Episode-399- A New Look at Attracting “Wildlife” to Your Property
From the urban homesteader to the person with 100 acres in the sticks most of us value wildlife for many reasons. They are of course a source of protein either as “game” or during an emergency by what ever works yet they do a lot more to improve the quality of our homesteads.
When most folks think about “attracting wildlife” they begin with song birds, squirrels and rabbits and if in the right location then move up to things like deer, turkey and perhaps water fowl. Today we are going to start at a much lower trophic level.
Join me today as we discuss…
- Why we want “wild things” around us and the need to observe
- In a way all animals are herbivores and solar collectors (really its true)
- Most life is dependent upon soil with very few exceptions
- Soil is dependent upon “soil wildlife” to be sustained
- You never feed plants you feed the soil
- Imagine 1,000,000 or more unpaid employees – think worms
- Water features improve every aspect of any and all property
- Bats are your friends, give them a home – and protect them
- Almost no “pest insects” are attracted by flowering herbs
- Many small herb gardens have a greater effect than one big one
- There is room for at least a patch of “wilderness” on all property
- Frogs and toads are the princes of your garden, give them a palace
- Lizards, geckos and even snakes are good to have around
- Squirrels need food, shelter, cover and water
- Want rabbits? Protect them from dogs and cats and plant clover
- Bird feeders work great, bird habitat works better
- The magic of the “bird perch”
Resources for today’s show
- Members Support Brigade
- Join Our Forum
- Western Botanicals – (sponsor of the day)
- Common Sense Prep – (sponsor of the day)
- Honeyville Grains
- Cool fire/knife tool I mentioned
- Cool Bird Identification Application I mentioned
- Article on Mounting Bat Houses
- Rattlesnake Vaccine for Dogs
- The little earth snakes I find in my garden
- eHow Article on Toad Houses
- Check out Ron Hood’s Survival Quarterly
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show
Ok , Plant clover to atract rabbits but how , til the ground ? Throw down cardboard plant on top of cardboard ? any suggestions ?
More sound effects! Jack does a mean weed eater. 🙂
How about an offshoot from TSP, something like The Garden Broadcast? I am amazed at all of the gardening that I have learned from TSP and this is another show that proves the point.
Thanks Jack!
Some of the methods that we used for organic farming in Asia. We plant onions around our veg crops that will prevent many pests. We rear goats that is lead or used to eat up all the weed or grass before planting or even during the growing of the veg but make sure the goat don’t eat the veg. We have double fish pond at least whereby duck are rear so that the excreta is secreted into the pond as food for the fish then when the fish are grown, the pond is drain into the next pond & the fish are harvested, the waste at the bottom of the pond are flush into the field as fertiliser. Then a new batch of fish hatching is released into the pond that is being clean. Pig is rear nearby whereby the excreta from the pig is also used as fertiliser this will prevent the ground from harden as we need a rotating type of organic fertilizer. All this can be achieved in less than 1 acre of land so is suitable for self sustained household.
The Bat and Toad House, plus the making of ponds are fantastic ideas. Thanks.
I have the situation that was described of being in a city with no nearby habitat that I can attract wildlife from. I like the idea of toads/lizards/snakes but don’t know how to get them to my yard. Does anyone have any suggestions? There is a nearby park with a pond but not much ground cover. I might put up a toad house or two there when it warms up more to see if I can trap something.
About the bat house location, might want to consider the guano potential if you are placing it on your house. I’m planning to build/install a bat house this summer but don’t intend to put it on my house to avoid guano on my house or immediately next to it.
@MIke: Good points. Guano indeed is a major concern, but so are bird droppings, particularly from doves.
OTOH, guano was mined to make gun powder. So that may be yet another reason for keeping bats around, and be completely self-sufficient. LOL.
I have no problem with the guano in general. I just won’t put the bat house on my house b/c I don’t want it running down the wall. The other thing is that the south side is right over a walkway along the house, so I also don’t want it piling up on the walk or my head! On the other hand, letting it pile up under a tree in the yard is no problem, especially since it is apparently a very good fertilizer!
I loved the ideas of bat and toad houses. Here is Phoenix we actually have our own kind of toad- the Sonoran desert toad which is a great little guy to have around. So if we can have them here in the desert I think you can have them anywhere.
The audio is much better than it has been over the last several months. Thanks for your efforts to continually improve the audio quality and the content of your shows. I look forward to your podcast every day!
The only thing I can say is that the audio may have a bit too much gain. But it has really gotten a lot better! Very clear and warm tone.