SANTA BARBARA ORGANIC GARDEN CLUB PRESENTS FREE CLASSES ON BACKYARD BIRD HABITAT

 

Free Backyard Bird Habitat classes will be offered on two Saturdays, July 23 and July 30, 8-10 am by the Santa Barbara Organic Garden Club. Anyone interested can e-mail Mardena at ahummingbird@cox.net to sign up and get directions.  Space is limited so early enrollment is encouraged.

 

Speakers will include Larry Saltzman, co-founder of the Santa Barbara Organic Garden Club, Mardena Waller, SBOGC member and backyard bird gardener, and Melissa Kelly, backyard wildlife habitat and mapping expert.

 

Topics will include

 

• Landscaping with plants that provide food for wild birds 

 

• How to bring favorite birds to your garden by careful bird food choice and feeder selection

 

• Encouraging birds to eat your garden bugs. (Did you know hummingbirds eat white flies?) 

 

• Learning bird lifestyles, habits, nesting, and safety

 

• Creating water sources appealing to birds

 

This program includes tours of several kinds of bird-attracting yards to improve bird/wildlife habit: 

 

• bird feeder-rich, with added water sources
• mix of vegetative cover, food and feeders, with added water
• largely vegetative cover, food, water without supplemental feeders
• haute naturelle landscaping

 

The Santa Barbara Organic Club had its first meeting on July 12, 2000 and presents local events and activities on topics of interest to gardeners weaning themselves from chemical pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.

For more information call: (805) 563-2089.

 

"Everything gardens" Bill Mollison, co-founder of Permaculture