Your Small Kitchen Garden

A Yard Bird stands faithfully wherever you want to add a whimsical accent to your garden or yard. ID#0001

Did I finally break down and install backyard chickens in my small kitchen garden? Not so much. But I have stumbled across some remarkable objects de arte that could fill at least some of the giant hole my lack of chickens creates: Yard Birds.

Garden Folk Art

Yard Birds are colorful and playful sculptures of unidentifiable birds (though there are a few beetles and spiders in the collection as well). A yard bird makes a terrific accent at an entryway—whether to a garden, a garden shed, a house, or an office building. A yard bird also livens up a garden by peaking out from behind foliage, rooting around in a flower bed, or taking center stage in a color-coordinated display.

Made from various pieces of gardening equipment including shovels, rakes, hoes, trowels, and parts harvested from crop-harvesting machines, Yard Birds are creations of the owner of an equipment repair shop in town. He has designed a veritable menagerie of critters which he rolls out once a year to sell during a local town festival.

A green Yard Bird can blend with your garden’s foliage, or stand out against a backdrop of flowers. ID#0002

Yard Birds for Your Garden

I spoke with the creator of Yard Birds at this year’s festival and he was happy to let me sell Yard Birds on my blog on an “as-available” basis. Each year, he seems to have about 20 Yard Birds on display, but he’ll make more as his inventory runs low.

I can’t predict what he’ll have in stock, so I’m offering to act as an agent. If you like what you see in this post, drop me an email and let me know which piece or pieces interest you. I’ll find out whether the piece is still available, and/or send photos of similar sculptures.

Prices run from $40 up to $65, depending on the complexity of their construction (sometimes a smaller piece is more expensive than a larger piece because it involves machining on a metal-working lathe). The sculptures are rigid and heavy, ranging in height from about eight inches up to three feet. Packing and shipping is likely to cost from $15 to $20 per unit.

Let me know if you’d like me to help find the right Yard Bird (or Yard Birds) for your garden, lawn, entranceway, foyer, sitting room, or cubicle. Send an email and be sure to mention the ID number of the Yard Bird that caught your eye.

I wish I had met this Yard Bird while I was working in a cubicle at Lotus Development Corporation. It would have fit in well with the propeller heads who haunted the hallways there. (The propeller doesn’t spin.) ID#0003

 

Forget those cheesy plastic flamingos. This Yard Bird suggests flamingo while clearly expressing its preference for gardening. ID#0004

 

This Yard Bird started life as a leaf rake. It’s hard not to wonder if the artist had a particular type of bird in mind when he sculpted the feathered beast. ID#0005

 

Not all Yard Birds are birds. This spider is bigger than any living arachnid I’d want spinning webs in my garden; and it’s quite a conversation piece. ID#0006

 

Most gardeners, I think, are happy to see ladybugs in their gardens and yards. This ladybug will devour any rebar-legged iron aphids that happen along. ID#0007

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