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Appreciation post: the old lady next door who showed me where the finches actually feed
I spent two years putting out thistle feeders in the wrong spot. Thought I knew what I was doing, hanging them out in the open where I could see them from my kitchen window. Never got more than a goldfinch or two. Then my neighbor Betty, she's 78 and has been birding here in Albany since the 80s, told me I was scaring them off. She said finches like cover, near shrubs or low tree branches. I moved my feeder under a lilac bush three weeks ago and now I'm refilling it every two days. Anyone else learned a simple trick from an older birder that changed everything?
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maxm631mo ago
My neighbor Frank, he's 82 and been gardening since before I was born, told me the same thing about my tomatoes last year. Said I was planting them too close to the fence and they needed more air flow. Moved them three feet over and got double the harvest. It's funny how often the small adjustments from people who've been doing something for decades completely change the results. I've noticed that pattern in all sorts of things, not just birding or gardening. Like, there's this older guy at the hardware store who showed me a different way to hold a hammer that saved my wrist a lot of pain.
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ninab951mo ago
That old timer at the hardware store saved my dad's back too. He was using a hammer all wrong for years until some retired carpenter at the checkout showed him how to choke up on the handle for more control. It's amazing how such tiny tweaks from folks who've been doing something for fifty years can make such a huge difference. I swear those little lessons stick with you way more than any youtube video.
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