Shopping for one who loves a garden? Or maybe you're plotting to
plant a list where it'll be found by someone who is shopping for
you. We were deep into doing both, when we started to look:
More to the point, four for the birds
About 4 out of 10 people in North America feed birds. (The only
hobby with more followers is... gardening!) A good many of
those people would probably echo the philosophy of our friend V.S.,
"Those feeders aren't really for the animals. They're for
me. They're my entertainment!"
So bird feeding supplies can be personal gifts. They're also
universal enough that they can serve as contingency items on a gift
list. So if you come across a nifty bird feeder, bird house, seed
mix or book, nab it!
Right: Every bird feeding station can use a back-up feeder
to replace what the squirrels or deer destroy.
Bird books
have wide application as gifts, too. Lately, young-uns have been
surprising Santa Steve with requests for bird identification books.
We hope that's the start of a trend.
All the plant centers and garden stores we shopped were well
stocked with bird supplies. All you see on this page was on the
shelf at Plymouth Nursery in Plymouth,
MI.
Re bird seed:
There have been times when we had to choose between buying
groceries and restocking the bird seed barrel, and we often chose
the birds. We'd hesitate to reveal that goofy choice, except we
think it's a pretty good bet you've been there, done that.
So picking up a few bags of bird seed or a gift certificate at
the local Wild Birds Unlimited or Feed Store (our local treasure is
Uncle Luke's in Troy, MI) is a
good hedge against the possibility that you'll discover you missed
someone on your list, come the eleventh hour.
Bird seed mixes in such variety, it's like choosing garden
seeds!
Look closely at the sculpture in that photo to the right. It
pretty much describes our mood after this amount of shopping, which
is, "We want it ALL!"
And when that
mood
strikes is
the time we start
seriously
coveting some
very special, truly
unique items.