Helping the Wildlife

Have you ever helped the wildlife? We do. We go about out daily chores and we think of the effect we have on wildlife. Today is a good example...

I brought out my bike today. Yeah - you should have seen the boys. They stood in amazement as my bike rolled down the back steps. It was funny to hear their aws and see their faces. Ok - back to what I was saying. On the way home, I spotted a huge green worm. I felt like the boys when they saw my bike rolling down the steps. I was amazed at how large he was and how beautiful green he was. Nope - no pictures, I didn't take the camera with us. I like to travel light.
We watched the worm for about 5 minutes and then we let him continue to his destination. We left him alone to do his thing. That's what wildlife does.

I have a few tips that you may or may not have thought about, that you can do for wildlife.

1. You can sting popcorn, cranberries, grapes, crackers and other things that you can think of on cotton thread. Hang it outside for the critters to enjoy. Make sure your thread is 100% cotton and the popcorn is 100% natural with no salt or butter.

2. Fill net material with any kind of bird seed, tie a ribbon around the top and hang it for the birds to enjoy. You can add crushed egg shells, orange slices, orange peels, crackers and other things that you think of.

3. String raw peanuts on 100% cotton thread and hang them for the critters to enjoy.

4. A pine cone can be a wonderful treat. Mix peanut butter and oatmeal for a think paste, coat the pine cone with the mixture (make sure to get it in the pine cone), roll it in bird seed, hang it and the birds will flock to it.

5. Suet. Melt beef fat or bacon grease and let it cool. Add bird seed, peanut butter, fruit or granola. Hang it in a net bag and the birds will love it.

6. Don't throw away your table scraps, put them in a net bag and hang outside.

Onion mesh bags are great to use for the netting material in most of the ideas.
I'm sure you can come up with a few other ideas too.
Hang some of these on your Christmas tree inside. When the time comes to take down the tree, just remove your ornaments and leave the natural ones on the tree. Set your tree outside and let the critters enjoy all the treats.

Don't just throw your Christmas tree out for the trash collector to take it to the land fill. Let the critters use your tree to protect them, they make great places for bunnies and other critters to hide in.