Spring has us thinking...

Well, now that we are finished with our Space unit for Science, the question is: What will we do for the rest of the school year?
We sat down and talked about it and we decided that we are going to revamp the yard to make it more hospitable to birds and butterflies and then we can watch them for the summer and into next year.
We have a lot of work to do.
A friend is moving and is sorting through all her stuff and she has given us some wonderful gardening books. There is lots of information on butterfly gardens, birds and wonderful ways to enjoy them.
We also watched a video on the subject of birds and John took great notes.
We then went to Home Depot and picked out several packets of seeds and some Azaleas to put around the birdfeeder.
We looked at lots of other things and made notes on what we will eventually need as the season wears on.
Today we went outside and took "before" pictures of the areas that we want to improve.
First:

The plan is to tear out the grass in front of the sidewalk and put in flagstones, shrubs around the feeder/feeders, a birdbath and other birdfriendly enticements. The grass isn't in great shape in the area anyway, and it will be nice to have a place to sit and watch whoever shows up! Judy, the friend who is moving, has a whole bunch of things that she wants to give us. Saturday will be a trip to her house.



Next:

Some steps down the hill to improve the footing.













In the backyard we have an old Mamosa tree. In the summer it is covered with blossoms that attact butterflies and it also has a certain type of worm that the birds just love. We want to put up lots of feeders and nesting boxes. We had been planning to cut it down, but there are just too many possibilities...















My beds need lots of work! but we will fill them with compost and freshen the soil and then we are going to plant flowers that will encourage Butterflies and Hummingbirds. We are also going to put hummingbird feeders up in the kitchen window.








I am hoping that the boys will learn a lot about planting, different kinds of plants. Birds, and what they need as far as food, shelter and nesting.
I really hope they will enjoy it too! We really do like watching the birds around the house. The Cardinals are always here. Bluejays, doves, chickadees, and my favorite, the Catbird.

I'll be posting pictures as we progress. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks the place will start looking quite different!