a peek inside the fishbowl

22 Dec, 2007

Gifts for the squirrels and birds

Posted by andrea tomkins in: - Ottawa for kids|Easy ways to make kids happy|File under crafty|Misc. life|Photography

Bagels for Birds

gift of seed

When I planned the activities for our family advent calendar I forgot how busy we tend to get in the leadup to Christmas. We’ve had to postpone a couple of items.

The gift-making for our resident birds and squirrels was supposed to happen on the 20th. We didn’t finish until today, two days later. We hung over a dozen items in our backyard. The chickadees were all over them within about 20 minutes. Unfortunately they’re calling for rain over the weekend. I don’t know how well they’re going to hold up.

To make the items pictured above:

Top pic: Take half a stale bagel, spread heavily with peanut butter, press into seed mix and hang.

Bottom: Mix up some gelatin and add bunch of seeds. Press with wet hands into muffin tin. Tie with kitchen string and hang.

We bought our seeds at the bulk food store, which worked out great. No lugging 20 lbs bags of seed! We bought only what we needed. And it was cheap. I think it worked out to three dollars worth.

We also tried making old fashioned garlands using popcorn, raisins and Cheerios. Emma did okay, but Sarah and I both poked ourselves with the sewing needle, hard. Popcorn is actually pretty hard to string. I won’t be trying that one again anytime soon.

Today, the girls and I are heading out to a Christmas party. Mark is staying home to get a few things done around the house.

I can’t believe it’s almost Christmas already. I’m not quite ready. Are you?


4 Responses to "Gifts for the squirrels and birds"

1 | porter

December 22nd, 2007 at 4:11 pm

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I’m TOTALLY ready. My secret? I started shopping early and I don’t have to cook/host this year.

2 | J.

December 24th, 2007 at 9:40 am

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Wow! what a nice project. I would love to do something like this. Great idea

3 | A Little Food Based Making | Evil Genius Chronicles

January 3rd, 2008 at 11:27 pm

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[…] I’m a charter subscriber of Make Magazine, I follow Bre Pettis’ videoblogs for the site, etc. This may be more Craft than Make, but I did a food based Maker project tonight. Following a link provided by my wife, I found this guide to making bird feeders from stale bagels. At my work they buy us baels every Monday morning. By the end of the week, we usually have some stale ones available. In about 5 minutes of work, I took a stale bagel, covered it in the peanut butter and seeds, and hung it off a broken coat hanger in the tree near our bird feeder. I’m planning on making another one tomorrow and hanging it on the fence at work where I can see it from my office window. I shot footage of the process of making it and perhaps I’ll post a short little vlog about it. The one I make tomorrow will use a bit of twine rather than the coat hanger. Now we need to see if the birds and squirrels like it. Related Posts:Eat Drink and Be HealthyJohn Gruber in Waferbaby InterviewShindugGrecian KitchenThermal Depolymerization […]

4 | Birdfeeder revisited >> a peek inside the fishbowl

December 16th, 2013 at 5:05 am

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[…] a bird feeder, make sure it’s full! If not, maybe it’s time to get one. You can even make a bird feeder out of stale bagels you […]

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The Obligatory Blurb

My name is Andrea and I live in the Westboro area of Ottawa with my husband Mark and our dog Piper who is kind of a big deal on Instagram. We also have two human offspring: Emma (24) and Sarah (22). During the day I work as a writer at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. I am a longtime Ottawa blogger and I've occupied this little corner of the WWW since 1999. The Fishbowl is my whiteboard, water cooler, and journal, all rolled into one. I'm passionate about healthy living, arts and culture, travel, great gear, good food, and sharing the best of Ottawa. I also love vegetables, photography, gadgets, and great design.

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