Don't you hate it when you go out to pick your strawberries that looked just perfect yesterday, only to find that those bushy-tailed rodents, otherwise known as squirrels, beat you to them?!
Or, how about when you've just re-filled the birdfeeder from that sack of seed you lugged home from the garden center - and next thing you know your beautiful songbirds are squawking and carrying on because - yet again - that pesky squirrel you can never seem to get rid of has showed up and taken over the feeder?! Don't you hate that?!
THE SOLUTION
Well, I finally found a solution to the birdfeeder problem:
The Droll Yankee Whipper
Check it out! I saw a home video on YouTube showing a squirrel after it stuffed itself on fermented pumpkin; sucker was so drunk it couldn't climb a tree! Talk about hilarious! When I posted the link on Twitter, one of my gardening buddies posted one for this squirrel-proof birdfeeder. Every time the squirrel tried to get at the birdfeed, its weight activated a battery-powered mechanism that spun the squirrel around until it went flying off the feeder! The birds are too light to activate it so they were able to resume eating.
The Droll Yankee Whipper
IT IS ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!
Although this model costs more than the ones you can get at your local garden center, I'm willing to bet it more than pays for itself in the long run - in the cost of those heavy sacks of birdseed!
I definitely plan to get one of these birdfeeders; I've actually been shopping around to find just the right one, 'cause I know there are feeders out there that claim to be squirrel-proof that definitely are not.
Here's the one I'm going to get:
It's a little pricier than the other one, but after seeing the YouTube video (and after I quit laughing my head off) I am convinced this is the real deal. Don't believe me? Check out the video for yourself:
YouTube.com/squirrelproof Now tell me that's not ingenious! Yardiac has both in stock whenever you're ready to order.
Droll Yankee Flipper 2008
The Droll Yankee Whipper
FEEDBACK, PLEASE
Do you already have a Yankee Flipper? What do you think? Is it worth the investment? Tweet me at
@FarmerPhoebe or send me an e-mail at
phoebe@askfarmerphoebe.com
and let me know what you think, OK?
I am most grateful to my Twitter buddy Beth, who told me about these. She says they bought one for her father-in-law and that, and I quote,
"he gets a lot of enjoyment out of it when squirrels are flying off of it!" And before the animal rights activists get into a tizzy, it's not built to hurt the squirrels, just to deter them. And we gardeners know for a FACT how tough that is, right?!
Here's the link once more.
The Droll Yankee Whipper
Droll Yankee Flipper 2008
Enjoy!
Every year since Scotts’ alleged ‘organic miracle’ was introduced in 2003, I’ve been advocating against their greenwashed profiteering from an organic market to whom names like “Scotts” and “Monsanto” are historically anathemas. While much of one’s definition of “organic” can be personally subjective, along with their own personal choices, the facts speak for themselves. Scotts’ MG OC may walk like an organic duck and talk like an organic duck….but it is neither. A duck maybe. Organic…NOT!
When I noted your recent interest in this issue, I forwarded to you my latest blog comments. Anyone else interested can read them here: ourgardenearth.blogspot.com
Keep up the good fight. If for no other reason than on principle: It’s Scotts after all.
Linda
.
is it ok to be afraid of everything I eat now?????
So glad I found you on Twitter! I knew some folks play fast and loose with the term organic but I didn’t realize about Miracle-Gro. Sooooo what do you suggest someone who gardens in containers on her patio to do for organic dirt?
Pam
http://empowerwellness.blogspot.com
Hi Pam,
You are not alone. I’ve been posting on an organic gardening message board for 7 years and I can’t tell you how many times people promote the use of commercial nonorganic products there, including MG Organic Choice. Frankly, even if the product were truly organic I’d have a tough time buying from a chemical herbicide/pesticide company that generates the vast majority of its revenue from products that are harmful to the environment.
But you stopped by with a question so let me get off my high horse for a second.
I have not personally gardened in containers, so here’s a link that may help both of us: http://life.gaiam.com/gaiam/p/How-to-Grow-an-Organic-Container-Garden.html
Except for using peat moss, which I understand is a natural resource that takes centuries to form and harvesting it from peat bogs disturbs intricate ecosystems, most of the suggestions in the article sound pretty good.
If you don’t make your own compost the best soil amendment I can suggest is this stuff called organic mushroom compost. It’s prepared by a smallish company in the Midwest called Midwest Trading Horticultural Supplies. I’ve been using it for years with fantastic results. The 1:1:1 ratios sound a little off to me, though. Instead of sand, I’d add some gravel to the bottom inch or two to improve drainage (like you’d do with houseplants) and then use about 4:1 mixture of regular old potting soil–or dirt from your garden–and mushroom compost.
There are plenty of organic foliar fertilizers. Gardens Alive and Arbico Organics may be two good resources. Personally, I would continue to try to feed the soil by adding homemade compost–or worm castings! Suburban_Farmer on Twitter is an awesome resource to learn about vermicomposting–plus she’s a wonderful person and lots of fun. In fact, you’ve inspired me to hurry up and edit the audio from my teleclass on which she and I discussed worm composting. I’ve learned a lot from her! I’ll post here when the audio’s available for download.
I hope this helps. Please feel free to tweet me anytime if you have any more questions. Also, I host a weekly free teleclass on organic gardening. We’re on sabbatical this week, but most every other week I have a wonderfully knowledgeable guest on who talks about and answers your questions about various organic gardening topics. You can sign up at http://www.askfarmerphoebe.com *end of self-promotional plug*
Thanks again for stopping by. I’ll tweet you later!
i HAD NO IDEA IT WAS ALL CHEMICAL BASED – i WAS JUST LOOKING FOR SAFE DIRT, OURS HAD LEAD IN IT.
IF I GROW VEGIES IN IT, WILL THE FOOD BE TAINTED SO MUCH SO IT IS NO GOOD?
I HAD NOT KNOWN THIS AND SPENT $140. ON THE DIRT AND THE GARDEN IS ALREADY PLANTED, ANY ADVICE?
How does the miracle grow replace basic composting / lime / etc? Growing up doing a 1/2 acre garden we never used anything other than Manure, Lime, Compost…. Is Miracle Grow some sort of replacement for one / all of these? We started our work in Early April until planting season.