• About Us
  • On the Farm
  • In the Kitchen
  • Our Place
  • Farmhouse Renovations
  • In the Garden
  • Family

Back to Our Boots

Building a Life with Room to Breathe

January 3, 2018

Christmas Tree for the Birds

My family’s holiday traditions include decorating a living tree with treats for the birds. This year’s tree was decorated with a cranberry garland, popcorn garland, peanut garland, and birdseed. Here are some more ideas for winter bird feeding.

Working with the girls to create the garlands was a great holiday activity. We try to focus on the spirit of giving, and this activity fits right in. Both the time spent creating the edible decorations, and the physical trip to decorate the tree turned out to be positive family experiences.  I was surprised how interested in participating the girls were. They really stuck with the project. My nearly four-year-old spent nearly an hour stringing cranberries. My six-year-old carefully created elaborate patterns. The trip out back in the snow went just as well. It was cold, but they were very excited about their christmas gift to the animals.

Materials

– Unsalted, Raw, In Shell Peanuts

– Cranberries

– Popped Popcorn

– String (Birds get caught in fishing line so it is not a good choice.)

– Needle (After some experimentation I have found yarn needles in a few different sizes work well.)

Stringing Garlands

It takes a fair amount of time to string any of these materials, but the popcorn is particularly tedious. It works better with a smaller needle. Our popcorn served mostly as a snack for the little critters building the garlands! The peanuts take a little more pressure to string. Cranberries go on very easily. Using larger yarn needles with blunt ends (larger for the peanuts, and smaller for the popcorn) was particularly helpful.

Unless your tree is very small, it takes a lot of garlands to fully cover the tree. Our tree was a little sparse and next year I hope to have a few more garlands put together. I also plan to use dried apple slices, and birdseed suet treats.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: DYI, Holidays, Kid Friendly Projects Posted by Sadie Leave a Comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About Us

This blog is the story of how my family made the decision to put on our boots and build the life we had always dreamed of living. Read More…

  • Instagram

Subscribe

Recent Posts

  • Our Decision to Homeschool
  • The Secret Sauce
  • Buying Beef Directly from Producers
  • Icelandic Chickens: The Perfect Homesteader’s Chicken
  • Calving Systems: How We Manage Calving Season

Recent Comments

  • Courtney on Calving Systems: How We Manage Calving Season
  • Sadie on Calving Systems: How We Manage Calving Season
  • sikis izle on Calving Systems: How We Manage Calving Season
  • Sadie on Kitchen Renovation: Before and After
  • Janice Hebert on Kitchen Renovation: Before and After

Archives

  • April 2021
  • February 2021
  • October 2020
  • May 2020
  • February 2020
  • December 2019
  • October 2019
  • August 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • November 2018
  • September 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017

Categories

  • Family
  • Farmhouse Renovations
  • In The Farmhouse
  • In the Garden
  • In The Kitchen
  • On the Farm
  • Our Place
  • Uncategorized

Copyright © 2023 · Theme Design by BD Web Studio · Powered by Genesis

Copyright © 2023 · Paige Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

 

Loading Comments...