Hey guys, so today my grandma has been on my mind a lot so I thought I’d share some of the things she’d do to take care of the nature around her. Let me tell you. She had A LOT of strong opinions when it came to her property and the wildlife (or pets) that lived there. First off, we’ll start with something that may give you déjà vu. Yup! We’re talking about birds again! I can just feel your excitement.
So my sweet grandma loved birds, her favorites being the Cardinal and the Blue Jay — but she loved them all. She had a bird feeder out front where she could watch out her living room window and a bird feeder out back by the garden (we’ll talk about the garden more later). She also had little bird houses all over the yard, but we’re going to talk about the feeders.
Everyday she would go out and put bird seed in the bird feeders, sometimes twice a day. And when she couldn’t get out very easily, my dad, me, or the neighbors would help her out. I can’t even tell you how much she spent on bird feed. This was a woman who loathed spending money, and would go to great lengths to keep her utility bills as low as possible. But she loved her birds, and she loved watching them through her windows and hearing them sing their songs.
As I mentioned in a previous post, my dad and I would name birds, and I’m confident that it all stemmed from grandma. She knew all the birds too (though my dad took it to a whole other level)! In fact, she loved the birds so much, it made her hate cats. (Shh, I know. No one is perfect, guys)! She would put bells on the stray cats around her property so that they couldn’t sneak up and attack her birds.
Not only did she feed the birds, but if she had any leftovers she was throwing out, she’d toss them outside for the critters to eat. Granted, this wasn’t often since the woman also loathed wasting anything — I’m chalking that up to living through the great depression. But it still attests to her loving nature.
There used to be a dog named Peanutbutter who lived with my grandma; He was an outside dog. My grandma would go out there a few times a day to give him a treat, love on him, and make sure he had food, water, and plenty of hay in his dog house. And when the time came that she couldn’t go out as much on her own, she’d pay the neighbor kids to do it for her so he didn’t feel alone and was well taken care of. Well, that was when my dad and I weren’t able to do it for her for some odd reason.
I told you we’d talk about the garden, so let’s get to it. My grandma had a huge garden where she planted everything from flowers to strawberries and potatoes. You name it, she grew it. She’s the reason I love gardening so much, and she taught me everything I know (and probably a lot of stuff that I can’t remember). She’d spend hours tending to the garden, pulling weeds, watering, making sure things had space, and fertilizing it with scraps from the kitchen (potato peels, fruit cores, things like that).
Another thing she loved was flowers, so I made it a habit to always go out and pick her a bouquet. Though she’d have a cow if I picked anything she could see from her house or yard, so I’d go into the woods on her property and find some flowers there or down the road. It always made her so happy!
I can safely say she is one of the biggest reasons I love the outdoors and all things nature. And I will always be grateful.
I want you guys to think about the reasons you love the outdoors so much. Is there a person (or more than one) that inspired your love for the outdoors? Maybe an event that happened in your life? I’d love to read about it in the comments!
Until Next time!
~~Cheyenne~~
The Great Outdoors 