DIY Life

Attracting birds to your yard can bring so much enjoyment. They are so much fun to watch, and my son loves naming the different types he sees at our birdfeeder -- goldfinch, robin, sparrow, blue jay....

We've shown you how to build a bird house with scrap wood; now I'll share some ideas on how to build a bird bath with materials you may have around the house.

You could use some chicken wire and cement for the bath part, some metal for the support post, and rocks for the edges, suggests Las Pilitas. Or how about an old cake pan, an old garbage can lid, or even a beat-up hubcap? If those are too crazy for you, a soft, flat rock or even a terra cotta pot's saucer will make an effective birdbath.

Last week we kept busy with low-key sick day activities, and thankfully, we've recovered and are itching to get outside.

My boys are curious, and with that comes endless questioning about the world around them. If your usual walking path is losing its luster, and you're getting tired of questions about the same rotten log, it might be time to mix it up a little. I've gathered together some crafts that celebrate nature and use materials found in their environment.

After the break, I'll share some of these nature-based activities and crafts that will cater to their outdoor interests.

Last year, we hungrily watched the strawberry patch we had planted the year before. Finally, one June day, the berries were nearly perfect. We decided to give them one more day to ripen, but when we went out the next day to pick them... GONE.

The birds had eaten every last one. I've yet to forgive them.

This year, the strawberry patch is bigger; we've added a fairly large veggie garden as well. I'm a lazy gardener, which means that I want the highest yield possible for the smallest amount of work. That also means that I don't share with birds.

I'll net the berries in a week or so to keep them safe, but that's an impractical solution for the garden. Instead, I need some great ideas for discouraging birds in the first place. I'll tell you what I've got in mind after the break.

If your lifestyle is anything like my family's, you might have an overdose of candle holders and other decorative stuff filling up the closets and other storage spaces in your house. We started to take it outside in the form of sprinklers for the garden and they look a lot better than the black sprinkler stakes you can buy.

We used candle holders, lamp bases, and little garden statues to make this work; but anything you can drill a hold into and run an irrigation hose through should work. Note that wood and metals will probably age and rust, but that's part of the charm.

To build these, drill a hole into the decor just smaller than the irrigation hose so it fits snuggly into place. Run the small hose into the main irrigation feeder line. In my case I used a soaker hose. Add your sprinkler head and start watering.

These are great for making mini bird baths and butterfly watering stations. Just add some aquarium gravel or pea gravel to the basin for butterflies so they don't drown.

Each week, Diane Rixon brings you Avant Yard, a look at all your lawn and garden could be. Diane shows you how to give life to everything inside your fence. We promise that your yard will be the greener "other side" and the neighbor's envy to boot. Alright, we don't really promise, but you get the idea.

Is there a dead tree in your yard? Let it live on -- repurpose it! Here are a bunch of suggestions, with an emphasis on projects that are both easy and inexpensive.

LEAVE IT ALONE
1. Leave it standing. If it's not a danger to people or structures on your property, of course. Let it be a home for birds, bugs and assorted critters.
2. Leave it standing and turn it into yard art -- hang colored bottles from the branches or string it with colored lights that change with the season.

CUT IT UP
3. Use planks for fencing.
4. Build a big brush pile, which is a fantastic refuge for wildlife.
5. Use it for garden mulch. You will need to hire a mulching machine or mulching service for this, however.

Thanks, Anna, for your great Christmas tree-recycling tips. Here's one more: make your tree the foundation for a backyard brush pile.

Now, you might ask: why a brush pile? Answer: it encourages wildlife diversity. Yes, putting out a bird feeder is an important first step to attracting birds and other little critters. However, a brush pile will draw in many more. Plus they're easy to make, don't cost a dime, and they encourage true diversity in the landscape.

Want to give it a try? Here are some tips for creating a brush pile that critters will love.

1) Use something fairly substantial as the base for your pile. A Christmas tree is one idea, but you could also try an old wooden pallet, two or three short logs, or a couple old fence posts. This foundation will support the smaller stuff you stack on top. It will also let oxygen flow through, and prevent settling -- so that countless insects and other small creatures (like the baby anole pictured above) can scuttle in and make their homes there.

Now that you have some ideas on how to store your Holiday decorations, what is the proper way to dispose of your Christmas tree? You could set it out by the curb for the garbage man to pick up, but all the benefits would be lost for our feathered and furry friends.

The Home Know-It-All has gathered some great ideas on how we can recycle our Christmas tree. The birds would be thrilled if you set up your tree for them and adorned it with suet cakes, peanut butter pine cones, stale bread and bird seed. You can anchor the tree in the ground with wooden stakes, or attach it with rope to another tree.

When spring comes, you can mulch the Christmas tree and use the chips to protect your plants, small shrubs and trees. Your landscape will look much prettier with mulch than without. Larger branches of the Christmas tree can be cut off and used to help protect your shrubs in the winter.

If you have a fireplace, why not use the tree to help heat your home? If you don't have a wood burner, friends and neighbors that do would be happy to take your tree off your hands.

These are just a few of the ways to say goodbye to your spent Christmas tree this year. How do you dispose of your tree? Please share with us some of the ways you recycle and dispose of your Christmas tree in the comments section.

Since snow is now covering the ground where I live, I haven't seen too many birds. If I don't put out some special food for them, they will find somewhere else to find their food, and I won't be seeing much of them until next spring.

You can make your own pinecone bird feeders with pinecones, peanut butter, and bird seed. Slather some peanut butter on an open pinecone, roll it in bird seed, and allow the peanut butter to harden. Hang up in a tree outside. If you aren't so lucky to have a tree, you can throw them on the ground. Trust me, the birds will find them. Be careful if you buy pinecones at the craft store, as they may be preserved with fragrance oils that could harm the birds. If you don't have any pipe cleaners, you can use yarn or even fishing line to hang up the yummy bird treat.

You can get the kids involved in this project. They will be proud of themselves, knowing that they are helping to feed creatures that otherwise might go south for the long (loooong) winter. What better way to spend a snow day than to watch the birds gobble up their man-made yummy treat!

[via: Craftzine]

I used to be under the misapprehension that birds always nest in the branches of trees. How wrong I was! Since becoming interested in backyard birdwatching, I've learned that a great many bird species, including woodpeckers (like the red-bellied woodpecker pictured here) and wrens, nest in the cavities of dead or dying trees. Problem is: most people cut those trees down to make their yards look nice and tidy. What's a bird to do?

If you have a dead tree in your yard, consider leaving it standing. If not, but you still want to encourage wildlife, how about making a DIY nesting box? It's pretty easy even for the beginner woodworker because precision is not necessary. In fact, birds prefer the rustic look!

I do a lot of laundry in my house and, as a result, I accumulate what seems like a metric ton of dryer lint each week. As I fished the latest clump of fuzz from my dryer's lint cup, I got to wondering, "Is there something useful could do with all this?" The only think I could think of was to toss it into my backyard for the birds to use when they build nests. I knew other people must surely have come up with other, more creative, ideas so I decided to find out.

What I learned may surprise you: