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Capture and Store Energy

This month we encourage you to focus your attention and efforts to collecting energy.  During the Naperville Earth Fair we helped people make feeders for our nature friends as a place for them to capture some energy.  We constructed five different types of feeders and want to share the simple instructions with everyone so that we can support our birds, butterflies, and nature friends everywhere.  ENJOY!

Fun for the whole family!
HUMMINGBIRD FEEDER: 

1)      Use hammer and nail on wood block to puncture 4-6 holes in lid of container; trim sharp edges of holes off with trimmers

2)      Trace Washer in center of lid; Puncture center by hammering a hole with nail

3)      Cut out center circle with trimmers so that bottle neck fits through (tightly)

4)      On wood block, use nail to hammer 3 holes in bottle cap. (Put top of cap face down flat on wood block to hammer)

5)      Use screw to puncture two holes on opposite sides of bottom (which will be the top when finished) of bottle for hanger ends.

6)      Bend ends of one hanger to make a hook.

7)      Decorate bottle & container lid

8)      Insert bottle neck through hole in container lid, screw on bottle top, attach container, insert hanger hooks on each side & VOILA!

9)      Filling:  Only make 1-2 cups of food at a time because it goes bad fairly quickly.  Pour about ½-1 cup in bottle then attach container and invert to hang.

FOOD:

·          Mix 1 part sugar with 4 parts water (for example, 1/4 cup of sugar with 1 cups of water), and bring to a boil to dissolve.

·         Cool and fill feeder.

·         Extra sugar water may be stored in a refrigerator.

·         Red dye should not be added.

http://www.howtoenjoyhummingbirds.com/blog/hummingbird-feeders/diy-hummingbird-feeder-2

Teamwork with fantastic North Central College Students helping out!
SEED FEEDER:

1)      Using screw, puncture two holes on opposite sides near bottom of bottle.

2)      Using screw, puncture opposite sides of the bottle about 1/3 of the way down from the neck of the bottle.

3)      Use trimmers to cut out larger feeding holes on each side of the bottle.

4)      Using screw, puncture two holes on opposite sides near neck, but still on main body of bottle.

5)      Enlarge slightly with trimmers, just enough to insert chopstick

6)      Insert chopstick through lower holes.

7)      Attach cap

8)      Invert & Insert hanger ends through holes at top

9)      Fill with seed through feeder opening.

10)   VOILA!

http://www.bird-feeder-plans.org/category/wild-bird-feeders/bird-seed-feeders/soda-bottle-bird-feeders/

DuPage Forest Preserve President, Daniel Hebreard and family joining in the fun!
 BUTTERFLY FEEDER:

1)      Insert screws through three evenly spaced holes in rim of container.

2)      Attach nuts.

3)      Tie string around screws

4)      Connect strings at top and knot

5)      VOILA!

6)      FEED:  Hang feeder in a sunny spot and place sliced fruit into dish.

http://www.pbs.org/parents/crafts-for-kids/butterfly-feeder/; http://www.readingconfetti.com/2013/07/easy-butterfly-feeder.html

Building is always better with a friend!
 BUTTERFLY SALT LICK:

1)       Use screw to puncture four holes on top edge of container

2)      Attach pipe cleaner by inserting through holes and twisting

3)      Add additional pipe cleaner for hanging between two that are attached to container.

4)      VOILA!

5)      USING:  Fill with sand and a couple of rocks, partially fill with water to moisten.   Hang in sunny spot.

https://threepsandq.com/2012/07/08/peculiarities-butterfly-salt-lick/

Peanut butter for the birds AND our four-legged friends
 PEANUT BUTTER PINECONE

1)      Bend wire around pine cone for hanging

2)      Fill cone with peanut butter

3)      Coat with bird seed

4)      VOILA!

Hang in tree and watch the feast

Gift of Gratitude & Knowledge

act-of-kindness-quote-roots-fruit

Take advantage of our Gift of Gratitude and Gift of Knowledge to save on 2018 courses! Register for any of our 2018 courses - Permaculture Forest Gardener, Edible Wild Plants Certificate, Bioregional Herbalism, or Advanced Bioregional Herbalism and save with one or both Gifts! When you register before December 5th you'll save an additional $25.

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Foraging a Taste of Nature

Foraging is growing in interest and popularity thanks, in part, to the growth of microbreweries, "farm-to-table" and "field-to-table" restaurants that source local, farm raised, and foraged ingredients like ramps, dandelion greens, violet flowers, mushrooms, fiddlehead ferns, and garlic mustard. People are excited about these new foods, flavors, and smells and want to experience more.

Fascination with foraging is really a return to our roots. Our ancestors fed themselves primarily from foraging. Acorns, greens, root vegetables, mushrooms, nuts, seeds, fruits and berries all grew in abundance within the forests, along the waters' edge, in meadows and prairies. Families had their favorite spots to harvest, and children carried on the tradition.

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Dubai Visitors!

global-students-dubai-the-resiliency-institute

What a surprise on Saturday when two of our students for the Let's Make Soap class revealed they had timed their visit from Dubai just to take this class!

Promila and Sapna Naroola are an entrepreneurial mother and daughter team working to grow their soap making business back home.  They were having difficulty finding all of the raw materials to make soap and were researching alternative soap making options when they found The Resiliency Institute. As it turns out, it was truly fortunate for them that not only did they have a son/brother who was kind enough to enroll them in the program, but that he lives in Lemont, IL, just 20 minutes from The Resiliency Institute.

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