Arts and Crafts @ the IC Farmer's Market

One of my favorite parts of the Iowa City Farmer's Market is not the produce or the yummy food, but the arts and crafts available at the Market. I have some awesome garden art purchased at the Market as well as sweet-scented soap and bird feeders.

One of my favorite Market purchases was bird houses. We had a beautiful weeping cherry tree in our front yard. We think it may have been struck by lightning because there was suddenly a big, gaping split down one side of the tree. Then the tree started look a bit sickly, the leaves shriveled up and the tree died. We trimmed the beautiful bent branches back to near the tree trunk and then had an inspiration. What if we turned our beloved tree into a bird colony?

We had a pin oak tree in the back yard that died about five years ago. As we were cutting off the branches we realized the post that was left would be great for a bird house. We purchased an awesome bird house at the Iowa City Farmer's Market to put at the top of the trimmed-up trunk. The birds love it and we enjoy watching the birds come and go.

But ... I digress. Back to the weeping cherry tree. The trimmed tree looked a bit like it was from a Dr. Seuss book and maybe some Who's from Whooville may want to move it. Once we added birdhouses from the Farmer's Market, though, it became a bit of an art installation in our yard.

The good news is the birds also love it. This year we have many bird families living in these new houses. We thoroughly enjoy the birds singing in the morning and are happy our weeping cherry tree was re-purposed without leaving an empty spot in our yard.

If you have questions about yard art, bird houses, or feeding wild birds, remember the Library has great books on these topics and many more!

See you at the Market!