Wildlife

Backyard Birds in the Winter

What to feed the backyard birds in the winter. Starting with mixed seeds which are good for beginners bringing different types of birds to your feeder. They can be messy because birds will pick them through to get to the special seeds. The smaller seeds will end up on the ground, but the ground feeding birds will pick them up.

Platform Feeder

Black oil sunflower seeds will attract blue jays, cardinals, finches, chickadees, nuthatches, and sparrows. Sunflower seeds are the most popular bird food.

Niger sock feeder

Niger seeds are tiny, black seeds that require a special feeder with small slits so the seed does not run out. This will attract goldfinches and other types of finches.

Flicker Woodpecker

Suet is a block of animal fat mixed with seed. This type of food is a healthy source of protein when it really gets cold. The favorite food of woodpeckers. Many seed feeders have a suet cage on the ends for inserting the suet.

You can feed peanuts, cracked corn, peanut butter, and a mixture of fruit both dried or fresh to give the birds a variety.

Vegetables

Sweet Potato vs Yam

The terms sweet potato vs yam are used interchangeably on canned ingredients in cooking and at the grocery stores. But they are totally different roots. The sweet potato is in the morning glory family and the yam is in the lily family.

Georgia Jet Sweet Potato

Sweet potatoes can be grown in our gardens (along with some patience). There are two kinds: one being a yellow and light orange flesh with a dry texture. The other is the darker varieties of deeper orange and red color which are sweet and moist. Varieties you can plant are Georgia Jet, Centennial, and Puerto Rico.

Centennial Sweet Potato

The basic sweet potato comes from Central and South America imported to the southern United States. The African slaves grew them because of the high productivity from small gardens. Being cheap to grow, they incorporated sweet potatoes in most dishes including my favorite sweet potato pie. So, they substituted sweet potatoes for the African yams they knew about.

Yam

Yams grow in the tropics of Africa and later grown in the Caribbean and Asia. Yam is a vining plant producing white or light-yellow flesh. Some yams can weigh over 150 pounds.

The African culture began calling the sweet potato a yam because that is what reminded them of. That is where the confusion comes from.

Home Decor

Design Trends 2021

Design trends come and go over time. They often reflect the “times” of how we feel and think. Since this year has been unpredictable and rather depressing, we tend to seek comfort in our homes. So, design trends 2021 are going back to comfort and predictably as in our grandparents’ home.

So, think “old school” making space more inviting and comfortable. Overstuffed traditional sofas and chairs in your home. A chair you can curl up and read a book or watch television.

Light-colored wood is replacing darker colors. Light-colored wood like dining room chairs and table gives the space a feeling of a larger room. These lighter woods give way to more paint colors whether light or dark.

As for the wallpaper, it is grandma chic. Floral prints, heavy curtains, and lace throw. Make to more modern by adding contemporary prints.

The older color trend has been neutral colors with a bold accent wall. Now the trend is going to a bold, natural color for all the walls and ceiling. These go back to mid-century color styles.

Remember the two words describing 2021 trends: comfort and minimal.