Wednesday, July 13

Citrus Trio

Brand new in my shop today are three of my most popular saturday market soaps. I have packaged them in a beautiful trio which includes pink grapefruit, lemon blossom, and juicy orange.


This set is is summer fresh and available for 10.50 at my Etsy store http://www.etsy.com/shop/EldoradoSoap
If you love citrus, you will love this beautiful set!

Wednesday, July 6

hummingbirds

With summer in full swing the hummingbirds are very active around my garden.
So for today's blog post I have decided to talk about hummingbird facts.

  • A hummingbird's brain is 4.2% of its body weight, the largest proportion in the bird kingdom
  • Hummingbirds can hear better than humans.
  • Hummingbirds have no sense of smell.
  • A hummingbird's tongue is grooved like the shape of a "W".
  • A hummingbird's metabolism is roughly 100 times that of an elephant.
  • 30% of a hummingbird's weight consists of flight muscles, Humans pectoral muscles are about 5% of body weight.
  • Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly both forward and backwards, Hummingbirds can also hover in mid-air, fly sideways and even upside-down.
  • Hummingbirds are only found naturally in the Americas.
  • Early Spanish explorers called hummingbirds flying jewels.

These are just a few of the wonderful and interesting facts about hummingbirds.
I have several feeders in my garden and these delightful little birds will frequent the feeders up to seven times and hour. A hummingbird will consume between 1/2 and 8 times its own body weight in nectar each day.

My nectar recipe is as follows:

Hummingbird Nectar Recipe(Smithsonian National Zoological Park)

Directions for making safe hummingbird food:

1. Mix 1 part sugar with 4 parts water and bring to a boil to kill any bacteria or mold present.
2. Cool and fill feeder.
3. Extra sugar water may be stored in a refrigerator.
4. Red dye should not be added.

Red food dye is often added to homemade solutions. Commercial products sold as "instant nectar" or "hummingbird food" may also contain preservatives and dyes. studies on laboratory animals indicate the potential to cause disease and premature mortality at high consumption rates.
I avoid using any product that contain dyes when feeding my hummingbirds. Big Box hardware stores are currently selling hummingbird food mixes that contain red dye. As a concerned hummingbird observer I would encourage other bird lovers to avoid the commercial mixes.

Remember to change your home hummingbird nectar about every five days in cool weather below 70 degrees.
In hotter weather I like to change it every other day to prevent fermentation of the nectar.

I hope you have enjoyed this article and that your hummingbirds will bring you joy in the garden!