Category Archives: Gardening & Animals & Inspirations

M. Nicole van Dam’s joyous Impressionist artworks, children’s books and writings are inspired by her family, pets and garden, all shared here.

Making Garden Gold: How to Compost

Nicole has happily been composting for her organic garden- which she loves because it eliminates so much waste that otherwise would be lost in a landfill, and turns everything from coffee grinds, eggshells, and unwanted veggie leftovers into precious nourishment … Continue reading

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Hot off the Presses: M. Nicole van Dam Rain/Garden Boots on Fox TV!

I just learned that the Good Day TV Show on Fox TV did a segment that shared the rain/garden boots based on my artwork with their viewers – luckily they posted it on YouTube so I can share the video … Continue reading

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Spring is HERE and the Garden is ALIVE!

It’s absolutely glorious outside!  Spring is here, the fruit trees have more flowers than ever, we have a few twittering bird tenants in the nesting boxes, and the veggie garden is planted!  -And yes, I know, the tomatoes will take … Continue reading

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Great New Rain/Gardening Boot Released! NEW “Chef at the Farmer’s Market” Boot!

                      M. Nicole van Dam’s artwork “Chef at the Farmer’s Market” joins Nicole’s other licensed images and has been transformed into a lovely new rain and gardening boot! The colors … Continue reading

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Vegetable Garden Painting “Nature’s Kitchen”

My vegetable garden painting is done – I’ve named it “Nature’s Kitchen” in homage to my husband’s quip that when we harvest veggies for dinner we are going “grocery chopping.” It’s very similar to my garden – except maybe a … Continue reading

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Amazing Acrobatic Squirrel Defies Gravity!

Check out this video – this squirrel is AMAZING! It’s hard to believe how daring and fun this squirrel is, with lots of personality. As you will see in the film clip, this squirrel LOVES a challenge – rather than … Continue reading

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Contented Peace, Happiness and Bliss at the Bird Feeder – Grosbeaks and a Dove!

In the video below you will see Contented Peace, Bliss and Happiness at our magical bird feeder! If only the whole world got along this well! Our bird feeder is so busy, pretty soon we are going to need an … Continue reading

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Our injured Black-Headed Grosbeak has a friend!

We are thrilled that so many black-headed grosbeaks have returned with the warmer weather, to keep our injured black-headed grosbeak company. Sometimes our little guy has as many as three fellow grosbeaks around him – all males. Once I saw … Continue reading

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Inspiring Santa Barbara “Ever-Bloom” Nursery Tour

Thanks to my amazing friend Carol, we went with the Ventura County Garden Club on a SPECTACULAR tour of Santa Babara’s Ever-Bloom nursery – and all I can say is… LOOK AT THESE PICTURES! I am so inspired! Imagine acres … Continue reading

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The Veggie Garden is Planted!!!

This is such a miraculous time of the year. The garden boxes transform from barren to full of hope; the yard is all a-twitter with birds – even our blue bird houses have residents (but not blue birds!). As last … Continue reading

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On Bluebird Houses, “Grocery Chopping,” and our Black-Headed Grosbeak

My husband has been hard at work – harvesting today’s crop, making me smile, and putting up two blue bird houses, and being all around wonderful! I have seen a few bluebirds – beautiful red-breasted Western Bluebirds – in our … Continue reading

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Happy Ending!

For those of you that have been following my postings, you will know that at our birdfeeders we have seen a black-headed grosbeak wihich has a broken wing. He has wintered here with us, when instead he is supposed to … Continue reading

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Great Photo of our Bourke on her eggs

My husband took this great photo of our sweet Bourke nesting on her eggs – and I wanted to share it with you. When he took the photo, he obviously didn’t want to use the camera’s flash, so the lighting … Continue reading

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The Ever Ravenous and Unendingly Cute Mort-the-Squirrel

Our squirrel Mort will eat and eat and eat. He just reaches into the bird feeder and chows down. He’s awesomely cute, and it’s fun to watch him hold the goodies in his paws and nibble away. It’s no great … Continue reading

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It’s a Squirrely Business!

As our Leonberger dog watched with his usual gentle fascination, we had two visitors to our bird feeder today – our inspirational Molly squirrel, whose broken leg happily still seems to be improving, and adorable Mort, who has the cutest … Continue reading

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Update on our Black-Headed Grosbeak

Those of you who follow this blog already know that we have a wonderful black-headed Grosbeak wintering in our garden – he is supposed to be in Southern Mexico or Latin America, but because of a wing injury, he has … Continue reading

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Brilliant Blue Jay masters a super-tough nut-to-crack, the Peanut Wreath!

Our wonderful neighbors gave us a heavy wire peanut wreath. It essentially is a super-tightly wound slinky, that is immobile – these wires are thick and can’t be adjusted even with human hands. The idea is to wedge the peanuts … Continue reading

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Update on Inspirational Molly Squirrel!

Our little squirrel with the broken leg, Molly, is hanging in there! Here you can see her progress – we are thrilled to see how much better Molly is doing on her broken leg. This post shares the follow-up video … Continue reading

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Thanks to Wonderful Neighbors Karen & Jim, Squirrels and Blue Jays have a GREAT Holiday!

We were so surprised when we came home and found a LARGE holiday gift bag, filled with what is best described as a large wire ring wreath, and a bag of peanuts, along with a lovely card. Our animal-loving-kindred-spirits-neighbors, Karen … Continue reading

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Two Best Buds – Our Bourke Parrots (aka Bourke Parakeets); Our Female bird gets the munchies!

These two birds have come a long way since they first met. Now they can share the same cage, and when they do, they are very sympatico. Here are some little glimpses into their world: Here is some footage of … Continue reading

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