Don’t forget about your feathered friends this holiday season. There are many recipes out there for bird seed ornaments, and pine cone ornaments. I want to share my no fuss, I wish I could say no mess mixture.
When I want to make bird seed ornaments I pull out a glass mixing bowl, and place a suet cake in the bowl. Then I pop it in the microwave for 20 second intervals.
I pop the bowl out of the microwave to check the consistency and stir the mixture. If it’s not melted I put it back in the microwave for another 20 seconds.
When the suet cake is all melted, I add a half a jar of peanut butter. I use non-hydrogenated. I like to make a few pine cone ornaments while I’m making bird seed ornaments. I add a little bird seed to the mixture, about 1/4 to 1/2 cup. Then I dip the pine cones in. The pine cones should come out with a layer of the seeds, suet and peanut butter mixture.
After I dip a few pine cones I add a full cup of bird seed to the warm mixture. Have some strings cut and ready before you add the rest of the seed. You can also add dried fruit, cranberries, chunks of apples, nuts, or popcorn to the ornament mixture.
The next step is the messy part. Grab a small handful of the mixture, and a string. Lay the string on top of the mixture in you hand, then add another small handful on top.
Work the mixture with your hands to form a ball with the sting in the center. When you are happy with the shape lay the ornament aside on a cookie sheet, or sheet of aluminum foil to cool and dry.
Once the ornaments are cooled hang them on the nearest tree for all your feathered friends to enjoy. You can also add a decorative ribbon to the ornaments and give a collection of them to your nature, or garden loving friends for Christmas.
[...] A welcome treat for outside feathered friends (and a few squirrels and chipmunks too), is a St. Francis Tree. This is a great project for the Sunday School and can utilize an existing fir-type tree in the churchyard, a rootballed tree or a cut tree. This tree can have small white lights but is more natural-looking with garlands of strung popcorn and cranberries, peanut butter balls rolled in seed, suet cakes, seed bells, orange and apple slices, and pinecones stuffed with suet. Balls and cut fruit may be tied onto the tree with raffia strands which birds will later carry off as nesting materials. Click on this link to learn how to make birdseed ornaments for your tree http://www.motherearthsgarden.com/bird-seed-ornaments/ [...]
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[...] Mother Earth’s Garden – Bird Seed Ornaments [...]
[...] posted some information a couple weeks ago about making Bird Seed Ornaments, and on decorating a Christmas Tree For The [...]
If you do not have suet, you can also make no-bake bird seed treats by mixing the bird seed with a little molasses, which helps it to stick together. I don’t have exact measurements, we just wing it (ha ha… wing it!). The birds love them!
Thanks for stopping by Mother Earth’s Garden, I hadn’t heard about peanut butter being bad for birds. I will have to check into that. I wonder if it’s just the hydrogenated kind? The recipe will work just as well without the peanut butter. Just leave the peanut butter out and add a little less bird seed (about 1/2 cup less) to the mix.
I just read on a gardening forum (http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/crafts/msg1110582313376.html) that an an environmental educator at Lancaster County Central Park said peanut butter is not good for birds because they do not have a salivary gland. Eek. I was about to make some of these… Do you know of any other recipes for birdseed ornaments? P.S. I looked at your other post and love the idea of putting fruits out. Neat
Thanks.
[...] linette put an intriguing blog post on Bird Seed Ornaments.Here’s a quick excerpt:I like to make a few pine cone ornaments while I’m making bird seed ornaments. I add a little bird seed to the mixture, about 1/4 to 1/2 cup. Then I dip the pine cones in. The pine cones should come out with a layer of the seeds, … [...]
[...] linette added an interesting post on Bird Seed Ornaments.Here’s a small excerpt:I like to make a few pine cone ornaments while I’m making bird seed ornaments. I add a little bird seed to the mixture, about 1/4 to 1/2 cup. Then I dip the pine cones in. The pine cones should come out with a layer of the seeds, … [...]
[...] can make your own bird seed ornaments, or you can make a nut and seed garland to hang on your tree. You can also slice some fresh fruit [...]
I’ve always wanted to try these – maybe I’ll give it a shot with the kids over the holiday breaks coming up!
I have to laugh because if I made those, my husband would eat them all before the poor birds got a chance. They look just like his special “fitness” cookies.
Last winter was especially stern, here in Denver. The poor squirrels started chewing the trees where they could.
This fall we started a feeding program..sounds official, eh? Actually its just my efforts, along with my husband’s, to keep our little buddies from starving.