Blooms Across America

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Our toll free number eight hundred eight two three eight
two five five. Good morning. I am Ron Wilson, her
personally yard Boy, talking about yarding America in Bloom. Are
you familiar with America in Bloom. We've had them on
our show in the past, trying to keep you updated
what they do, and they do such a great thing
for all the communities around the United States. But sometimes

(00:20):
I bring that up and folks just aren't familiar with it.
We want to continue to push America in Bloom so
you know more about it and maybe get them involved
with your community as well. Go to their website it's
America in Bloom dot org. That's America in Bloom dot
org and to talk to us a little bit more
about what they're doing, what they do, and what they're
going to be doing. In twenty twenty six, a new

(00:40):
program launching celebrating twenty five years the growing Viber communities
is the executive director, Laura concle Good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Good morning, Thank you so much for having me today.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Well, we appreciate you getting up and talking with us
so early on a Saturday morning. So America in Bloom
twenty five years, I can't believe it.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
I can't either. I was around up from day one
when this organization was created, So it's quite a quite
a journey twenty five years. Were excited to be celebrating
twenty five years of helping community become the very best
that they can be.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Who is there one person or was there a How
did America and Bloom get started?

Speaker 2 (01:19):
So began twenty five years ago, before twenty five years
that my maybe twenty seven years ago. It was a
group of horticulture professionals got together and they were big
wigs in the horticulture industry, and they would fly into Cleveland, Ohio,
and they sort of talked about spent about two years
thinking how can we connect better at the grassroots level
about the benefits of plants. We know that plants are pretty,

(01:41):
but they are more than pretty. There's economic benefits, environmental benefits,
and human health benefits. So they spent about two years
developing this plan on creating an organization called America in
Bloom on doing just that, connecting at the grassroots level
about the benefits of plants. So twenty five years ago
the organization was launched and I'm really proud to have

(02:02):
been involved since day one.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
Wow, that's crazy twenty I's still twenty five years is nuts.
So again, at go to their website, check it out
and you can learn more about it American Bloom dot org.
So folks understand this, so okay, So you like it
out and teach folks about the beautification of their communities
and how important it is, et cetera, et cetera. But
you guys have taken this to all new levels as
far as categories and awards and training and programs and

(02:28):
a whole nine yards.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yeah, we really have. So you know, we do know
and your listeners know that communities that are more welcoming
and vibrant have a competitive advantage in attracting tourists, in
stimulating economic development, and creating a thriving place for people
to work and live. So American Bloom really believes that

(02:51):
we can help build vibrant and sustainable community through volunteerism,
through education which emphasizes flowers, plants, trees, hair, environmental and
lifestyle enhancements. We want American Bloom communities to be the
best examples of welcoming and vibrant places to live, work,
in play. So for twenty five years we've been doing

(03:14):
this program where in fact, we've had three hundred and
eighty communities in forty four states, and we send advisors.
We send a two person team of advisors into a community.
These are specially trained professionals. They tour a community, they
meet leaders and volunteers, they provide coaching and mentoring, and

(03:36):
then they provide this detailed report. It's really an action
plan that offers comprehensive recommendations for community transformation. So our
advisors are really the rock stars of the American Balloom program.
We have landscapers, we have heritage architects, we have city managers,
we have mayors, we have horticulture professionals. They bring such

(04:00):
a breadth and depth of knowledge to communities. So you
did reference the categories. The registration fee is based on
your population, so it is scaled. Smaller communities would certainly
pay less than a larger community, but American Ballooon pays
for the advisors to fly into each community. While the

(04:22):
registration fee does help us just offset of some of
the fees. What's really cool about the program. In addition
to getting this remarkable report, which we've been told, consult
you'd pay a consultant about fifty thousand dollars. You're going
to do that with us for about a fraction of
the cost, cracked around seventeen hundred dollars. But the cool
thing also that you are communities are eligible to win

(04:43):
national awards. Communities are doing remarkable things. Municipal staff are
doing great things, volunteers are doing great things. The awards
program allows them to get national recognition.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
For the great things that they're doing.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
And let's face it, you know, the mayors like to
brag about the awards that a community wins. Come with
election time or when you're trying to recruit new business,
new new residents to come to your community, you're going
to brag about those awards that you want, like hey,
we're voted the best place for kids, or coolest downtown,
best community garden program, whatever the award is that a

(05:18):
community wins. Those those those are bragging rights, and those
things are important.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
It's a yeah, it's.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
A great way for people to be recognized and also
a great recruitment tool for business.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
Sure, and of course that's you. What you're offering them
is then a start. You know, let's take a look
at it. Here's what we think you can do as
somebody looks at this Laura and again their website America
in bloom dot org. Check it out. If a community
has you come in and sit down with them, can
they actually set a budget of what they're able to spend?
Or is that how you start that out? Like Okay,

(05:50):
we've got so much money we can spend. Now we'll
try to increase that down the road, or how does that?
How do you work with that community?

Speaker 2 (05:58):
Well that's how. We don't come in with a budget
per se. What we do is we come in with
an outsider's perspective and we're going to look Our team
of advisor has about one hundred and fifty different metrics
or questions if you will, that they look at, how
is the question? How is a community doing in these
one hundred and fifty ish metrics, And so you give
a spore on that so you have a baseline. But

(06:20):
really the meat of the visit is the recommendations that
they're going to provide. You know, they've looked at one
hundred and fifty different things, and here's recommendations on how
to get better in each of these things. So some
will be very easy, very easy projects that a community
could check off and perhaps low budget or much much
more resources required. Some are going to be longer term ideas.

(06:43):
Some are going to be so aspirational that you think
you can't do it, but I promise you can do it.
So we don't come in really saying this is what
it's going to cost, like, we come in and say
this is what we think you can do with what
you have and how to go from good to great.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
And then of course the community can take it from there,
take it back to the community, present that and then
you know, a lot of communities have local nurseries, local
gardence centers, landscape firms. Maybe then start to tie in
with them as well to be a part of that.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
Exactly, yes, exactly, we would love for horticulture businesses in
a community, landscapers, garden centers, growers as you've mentioned, to
really be a partner in the community's efforts. It's a
business building opportunity certainly for those companies, but it's another
way to show your commitment to the community. And then

(07:32):
horticulture businesses bring experience and knowledge and a professionalism to it.
They will help a community do their projects correctly. You know,
we right plant, right place, that sort of thing.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
And not too bad if you're in the community putting
your name behind that as well.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
Exactly, it's definitely a business building opportunity. I'm not you know, certainly,
let's acknowledge that.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
Yeah. Absolutely, talking with Laura Conkle, she's the executive director
of America in Bloom. Go to the website America in
bloom dot org. If you think your community would want
to do this, and this is something that you know,
it's if you came out there, you know, March January, Februy,
March whatever. This is something you're going to look at
for the next you know, to get going, probably a
year or two to get everything in place and then

(08:16):
get this program going. I mean there's a little bit
of time involved there before you really get it up
and running right.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
Well, we want communities to jump in. The registration deadline
for the twenty twenty sixth program is February twenty eighth.
We we want every community to just go ahead and register.
Let's get those advisors to come out to you and
they would come in the summer May to July ish,
depending on your climate. Okay, and so let's get the
advisors out there, get this this report so you can

(08:43):
already go ahead and get the recommendations and start working
on them, and then you know, just keep building the
momentum year after year after year, right SoC sense the lane.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
Yeah, so actually you're looking you would be looking at
twenty twenty seven as far as really getting and starting
to get the program going.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
Well, I guess, I say, and get your program going.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah, yeah, but I mean you know you might right ahead.
I'm just going to say to you know, by the
time you get all the planning in place and all
your sponsors and everything together, it would be looking. Yeah.
I still you want to get it going as quick
as you can, but you'd really be rolling for twenty
twenty seven. All right, let's take a quick break, because
then I'm gonna let folks know what kind of programs
you're launching for twenty twenty six. How to get more

(09:29):
involved or get in touch with again, go to the
website is America in bloom dot org. I think you're
going to find out that this is something your community
probably should be doing. If they're not, they should be.
Check it out more with Laura Kunkle Here in the
Garden with Ron Wilson. Welcome back here in the Garden.
With Ron Wilson's special guests this morning Laura Kunkle. She
is the executive director for America in Bloom growing vibrant

(09:52):
communities and talking about how you can get your community
involved with America in Bloom as well. So go to
their website America in Bloom dot org and learn more
about it, you know, community wise, and again it's a
great thing. And I if folks are listening this morning,
take this to if you're not doing this, take it
to your community and present this because I think all

(10:12):
the benefits would have not just to make your community
look better, but last Laura was saying earlier, inviting new residents,
inviting new businesses, making you feel better, the community feel better.
And bottom line is they have all kinds of categories
that you can actually win. The category winners that and
the towns that you work with. I mean there are
small towns like thousand people population to as big as Topeka,

(10:35):
Kansas are larger.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
Right, Yes, we've been as I mentioned earlier, three hundred
and eighty communities and they are from across the country,
the Pacific Northwest, down the southern Florida and all points
in between. And we had communities of fewer than two
hundred people and the largest community ever to participate would
have been Chicago. So you know, our advisors can do

(10:58):
small communities and communities and communities of all resources. You know,
we've our advisors have been to Calabasas, California. That's you know,
a wealthy community along in California. But we've been in
communities that are that are much smaller, have far fewer resources.
But you know, all communities that are involved in American
Bloomers are the same in one way. They care deeply

(11:19):
about where they live and they want it to be better.
And that's what we do. We come in and help
you get better and you.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
Can tell when you visit that community that you folks
have been helping. Again, go to their website America and
bloom dot org to learn more about it. So looking
ahead to twenty twenty six, it's your twenty fifth anniversary,
also a very specific celebration for the United States, so
kind of a great thing. You've got some new expanded
programs and research and all kinds of stuff going on

(11:47):
for twenty twenty six.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yes, it's you know, we're super excited to be celebrating
twenty five years. You know, a lot of organizations don't
make it that long, and so we're we're doing very
well in twenty five years, and we're looking for what
the next twenty five years looks like. But it is
fun to do this in tandem with America's two fifty
celebration this year. This year meeting twenty twenty six, we
are going to launch a new program called Gardens Across America.

(12:11):
This is a way that property owners can show their
commitment to beautification, environmental stewardship, and community vitality.

Speaker 3 (12:20):
We use the.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
Gardens Across America program uses a easy to use self
assessment tool where you certify your property. Property is eligible
for the Gardens Across America program include residential properties, business schoals,
places of worship, even the municipal or government properties or
public gardens. And just I want to be very clear

(12:41):
that your garden doesn't have to be fancy, eye popping
or magazine worthy. This is a program for everyone. It's
just a program that allows you to show your support
for the ideals of environmental stewardship, beautification, and community vitality.
It's only twenty dollars to get your proper pretty certified.
You have to go through the self assessment and you

(13:04):
know the answer some questions that you you know, I
agree to this, this, this, and this, and it shows
your commitment. And then you also have the option to
buy a fine that you can install in your gardener
preps put it on your garden shed that promotes your
involvement and your successful completion of the Gardens Across America
certification program.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
So when you when these entries all come in, and
I know I've been on your website and seeing that
when you always send me an email about the winners
and I get to see what they've done. But if
folks go to the website, will pictures of all of
these guards and that be posted that folks can see
examples of what's going on.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
I think what you'll see on our Facebook page more
than our website, would be a photo examples Instagram too.
We use more and more Facebook Candidly, you'll see more
pictures from communities. I'd love to be able to make
our website more robust and really show those examples from communities.
But please visit our Facebook page and Instagram so you

(14:03):
can see some really remarkable examples. We also have a
YouTube channel where communities submit YouTube videos that show through
video their transformation and those are some really impactful, beautiful
storytelling of how they've gotten involved in American Bloom.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
And what it's done.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
So make your community step up to the play. Let's
let's get them out there. And if we get and
we can get everybody involved, will be absolutely outstanding. But
learn more about it and then take you know, get
to your community members, your community heads of the community,
your mayors or whatever, or township trustees. Take a look
at this and see how it can benefit your community
and get America in Bloom involved. And of course at

(14:45):
a personal level, you can do it also individual businesses,
municipalities with the gardens across America. Again, to learn more
about it, to get started anyway, you can go to
their Facebook page, Instagram, or also go to the website
America in bloom dot org. Check it out. I highly
encourage this. Get yourself involved, get your community involved. Everybody

(15:06):
will certainly appreciate what they can do for you to
help out your community. It's a wonderful program celebrate in
twenty five years.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
Congratulations, Thank you so much, bro, honor to be with
you today.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
Ron, it's a pleasure having you on Laura Concos again,
the executive director America in Bloom dot org. Have a
good day, Thank you, Sing to you all right, take care.
America in Bloom Growing Viber Communities. Great program. We've had
them on our show before, we talk about it. I
think it's one of those programs that kind of flies
under the radar sometimes and they they do promote it

(15:41):
a lot, and we try to promote it here through
the professionals. They know about American and Bloom. But this
is a great way if you're you know, you say, man,
I wish I could get our small town, our big town,
whatever be our community more involved with this uh to
make it look nice for street tree plannings and the
baskets and the colors in the gardens and all of that,
all of the things. Is so many categories that they

(16:03):
can help you with. Here's a group that can come in.
It's not very expensive, sit down with you, take a
look at your community and give you some direction as
far as what you can do to make it in
Bloom being a part of the America in Bloom and
really increase the value and feeling of your community. It's

(16:24):
pretty simple. And then you get the nurseries and garden
centers and master gardeners and everybody involved. It can really
really be a cool thing again, go to the website.
Check it out America in bloom dot Org. All right,
winners right around the corner. Birds are hungry. What do
we do about the birds? Well, we talk to our

(16:44):
bird expert, our wild winged Wonder, Monica Brubaker from wild
Birds Unlimited, would be with us next, tell us what
to do with those birds during the wintertime. Here in
the garden with Ron Wilson. Here in the garden with
Ron Wilson, and yep, winner has sprung upon us. It's
unbelievable snow out there, it's cold. What do you do

(17:04):
about the birds? You look out there. You don't see
too many of them right now because they're kind of
hiding out because it's cold out there. Wild one, it's
time to figure out what to do for our birds,
no matter what the season. We go to our wild
winged Wonder from wild Birds Unlimited. Ladies and gentlemen. She
knows more about birds than birds know about birds. Monica Brubaker,

(17:26):
Good morning, we're on.

Speaker 3 (17:27):
Good morning, Thank you.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
Get off the ledges, away from the windows. Oh, they're
lined up this morning. I've never seen so many different
kinds of birds along the windowsills ever. You feel like
the Kenwood tower's tilting a little bit. There's so many
birds out there. Yeah, they're so excited. They're so excited
because you're gonna be on the radio talking foul language.

(17:54):
That's how I get Monica's attention when I email her.
Would you like to talk some foul language on the read?

Speaker 3 (18:00):
Yeah? And also talking about what else? Or you know,
what's the first thing you want to bring up today?

Speaker 1 (18:07):
Well, if by chance birds would accidentally poop on something
you don't want them to poop on, is there a
product to get rid of it?

Speaker 3 (18:14):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yes, yes off? What is it called.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
Poof?

Speaker 1 (18:19):
Poop off? I mean it's hard to get off of
things sometimes. I mean, let's face it.

Speaker 3 (18:24):
And it is now, it really is, and it is
a great product. So there you go for your.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
Bird baths whatever may be. Poop off is available for you.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
All right, There you go.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
What's your website?

Speaker 3 (18:35):
All right, w BU dot com, slash Westchester or Springboro.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
There you go, so you can check it out. All
kinds of great information there as well. So winter is
not only coming, it's it's moved in and I look
out there right now, I don't see a lot of birds.
Happened for the last several days flying around too much.
They've been kind of hanging out, are you always? You
know about the Evergreen Heads that I play at many
many many years. I call at the hotel. It's a

(19:00):
little bed and breakfast. I throw slices of oranges and
apples and stuff back in there, and there's birds coming
in it all the time. But they're kind of what
do they do right now? There's kind of hanging out
waiting for the weather to change.

Speaker 3 (19:13):
Well, they're hunkering down and you know they're they're coming
off their caching season when you know they were hiding
all of their food to have when it's cold. But
you know in the mornings especially, it's they're slow to
you know, come around when it's this cold. So yeah,

(19:33):
you're going to you know, it's picking up more and
more every day, and they're certainly going to benefit from
that supplemental food.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
Like like bees. Are our birds like bees? And the
fact that you know there's a certain temperature that they
just don't get out, I mean, is there a limiting
factor there?

Speaker 3 (19:52):
Well? Well, I mean, you know, I would say that,
you know, they're going to have to find food, so.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
So no matter what, you got to get something to find.

Speaker 3 (20:03):
Food, they do, they do, and they're able to you know,
insulate you know, under their feathers to tolerate the temperatures.
And at night when they sleep, they can you know,
lower basically they're lowering their heart rates so that they
can maintain heat. So yeah, I mean generally in our area,

(20:26):
the birds that are here I mean, of course are
hummingbirds have gone, but you know most of them stay
here because you know, they can handle it.

Speaker 1 (20:36):
They accept the hummingbirds obviously.

Speaker 3 (20:40):
Accept the hummingbirds. And then we also have you know,
birds that come in for the winter, right because they
don't want to spend the winters up up north like
in Canada and the and then it depends on how
the forests up there produced their nuts and if like
this year, we're seeing a lot lot of red breasted

(21:02):
nuthatch come in from up north because there's not enough
food up there, so they're moving down here for the winter.
So we benefit from the temperatures here in that way.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
You know, we talk about the decline and pollinators all
the time. These and all the pollinators and bats and
all of those, but birds fall right into that same
category we do.

Speaker 3 (21:29):
You know, it's sad. I mean there, you know, there's
lots of science going on, lots of studies going on
that even you know, we've got what Project feed or
watch going on right now, We've got the Christmas bird
counts coming up, you know, for people to participate to
help scientists understand, you know, what is happening with the

(21:49):
populations and the health of our local birds. So you
can take a part in that.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
And where so if we go to your website, you'll
direct you you can, that'll direct us to any of
those links. Okay, good, Yeah, talking with Monica Brubacker from
wild Birds Unlimited about our birds and of course the
winter has moved into our area, cold temperature, snow, the
whole nine yards, and so what should have be doing
at this stage for our birds and the fact that

(22:16):
birds are are suffering, just like the pollinators and the
bees are suffering as well. And again, you know more
and more, what I read a number one issue and
there are other issues out there, but really high is
the lack of first of all, lack of habitat. You know,
we're like you said, the source of nuts up north
and all, so they're moving down here to get to
get more food. But I think we're seeing now that

(22:38):
when folks are looking at first of all, with their
landscaping and their gardens, not only are they replanting for
the pollinators, but also using the birds and doing landscape
friendly bird planting as well.

Speaker 3 (22:52):
Yeah, anything you're doing for pollinators, you're you know, you're
going to be helping birds as well. It's you know,
there's a lot you can do. But even without having
to plant new plants, you know, leaving your yard messy
during the winter is always a good idea. Having piles
of brush provides great cover for the birds. You know,

(23:16):
we hear more and more, you know as the season progresses.
Here about about hawks, right there are hawks that eat birds,
and the birds do need cover to protect themselves from
the hawks. But you you know, when you're if you're
thinking about buying a live Christmas tree this year, you know,

(23:36):
keep it, put it out in your yard after Christmas
and just let us stay there, you know, throughout the winter,
and that'll provide great cover.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
It's amazing. I'll even take that and take a few
branches out to open it up a little bit so
it's easier for him to fly in and out of it.
Hang a couple of feeders in there, and soooitcakes and
that works really nicely. And you're right, they love that
thing a little bit of protection. But you know, there
are many ways that we can landscape to work. But
there are also which you've been involved with for a

(24:08):
long long time, supplementing that with our bird feeders, our
bird waters and things like that. Let's take a let's
take an earlier break because we come back. I want
to know what should we be feeding right now? What
are the best feeders out there? Right now? Christmas is
right around the corner. You're looking to get somebody involved.
These make great Christmas gifts as well. Monica brew Baker,
our wild Winged Wonder from Wildbird's Unlimited. After the break

(24:30):
Here in the garden with Ron Wilson. Here in the
garden with Ron Wilson, talking foul language. And you know,
if we're talking foul language, you know who we're talking with.
That's right, our wild Winged Wonder, Monica brew Baker from
wild Birds Unlimited.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
Their website is WBU dot com plus Westchester or Springboro.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
Lots of great information there and of course their stores
as well. If the folks that are the other staff
absolutely well trained, trust me, Monica Brubaker, make sure that
they know what they're talking about when it comes to birds.
All right. You know what's funny is you love it.
We have had you on our show as our bird
expert for many, many years, and you have always said

(25:14):
this time of the year about leaving the leaving the brush,
leaving the perennials up, leaving the looking messy in your
gardens for the for the pollinators and the wildlife and
the birds. You know what's hot now in the garden
over the last two years, leaving it alone and cleaning
it up in the spring.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
Awesome.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
You've been preaching it for years, always said, Monica, you're nuts.
You got to clean it up. Nope, you got to
leave it all there, let the wildlife enjoy it, clean
it up in the spring. Yes, you were right all along.

Speaker 3 (25:46):
A lot of benefits there.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
Just like just like using poop off. All right. See,
you know you know what you're talking about.

Speaker 3 (25:53):
All right.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
So we are now looking at going into the winter time,
and there are a lot of folks out there that
do feed the birds and they know what doing. But
there are a lot of folks out there that may
be saying, you know what I really do. I'd like
to get involved with this, But how do I know
to choose the right winter friendly seed out I know
which one of the feeders are the best and the
most inviting? Which one should I use? Tell us, Monica Brewbaker,

(26:15):
what do we use this time of the year. If
I've never done.

Speaker 3 (26:17):
This before, If you've never done this before, you need
to come into our stores for sure. Well, yeah, you know.
Our number one selling bird feeder really any time of
the year, but most definitely this time of the year,
are our cylinder feeders. It's a little different. It's not

(26:38):
the traditional loose seed, you know, throwing it in a
feeder and calling it good. The cylinder feeders are the
cylinders are compacted seed and they're all the high fat,
high protein seats that your bird needs right now, and
that goes slides onto a feeder. Very easy to use.

(27:00):
But what's wonderful about it is it lasts for days,
sometimes weeks, and you're not having to trudge outside and
fill your feeders right.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
Right, And as you know, I have used those as
a matter of fact, I set my grandson's up for
that so that they could watch the birds. And that
is a piece of cake. You know. You buy four
or five of those cylinders, put a store it away
and just you know, and take one out every time
you need one. You just slide it on that post
and you're you're hanging up and you're good to go.

Speaker 3 (27:32):
It is yet, you know, we can't recommend it more.
But the birds, you know, they come on and they
peck off what they want. You're getting good views of
the birds. Everybody's happy. We have no mess cylinders where
there's absolutely no shells in the seats, so you're not
going to have any mess under your feeders. So there's

(27:53):
lots of benefits to it, for sure.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
And don't you also have one with a pepper and
the cylinder to keep the squirrels off?

Speaker 3 (28:00):
Yeah, you bet you. Yep. Mammals taste hot pepper, but
birds do not, So squirrels raccoons are going to taste
that and then ask you for a glass of milk
and run away.

Speaker 1 (28:14):
You heard you heard Monica say you bet you? When
I email her and ask her she's ready for this Saturday,
she says, you bet you? That's what you email me back.
I always thinking, I always think of you when I
hear that talking with Monica. Wow, birds unlimited about what
we should be using. So those cylinder feeders, you're right,
is absolutely it's a piece of cake. Uh And speaking

(28:36):
of this piece of cake, I still I'm still one
with the suitcakes. I still liked. I mean, that's not
as easy as it can get. Slide that cake in
that cage and hanging up somewhere. Yep, you get everything
on that thing, from woodpeckers to you name it there
on it.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
Yes, yes, I mean you can get literally every bird
on there, and they are again, that lasts a long time,
and it's so easy to use. I know, our suet
is a little you know, our sewit is a lot
different than what you're going to get a big, big
box just because of the quality of the products in it.
You're not getting fillers just like in loose sea bird

(29:14):
seed when you get a lot of filler in there
when you're going to big box. But you know, all
of the products in our suits, all of our food
is just the high quality. It's what the birds need.
They're going to eat it. They're not going to be
throwing it out and throwing it, you know, onto the ground.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
So there you go, and as Monica has taught us
over the years, you know, you get what you pay for.
And it's true when you're buying bird seed and you
look at the bag and it's a fifty pound bag
for six ninety nine, look what's in it, and you
know it's all the stuff that they're going to throw
out on the ground. And then you're like, well, why
don't you know they're throwing stuff everywhere? Well, it's because
it's not a high quality mix a bird seed. And

(29:53):
that's that's what you get what you pay for. That's
when the birds are saying cheap cheap, cheap cheap, because.

Speaker 3 (29:59):
You're exactly and you know right right now, you know,
we do have the Daily Savings Club. We have that
year round where you can save fifteen percent on all
of your bird food every day and it's twenty five
dollars to join. But this month the gift for joining
is a cylinder feeder and a cylinder.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
So there you go outstanding talking with money birds.

Speaker 3 (30:22):
What one stone?

Speaker 1 (30:23):
There you go talk with Monica brew Baker. While bird's unlimited.
If if if I have a bird feeder that handles
this regular bird seed then or bird feed Yes, is
there one seed that I want to if I just said,
I just want one seed rather than buy a mix
or whatever, I just want one one thing to dump
a narrow over the wintertime. What would it be?

Speaker 3 (30:45):
The black oil sunflower would be your That's that's the
food that is most liked, I guess by you know,
the most variety of birds. It is going to you know,
the shells are going to be dropped, but it is
you know, a good high protein food. I mean, there's
lots of options. You can you know, go with you know,

(31:08):
bark butter Hey, how about bark butter.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
Bits, bark butter it.

Speaker 3 (31:13):
Yes, yes, I think to your robbins right now too
with bark butter bits. Throw those on the ground, you know,
scattered around. So maybe robins can can get some suets
and high fat because.

Speaker 1 (31:26):
They're usually on the ground kind of hiding out right now. Yeah,
they don't all they don't leave here. They a lot
of them hang around for the winter times, but they
stay kind.

Speaker 3 (31:34):
Of load on that, yeah, they do. They don't typically
come up to feeders. So we've got a lot of
ground feeders in the area right now. So you'll see,
you know, junkos, our little snowbirds they're here for the winter,
and some sparros and nice sparrows. So there's a good
variety of birds out there.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
So if we look at the Brewbacker property and I
look out at your one hundred and twenty five different
feeders that you have hanging throughout your yard, is there
one that's your favorite? I mean, is their most popular?
What about the fly throughs? I mean I see fly
throughs all the time.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
Yes, yes, and that's that's what I have. I have
a platform feater that is my number one, my foundational
feeder that I have in the center of my yard.
It's protected by a baffle and away from the trees
so the squirrels and raccoons can't get to it. But
you know, I cheat a little bit on that and

(32:29):
I put my cylinders in the fly through on the
platform and so it lasts a long time. But it
is a great feeder. The birds, you know, they'd like
an open feeder. They can see, they can watch for predators,
you know that kind of thing. They don't like to
be surprised, So it's a great feeder.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
So you actually put the cylinder in the fly through in.

Speaker 3 (32:54):
The fly Yeah a little cheat. Huh, that's right. And
fly through is that I that fly through? Well, I
think most of them. Nount store we may have still
have ceedar, but they're made out of the recycled milk jokes,
so you know, those stay looking beautiful for yeah many years.

Speaker 1 (33:13):
Yeah, the old red wooden ceedar and all that was
out there, but boy, you don't see much of that anymore. No,
these things last forever, and you can put them in
the dishwasher.

Speaker 3 (33:21):
I what I understand exactly.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
You can one last thing here. Really we've been talking
about the feeders and the fee and the suitcakes and
all of that, but what about water. I mean to me,
I guess that's one of those things that we we
we don't mention enough. But that's as important as the food.

Speaker 3 (33:38):
It is, and you know, it can be as simple
as just putting you know, a small tray out, you know,
maybe close to closer to your door, within three feet
of your windows, and then you know, if it freezes,
of course bringing in, dump it out. Put some new
We've got you know, at the store, we've got heaters
to put in your bird baths, to keep the water

(34:00):
from freezing. And then we also have actual heated bird
bats themselves that will keep it from freezing. So there's
lots of options.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
Yeah, and I know a lot of folks email and say,
you know, we put a pan out in the morning,
it lasts for a couple three, couple of hours before
it freezes, and they usually enjoy that. Yeah, dump it
out later, put it, put a second one, maybe a
third one out and that takes care of them through
the day, and do it again in the morning.

Speaker 3 (34:24):
It's no big deal, right, yep, don't make it hard.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
You know. Crows. Crows are my favorite birds. I know
it sounds weird, I.

Speaker 2 (34:34):
CROs.

Speaker 1 (34:35):
Why are those things so smart?

Speaker 3 (34:38):
I know, it's amazing, it's amazing. I love watching them.
I love beating them. Maybe five years ago, I had
nuts on the ground that they were We'd run over
our nuts in the driveway and it would crack them open.
I mean, they have a strong beak, but they would

(34:59):
come in and take the nuts. And I had so
much fun because then I started putting out all kinds
of tree nuts for them and watching them and watching
them store them. They're amazing.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
They are amazing birds. I have some pigeons. I need
you to. I'm gonna put you in the car with
me sometime and take you over to fields Irdle and
Mason Montgomery Roads. Pigeons that hang out there all the time,
and they circle around a fly and it's the craziest thing.
And I need you to explain to me what in
the heck they are doing. All Right, so I'll call
you know crazy, I'll take you over there, said Monica

(35:30):
brew Baker, wild birds. I'm loving it. One last time.

Speaker 3 (35:32):
Your website WBU dot com, slash Westchester or Springboro.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
Have a great holiday season, Monica brew Baker, Hey.

Speaker 3 (35:40):
You too, Ron, Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
All right, quick break, we come back. Phone lines are
going to be open for you at eight hundred eight
two three eight two five five. Don't forget our website,
it's Ron Wilson online dot com and our Facebook page.
In the Garden with Ron Wilson. It's all happening here
in the garden with Ron Wilson.