Jane, if you only have one feeder out, you might try a good mixture with black oil sunflower seeds stirred into it. Don't get the cheapie kind with those little reddish-brown "BB's" in it. I have never seen ANYTHING actually eat those. I get mine at PetSmart, and I really love the Stokes mixture that has no hulls in it. I feed it, black oiler sunflowers and safflower seed. Safflower seed goes into a feeder that doesn't have squirrel protection, because they don't really like it, but cardinals and titmice do. HOWEVER, no matter what you are feeding, there will be times when birds are not around for various reasons. I have hardly any right now, mostly due to a pair of hawks hanging about our neighborhood. And even without the hawks, birds often disappear for a few weeks now and then. One more thing...don't forget that WATER is probably even more important than seed in luring birds to your yard. You'll notice that most of Maureen's pictures feature her great birdbath. Be sure to provide several "baths" around the yard. They can be anything from decorative features to trashcan lids on the ground with 2" of water in them. I often turn clay pots upside down and put a clay saucer on top for water. Keep the water CLEAN and shallow, maybe even adding a rock in the center for birds to stand on. Good luck! Marcia

bamakrautie, about the bird houses, what kind are they? Are they decrative or do you plan on trying to attract birds to nest in them? If you plan on having birds nest in them please please get information on how and where to place them. If they are decrative plug the holes, you can take a thin peice of wood and paint it black to place behind the hole that will not ruin the look. Most people don't know the responsibilities that go with providing homes for cavity nesting birds (I didn't)there is much to learn to avoid a horrible outcome. It is however the most rewarding and exciting thing I have done in a long time. Some cavity nesting birds are Blue Birds, Chickadees, Titmice, Nuthatches, and Woodpeckers. Here is a site that will give you a lot of good information www.sialis.org Hope this helps! Lisa

I'm not quite sure whether I checked the date of the original post ... until I read my comment: then I did. Ipsos is a legitimate survey company. I've done online surveys for them, some of them asking personal info, and I think that their claim that the info is confidential and kept private, except for the aggregated answers, is legitimate. Raven (of the black feathers?) Maybe send them back $9.50 or so - they pay the postage. Oh, right ... but the ten bucks isn't worth as much now, is it? Ah, but ... should you pay them interest on the money, held for those five years plus?? Life *do* have its problems! o j

There is a movement here to get a "local" grocery store going. I honestly can't understand the whole concept - for a few reasons. 1) Local producers that sell at markets are small. The reason we do farmers markets is because we can't supply bigger. The bigger growers that can supply stores already do. 2) In order for a model like this to work, one of 2 things would need to happen for it to be worth your while / make money. 1 - growers would have to sell to you at a wholesale price, or 2 - you would have to mark produce up higher than what the grower is selling it for. We would not take a cut in price to supply a store (who might or might not sell the produce) when we can sell out of almost everything we bring to market and get retail prices. 3) Produce is seasonal. What is available in winter? What will you be able to offer customers then if you do not expand beyond local? Farmers markets are seasonal for a reason, and those that shop them know that. I understand wanting local product to be available to consumers all of the time, but the logistics of it just don't make sense to me. I believe that is why grocery stores exist.