A Thing of Beauty…

No, it’s not a cherry blossom or the daffodils that just this morning opened up in my backyard for the first time….but it is almost equally beautiful.

Behold my new FELCO PRUNING SAW <enter angelic singing here>

In the holster….

and out…

The blade is 13″ long.  Good thing it comes with that holster!  The holster has an attachment that allows you to buckle / loop it onto a belt.

We were amazed at the amount of pruning we had to do last fall in the yard of our new apartment.  There are several Forsythias, some sort of (we think) cherry tree, several Privets, and two large Rose of Sharons in addition to lots of smaller shrubs.  Not to mention the incredibly big FIG trees with their 3-4 inch thick branches.  (They are really big, really old trees.)  The figs got cut back nearly in half last fall.

All of the pruned branches and brush are piled up and completely covering our parking space in the driveway.  We don’t have a car but occasionally rent one and will soon need that space…not to mention we just want the brush out of there.  NYC Sanitation will come pick up bundles, but they have to be cut down to a certain size.

The poor old saw we found in the garage has certainly seen better days.  I tried to saw some relatively thin Holly stalks with it and I might as well have been using a butter knife.

It was definitely time to invest in something good and something that will last (and something that won’t render my hand unusable for any other task for the next 30 minutes.)  My friend Bev gave me a Felco hand pruner last year and it has changed my life – my gardening life anyway.  I decided to go with them again for the larger hand saw.

I think these teeth will be able to handle quite a bit…

Your Yard Can Be A CERTIFIED NATIONAL WILDLIFE HABITAT!

I read the coolest post over at one of my favorite garden blogs, Laguna Dirt.

According to information from the the National Wildlife Federation you can certify your property as a National Wildlife Habitat by doing the following:

“All you need to do is provide elements from each of the following areas:

• Food Sources – For example: Native plants, seeds, fruits, nuts, berries, nectar
• Water Sources – For example: Birdbath, pond, water garden, stream
• Places for Cover – For example: Thicket, rockpile, birdhouse
• Places to Raise Young – For example: Dense shrubs, vegetation, nesting box, pond
• Sustainable Gardening – For example: Mulch, compost, rain garden, chemical-free fertilizer”

I am pretty sure that my yard would qualify!  We have bird feeders, bird baths, and bird houses as well as plenty of trees and shrubs.  Our yard is popular with a lot of birds (and several cats, and the occasional squirrel or raccoon).

Laguna Dirt got certified and they sent her this nifty sign to post:

You can check out her great photos and read about the  kinds of things she has going on in her yard that qualified it as an official wildlife habitat here.

I think the sign is a great way to raise a little neighborhood awareness…maybe invite some questions or get other people interested.  I think this would be a really great project for a school, or for elementary school kids to work on doing at home for part of a science class…extra credit…something.  What a great way for city kids to become more aware of our natural surroundings and perhaps develop an interest in the environment and wildlife.

Other styes of signs are also available.

I am tempted to do it.  Last fall when I planted bulbs in the tree pits in front of our house I had a lot of little kids on the block asking me what the heck I was doing.  They seemed really interested in checking out the weird-looking bulbs and surprised that they wouldn’t come up until the following spring.  (And believe me, I took this opportunity to drive home the message that the flowers won’t come up if people throw their trash there or let their dogs use it as a bathroom – sigh.)

So I think a Certified National Wildlife Habitat sign might strike up some good conversations and maybe even inspire some neighborhood kids or families to take more of an interest in their own backyard.  Maybe that’s being a little too optimistic for my block in Brooklyn, but you never know…maybe there are some future bird-watchers out there.

I’ve already got a bit of a reputation as a “cat lady” because I trap-neuter-return (TNR) the local feral cats and provide them with some winter shelters and food.  Why not go all the way and become and official habitat for wildlife?

Thanks, Laguna Dirt, for the information and an awesome post!