Edible Christmas Gifts for Birds

Holiday Peanut Butter Suet

• Peanut butter suet is not only easy to make; it is cheerful and smells delicious. Mix 2 cups of chunky peanut butter with 1 cup of lard. Lard is preferable to solid vegetable shortening. If the peanut butter and lard are too heavy to mix easily, soften it in microwave 30 seconds at a time until it is at a thickness that can be worked with. Mix 2 cups of rolled oats, 2 cups of cornmeal and 1 cup of white flour into the peanut butter and lard mixture. Add fresh cranberries and chopped tangerine or orange pieces to the mix. Once all suet ingredients are all mixed together, refrigerate the mixture to thicken it enough to handle it. Coat your hands with flour and make the suet into cakes that will fit into a suet feeder, place each cake in a resealable plastic bag until ready for use.

Edible Pine-Cone Ornaments

• Make a batch of Holiday Peanut Butter Suet. Omit the fruit and microwave the suet in the mixing bowl used until it melts. Chop fresh cranberries and tangerine sections into small pieces and add to the melted mixture, combine it thoroughly. Cut some 6-inch lengths of string. Tie each piece of string around the narrow end of a small pine cone. Using the free end of string, dip each pine cone into the melted suet mixture. Place the dipped pine cones on a sheet of waxed paper and refrigerate until the suet hardens. Take the pine cones outside and connect them with the loose end of string to a tree near a bird feeder or where backyard birds gather.

Pine-Cone Bird Feeder

• A pine-cone bird feeder is an ideal project for bored children on Christmas vacation for their feathered friends. Find a large pine cone; the larger it is, the more birds it will attract. Cut a piece of heavy string. The length depends on where the feeder will hang. Tie the string tightly around the narrow end of the cone, leaving a tail of string to hang the feeder. Use a butter knife or fingers to put the peanut butter on the outside edges of the pine cone scales. Put birdseed on a large plate and roll the peanut butter coated pine cone in the birdseed. The birdseed will stick to the peanut butter, creating a bird feeder that can be hung outside near any other bird feeders.

Birdseed Christmas Cookies for Birds

• Birdseed cookies are a delicious holiday gift for birds. Beginning a day or two before, use cookie cutters to cut Christmas shapes out of bread. Use a dense bread such as potato or sourdough. Allow the shapes to dry until they become hardened. Use a straw to make a hole in the top of the dry bread for a string to hang the finished cookie. Thread the string through the hole and tie it in a loose knot, leaving a tail of string to hang the cookie, then set the bread aside. Soften 1 cup of peanut butter in a microwave. Mix 1/2 cup of birdseed and 1/2 cup of cornmeal with the peanut butter. Spread the mixture on both sides of the bread. Once the peanut butter thickens again, the cookies are done. If feeding birds in a wet climate, do not use the string; lay the cookies on the bird feeder or on a surface near it. The moisture in the air will cause the cookies to fall off the string.