The Workshop

BHs for Gathering on the Green

I kept busy as a bee in May while cutting quick-grow grass, whacking tenacious dandelions (some had their roots wrapped around my Union Gas line), preparing for my motorcycle trip to the East Coast, and, chiefly, upgrading current birdhouse stock - a bit of paint here, a bit of trim there - and building new models for The Gathering on the Green, a much anticipated yearly event in a rare, large green space near my home in Wortley Village, London.

I am especially happy about my 'birdhouse on a stick' model, i.e., a sturdy BH sits atop a rescued tree limb.

Last winter, while at a London Knights OHL game, I happened to mention my success selling 'BHs on a stick' to a friend and two men nearby overheard. One turned around in his seat and asked for more details (and he (Damian) and his wife appeared at my house a week later to make a purchase, and drop off hop plants for my garden). The other (Kevin), however, was aghast.

"You sell sticks?" he said.

"Yeah, but I de-bark them and paint them up a bit."

"I can't believe people in the city are so gullible," Kevin said. "In the country we just throw downed-limbs into a pile and burn them. We call it firewood. I've got piles of the stuff. I just can't believe you're selling sticks!"

For a second I felt willing to offer to drive to his place and look through his pile but I quashed that idea. Thames Park is closer!

So, I now call myself the guy who sells birdhouses on a stick. And I still like the idea... because it works! A BH can be planted and in operation in under five minutes. Cool.

Link to The Workshop

Photos GH