For our feathered friends

Last week, Stephanie spied pinecones swinging on strings in the trees around Ellie's school.  The Kindergarten class had been making bird feeders.  Not sure how a pinecone could be a bird feeder, Stephanie declared that would be our next project.  Lucky us ran into a neighbor that same morning who had leftover pinecones from her Thanksgiving centrepiece, so we had four to start.



If you've never made a pinecone bird feeder, the process is very simple.  Tie a length of string or yarn or ribbon in a loop and wedge one side of that loop into the top of the pinecone.  Using a smooth knife or spreading tool (like a small spatula), spread peanut butter all over the pinecone.  Smoothing up from the bottom helps wedge the peanut butter in the nooks and crannies.  Then, roll the peanut-butter-covered in bird seed.



Hang it from a branch and tah-dah!  Watch your feathered friends enjoy their gift.



I couldn't get a close picture, but the birds loved Stephanie's feeder.  She hung it in a bush just outside our kitchen window, so I enjoyed watching the sparrows come all afternoon and even a lady cardinal joined in.  We strongly suspect the deer were interested in it too, because it was halfway down the driveway the next morning, smooshed flat on one side.