Wine Corks to Bird Houses

There is something beguiling about wine corks. Some are beautiful bits of art, some are stained with the kiss of a favorite red wine and some are molded plastic trying to save plant resources (but in doing so become less earth-friendly after their short life as a cork is over).

What to do with them? Wine corks beg to be recycled. I have a cork board in my office that I made of wine corks over 20 years ago and it is still hardy and looking new, despite 20 years of being a pin cushion.

I have made them into trivets. They work wonderfully as a buffer between hot dishes and the tabletop. And here again they seem to last forever.

So what to do with them?

Perhaps a bird house?
I had a wooden bird feeder with a copper roof. The wooden structure was compromised when it fell in a wind storm. I set about repairing it only to find that the wood was badly deteriorated. But the copper roof was still charming and useful.

doorway: corks on sides

Hot glue gun in-hand, I set about constructing a bird house on the old bird-feeder base. I built up an entrance with wine corks on their side. The depth of the wine corks makes it impossible for scrub-jays or crows to reach the small chicks inside; a sales plus for any house-hunting wren.

walls: corks on end topped with a layer of corks on sides

For the walls I stood the corks on end. The corner corks are the plastic kind which allowed me to firmly attach them with a screw up from the bottom. There is an inner row of corks as well, making the structure quite cozy.

The copper roof had three attachment locations. A row of corks were laid on their sides to create firm attachment sites. And to finish it off, I tucked moss in to the gaps and chinks.


The Bewick’s wrens have been building a nest off and on in the lariat house hanging in a tree. This new wine-cork bird house will give them another option.

Wine corks as bird houses? We’ll see. It is better than tossing them into a landfill.

Recycling projects:
Dining room chairs
Electronics and saving gorillas
Gifts
Holiday Decorations

Recycling Furniture

I had a goal of sustainably reinvigorating my dining room chairs in June. Green Action #6 - I wanted to dig deeper with living a more sustainable lifestyle. Giving new life to our 22-year-old chairs was quite a process, but we did it. This was real recycling.

We took the chairs apart; removing the seat and back cushions, taking notes through out the process so that we could put everything back together.

Before we worked on the upholstery itself, I cleaned the wood framework of the chairs.

Each oak chair was scrubbed and oiled. When they were done, the frames looked like new.

Tomorrow, we'll take on the upholstery.

Giving Furniture New Life - Recycling

Has recycling become part of your daily life? For many of us recycling paper, glass, metal and plastic containers has become integrated into our daily practices. More cities and towns participate in curbside recycling of disposables.

But that in itself points at an unsustainable mindset in our current society: that everything is disposable and therefore should be replaced on a regular basis to continue the economic cycle of consuming. We’re trying to move away from that mindset.

A hundred years ago when more people had to make the things they used themselves, they tried to find multiple uses for everything. I have a doll cradle that my great grandfather made for my grandmother when she was a toddler. The wooden planks that he used to maker the doll furniture were recycled from an old carriage.

We have an oak dining room table that we purchased new over 20 years ago. We’ve taken good care of it and the wood is still beautiful, but the upholstery of the chairs is shot. To toss the chairs and purchase something new would be expensive and a waste of oak resources. To dig deeper into a sustainable lifestyle we decided to take on the job of reupholstering our six dining room chairs.

Spending a couple of hours a weekend for the past two months, I’ve been taking apart the chairs and removing the staples that attached the cloth covering. It isn’t a difficult job, just time consuming.

The most important part was having the right tools. Much of the removal of the cloth can be done by cutting it off with a utility knife. The key tool is a special tipped screw driver-shaped staple remover or staple puller. Using the tapered end you pry up the staples. Some staples break off, requiring a pair of pliers to pull them out.

Not all of the staples need to be removed, but the majority did on our chairs because of the tight fit between the inset backs and the wooden frame.
As I’ve gone along I’ve taken notes so that I can follow these notes in reverse to reapply the new fabric.


All of the old upholstery has been removed and the exciting part will be putting the chairs back together.

Upholstery is something I’ve never done before. I hope to have the chairs finished by the end of the month. I’ll keep you posted as we progress.

What big items can you recycle or re-purpose at your house? Where can you stop thinking disposable?

The End of Spring, But a Sustainable Future

How quickly a season ends.

The ornamental plum that burst into bloom has quickly progressed to add leaves.


And now to be devoid of flowers.

Will the flowers of ideas, pollinated with effort and intention bear fruits of change?

During this month I have tried to change daily habits toward more sustainable behaviors – Green Action #3.

• continuing Veggie Tuesdays and Thursdays
• reducing cleaning chemicals
• replacing water thirsty ornamental plants with native plants that provide food and shelter for native species
• checking the labeling on soaps for ingredients that might appear sustainable but are damaging to other ecosystems
• conserving water
  
• repurposing and recycling furnishings like the busy hummingbird mothers

While it is impossible to sustain spring, it is possible to accept the natural cycles of nature. I can prepare for summer and support the natural systems that will bring spring back again with a healthier and more sustainable yard and future.

Repurposing - Building a Nest

This month as I've tried to take my Green Action #3 by living sustainably everyday, I've also been watching the Allen's hummingbirds building their nests.

These tiny industrious birds are models of sustainable living. When the female builds her nest she gathers a variety of natural materials: new and old spider web, plant fiber and animal hair, feathers and twigs, grasses and bark. She is reusing what others have discarded.


She also frequently recycles materials from previous nests.

This fuzzy tuft of debris is a nest built last summer that was destroyed by winds. Despite winter rains, the basic building materials, fibers and organic matter, are still attached to the branch. One of the females in the yard, Pop, has been building a new nest. She has been actively reclaiming these materials.

The actions of these creative girls inspired me to refurbish my own nest. I've decided to reupholster my dining room chairs. If the hummingbirds can do it, so can I. The basic structure of my chairs are sturdy oak. There is not need to waste the resources that a tree has already provided. I'm working on this new project a little bit each day just like the hummingbirds.

This Allen's hummingbird nest started with a base of materials attached to a branch and a fork created by two leaves.


Over the course of a few days, Pop built up a cup-shaped nest about the size of 1/2 cup.


But I've noticed a possible problem. If you compare Pop's nest (above) to the nest DR has built (at the very top and below), you might see it too. Pop has found a source for polyfiber stuffing. Probably a neighbor's patio furniture cushion. She used some of these fibers last year in the nest that failed. The white man-made fibers don't compress like natural fibers. They make a looser, fluffy nest that lacks structural integrity. A few of these fibers might be alright, but I am concerned that this nest might not survive long enough for chicks to mature. It also might not breath like natural fibers or stretch like spider silk.

If you look closely at DR's nest, you can see a strip of plastic that she has used on the outside of her nest as camouflage. Our synthetic materials are invading animal homes as well.

Reusing materials helps save resources. But we all need to increase our awareness of how synthetic materials are affecting the world around us.

Recycling Christmas Trees and Greenery

Green Holiday Action #27

Pine boughs and yard greenery have been decorating the house inside and out for the past couple of weeks. (Green Holiday Decorations)

Today I got in the mood to take some of it down. But I'm still using some of these branches because now they are providing mulch on areas of the hillside that have bare earth. Smaller branches went into our household green bin provided by the city. This green matter will be chipped and composted by the city.

Our live tree went back out into the yard. But if you have a cut holiday tree, you can still make green choices. If at all possible, don't send your tree to a landfill.

In Los Angeles, you can cut up your tree and put it in your green bin for vegetation. You can also recycle the whole tree by taking it to a number of drop-off locations at parks and fire stations throughout the city. For a location near you, check out the L.A. City Bureau of Sanitation website. The designated locations in L.A. will only be recycling whole trees next weekend, Jan. 2-3, 2010. Follow the directions on the city website for how to prepare the tree for recycling.

If you live outside of the Los Angeles area do a web search with key words "recycling Christmas trees" and your city name. Many cities offer some way for you to recycle holiday trees.

Holiday Boxes and Bows - Recycling and Reusing

Green Holiday Action #25

This year at our family holiday gathering we tried to act green while opening presents. We placed two large containers in the room for wrapping paper that was recycleable, a basket to collect reuseable bows and ribbon, and a container for trash.















I'm so proud of everyone because we:

• reduced the number of physical gifts and therefore cut the amount of wrapping in half (Trim Your Gift Shopping List)
  
• no one used plastic or polyester film wrapping (Say "No" to the Shiny)
• most of the wrapping was recycleable paper, only a little was foil paper that went in the trash
• boxes were reused from years before and those that were still viable were gathered up for next year
• bows were at a minimum and gathered up for use again next year
• numerous gifts were wrapped in reuseable fabric Santa Bags
• a number of the gifts given were green (Shopping On-line, Give Experiences, Green Holiday Gifts, Give from the Hearth and Yard)
  

A couple of the gifts were inspiring and creative, more on that later.

Hope you had a day filled with joy and giving.

A Better Way to Carry Water

Green Holiday Action #17

Give up the bottle, the packaged plastic water bottle.

This is a simple and dramatic action you can take to reduce plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

We are very fortunate in the United States. Most of our drinking water is just as clean as the water that can be purchased in plastic bottles. Add in filtration through a modern refrigerator and you have clean water coveted by most of the world. You really don’t appreciate the luxury of available clean water until you travel to places where bottled water is a necessity - Turkey.

But all of those empty individual-serving plastic bottles are a waste problem, not to mention the resources needed to produce them. Recycling helps, but each manufactured bottle is traveling by air or by truck for miles from its bottling origin to get to its point of sales.

Refillable water bottles are everywhere this holiday season. But all bottles are not created equal. Bottles that will maintain the healthy quality of your water are made of stainless steel or copolyester, a new polycarbonate that is free of bisphenol A (BPA for short). A third option is aluminum WITH a copolyester lining. Look for a quality product because your health matters. Name brands like Nalgene (U.S.), Camelback (imported) Klean Kanteen (imported) and others provide information about the materials in their container. You want a bottle that will last through many work days and adventures. The green and orange bottles pictured here have been all the way to outer Mongolia and back.


So drop a hint to your friends and family that a refillable water bottle would be a great gift item for you. You’ll make a difference and maybe they will wonder why you want such a thing. Then you’ll have a second action–passing on the message that it is time to give up the prepackaged plastic water bottle.

Recycled Gifts

Green Holiday Action #13

By recycled gift I do not mean rewrapping something you didn't want and giving it to someone else.

I mean giving something you treasure as a gift to someone else. Some of my most prized possessions, the things that feed my soul, have multiple values. They are items of beauty or brilliance, but they also represent an aspect of someone important in my life.

Here are few of my favorite examples:

• a small glass vase I received as a wedding gift. My cousin Alice had bought it for herself on her own honeymoon 40 years earlier.
• a book of poetry by Edgar A. Guest that my grandfather held second to the bible for influence on his life. The truly unique part is this grandfather was killed in an accident when my mother was only three years old. My Aunt Florence gave me this book and through it I know a grandfather I never met. It is always on my night stand.
• a wooden glove box that my grandmother Dearborn gave me that had been hand decorated with woodburning by her mother. It has been my treasure chest since my 14th birthday.
  
• a tiny silver pin of a gecko given to me by my friend Gerri. Her husband made it for her, she wore it for years and then gave it to me. She knows I'm a lizard lover. (See western fence lizard.)
• 

Don't wait to will things to people that are important to you. Give beloved items while you can still tell the stories that go with them. Give good memories and the best part of yourself.

Two Hummingbird Nestlings !

Yes, there are TWO!

Here you can see there are two nestlings and they nearly fill the nest. Their heads are toward the right and their two little backs with the tiny wings along the sides are pointing down toward the left side.

You can’t deny that spring has come when the baby Allen’s hummingbirds are doubling their size weekly.

Mother hummingbird is working hard to feed her two hungry youngsters, a job made much easier by the rapid blooming of many flowering plants. Last week she was focused on catching a lot of insects, whether that was for protein for the tiny hatchlings or to rebuild her own resources after her time sitting on the eggs, I don’t know. Now she seems to prefer nectar.

Two other female Allen’s hummingbirds are also nesting in the adjacent area.

One of them has her nest hidden in a photinia bush. This morning I saw an unexpected possible predator in the same bush–a one-foot-long alligator lizard basking in the sun on a branch about four feet off the ground. Hopefully, mother hummingbird has placed her nest out of the lizard’s reach.

Two days ago, I watched a pair of bushtits working very hard to pull building materials from a hummingbird nest that was used two years ago. They’ve come back to the abandoned nest several times to gather fluff for their current nest.

Last year’s Allen’s hummingbird nest, from which the hatchlings were taken by a predator, was a site of great interest yesterday for a group of 20 bushtits. Initially, the group of tiny birds scouted out the old nest where their relatives have been gathering materials. Then one at a time, three individual bushtits came down within a foot of last year’s nest. There was a great deal of chatter.

After a short hunt for insects, several bushtits returned to the area above the abandoned nest. Two birds each came down within an inch of the empty nest and looked at it closely. Again there was a great deal of chatter. As the bushtits moved around in the shrubs they got within five feet of the new hummingbird nest. Mother hummingbird had had enough of the visitors. The bushtits are about the same size as the hummer, and no real threat, but she loudly chastised them and chased them off. I imagine within a few days, pairs of bushtits will be back to begin collecting their own building materials from the abandoned hummingbird nest.

Last year’s red-shouldered hawk nest has also been reduced to a thin layer of twigs. The red-shouldered hawks, ravens, crows and band-tailed pigeons have all been pilfering the sticks and twigs to build new or to renovate old nests.
Birds are efficient recyclers. We could learn a lesson from their sustainable use of resources.