shane's birdhouses

This will be the first “real fall” weekend. Cause it’s been hot. It’s been muggy. It’s been an Indian Summer here in northern California. With the Giants and A’s baseballs teams doing so well, I’m starting to get flashbacks to 1989 and the … dare I say it for fear of a rumbling repeat … big earthquake. But the cold is setting in so we’re good.

I’ll spend the weekend planning  a good Sunday winter meal that represents falling leaves and chilly mornings. We have a couple of pumpkins that grew randomly to the sizes of basketballs all on their own. We call these guys that grow out of our compost dirt “volunteers” because we didn’t purposely try and grow the squashes. They just showed up one day out front in a dirt patch. I think I will chopped them up, toast the seeds and make some soup.

Shane will be making birdhouses. At least I advised him to do so with the holidays coming up. Lord knows we have enough product or wood on the side of the house for him to get busy. Shane is not a fan of throwing things out. This is a good skill to have at a construction work site where so much wood is wasted … or maybe just not good anymore. But when that wood gets old and weathered, that’s when we want it.

Shane’s Birdhouses are currently being featured at Thoughts on the Present. Thanks, Kirsten, for thinking of us in your best-on-the-web birdhouse round-up!

Our birdhouses are functional and simple. Unlike a lot of dressed up b-houses you see at craft fairs or high-end housewares stores, these are actually designed to attract birds. They are made from the hands of a master carpenter — my husband Shane — who is sweet and engaging and builds only quality products.

The houses are also made 100%  from recycled or reclaimed wood products from all over Marin. For example, we found some great cedar planks after a storm on Bolinas Beach that we use for shingles.

Shane can drill a hole in a house specific to the type of bird you are wanting to attract. We have more info on birds, too. We live near Scottsdale Marsh and enjoy all kinds of varieties. I cannot seem to tell a chick-a-dee from a chicken, but he can.

We also have a “posted” birdhouse in our backyard for those interested to observe how it can be put into the ground. And Shane can even come to your home and provide services to install a post in the yard.

Prices start at $25 and go to $35 for our biggest houses. See our link to the left for more pictures. We ship, too! Just drop us a line and we’ll figure out how to get one to you.