I know it's officially the middle of winter now, but I'm already starting to dream about what I'm going to plant in my garden this spring... One reason is that I absolutely love this project. It has been a very cool way to see the long-term fruits of our labor and it's given us something fun to do during the cold weather and fun gifts to give out as Christmas presents.
In today's post, I'm sharing a fun, family friendly project that you can start thinking about as you plan your garden... and I'm guessing there are a few of you out there...just...like...me :) Our family made Blue Bird Gourd Birdhouses from a few of our gourds in the garden whose plants eventually grew to look like this...
And the gourds eventually grew to look like this....
But after the winds grew cold and the frost came, they eventually looked like this... Total time elapse about 6 months...
Once you take them off the vine at the end of growing season, it's important just to let them be in an area that has ample air movement. This bench was right next to the edge of the garden where they were growing, so it turned out to be a good spot to let them cure... For two plants, we ended up yielding about 15 useable gourds...
A couple of weeks ago, we decided that it was finally time to go ahead and get these gourds ready to turn into birdhouses...
To get them to this point, there are a couple of steps that you need to take. First, fill a big basin full of 3 parts water and 1 part Clorox and scrub them to remove any mold or loose flakes on the surface. Once they dry, then sand them down with fine grain sand paper to remove any last bits. Next, have your handy husband (or you, if you know how) drill 4 holes on the bottom for rainwater to drain out and two holes in the top to pull a wire through so that you can hang the birdhouse in a tree... After that, using a circle cutter drill bit, cut a hole in the side of the house... Finally, clean out the inside of the birdhouse with a large spoon to get all of the seeds out -- of course that part is optional if you want your future birds to have food + home...
Our first gifts were going to be for Peyton's pre-school teachers, so we decided to do these in batches and to start with 2. We will eventually make all of the birdhouses and give some of them away as presents, so that will give us some fun projects to do during the rest of the winter...
Next, we used a white outdoor paint and applied it to the exterior of the bird house... There is a lot of information out on the internet about what color to paint the birdhouses and what size the hole should be for each species of bird. If you are making a Martin birdhouse, then you would just add some polyurethane and be done, but little Miss wanted to add some color, so we did our research and determined that blue birds don't have enough homes AND they don't mind color on their houses. Just be sure not to paint the whole house a dark color or the little birdies will get TOO HOT in the summer.
During the painting process, you have to shift the gourds around a bit to be sure to get them thoroughly coated...
And then, you can get out the fun paints and let your little one go to town... Of course, Peyton LOVED this part of the process...
After that, just add a coat of polyeurothane and add the wire in the top and you are all finished...Needless to say, our pre-school teachers loved their gifts and appreciated how much effort went into this project.
So if you are looking for a family friendly project that you can add to the list for the new year, then I would definitely add this one to the list...
Next up... my New Years Revolution!!! Have a happy day, everyone!!!
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