I know that most people run their TUSAL [Ort Jar] from Jan. 1 - Dec. 31 of any given calendar year. But, being me, I must do things a bit differently. Since I save my ORTs to put out as soft nesting materials for the backyard birds I feed year long, it makes more sense to save ORTs from Spring to Spring. So, today I made a little ceremony of emptying my ORT jar into a shallow planter dish that I left on my patio table for the birds to access ... a short prayer asking St. Francis of Assisi to bless their nests and keep them and their broods safe from the neighborhood cats and hawks and other predators, and the semi-annual sanitizing of the bird feeder and a refilling it with regular songbird seed mixture generously laced with extra sunflower seeds completed the ritual. Not a bad way to start the day, at all, at all! So here are a few shots:
the first of the ORT jar filled to brimming with the thread ends from all my projects since last Spring and the second of those same thread ends filling a shallow planter. I hope the birds find all the colors as attractive as I did and make good use of them. I find I really enjoy the birdsong each morning and I hope to attract many more birds to my feeder this year by adding a bird bath and perhaps a hummingbird feeder to my patio. I also want to buy a few more large containers and plant vegetables this year using the old Square Foot gardening method. I wonder, does anyone else remember that PBS TV series?
I know that most people run their TUSAL [Ort Jar] from Jan. 1 - Dec. 31 of any given calendar year. But, being me, I must do things a bit differently. Since I save my ORTs to put out as soft nesting materials for the backyard birds I feed year long, it makes more sense to save ORTs from Spring to Spring. So, today I made a little ceremony of emptying my ORT jar into a shallow planter dish that I left on my patio table for the birds to access ... a short prayer asking St. Francis of Assisi to bless their nests and keep them and their broods safe from the neighborhood cats and hawks and other predators, and the semi-annual sanitizing of the bird feeder and a refilling it with regular songbird seed mixture generously laced with extra sunflower seeds completed the ritual. Not a bad way to start the day, at all, at all! So here are a few shots: 
the first of the ORT jar filled to brimming with the thread ends from all my projects since last Spring and the second of those same thread ends filling a shallow planter. I hope the birds find all the colors as attractive as I did and make good use of them. I find I really enjoy the birdsong each morning and I hope to attract many more birds to my feeder this year by adding a bird bath and perhaps a hummingbird feeder to my patio. I also want to buy a few more large containers and plant vegetables this year using the old Square Foot gardening method. I wonder, does anyone else remember that PBS TV series?
