And caterpillars and butterflies. 

Gotcha with that title huh.  You dirty-minded gardeners.  Actually the gardeners were prolly more excited about the actual birds & bees.  It is a sick, sad disease.

This year we added ‘helping out the local wildlife’ to our growing efforts.

Back in April James got me a really cool bird feeder from AHA! Modern Living and the birds have really LOVED it.  It didn’t take long for them to figure out that we put it out there for them.  Now they wait on the fence for us to fill it, and I bet there is 50+ birds at any given time once they all show up.

We had a lil bird problem last year at our old house, they ate pretty much an entire peach tree one day… which didn’t go over well.  So we thought of birds more as pests… but after ready that in most gardens they are beneficial and other than berries, fruits occasionally – they tend to leave the other goods alone.  Now we feed them, invite them… establish boundaries… all that junk.

The birds also like the Sunflowers we planted in the alley this year.  You might remember us posting about the alley and how we wanted to spruce it up.  Well… that was half the truth.  We did want to make it look nice, but we also wanted to help out the bees – since most of you know they are in a steep decline.  If you have ever had Sunflowers you know how many bees they attract and feed… well we went with the Mammoth Sunflowers… yeah – we care that much people. 

In their prime they had bees on them at all times.  If you look closely you can see two bees, one with it’s legs covered in pollen.

Now they pretty much all look like this.  Apparently we aren’t feeding our birds enough because they have gone to work clearing out all the seeds.

Something else we added this year to help our insect population & overall earth-health is a Passion Vine.  Why is a Passion Vine helpful for the environment?  We didn’t know this until after they were already planted, but it is the natural habitat for the Gulf Fritillary Butterfly.  I bet if we walked out to our small vine right this minute, we could count 20-30 caterpillars munching away. 

Some small. 

And some big.  Big enough to make me a bit uncomfortable when I get too close.

It does take it’s toll on the vine…

When you actually get to see the Gulf Fritillary Butterfly – it is worth it.  Such an awesome orange butterfly that loves to hang out near the vine.  Butterflies pollinate just like bees do… and the more we have, the more chance we have for fruits/veggies & everything else creating the air we breathe each breath. 

So I guess you can call us hippies.  Call us democrats or liberals… call us what you will.  Tree huggers… whatever.  We like to watch nature, we love to be leaving a positive effect on the environment and all these little things could add up if everyone did the same.  What small things do you do to try and be a lil more green?  Or maybe just something small that you never thought you would be doing?

Tags: Container Gardening, Gardening, Gardening Tips, Getting Deep, Living Green, Make A Difference, Organic Gardening, Organic Pest Control, Pictures, Recession Gardening by Shala
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We get email/comments from our readers… all the time.  Sometimes it is just people being a smart a$$es about something… because that is what the internet was invented for. 

Have you noticed it lately though? 

Especially if you read sites like Reddit, Digg – Mixx… places where tons of nerds (like myself) are found on a daily basis.  Youtube is another fine example – check the comments any given day, on any given post and you will find people being total a-holes about everything.  Most are meant to be funny, but a lot are just there to give everyone a hard time.  Our emails & comments on this site are no different than those sites we mentioned.  Obviously on a much smaller scale.

What is sad is you can’t get a free pass from that stuff.  It is just like spammers.  If you choose to have a website that is public domain – get ready for spammers.  You can bet about twice a week (AT THE VERY LEAST), you are going to have to go through and spam & moderate your comments, emails in general.  You just have to be ready for it.

Some days you see pictures of things you never wanted to see (you know the ones). 

Or you wonder what this commenter is talking about…

“Wing.  Partial eloquent benovolent molecular treason feable lecture orange. Pollution fanfair V!4Gra prescription.”

It’s true.  You laugh because you know it is spot on.  I will get 17 spammers the minute I hit publish, because I say prescription twice. 

I say that to say this… the internet is in a bad state.  And sometimes you look at it and go… why do I do this to myself?  Why do I feel the need to be THIS connected?  Do I really need to tweet, facebook, mixx, digg & reddit all at once?

Then you get an email like this…

Hey guys,

This is just a quick note to let you know that I appreciate your website.  I was searching for something I needed on google and your site came up somewhere in the top 10 of the search results.   The cool name got my attention, but DANGIT I got stuck for a long time on all the various cool content.  Sigh.  U guys are awesome, and I’ve bookmarked the site for viewing later.

Thx for sharing your thoughts with all of us.

Cliff
San Bernardino, CA 

Now I don’t know Cliff.  Never met him, probably never will to be honest.  But cliff took 5 min. out of his day and let us know that the 5 min. we took out of our day to write on this website/blog was appreciated.  That is why we do it, it isn’t for money or goodies… it all started because of a love of writing & communicating.  We were doing this long before there was anything to monetize about it.  And we are realizing that is what we need to get back to. 

Here is a comment we got the other day…

Nice job James, I appreciate your efforts. Smokin and drinkin beer are my two favorite hobbies, and I’ve never tried a cigarette. I stick to ribs and butts.

I”ve been BBQing for some years now, and I think you’ve captured the spirit of the exercise – it’s an art, not a science, and it takes trial and error to get the right results. I’d add one postulate to your fine write-up: It takes patience. If using a smoker or anything with a lid – Don’t keep opening the lid to admire your work; you’re losing heat. Don’t keep flippin the meat. Sure turn it from time to time, but they aren’t pancakes. I”m from the Philly area, and I think Northerners by nature are more impatient, so if you’re from north of the Mason-Dixon line – just relax. Let the pit/smoker do it’s job.

That one was on the How To Smoke Pork Ribs post. 

The guy’s name, “Smokin’” Marty.  This guy knew damn well that he could probably BBQ me under the table… but then he realized… this guy isn’t tryin’ to have a pissing contest… he wants to show people what works for him… tell a few jokes, give some people (that are searching) something to help them out.  And do it all while slightly drunk.  Well Marty – you hit the nail on the head man.  Thanks for your comments & dont’ listen to what anyone has to say… “Smokin’ and drinking beer” – can be a hobby.  I think it can.  I’d vote for it.  Thanks for the atta-boy & we totally agree – let the pit/smoker do it’s job!

All this is my proof… that the internet doesn’t suck so much after all.  Just when you think the whole thing is a sham… they reel ya back in.  Thanks readers for sticking around, we promise we are getting back to our old style of writing & having a good time while doing it.  Not every post is going to be garden based.  Not every single post will be BBQ based.  But each post will be authentic to the Double Danger style of blogging.

Whatever the heck that means.

Tags: A Boy And His Beer, Barbeque, Gardening, Getting Deep, James Is Wrong Too, Make A Difference, Personal, Recipes by James
2 Comments »

Recently I have rediscovered a love for fishing.  A simple thing if you think about it.  A hobby that when I sat down and thought about it (while fishing actually), holds a lot of great reasons more should give it a try.  If you are not someone that has ever fished, considered fishing or just someone that has allowed their busy life to steal something so relaxing and lock it up in storage…

Here are 5 Reasons You Should Grab A Pole And Go Fishing…

[Read more →]

Tags: A Boy And His Beer, Eating At Home, Fishing, Food, Getting Deep, Health, Make A Difference, Self Help by James
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