Bird Seed Ornaments

Half of our Christmas gang is here.  The other half are coming in on Sunday.  Our Christmas joy is having them all in our midst.  We are drinking in every moment.

I still have a little shopping, cooking and wrapping to do, and and then we will be ready.  How about you?  People always ask me when I am going through various check-out lines at the store "Are you ready for Christmas?"  I never am ready; thus the reason I am still going through the check out line at the store.  I return the question to them... and they never are ready  either.   I can remember from years gone by my Mom saying "I can't wait until Christmas is over"... through her exhaustion and weariness of it all.   When I was young I would be so horrified to hear her say that....how in the world could somebody say something like that? In recent years I found myself saying it... isn't that terrible... Exhaustion, financial strain, various other difficulties can certainly make you feel that way.   This year Steve and I have said... "I can't wait for Christmas to get here....I can't wait until the kids and grand-kids get here".  So I guess things can come full circle. I  Hope your Christmas season is a season of joy and anticipation; Whether it is a quiet one or a chaotic one, I pray it will be a sweet season of communion and remembrance of the true reason of Christmas;  As the saying goes "Jesus is the reason for the season".  May you cherish the moments, the family or friends, the quiet reflections, the happy noises and rejoice.

This week we're making some Bird Seed Ornaments  with our grandsons Elon and Asher.  I had to share the fun with you.  Love to see the birds, turkeys and deer eating and enjoying close by;  It is a sweet thing for the kids to participate in blessing God's creation... especially on Christmas. Here is the "How to" if you're interested in making some yourself.

Gather together birdseed, raisins, suet, beef fat or coconut oil,  cake molds, cake pop sticks and raffia or twine.

I used my little vintage cake and jello molds.

 

 

Two parts bird seed to one part fat.

 Grandpa helps little hands pour the seed.

 

 Elon adds birdseed and raisins  into the melted fat.

Fatty acids are important for birds to have, and they particularly need extra fat in the wintertime to help them stay warm.  You can mix up a wonderful  Christmas Gift and wintertime treat for them in no time.

Stir ingredients together ....

....and put into cake molds.

 

  We had two kinds of cake molds... metal and silicone.  The silicone ones are a little easier to get the ornaments out of the molds, but they all worked.

 

When they are done loading their molds, scrape the birdseed that is all over the outer edges into the molds and it will clean up nicely.

Put cake pop sticks into the center of each to make a hole that you can string with raffia or ribbon and hang from the trees.

Place the ornaments in the refrigerator to harden.

Remove the ornaments from the molds and string with raffia.  I had to use a knife as a little leverage to help me get these out of this mold.... but once I gave it a little help, they popped right out.

Ingredients:
Mix up the following ingredients in these proportions:
1/3 Fat to 2/3 food mixture.
 

You can use Beef Fat, Suet, Lard or Coconut oil

Any variety of the following:
Bird Seed,
Dried Fruit
Cornmeal
Oatmeal
Crushed grains
Raw nuts

Cake or cookie molds
Cake pop or candy sticks cut in half or thirds
Raffia or twine.

Instructions:

1. Melt your fat or coconut oil over low heat.  
2. Pour into a large mixing bowl. 
3.  Add any amount of food ingredients listed.  
4. Pour into molds.  
5. Put a cake pop stick in the center of the ornament to make a hole for stringing raffia or twine. 
6.  Place in refrigerator for several hours until the ornaments are hardenen
7. Remove ornaments from the molds. 
8.  String with raffia or twine. 
9.  Hang from trees outside.
10.  These are a winter time treat.  They will melt in warm places, Here is another recipe you can use if you are in a warmer climate and don't want to use a suet or fat base to make these.  Store the extras in the freezer until ready to use.