.   I build them for song-bird specs with a clean-out on the side.  Personally, I like them better after they have been outside a few years.   They weather and won’t last forever in the elements, but they age gracefully if you rotate them from the yard to inside at the right time.  We are so high-tech these days, I think this is one thing we can do to ‘ground’ us & help us remember that we depend on this earth- wildlife is free but worthy of our attention.                                                Happy birding!