Our Bird Feeder with Dried Mealworms atop Umbrella Pole

 Keeping such a vast estate up to date in every area, is quite an upkeep.

But it is oh so rewarding to see HAPPY BIRDS around.

Bird Feeder with plexiglass front and back so we can see how much they ate...

Dried Mealworms with some sunflower seeds and other bird feed mixed in.

Pieter did start purchasing these dried mealworms for the baby birds from our Eastern Phoebe end of May, that had a nest in our front porch. See post below.

The Carolina Wrens go in there often, pick out one worm and hack it to pieces somewhere on a tree trunk.

We left the thick slice of the oak tree's stump on the ground—for that purpose.

Also the perfectly sawn off oak tree trunk serves as a feeding table for lots of birds—and squirrels of course.

But they too have to live... We saw one with a severe bot fly warbles under its skin—the dreaded Cuterebra emasculator Fitch.

Pieter leaves peanuts in the shell for the squirrels and sunflower seeds.

Are you feeding birds and using dried mealworms as well?

{Umbrella Pole Recycled into Bird Feeder Post} | previous post by me

Eastern Phoebe Reside in Front Porch with Babies | previous post by me

AMAZING recovery of Japanese Magnolia—after getting LIGHT and FOOD!

 With our HUGE oak tree now gone, there is more LIGHT + FOOD available for this beauty.

On the side, where once that HUGE oak tree took away all the light, and no doubt most of the food and moisture available, now some healthy NEW branches did sprout off!

Our Japanese Magnolia or  Magnolia x soulangeana is next to the vinyl picket fence.

A bird house (a Carolina wren residence) and also a hummingbird feeder make it into a favorite tree for birds.

From our breakfast area, we did notice another NEW shoot off branch right in the middle—look at the size of its leaves!

Vinyl picket fence is visible below...

It was rather hard to capture but here you see its enormous size leaves!

Happy and Healthy...

And, already on September 8, I noticed that all the BUDS for next spring were formed already!

Soft, hairy buds—waiting for the spring and here they bloom as early as February 12; often on my Mom's Birthday...

As I've always said, give a tree about 5 years to restore its shape and health after removing another big tree that stole light, food and moisture.

Looking forward to seeing it in the spring!

Have you seen some trees or shrubs recovering that way after creating more room/space for them?

Related links:

{MORE BLOSSOMS IN OUR BOTANICAL GARDEN} | previous post by me

{Our Japanese Magnolia against Vinyl Picket Fence} | previous post by me

Big Trees Down and others Trimmed  | Previous post by me

Our Variegated Blue Flax Lily + Video from Flaxseed to Linen from Horst my Birthplace

 Rather late I discovered that our Variegated Blue Flax Lily was blooming again.

We have this since 2014. 

On September 8, I captured these...

Such tiny lovely flowers!

That's the entire Variegated Blue Flax Lily on our patio, as a pot plant.

On September 19, they were still there... now they're gone.

You see the blue sky we have!

Having hailed from Horst, a region in the Province of Limburg, in the South of The Netherlands, there is quite a history about Flax and the Linen weavers.Want to share this very interesting video with you.From flaxseed to linen (Museum de Kantfabriek Horst) — the old Lace factory!Translations:from flaxseed to linenHorst (my birth place) around 1920First, the land is made suitable for the cultivation of flax.Sowing takes place at the beginning of April.After a few days, the first flax seeds germinate.The weeds are removed.At the beginning of June, the flax is in bloom.Harvesting can begin in mid-August.With the rekel, the flax bulbs are removed.The flax is placed underwater to let the soft parts rot away; called retting.Dad used to have a piece of land at the Rotven. One of those former fens...The flax bulbs are threshed from which linseed oil is extracted.Part of the seed is used again for the next harvest.After drying, the stems are roasted to remove the hard inner core.By breaking, the hard inner core is broken; scutching.After the harvest it's time for a party.With the crank, the remaining wood residues are removed; hackling.By hackling, only the best fibers remain.In winter, the fibres are spun into flax yarn.Finally, the yarns are washed to remove the lye.After rinsing, the yarns are ready to weave into linen cloth.By bleaching the linen in the sun, it gets a bright white color.The linen is now ready for use.In the meantime, it's spring again. High time to make the land suitable for a new harvest.This program is composed on the basis of a film (1976) that was commissioned by the Antiquity–Room Horst
Nowadays linen is from Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Poland and of course in China...
But seeing how labor intensive it is—you might appreciate more your linen pieces!At fashion school we learned how this was being created but the above video is far better for understanding...
Did any of you know this process?
Related link:{Variegated Blue Flax Lily} | previous post by me with good closeup photo of flower{Horst my Birth Place, Used to be an Old Linen Weavers Town} | previous post by me