Watching vibrantly plumed hummingbirds flit between flowers is one of life’s little pleasures. We are fortunate to be able to enjoy this throughout the year here, but you may see fewer as spring blossoms subside and food sources become scarcer in the summer heat. If you would like to attract hummingbirds to your yard for the colorful and entertaining show, their assistance in naturally controlling the insect population, their prowess as pollinators, or just to help them out as they adjust to warming temperatures causing flowers to bloom earlier, you can take several simple steps to provide a welcoming habitat. 1. Add a hummingbird-friendly water source. Other birds may love bird baths, but hummingbirds are quite particular about many things, and stagnant water is one of them. An inexpensive, solar-powered fountain pump can turn your bird bath into a hummingbird oasis. 2. Create rest areas for travel-weary hummingbirds. Even traveling from one yard to the next could be exhausting if you flap your wings somewhere between 75 and 200 times per second. If your yard has trees and shrubs with lots of branches, a clothesline, or a trellis, you may already have enough perching opportunities available for visiting hummingbirds. If not, consider adding perches to provide resting spots in your yard. 3. Make sure there are nesting spots available. Remember how we said that hummingbirds are particular and don’t like stagnant water? Well, they also don’t really like birdhouses. So, no matter how many birdhouses you hang around your yard, it will probably not increase your chances of hummingbirds choosing to nest there. The best way to provide nesting options for hummingbirds is to plant native trees and shrubs that provide sheltered, safe spots for nest building. 4. Do not clear spider webs off your fascia and eaves. Spider webs provide access to protein and nest-building materials, so leaving them intact allows hummingbirds to use them for these purposes. 5. Let native flora and fauna reign. According to Audubon, hummingbirds “consume half their body weight in bugs and nectar, feeding every 10-15 minutes and visiting 1,000-2,000 flowers per day.” (Audubon.org) Leaving spider webs intact is a start, but you can help hummingbirds even more by creating a habitat where beneficial insects, such as smaller pollinators, are also attracted to your yard. One way to do this is to stop using pesticides to kill off bug populations. Another way is to plant native plants that attract beneficial insects to your yard. When selecting native plants, include options with bright, tubular flowers that produce a lot of nectar. Hummingbirds are particularly attracted to bright red, orange, and yellow blooms, so choosing plants that fit this description will attract both hummingbirds and the insects that hummingbirds like to eat. 6. Add a brightly colored hummingbird feeder to your yard. Hummingbirds are attracted to bright colors and are most likely to use feeders that are easy to see when they are flying by, easy to access, and safely out of reach of cats, dogs, and other predators. Skip store-bought nectars and make your own sugar water by mixing one part sugar to four parts boiling water. Stir until the sugar dissolves, allow the mixture to cool, and then fill your feeder. Avoid adding red coloring, which might be harmful for the birds, and make sure you change out the sugar water at least twice per week and more often when it is especially hot out. You will also want to make sure that your feeder always has sugar water, since they will remember and will look elsewhere if this food source is regularly unavailable. You might consider hanging more than one feeder in your yard, since one more thing hummingbirds are not fond of is sharing. AimeeJo Davis-Varela is a freelance writer specializing in real estate, sustainable home improvement, eco-friendly landscaping, green living and travel writing. She is also the owner of Mind Your Manors, which provides second home management services.
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This East End charmer will steal your heart as you pass through the front yard filled with spring blooms behind a river rock border and step inside to find wood floors, a cozy wood-burning fireplace, and a built-in bookshelf in a living room bathed in natural light from large windows. Just beyond this, the eat-in kitchen exudes vintage charm with tile counters, vintage stove, and a handy lazy Susan in the corner cabinet. Two of the bedrooms have wood floors and large closets, while the third has cozy carpet and a door to the sunroom, which might make this the perfect office for folks who work from home. The sunroom is a flexible space for a studio, playroom, family room, or other fun use with a skylight, lots of windows, and access to the kitchen, garage, and backyard. The drive-through garage houses the laundry room, a half bath, a workshop area, and a garage door opening to the huge backyard where you will find a flower garden, fruit trees, and plenty of space for outdoor living. This home for sale in East End Ojai went into escrow right away. While this one might not be available any longer, The Davis Group would love to help you find other Ojai homes for sale. Give Nora Davis a call today to start the search for your next dream home!.
You can see more photos of this home on the property information page. Commercial air fresheners will cover up odors for a while, but they are often laden with toxic chemicals and can exacerbate respiratory issues, cause headaches and dermatitis, and be toxic to pets. Naturally fragranced candles, potpourri, simmer pots, diffusers, and room sprays all tend to mask odors without eliminating them. This is fine if you need a quick fix or for use with odor elimination options while they are working their magic. But to really get to the source of the problem and make your house smell better, you need to eliminate the odor, rather than cover it. Here are six ways to naturally neutralize odors. Windows and Fans – Airing out the space is a good first step for odor elimination. If the walls, floors, and textiles are holding the smell, this is not going to be a long-term solution, but it is a good start. Open windows and turn on fans to increase air circulation and air out the space. Baking Soda – Baking soda has so many uses around the house that I always keep a big bag of it on hand. For carpets, rugs, upholstered furniture, and other textiles that are holding smoke, pet, or other household odors, baking soda is a great option to try. This natural odor eliminator can be sprinkled on carpet or fabric to absorb odors. Leave it on for at least 30 minutes – longer for more stubborn odors – and then vacuum it up and empty the vacuum in your outside garbage can. You can also use baking soda in a bowl or box for deodorizing closets and refrigerators, sprinkle it in shoes to absorb odors, or add a cup to a load of laundry to help eliminate tougher odors in clothes and bedding. If you are not concerned about animals or children getting into it, it is best to leave baking soda for at least 24 hours before tossing it out or vacuuming surfaces where it has been sprinkled. Activated Charcoal – Small bags of activated charcoal can be placed in closets, shoes, drawers, cars, pet areas, and around the house to absorb odors. They are inexpensive, easy to use, and can be reused repeatedly after setting them outside in the sun for a few hours to release the odors they have absorbed. Distilled White Vinegar – Like baking soda, vinegar is one of those household staples that seems to be good for everything. To allow it to work its odor-elimination magic, put a small amount of vinegar in a bowl and place it in the area that is need of deodorization. You can also mix it with water in a spray bottle to neutralize odors in the air. Vodka – Fill a spray bottle with unflavored vodka to use as an air and fabric deodorizer. Vodka kills odor-causing bacteria, neutralizes odors in fabrics, and dries quickly. I have never had an issue with vodka causing discoloration or damage to fabrics and have never heard of this happening, but if you have a favorite garment or chair that you are concerned about, make sure to try it in an inconspicuous area first. Some folks like to cut their vodka with water or to add a few drops of essential oil to the spray bottle. Cheap vodka works perfectly fine for odor elimination, so you can just buy the cheapest, unflavored vodka you can find. Of course, if you prefer to use the good stuff, I am not here to tell you how to live. Coffee Grounds – The nitrogen in coffee grounds helps make them effective for neutralizing odors in your home. A small bowl or sachet of dry coffee grounds can help eliminate odors in smaller spaces, such as closets or refrigerators, as well as in whole rooms. You can use fresh grounds or used coffee grounds, but if you use used coffee grounds, be sure to spread them out on a cookie sheet to dry first. Like with vodka, you can use the cheapest coffee you can find, since nitrogen is nitrogen, so, if you are not a coffee drinker, buy the cheap stuff for this. If you are a coffee drinker, use the grounds from whatever coffee you are drinking. For ongoing odor control, make sure you stay on top of household tasks that can lead to smelly situations when left undone. This includes regularly taking out the trash and recyclables, emptying the kitchen scrap bucket into your backyard composter, changing bedding, doing laundry, vacuuming carpets and rugs, changing the air filter on your HVAC system, bathing your pets, and checking for spoiled food in the refrigerator. It is also good to regularly clean your dishwasher, washing machine, garbage disposal, and trash and recycling bins. If you are trying to deodorize a house that was exposed to smoke or pet odors over a long period of time, you may need to replace the carpet, wipe down the walls and ceiling with vinegar, and repaint the walls and ceilings to remove the odor. AimeeJo Davis-Varela is a freelance writer specializing in real estate, sustainable home improvement, eco-friendly landscaping, green living and travel writing. She is also the owner of Mind Your Manors, which provides second home management services.
Loma Flora is a freshly painted, two-bedroom home that brilliantly maximizes usable space with a two-room enclosed porch and covered front porch for extra living and entertaining space, plus three sheds for extra storage. From the covered porch, step into the large living room that wraps around into the dining room with built-in cabinets and the adjacent kitchen, which features a breakfast bar and opens to the family room. From the family room, you can access the two-room enclosed porch or head down the hallway to the sleeping quarters. Here, you will find a storage closet, guest bathroom with bathtub and large vanity, guest bedroom with a step-in closet, and the primary bedroom with a walk-in closet and an en suite bathroom with a large vanity and built-in storage cabinets. Outside, a covered carport, storage sheds, and mature landscaping complete the home tucked in the Mira Valle 55+ mobile home park with mountain views and close to the Ojai Valley Trail and the eclectic village of Meiners Oaks. Features include:
Two bedrooms Fresh interior paint Family room Breakfast bar Walk-in closet Dual-sink vanity in primary bathroom Two-room, enclosed porch Mira Valle Mobile Home Park (55+ Park) Covered front porch Three storage sheds Carport Mature landscaping Close to Ojai Valley Trail Close to shops & restaurants in Meiners Oaks & Ojai Visit the property information page for more information, or contact your Ojai realtor, Nora Davis, to schedule a showing. Located on a .31-acre lot in Oak View’s Live Oak neighborhood, this three-bedroom, two-bathroom, 1,618-square-foot home features a spacious family room with a fireplace, dining room, and country kitchen.
Close to Lake Casitas and the Ojai Valley Trail, about one mile from the shops and restaurants of Oak View, and less than five miles from downtown Ojai, this home has great potential as a home base from which to enjoy all that the Ojai Valley has to offer. The long-time owner has decided it is time to downsize, which gives you the opportunity to purchase this 1959 mid-century home, give it a bit of TLC, and transform it into your dream home. The large lot is flat and usable with plenty of room for RV parking, a vegetable garden or cutting garden, fruit trees, a swimming pool, or other amenities that fit your lifestyle. Contact Ojai realtor, Nora Davis, today to schedule a showing! With all the rain we have been receiving lately, my garden beds are rather abundant. Unfortunately, almost all the greenery is weeds. I have been quite busy so far this year and am only now getting around to trying to set aside some time to get a spring garden planted. Of course, now I must first contend with the weed situation before I can move on to the fun part. Since all this much-needed rain has left me dealing with weeds in my garden beds right now, I thought some of you might be dealing with them as well and could maybe use some ideas about how to limit weed growth among our food plants. I know I have talked about natural weed prevention in past columns, but many of those methods are not suitable for use around food plants or other desirable plants. Options like salt, cornmeal, boiling water, and vinegar do not discriminate between weeds and wanted plants, so we need to move beyond these easy options when we are removing weeds from our vegetable gardens. 1. Hoe or pull existing weeds. Whether or not you have already planted your desirable plants, you need to remove the undesirable ones before we can do anything else about it. So, if your garden beds do not have food plants (or you can hoe around them) and are low enough and large enough to hoe, use a hoe to remove weeds. If they are raised beds or it is difficult to get to the weeds around wanted food plants, pull them by hand. While hoeing and weeding can put stress on your body and are not the easiest way to kill weeds, they are the most effective way to make sure the entire weed plant and roots are removed. I use a Hori Hori garden knife for removing weeds – and lots of other tasks in the garden – which makes weed removal much easier. 2. Mind the weeds in surrounding areas. Most weeds did not start out in your garden beds. Those seeds blew over from some other part of your yard or were left by a bird or other critter visiting your garden. While you cannot stop weed seeds from migrating from your neighbors’ yards, you can keep the weeds down on your own property to help limit seeds finding their way into your garden. 3. Irrigate carefully. Water only the areas where there are wanted seeds or plants and avoid watering bare areas of your garden where weed seeds might be waiting for an opportunity to sprout. The easiest way to do this is to install a drip system or use soaker hoses. 4. Disturb the soil as little as possible. The less you disturb the soil, the lower the risk of weed seeds germinating in your garden. Mix in compost and amendments to prepare your soil but avoid tilling the whole garden to remove weeds and prepare the ground. 5. Use non-living ground covers around food plants. Cover any bare earth in your garden with non-living ground covers, such as mulch, bark, wood chips, or straw. If you choose bark or wood chips, make sure to choose natural options that have not been dyed. Cover the ground around your plants with at least two inches of one of these natural materials to prevent weed growth. Make sure you to leave the base of your food plants clear by keeping the ground cover a few inches away from the base. 6. Try growing your food plants closer together. Rather than thinning out your carrots, beets, and other food plants, allow them to grow closer together. They will not all perform equally, but you will end up with a larger harvest and less space for weeds to take hold. 7. Stay on top of weed removal. It is easiest to remove weeds when they are first emerging, so stay on top of pulling weeds while they are seedlings. If you do not have time to check for weeds every few days, at least make sure you pull them before they go to seed and exacerbate the problem. Surrounded by orchards in Ojai’s popular East End, this 1947 home and guest house have been lovingly restored to offer modern comforts and conveniences while keeping its original character. The three-bedroom, two-bathroom main house and one-bedroom, one-bathroom guest house are located on an approximately one-acre lot with a one-stall barn, pipe corral, chicken coop, fruit trees, and garden bed. The property boasts heritage oaks and drought-resistant landscaping and is surrounded by 360-degree mountain views, including one of the best views and sunsets in the valley. The sunsets overlooking the surrounding fields and orange groves are incredible. Escape and feel the beauty of the country with this charming property and still be five minutes from historic downtown Ojai. Features include:
Three bedrooms, two bathrooms Recently remodeled Sunroom or bonus room Stone fireplace Wood floors Built-in bookshelves Covered porch Both houses currently rented Approximately one acre One-stall barn and pipe corral Chicken coop Garden bed Fruit trees Drought-tolerant landscaping 360-degree mountain views Close to trails and downtown Ojai To learn more about this East End Ojai horse property for sale, visit the property information page. To schedule a showing, contact Nora Davis today. Originally designed by Austen Pierpont, this remarkable home has been fully remodeled with incredible attention to detail and an eye towards upscale living. This includes unique touches like the dining room’s antique Chapman light fixture, French casement windows for unobstructed views, and Ashley Norton door hardware throughout. Vaulted ceilings, hardwood and travertine floors, two wood-burning or gas fireplaces, walk-in pantry, duel-fuel Wolf range, Carrera Gold marble counters, and large windows bathing every room in natural light are just a handful of this home’s alluring features. The media room, two laundry rooms, well-designed layout, and luxurious primary suite with a spa-like bath with two vanities and a large, walk-in closet are also sure to impress. The exceptional outdoor living areas include a swimming pool with spa, Baja shelf, and automatic cover, patio fireplace, built-in Viking grill, bar, dog runs, family orchard, large lawn area, and multiple patios and seating areas. Features include:
Approximately 2,601 square feet Three bedrooms, 2.5 bathroom Large primary suite with spa-like en suite Two vanities in primary bathroom Large, walk-in closet in primary bedroom Media room/family room Two wood-burning or gas fireplaces Dual-fuel, six-burner Wolf range Carrera Gold marble counters Walk-in pantry with coffee bar Two laundry rooms (house and garage) Travertine floors and baseboards Two closets & built-ins in each guest bedroom Ashley Norton door hardware throughout French casement windows Vaulted ceilings Large windows for views and natural light Gated entry Approximately .7 acre Multiple outdoor living areas Swimming pool with Baja shelf and spa Patio fireplace Built-in Viking barbecue grill with bar Family orchard Raised garden beds Three dog runs Over-sized two-car garage with workshop RV parking with 50-amp hookup Fully fenced Privacy landscaping Copper gutters Pink Moment view Walk or bike to downtown Ojai Walk or bike to Meiners Oaks Visit the property information page to learn more about this Ojai home for sale in the Arbolada, or call Nora Davis today to schedule a private showing. Walk or bike to shops, restaurants, and the Ojai Valley Trail from this ideally located charmer.
The welcoming living room bathed in natural light from three skylights features two ceiling fans, fireplace, sliding door to the patio, and custom entertainment center. The adjacent dining room opens to the kitchen with granite counters, breakfast bar, island, walk-in pantry, and custom cabinets. Completing this wing of the house is a powder room and laundry room. A wide hallway leads to the primary suite and three guest bedrooms with ceiling fans and large closets. One of the guest rooms was the original primary bedroom and has a walk-in closet and en suite bathroom. There is also a guest bathroom with a tile shower and vanity. The primary suite features a ceiling fan, walk-in closet, sliding door to the backyard, sitting or yoga area, and an en suite bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub and dual-sink vanity. Exterior features include covered patio, pool, built-in grill, and gated RV parking. Visit the property information page for more information, or contact Ojai real estate agent, Nora Davis to schedule a private showing today. This Mid-Century Modern Oak View fixer offers a great location for commuters and to enjoy the Ojai Valley lifestyle minutes from the downtown village, Lake Casitas, and Ventura beaches.
From this home base, you can walk to the grocery store, post office, bank, coffee shop, salons, shops, and restaurants or hop on your bike and take the Ojai Valley Trail to Ojai or Ventura. As you pass through the gated entry, notice the gravel parking area, fruit trees, privacy landscaping, and separate workshop for your hobbies or home-based business. Step inside to find vaulted ceilings, large closets, and a gas fireplace with wood storage and brick hearth. The spacious dining room is open to the living room and connects to the kitchen, where you will find a tile floor and counters. Sliding doors from the living room and primary bedroom lead to the partially covered back patio for weekend barbecues with family and friends or relaxing at the end of a long day. Great opportunity to renovate for yourself or as a rental. Visit the property information page for more photos and information, or contact Nora Davis to schedule a private showing. |
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