Feed the Birds

Just behind our house is Glover Archbold Park.  This is a narrow strip of National Park that runs right through the center of DC and provides a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of city life.  We have walked through this park on several occasions stopping to throw rocks in the stream, pick up trash left along the trail, and look for wildlife.  Usually we only see various types of birds on our rambles through the woods, but a few times we have come across deer -- always a treat for the boys.  Our latest service leaf called for making winter bird feeders for the birds that don't migrate for the winter.  So, using this very helpful and easy recipe, we bought some bird seed (well, 10 lbs. actually since we couldn't find it in a smaller quantity), chose our shapes/molds (cookie cutters) and set to work. 

The whole process took under 30 minutes and then we left our creations overnight to harden.  We think they turned out quite nicely and were very pleased with the results.  Next time, however, we will spray all the cookie cutters with cooking spray before we fill them, it makes removing the final product infinitely easier.

Our last step was to head outside and hang them for the birds to find and devour, hopefully anyway. 

 While in the forest we happened upon two enormous owls swooping in and out among the tree tops (sorry, no pictures, it was getting dark and they were pretty far above us).  I don't think the owls will appreciate our offerings, but hopefully some other birds will.   

In a few days, we'll check on the feeders and perhaps make a few more to replace them, we certainly have plenty of leftover seed since we quadrupled the recipe and still only managed to use 3 cups.