A month ago, a Song Sparrow took up residence in the snow peas.  I saw her flit away every time I went out to pick peas, but I didn't think any more of it, especially since the season was almost over and I soon stopped picking.

Yesterday, though, I went out to harvest the rest of the seeds.  I kept waiting for a dry day, but finally threw up my hands and harvested in a gentle rain, discarding the seeds that had sprouted (or molded) in the pod.  The seeds are drying on a tray now --- about a pint of them which I figure means we have some to spare for a future giveaway!

Anyhow, as I started to rip out the dead vines post-harvest, I was stunned to see a perfect bird's nest right smack in the middle.  My resident Song Sparrow wasn't just nibbling on insects in the foliage as I'd suspected, she was raising her young!  The nest was empty now, except for some gnawed on pea seeds.  (Perhaps a mouse took up residence after the birds moved out?)  So after snapping some photos, I tore the nest out to add to the mulch on a dormant bed.  A little toad hopped away while I was working, and I was stunned that one garden bed could support so much life.

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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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