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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 2016)
20 Wednesday, January 13, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Berry-bearing shrubs to feed birds in winter By Kym Pokorny OSU Extension Service CORVALLIS – When winter comes and the menu for birds shrinks in urban backyards, they rely on the kindness of humans. That doesn’t mean just a bird feeder of seeds and nuts. “Different birds are attracted to different foods, and it’s good to have a vari- ety,” said Dana Sanchez, a wildlife specialist for Oregon State University’s Extension Service. “In addition to bird feeders, which people some- times forget to fill, they need plants to forage on.” This time of year, you’ll notice winter wrens, pine sis- kins, scrub jays, chickadees and robins. All are search- ing for food to give them the energy they need to survive the prolonged stress of cold and wet weather. “Birds need a lot of energy to make it through cold nights,” according to Sanchez. “They can’t eat dur- ing the night and they burn off whatever food calories they found during the day.” Fortunately, birds have feathers – the ultimate down jacket, she said. They fluff them and huddle together to reduce heat loss. And shiver- ing keeps muscles warmer. For all that, they still need the right foods for energy production. A few insects remain, flying around or CLARIFICATIOn Speak Your Peace spokes- man Rob Karwath will speak in the last part of the Sisters Kiwanis meeting on Thursday. Sisters Kiwanis Club will meet at 7 a.m. at hiding under moss and lichen ripe for the picking. Some plants, like thistle, hold on to seeds that birds fit into their diet. Plants with berries full of good fat provide neces- sary nutrients, too. Take a look at Sanchez’s sugges- tions and consider adding some berry bearers to your garden. Dana Sanchez’s picks for plants with berries for birds: Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium) breaks out in brilliant yellow flowers in mid-winter that leave behind bunches of blue-black ber- ries. The state flower of Ore- gon grows to an erect 6 feet tall and 5 feet wide. Hardy to Zone 5. Snowberry (Symphoricar- pos albus) is recognized for distinctive clusters of white berries that last well into winter. At 5 feet tall and 6 feet wide and rather rangy, snowberry makes a great choice for a bird-friendly hedgerow and its vigorous roots will help with erosion control on slopes. Hardy to Zone 3. Pacific wax myrtle (Myrica californica) is an evergreen that grows up to 30 feet at maturity, making it a popular option for a screen or small tree in the garden. A Pacific Northwest native, wax myrtle presents purplish berries in fall that persist into the winter months. Hardy to Zone 7. Aspen Lakes Lodge. The meeting is from 7 to 8:30 a.m. and the speaker will be dur- ing the last half-hour. Anyone wishing to attend may RSVP to Kiwanis program coordinator Jim Horsley at jimhorsley4@gmail.com. Draw attention to your business Full color advertising rocks! Teacher releases original music By Jim Cornelius News Editor Rick Johnson makes his living inspiring students to sing. Now the Americana Project and choir teacher has been inspired by those same students to create his own original songs, released this month on the CD “All That Matters.” The new CD features 18 original songs penned by Johnson, accompanying him- self on guitar or ukulele, with harmony vocals by his wife Tara. “It just evolved organi- cally,” Johnson told The Nugget. “I spend a lot of my summer up in the mountains and I bring my guitar with me and just let the music come through me. I think the songs reflect how much I appreciate my family and the place where I live.” Indeed, the songs extol the simple life and love of family, which includes two- and-half-year-old Collier. The youngest member of the Johnson family is already picking up the music bug, playing his ukulele and drumming on a mini-cajon (a box drum) with his dad in the evenings. “We even sampled my son saying ‘ukulele’ and slapped it on the end of one of the songs,” Johnson said. Johnson recorded the CD himself in his home studio. The teacher has an extensive background in musical theater — which mean s h is accu sto med singing voice is “big” and stagy. That wouldn’t do for straightforward songs with solo acoustic accompani- ment. He had to change his approach. “That was one of the hur- dles in making the CD,” he acknowledged. “It’s really about the story. It’s really about the lyrics. It’s about photo by tara JohnSon Collier is following in his dad, Rick Johnson’s, footsteps. getting across the meaning of the song.” This is Johnson’s first writing endeavor in many years. His music theater and teaching careers are a long interlude between songwrit- ing efforts, which started when he wrote lyrics for his high school thrash-metal band. He’s a long way down the road from those days. He credits the influence of the Sisters Folk Festival and his Americana Project students with inspiring him to pick up the guitar and get back to writing, with a whole life’s Gordon’s Last Touch Cleaning Specialists For… 541-549-3008 Carpets • Upholstery Windows Accepting VISA & MasterCard! Snow Removal! 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For more information visit Johnson’s Facebook page, Rick Johnson Songs. 541-548-2899 Open every day, after-hours ! & weekends
