Introduction to Gourd Birdhouses

I can get in here and dig around and get hey there folks this is Josh Stoney Ridge farmer welcome back to the farm it's another cloudy day here in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina I have been working as you can tell so today we're going to show you something pretty cool it's going to be kind of a quick little video we're going to show you how we're establishing Marten colonies on our farm to help control insects so we've got three different birds that we like to control insects with we'll talk a little bit about that we'll talk to you about how we take an old crusty gourd from the garden that we grew last year and we turn it into something beautiful and awesome that we can use for years and years to come to house birds to eat the insects on our farm come along we'll have some fun ain't afraid to work alright guys welcome to the farm welcome to the farm channel this is your first time that the Stoney Ridge farm please jump in pound that like button and subscribe to the channel we've got all kinds of stuff from bulldozers to birdhouses just good times here good country living and there's a whole lot to learn from people and even when I screw up I'll let you know I screwed up and will tell you what not to do and what to do so what my goal is today is to show you how to build the Martin bird house from a gourd that you can grow yourself now you can get these gourd seeds at your local big box store or you can order them online there are several different types of birdhouse gourds I prefer this type with the big bubble at the bottom and the big bubble at the top however we have a couple of different kinds we've got the long and tall birdhouse gourd like this right here this one's kind of the ugly duckling you can see it's kind of all wrinkly like a brain but they all have their own distinct little bit of character and that's what makes them fun that's what makes this a fun little craft and the way we're gonna fix these birdhouse is up they could last upwards of 20 years if you do it right if you preserve them right and if you take care of them year after year hopefully you'll establish a Marten colony on your farm or property and that will help control insects like mosquitoes so Martens are a tiny bird probably I guess about this big and they'll show up every year that's the wingspan they show up basically year after year after year once you've got a colony established it's tough to get them to come and they'll send scouts out early in…