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Wednesday, July 17

Fooling the Birds and Painting With the Kiddos

Really, my hope is that I trick ALL the animals with this craft.  One of my lovely readers suggested making decoy strawberries to fool the animals and slow them down from stealing my fruits and veggies.  Even if this doesn't entirely work, it was a fun little craft to do together and it makes the garden even cuter.  We happened to have one of Hope's sweet friends over, so there were plenty of giggles about how our strawberries resembled little watermelons.  ;)  Poesy likes to "cheers" everything (drinks, food, toys), so I was in charge of keeping her from "cheers"ing the girls' clothes with her paint brush.

I will say, some tricky animal (or maybe even person... who knows) stole all of my big, almost-red tomatoes from the garden on Sunday.  If this doesn't work, I will be taking more drastic measures to keep them out.  Too bad I don't already know all of the things about gardening, but I will say, sharing here on the blog and getting your feedback has been very educational for me.  So, thanks, guys!


32 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness! That is absolutely precious! Can't say I blame the animals for getting into your strawberries... strawberries are delicious!

    erinbulger.blogspot.ca

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  2. That's terrible about your tomatoes being stolen. I hope it was a hungry animal and not a thieving person (unless they really needed something to eat, but why not just knock on your door and ask)

    Mana
    Fashion and Happy Things

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  3. I think it sounds like a tomatonapper! Id think if it were an animal theyd leave some tomato bits behind.

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  4. What a cute idea! I hope it works. Either way, the girls look like they had a blast crafting!

    It's not the prettiest solution, but bird net does wonders. Heck, it's kept me at bay from my own planters when I've tried to remove it in the fall after the summer bounty is done! Good luck!

    -Becca
    Ladyface Blog

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  5. OH MY GOSH KATIE! Those are so so cute! And I adore your dress.

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  6. Really great idea! It looks nice too! And I'd like to have Hope's hair, I'm jealous!

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  7. Such a good idea, I hope it works! If not, you can buy netting to just lay over the plants so the birds can't get in.

    I've gotta say Katie - you always looks like such a dream! I really love your dress :)
    Rosie x

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  8. I love how Poesy holds her toy while she's painting :) so adorable. And I think the strawberry/watermelon stones look great :)

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  9. let's hope it works and the birds won't eat your strawberries.

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  10. This is a really cure idea! Although, I think it might have been a person :/ Hanna Marie

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  11. My dad puts big nets over all his tomatoes (and peach trees...and persimmon trees...) to keep animals out, it works pretty well. Good luck!

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  12. I keep deer and bunnies out of my garden by sprinkling hair clippings around the plant and the edge of the garden. The animals smell the hair, think that people are around and stay away. It doesn't work perfect but it's one of my favorite free tricks. The nitrogen in hair is also really good for plants.

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  13. When birds pick at my newly planted flowers, I always stick a rubber snack in the garden and it always keeps them away!

    Vintage Amore

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  14. My niece does the cheers thing too! With everything and everyone. You have to watch her or she will be walking up to strangers saying "cheers!". She has also taken it upon her self to dub the strangers she sees on a regular basis with nicknames. So far my favourite is when she said "I call him naked boy" when she saw a guy walking with no shirt on past her house eveeryday. haha! It seems like she is just a few months younger than your daughter so it's fun to see how they age in both similar and different ways :)

    www.whimsydarling.com

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  15. Cats don't like the smell of citrus, so if youll add peelings to your garden and flower beds its will help deter them, we had a cat who wouldn't stay out of the flowers.

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  16. Your pictures are always gorgeous! Cute idea ;)

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  17. awe what a fun little idea for the kids!

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  18. Your missing strawberries remind me of this book: http://www.amazon.com/Little-Strawberry-Hungry-Childs-Library/dp/0859536599 It is a favorite in our house. :)

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  19. It may be squirrels stealing your 'maters. Those sneaky buggers are notorious for stealing mine. I have found that they do not like having to go through tall grass. So if you have your tomato plants in an area that you can leave a perimeter of tall-ish grass they should stay out.

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  20. This is adorable! Future art teacher approved.
    Leah Faye
    a clover and a bee

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  21. i used to have a huge strawberry patch. if you put fake plastic snakes (like the ones you find at a dollar store) toward the edges, most small critters will be too scared to come near to find out if they are real or fake. it always worked for us and we had lots of tasty fruits and veggies because of it!

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  22. What a great idea! I planted our strawberries in a planter then when I started having fruit I took a piece of plastic mesh and made a cone like shape to protect them. Worked like a charm! Though, this is much cuter :)

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  23. What a good idea! The deer stole my squash this summer, sadly. Hope this works, and what a good activity for the kiddos!

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  24. I can't wait to hear if your decoys work! I would totally try this..some birdies snatched all my just-ripened blueberries this year.
    Shame on the tomato thief:(

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  25. sprinkling red pepper around the garden will also keep the animals out. you should re-sprinkle after the rain though!

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  26. I am just now catching up on my blog reading. These are cute! When we weren't lazy and actually had healthy tomato plants, we had squirrels stealing our tomatoes left and right. We could even see them running around with them and eating them. It was quite infuriating. We ended up putting netting around the plants and that (mostly) helped keep them away.

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  27. oh my god, great idea for the kids. and little poesy. sheesh she is adorable.

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  28. Oh Gosh! I think I might be the "lovely reader", unless more than one of us suggested this too you. So excited it did trick something in your other post, hopefully it was a lesson learned for that little scoundrel!

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