About Me — Daniel Pfeifer

Summary

Daniel Pfeifer is a retiree who shares his experiences in gardening, bird watching, and outdoor activities through blogging on Medium, after transitioning from Blogger and Steempeak, and is also involved in citizen science projects like Project FeederWatch.

Abstract

Daniel Pfeifer, an avid gardener, bird watcher, and outdoor enthusiast, has been documenting his hobbies and retirement experiences on his blog for the past seven years. Initially starting on Blogger and briefly on Steempeak, he found Medium to be a superior platform for sharing his stories. Daniel's interest in gardening and bird watching was inherited from his family, and he has continued these traditions in his own home, maintaining multiple vegetable gardens and bird feeders. His blog covers a range of topics from his participation in the citizen science project Project FeederWatch to detailed accounts of his gardening activities, including his passion for heirloom tomatoes. Additionally, Daniel enjoys various outdoor activities and plans to share insights on maximizing retirement enjoyment through his articles.

Opinions

Daniel appreciates the user-friendly nature of Medium compared to his previous blogging platforms.
He values the engagement and positive feedback he has received on Medium for his stories.
Daniel has a preference for practical and traditional methods, such as using galvanized pipe for bird feeder poles, a technique learned from his father.
He expresses concern about the decline in the prevalence of Evening Grosbeaks, which has motivated him to contribute to Project FeederWatch.
Daniel is enthusiastic about sharing his retirement experiences and providing advice to help others adjust to and enjoy retirement.

Avid Gardener, Bird Watcher, Outdoorsman, Writer and Recent Retiree

First of all, thanks for reading my story. I have been blogging for about 7 years on Blogger. I also posted for awhile on Steempeak, but that was way too complicated for me. I still post on Blogger, however, I have discovered Medium, and realized it is a much better platform. Thus far I am grateful to the response I have gotten for my stories, and all the kind comments.

I became involved with vegetable gardening at a young age as my parents and grandparents were avid gardeners. I must admit my first introduction to gardening was weeding my parent’s huge vegetable garden, and I wasn’t too impressed at the time. As time went on I caught the gardening bug. By the time I was 10 or 12, I was growing my own sunflowers and entering magazine contests for the largest Mammoth Russian seed heads. Many years later, my wife and I bought a house in the country, in 1992, and I now have 3 vegetable gardens and also many perennial flower beds that my wife an I maintain.

At about the same time I also became interested in bird watching, as several of our neighbors were already feeding birds. So I built a bird feeder and my Dad helped with a pole made of half-inch galvanized pipe. Yup, he was a plumber. To this day I use pipe for my bird feeder poles. At the time, I even made homemade suet cakes by melting down suet and adding seed. Now, I buy my suet cakes. A lot less messy.

Back in the 1970s we would get flocks ( 20 to 30 birds) of Evening Grosbeaks at our feeder where I grew up in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains. These birds are far less prevalent now. Where I currently live, in Central NY State, I think I have seen one of these birds since 1992. This type of information has encouraged me to participate in Project FeederWatch , a citizen science project that tracks locations of birds and provides other valuable data.

My blog/stories will cover my participation in this project and provides a wealth of information regarding bird watching from feeding to photography and more.

In regards to vegetable gardening, my posts/stories cover this hobby including the arrival of seed catalogs, starting plants indoors, garden preparation, planting, harvesting, and fall garden cleanup. I am a lover of heirloom tomatoes so I will also write posts dedicated to those.

As far as outdoor activities, I enjoy biking, hiking, kayaking, and cross country skiing. Sometimes just a good old walk. These all lead to good stories/photos.

Retirement

I retired at the end of August 2020 and have started a new chapter of my life. I will also write articles dealing with getting the most enjoyment from your retirement. We certainly all deserve it after all the years of working. Some people may have trouble adjusting to this new adventure. I’m hoping my articles packed with advice will help.

So come along for the ride, and I definitely will provide some good reads and photos for you.