Emerald Acres Hummingbird Ranch

I've had an epiphany and I know how I want to spend my next years after I quit doing the government support work that I'm doing right now. Call it my retirement job and since it would be seasonal, I could actually act retired several months of the year.

A hummingbird ranch.

That's right, a hummingbird ranch!

Now I do not intend to ranch hummer birds in the normal, raise, feed, take to market for slaughter manner as livestock and I don't intend to create huge pens where the hummers spend a short miserable life waiting to be sent to Tyson to be breaded and flash frozen for your dining pleasure. I mean, think about how many hummingbird drumsticks you could eat at one dinner- no way I could grow that many hummers!

No, I want to build a hummingbird conservation area. I'm thinking that perhaps a 5 acre property would be big enough, with 3 acres dedicated to a permanent flower garden with wide walkways and flower beds filled with the plants that hummers prefer surrounding the many flower beds. Around the border, there will be thick hedges suitable for hummer nesting areas. And in the garden, I'll place hummer feeders, lots of hummer feeders, perhaps a couple hundred individual feeders, placed around to keep the little buzz bomb's interest.

Up front I'll have a building that contains a ticket counter, a bright, sunny food area with sandwiches, hot and cold drinks and ice cream and a gift shop. There will be parking out front with enough room for numerous school buses and RVs. In the gift shop, I'll stock everything "hummingbird"; feeders, food mix, feeder hangars, CDs with screensavers for your computer, stained glass hummer window hangers, post cards, T-shirts, key chains and every other typical gift shop item you can imagine.

In my concept, I will have educational multimedia displays that show the varieties of hummingbirds that visit, their life and migration cycles and explanations of the types of flowers and their influence on the hummingbirds. I want Emerald Acres to become a destination spot. Just like Hardware Ranch brings visitors from all over to take a sleigh ride to see the elk, I want visitors to come and stroll my gardens and enjoy the antics of the raucous little hummingbirds that choose to live in or nearby my "ranch." I'd like it to be a field trip location for the local school kids in the spring and would work towards having educational material to support their interest and educational levels. I've even been advised to work with the local university to implement an intern program and to hire a college student to be the on-site naturalist while earning college credit through a summer's work.

Doesn't this sound like a great place to visit a time or two each summer? It would be a place to bring your out-of-town visitors and guests for a refreshing trip out of town for a little walk around the flower beds and a pleasant lunch in unique surroundings. I don't have a clue how I would finance this effort but ever since the idea arrived in my cranium last Friday afternoon, its been swirling around and becoming more clear with every hour. The interesting part is that this idea arrived almost fully formed in my head and everything else had just been the details. I've even got an idea where to put my ranch- out in Huntsville but the property there is getting so expensive already that I may have to find a more affordable location.

Remember- if I get going on this plan, you heard it here first!