backyardentrepreneur@yahoo.com
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Backyard EntrepreneurTM Birdscape Landscaper A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Make money at home as an entrepreneur by designing and creating landscaped yards full of native plants and bamboo that attract birds. Become an expert in knowing how to attract songbirds in your area. Birdscape Careers
Your backyard can become an oasis for you and a sanctuary for your birds. In providing for them, you provide for yourself. Designing for birds will create a restful haven for you and your family. As the population ages, there will be more of a demand for birdscapes. Nursing homes will want outside activities for their older residents. Watching birds is the perfect choice. It keeps the mind active and engaged. More and more home designers are choosing to create a park like setting in backyards. More native prairie grasses and wildflowers with an emphasis on casual settings are perfect for birds. It is perfect for you, too, as these plants need less care and water. Let the garden go to seed. Leave that pile of brush. Just don’t over do it and create a haven for rats. Birds will not mind if the backyard lawn is not perfectly manicured. Birds depend on your kindness to provide them with food, shelter, water, and nesting materials. With a little thought and planning, you can do this for yourself and for your neighbors. You can even organize a career around birdscape landscaping. You first need to know your birds. Which ones are local birds and which ones migrate through your area. Use a field guide to find out. Go to the library or check out resources on the Internet. Get active in your local bird clubs or conservation associations. Sell Birdseed,Birdfeeders,and Plants
Now that you know your birds, know what they eat for nourishment in your particular environment. They will need extra energy for their migratory flights, for the winter in colder climates, and for spring reproduction activities. Once you know what they need to eat, you can provide this by buying their favorites food, supplemented by plants in your yard. Go to your local garden store to find plants for your area that will provide nourishment for your birds year round. Check out our page about what birds eat for more ideas. Make birdfeeders. Some birds need a platform on the ground and some want hanging platforms. Build window inserts that extend into a home window with one-way glass so the birds do not see you as they eat. Make and Sell Birdfeeders
Ground platform
Fruit
Insect
Hoppers
Nectar
Peanut
Platform
Use a platform feeder with corn for blue jays, bobwhite quail, doves, grackles,
Use a platform feeder with peanuts for blue jays, cardinals, chickadees, grackles,
Suet
Tube Use a tube feeder with a bottom tray for cardinals, crossbills, blue jays, house finches, purple finches, white-throated sparrows, and white-crowned sparrows Use a NyjerR tube feeder with tray for chickadees, dark-eyed juncos, goldfinches, house finches, mourning doves, nuthatches, pine siskins, purple finches, red polls, song sparrows, white-throated sparrows Propagate and Sell
If you don't want to, you don't have to mow that big yard of yours! You do not have to if you go native. You will want to design a yard with native plants and grasses to save on the water bill, to save time so you do not have to mow, to keep down the noise pollution of the big blowers and lawn mowers, and to attract birds to your backyard. You will want to study native plants and learn how to incorporate them into your yard. What goes into the corners? What will look good around the trees? What grows best along the garden path? Propagate the native grasses and plants. Collect the seeds and package them with a clever design and logo. Sell them in your neck of the woods and on the Internet. If you live under a migratory flight path, provide for birds all year long because some birds migrate at different times of the year and not just during the spring or fall. You need to provide nesting materials for the spring, too. There are just so many choices for every area; here are some suggestions: Spring (nesting period): coreopsis and honeysuckle. Summer (store energy for migration): dogwood, mountain ash, aster, cherry, chokecherry, honeysuckle, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, and grape. Winter (to live through the cold): bayberry, holly, sumac, crabapple, snowberry, bittersweet, blueberry, cranberry, Virginia creeper, Chinaberry, and arrowwood viburnum. Evergreens shrubs and trees (for safety, nests, and food – sap, buds, seeds): pines, spruces, firs, arborvitae, junipers, cedars, and yews. Nutty trees (for food): oaks, hickories, buckeyes, chestnuts, butternuts, walnuts, hazels. Fruit trees. Nectar for hummingbirds, butterflies, and orioles: Trumpet vines, Carolina jasmine, lantana. You will also want to create a breeding habitat in your backyard for your local birds so they will stay. Stair step your trees and shrubs. Put taller trees and shrubs in the back with shorter ones in front. Vines will grow on a trellis or arbor. Put as many of these as your space will allow. Make natural privacy screens around the perimeter of your yard. Add a pond and several water sources for your birds. Remember not to use any herbicides and pesticides. Now that you have done this in your own backyard, begin to help others in your community. You now have a career, a calling. Listen to the bird call. Design Yards for Others You will love being outside, creating, drawing, and designing a stress-free wonder in your backyard, frontyard, and all along the edges, too. Get the entire family outside and involved. You can change the world, one yard at a time. Consider grasses that do not have to be mowed. You will cut down on noise and air pollution. Korean grass and myoporium are two kinds of Asian grasses that are so beautiful and do not have to be mowed. Learn how to sketch the plants into your garden designs. Create sketches of your neighbors' yards, too. Let them look at them to see the possibilites for their yards. Then you can be hired as the one in charge of the transformation of the entire neighborhood. Sit in front of a neighbor's house and sketch the improvements you would make to the yard. Make a presentation or mail the design. Call in a few days and set up an appointment to discuss your ideas. You are paid for your services plus whatever the plants cost. You might do the work or hire it out to be done. Your pay is over and beyond the cost of labor and plants. Your success can lead to a career in landscape architecture. Sell Bamboo
Make certain that you sell lucky bamboo plants, too. Bamboo is a wonderful plant and comes in different sizes and varieties. Birds and wildlife love it. It provides a privacy screen for you. It is so green that the environmentalist love it. It grows fast and soaks up all the bad stuff in the air. Best of all, it can be harvested for all kinds of arts and craft projects. Once you plant it, it grows quickly and it is free for all your products that you can make and sell. Why buy from China, when all of America can buy from you? You can make planters, plant stakes, fences, wind chimes, mats, room dividers, outdoor furniture, musical instruments, and trellises. Bamboo can be spun into fibers to make clothes. It can be used in soap. May you have great success with bamboo. There's green money in going green. It's Tough Being a BirdIt is hard being a bird. There are just so many problems to contend with. Give your birds a helping hand.CatsCats are a serious problem to birds. Do not put up feeders and nesting boxes if you have cats roaming around. Even well fed cats will attack and kill birds. A bell around the cat’s neck will not help. Keep your cats indoors. Feeders as Traps Never leave empty birdfeeders out. When you go on vacations, take the feeders down. Birds can become trapped inside trying to get that last seed. Hungry SquirrelsUse a squirrel baffle to keep squirrels away from your birdseed. Feed squirrels in another spot in your yard, away from the birdfeeders so that both squirrels and birds can be kept fat and happy. |
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