Sweet Greens

Our backyard is a huge nature preserve and one of Eben’s favorite spring time activities is to sit on our patio and watch the birds darting in and out of the trees. After a few days of minimal visits from our feathered friends, we decided to entice them to visit our backyard more often. We grabbed a couple of pinecones from the front yard, a huge scoop of organic nut butter, some baker’s twine and a bowl full of organic nuts and seeds and headed outside to make them a little treat. This craft only takes a few minutes, however it combines everything that children love – getting their hands dirty, having a little snack, making something fun and nature. Read on for the full directions and enjoy an afternoon making simple, spring organic pinecone birdfeeders for your backyard.

What you will need:

• pinecones
• baker’s twine
• organic nut butter
• organic nuts and seeds
• scissors

Step 1: Add the Baker’s Twine
Simply tie a piece of baker’s twine around the pinecone near the top. This would be the perfect time to reuse a large piece of ribbon, string or yarn that you have lying around the house.

Step 2: Add the Nut Butter
Roll the pinecones in nut butter until it is completely coated, you can also use a knife – Eben decided to dig right in and use his fingers and hands to get the nut butter into every nook and cranny. 

Step 3: Add the Nuts and Seeds
Then, he rolled the nut butter covered pinecones in the nuts and seeds until the entire surface of the pinecone were completely covered. He even pushed a lot of pieces into the folds of the pinecones for added hidden bonuses.

Step 4: Hang It
Pick a place in your backyard where you have seen birds visit before. We hung out pinecone birdfeeders next to our regular birdfeeder hoping that it would easily attract our friends.

Step 5: Listen and Watch
After we hung our feeders, we sat on the our patio and waited for the birds to arrive. We had a delightful afternoon watching the birds nibbling at our pinecone birdfeeders!

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This organic pinecone birdfeeder DIY was featured in this month’s issue of Green Child Magazine, grab your copy here or download it on iTunes here.

Today is a very special day – it is the birthday of my favorite person in the whole world, Eben. 12 years ago today my life was forever changed and has been better in every single way possible. Eben can always make me laugh, teaches me new things everyday and always has a hug waiting for me. I am very thankful that I get to share my life with this amazing person. He is my sunshine, my inspiration, my heart. He is the best thing that I have ever done in my life – my masterpiece.

Happy Birthday, Eben – I love you to the moon and back!

Mother’s Day is quickly approaching and now is the perfect time to gather your children to make fun gifts for mom and grandma. Eben wanted to have creative control over the gifts that we will be giving to his grandmothers this year for Mother’s Day. Both of them enjoy spending time outdoors, so he thought that giving them the gift of gardening would be apropos. This project is an easy undertaking, and when all is said and done, you have a cheery gift for kids to give any special lady in their lives for Mother’s Day. You most likely already have all of the supplies you need to make this offering in your garage and craft closet. Jump over to Inhabitots to learn how to make these sweet upcycled flower pot gardening kits!