Step into the Wild Challenge - Day 11

Day 11 - Building habitat…

Hopefully you had a chance to get outside and see who’s been frequenting your outdoor space. If you didn’t see yesterday’s challenge, go back to yesterday's post and check it out and see what tracks you can find.

Now that you know you have visitors, why not build them some habitat for the long cold winter.

Last year, I was walking through my garden, and went to pick up an overturned Grocery Box (the hard plastic green ones for carrying groceries) that I had left outside in the fall. Underneath was the fattest Vole I’ve ever seen and poor little guy, he was more shocked than I was! I had disrupted his winter home, and the cozy nest he had worked so hard to build. I felt so bad! I promptly put it back and then went inside and rounded up a number of coffee tins that I save for storing stuff. I walked around the yard looking for the little tunnels they make under the grass/snow and set up 3 more “homes”:)

Today’s challenge is to set up some habitat for winter homes.

Hopefully you had seen a previous post last fall where I had suggested “leave the leaves” in your garden. The leaves raked off your lawn and into your garden make for wonderful habitat (as well as protective mulch and soil builder for your garden) If you were an avid bagger of leavers, find some old sticks and make piles or tents, some leaves if you can find some, coffee cans, or even old planting pots and find a nice sheltered spot to set up a home for some creatures.

If you’re asking yourself why, remember that a healthy garden is a diverse garden in both plants and wildlife. I also think it's a great way to remember and respect that we share our space with nature. Beside that, they’re really cute!

Happy house building!