Bird Houses Help Develop Wagner Farms' Children's Garden

It's not entirely accurate to say birdhouses are a family business for Mike and Shea Paytas, but it's not completely off the mark, either.

Especially since the Paytas took both the youth and adult categories' top prizes in the annual birdhouse contest Saturday, at Wagner Farms. The prizes included some cash prizes and certificates at Warrenville Paint and Hardware.

According to Mike Paytas, a contractor who travels with tools in tow, his 7-foot tall driftwood birdhouse was created with driftwood collected at Bloch Island, R.I., during a recent visit. He added that's also where his son, Shea, began building birdhouses.

"There's a beach where the driftwood washes up and it's really interesting," he said of the wood.

He said when his family is visiting the island, he and his kids will often gather driftwood at the beach. A couple of years ago during a visit when the weather wasn't cooperative, he encouraged the kids to build birdhouses with the wood they'd gathered.

Then, they sold the birdhouses on a roadside stand and everyone netted a "couple of hundred dollars," he said.

"It was a great experience for the kids," Paytas said.

Shea entered a large driftwood birdhouse in the youth category, which is available for purchase along with the other entries at Wagner Farms as part of a fundraising project organized by Alison and Ellyn Draikiwicz.

The Draikiwicz announced the winners at Saturday's event, capping the day's opening events for the Children's Garden, which also included Girl Scouts offering face painting and stick-on tattoos for kids, yoga exercises with Onyx Mind Body's Julia Kadarusman, and games.

A complete list of winners will be posted later.