http://www.care2.com/greenliving/twig-or-tweet.html
Twig or Tweet
A motley crew of 23 costumed characters descended on my house this beautiful afternoon. Ghosts, goblins, princesses and pirates from around the neighborhood gathered to celebrate a belated Halloween, many accompanied by their good-natured, but a little-bit-embarrassed, big-uns.
Wearing a blue gingham pinafore, braids and ruby slippers, I, Nana Dorothy for the day, led the Munchkins down the brick road toward Saturday’s outdoor gathering of the Kids Kraft Klub. (Okay, the “slippers” were actually flip-flops and the “road” a mere 50-foot path paved with rust-colored bricks, but imagination goes a long with with the creative spirit of this Klub!) Once we quit chasing puppy Papi around the yard and accepted that there was no way he’d willingly remain in a basket as Toto, we settled down to chat about what was going on in our individual lives, the books we’ve been reading, new things happening in school and concerns that all of us share, especially the recent acts of violence headlining the news this week. It seemed as if the adults particularly benefited from this opportunity to speak calmly, lovingly with the children, reassuring them that Mom and Dad understood their tearful fears, firmly stressing that they’d always do their best to protect them.
In this peaceful environment, surrounded by glorious autumn foliage, entertained by plump, nut-scavenging squirrels scrambling across the lawn, we noticed multiple bird flocks migrating southward in advance of the forthcoming frigid months. But because Middle Tennessee is relatively temperate in comparison to the northern United States, we are never entirely avian-free, although their usual natural food supply is sorely depleted by cold weather. For this reason, the Klub decided to make simple feeders today that will not only provide snacks for swift and stealthy squirrels, but are also eco-friendly because once the nuts and seeds are eaten, the holders will likely fall to the ground where they will biodegrade during winter, thus enriching the soil below.
Piled atop some tables were the supplies we needed: cardboard tubes from empty bathroom tissue rolls (we also used paper towel tubes cut in thirds); yarn, cotton cord and string leftover from old packages; scissors; very inexpensive peanut butter*; wild bird seed mix (don’t forget that dollar stores can be a penny-pincher’s BFF!); shallow baking pans; pie tins; a big spoon to scoop out the peanut butter* and; plenty of soapy, washable rags, plus buckets of rinse water. (Please note that the quantity of craft materials depends entirely on the number of feeders desired.)
Were you here, you’d have been politely asked to:
1) Pour two or three inches of seed mix into each pan;
2) Scoop out several globs of peanut butter* and plop them onto the tins;
3) Cut the cord, string or yarn into lengths about 30 inches long and thread them through the tubes, tying the ends into strong knots;
4) Using bare hands, slather each tube completely with peanut butter*;
5) Roll the tube in the bird seed, pressing down just enough until you can’t see any cardboard or peanut butter*;
6) Do it over and over again ’til you run out of supplies and everyone is giggling, covered in peanut butter and bird seed, and a few folks are sneaking licks at their icky, sticky fingers! (Don’t freak out if they manage to eat a little seed; it isn’t very tasty.)
Then, as the littlest Klubster likes to say, came the “most funnest” part: Once the work space was tidied, ourselves made presentable and fruit juice-fortified, we set off to spread the wealth. It took almost three hours, but every family on the block was given at least one official Kids Krafts Klub Bird Buffet. Because a few of the residences along the way are apartments, we brought along some twigs and short branches that had fallen from the maples and magnolias in my yard; these we gave to the people who didn’t have their own trees upon which to hang the feeders.
There’s no doubt that the sight of an oddly garbed group of big and little-uns parading down the street raised many a curious eyebrow this afternoon, but everyone we visited enthusiastically accepted our gifts and immediately installed them, including the apartment dwellers who propped the branches into their windows and door frames. Every person in the neighborhood sent us on our way with happy grins, heartfelt hugs, enthusiastic expressions of encouragement and loads of leftover Halloween candy.
To once again quote the tiniest Klubster: “It was the bestest ‘twig or tweeting’ ever!”
* AN IMPORTANT NOTE TO FOLKS WITH FOOD ALLERGIES: Please DO NOT ingest or come in contact with peanut butter when crafting this project. Use a vegetable-based solid shortening instead. The birds and squirrels won’t care; however, you will, especially if you experience a serious or severe allergic reaction to peanut butter!
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16 comments
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we have possums here in the park, and in the winter the scraggly babies come through the cat door to eat the dry cat food that i leave out for our only cat who lives outdoors on a permanent basis.
my husband doesn't like feeding the raccoons and possums on our deck, but i can't refuse to feed a starving animal, wild or otherwise, so i get a plastic dish, fill it with dry cat food, and take it outside for the possums.
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probably my favorite of all the commonly seen wildlife. not only are they the only marsupial native to north america, but very misunderstood. they are extremely gentle and try to avoid conflict at all cost (except they do fight amongst themselves). my neighbor has raised two orphan babies. they can be potty trained...since it's only a matter of time before this information becomes germane:)
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mz janet -- since ya'll are such a nice tennessee gal, i would be willing to send you my recipe for possum stew -- should you ever feel inclined to try it sometime. :::::w g:::::
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Another thing I neglected to mention, what with all of the family cats in the neighborhood, when we make projects that are meant to be hung high, a couple of our Klub dads indulge us by lugging along a ladder so the feeders and "whatnots" can be placed on tree limbs too flimsy for feline access. In addition, despite it being an ongoing struggle, the neighborhood (for now, anyway) has no feral colonies because we all work together when a new, unowned cat appears, so even the folks who live in apartments need not fear that their close-to-the-ground, makeshift feeders will attract stray cats.
As for squirrels and possums, yup, they're all over the place - I was gob smacked some months ago when I glanced at my open front door and found a pair of red eyes glaring back at me! I don't know anything about possums - used to think their natural habitat was lying in a heap on the side of the road, but that was when we lived in really rural TN and the folks told us that "them thar critters made fer mighty fine eatin'", a declaration I refused to challenge!
I digress... my point is that none of us is ever going to do anything that will be perfect for everybody else. Accepting that, I must pose the eternal question: Does the good of the many outweigh the good of the few? On that note, I think I'll go watch some old Star Trek videos.
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What a wonderful little article and a wonderful idea. With my 4 cats I fear I would be putting up a station for the feline hot lunch smorgasbord. I'll save this idea for when my cats don't go to so much. My coop tends to have a lot of birds in it all winter.
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actually the birds will eat the peanut butter.
checked with my husband -- the bird expert in our family. he buys peanut butter suet. it gets eaten VErY rapidly around here.
many of the birds have left for the winter and warmer climates, but some are still around.
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yeah. the birds keep me in the poor house. unfortunately, my neighbor "took care" of all the squirrels, so i'm not sure what would eat the peanut butter. maybe possums?
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we have many bird feeders in our yard. i can assure anyone that the bird seed goes VERY quickly.
my husband has to replace the food on an almost daily basis.
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Ya' know, Catherine, in all the time we've made these feeders, nothing has ever gone "bad" or to waste. Thanks to the squirrels and birds, every tube I've seen fallen on the ground was completely seed/peanut butter-free. And each spring, even the cardboard had disappeared, biodegraded into soil. And I forgot to mention that when the Klub makes eco-friendly projects that can eventually biodegrade, we collect the remains from the neighbors who do not have individual bins and put them (the mulch-ables, not the neighbors) into our communal compost heap.
As for the "braids"...please note that Nana Janet has (increasingly greying) auburn short hair, so her braids were created from strands of leftover red yarn, thus making her more resemble a deranged Raggedy Ann than the lovely Dorothy Gale. And unless Playboy offers $1,000,000 - Nana's stayin' behind the view finder of her camera! LOL!!
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