I would like to bring some of the Sun light into the night's sky this summer. Placing lights in your trees really can create an amazing atmosphere for outdoor relaxing. This simple Summer Night Light is made from very few material, but it makes a big impact statement. We will be reusing old glass baby containers that we will use as our vessel to hold our light. Glass is produce by melting sand, limestone and soda ash at a very high temperature then shaping it and cooling it. Reusing or recycling glass can not only save space in our landfills, but also save the natural resources it takes to make glass. To make one ton of glass it takes 1,300 pounds of sand; 410 pounds of soda ash; and 380 pounds of limestone. We Americans waste almost a million tons of glass every month, that's a hell of a lot. This is why if I can not reuse the glass I always recycling at my local recycling center so they can reuse it. Our lights that we place in the bottles are tea light candles. When using electricity to light your outside you don't realize that the carbon and methane that it takes to produce electricity. Many people don't really think about the fact that it takes oil to make electricity. The average house hold uses almost 32 gallons of oil to produce enough electricity to cool their homes in the summer. Choosing solar even in the little ways like outdoor lighting you lower your carbon footprint on this planet while at the same time still lighting your yard. I wrap yarn around the lid of the glass container. Create a loop with the wire so that you can hang a piece of rope to hang off the tree. Now just wait till dusk so you see the illumination.
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Since the Spring Equinox we have seen a huge bird influx and with summer in full swing our bird population is at an all time high. It is because of this that my kids decided to make another bird feeder for our winged friends. We choose a a great vessel to hold our bird seed in. I decided to again reuse something that most people throw away and orange peel. Birds are such an important part of our ecosystem they keep pests and disease from attacking our trees and crops. They eat the mites and spiders off of the plants that are killing and destroying them. Birds also eat the weeds that can take over our yard we all know how annoying they are. Birds also are essential when it comes to plant seed dispersal. They pick up seeds off of flowers and eat them then poop them out spreading seeds over miles. Some seeds don't germinate unless they pass through the birds digestive system. Some birds are so amazing and can even transfers seeds over 130 feet from where they first picked it up. When in the wild birds do eat a variety of things from worms, grubs, to seeds. Obviously we are not going to gather any worms to feed them, but we are going to get a huge thing of wild bird seed. I gather the tools to make our Orange Bird Buffet; an orange, a set of disposable chopsticks, strings, and of course bird seed. I cut the orange in half then carefully scoop out the inside which of course my youngest eats right up. I put the chopsticks through each side creating an X in the center. I then tie the sting on it making sure it is secure. Fill the orange half full with the bird seed and hang it on at tree.
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November 2023
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