Lately it seems like Hannah and I have been seeing more and more wildlife during our week. Yesterday we saw 2 coyotes walking along the side of a city road (scary since they have to go through our neighborhood to get to the closest safe spot of them), and we've been seeing more and more birds flying overhead. To celebrate the animals and to try to encourage our feathered friends to come visit our yard, we decided to make new bird feeders. Our toilet paper tube feeders fed the magpies quite well, and we have been saving up more tubes for spring feeders. In the meantime, we thought we'd try a different type of feeder.
This idea originated from a Pinterest post of a project first posted on the HGTV website. Click here for the link. Hannah and my husband have been eating a lot of oranges lately, and he is a pro at keeping the peels whole, so I thought it would be perfect for us to try.
To make these feeders you need:
* Orange peels (try to keep them as hole free as possible. One of ours had a hole from the bellybutton, so I used a snip of coffee filter to plug it)
* Bamboo skewer or chopstick (cut in half)
* Twine or string
* Hole puncher or nail
Once your holes are made, slide your skewer/chopstick through the holes. Despite having four holes, we only used one chopstick per feeder. I wanted a bit of stability, as well as a perch for once the bird food gets lower.
Then, simply tie the twine to the ends of the skewer, fill the feeder with your food of choice and hang in your favorite tree!!
To make the filling, you need:
* 1/2 cup peanut butter
* 1 cup of cornmeal or oats (we used a 1/2 cup of each)
* 1/4 cup raisins or any other dried fruit or nuts.
We have two trees in the backyard, so we hung a feeder in each one. Let's hope we see some customers real soon!!
This project is great for younger children. They can help measure out the ingredients, mix everything together, fill the feeders and of course, eat the oranges!!
Cheers!
Sharon
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