Hummingbird Time

I've been very busy lately -- busy in the garden among other things.  And here it is practically the middle of April!  It's Hummingbird Time at my house.  When my red honeysuckle blooms, and the red buckeye is also blooming, I know it's time for the hummingbirds to come back.  Sure enough, we saw our first a few mornings ago taking its fill from the tubular red blossoms of the honeysuckle and buckeyes in my yard.

So time to bring out the feeders again.  There are lots of fancy, decorative hummingbird feeders (and I have a few of them), but honestly, the hummers seem to prefer the cheapo plastic or glass ones with the red and yellow feeding stations.  I mix up my own nectar:  1 part sugar to 4 parts water, boil until clear and cool.  I fill the feeders and refrigerate the extra in a jar.

I've been picking lettuce and "microgreens" from my garden.  The kale and arugula from my winter garden all bolted from the hot weather we had in March.  This weekend we had record heat of around 90 degrees!  I have lettuce in several stages, as well as sugar snap peas "coming along", so I'm hoping we cool down a little to more seasonable temperatures.

In other news, I won a giveaway on shabbycottagestudio-- an art journal kit from artist Pam Carriker, author of Art at the Speed of Life, along with a complimentary seat in her on-line Artful Journalling class this summer.  Hmm.  I may be in trouble -- risking discovery as the poser that I am!