it is still cold winter here in nashville and yet every morning we hear more and more birds singing outside the bedroom window. ella worries about every living thing, and she has been very worried about the birds. since it is also wet here in the winter, we didn't want to put out just birdseed, so we made some homemade "suet" bird feed cakes, which were really not suet but a mixture of crunchy peanut butter and shortening melted together, then we dumped in some bird seed, some oats, some raisins, and some cornmeal. we just did it by eye (as we do just about everything), mixing and adding and stirring until it was thick and looked like a delicious birdie treat. then we scooped it into a frozen food tray and put it in the fridge to harden. the birds ate it all up! we are already on our second tray of it.
this tray holds enough for two cakes the size of the suet cages that you can buy in stores, but we wanted to put out more so we made some bags for it on the knifty knitter. (every other peg, e-wrap, about 15-17 rows, gather bind off, run a strand of yarn thru the cast-on row to create a drawstring for hanging):
while sitting on the bed, watching the feeders to see the birds come along, ella wondered when they would start building their nests and what they'd use and eventually our conversation came around to wanting to help them find what they needed for their nests too. we have been saving bits of yarn and thread from our projects, but we needed a way to give them to the birds that would entice them to take them, and after discussing different ideas, this is what we came up with:
it is a frame made from sticks and yarn. we weaved (wove? woved?) things we found in the yard such as pieces of bark, long wilted leaves, and anything else we liked, then we strung the bits of yarn and thread all thru the weaving, so the birds could just grab them as needed.
this was a very satisfying project! there is no way to do it wrong, or if there is i don't know about it. but we still had some yarn left (imagine that), so we did one more present for the birdies: we made "pon-pons" and strung them all over the dogwood tree, so there would be enough yarn bits for every bird that comes by, which ella estimates that is about 25 birds.
this dogwood tree is pretty special, it was planted by the previous owner of the house in memory of her husband. it is here that we have buried four pets, and here that i often spend time remembering all the souls i love who have gone before me. it is a fitting tree to offer the birds our invitation and hospitality.
