The March winds are the morning yawn

It has been a beautiful March thus far. Sunny, mild temperatures, and a cheerful disposition make the day that much brighter. It was an early morning and I'll admit, it was lovely to be up and going before 7:00am. Usually, I'm not one to admit that willingly but today......I will.

Charlotte and I decided that since today was March 1st we must celebrate the newness that is forthcoming. Charlotte and I love making things together, typically they're baked things, but today we decided to 'bake' for the birds. On our home we have two lovely bird feeders. One right close to our kitchen window where we see and talk to the birds that dine at our window buffet. It's a wonderful treat early in the morning when the birds are just waking up and one by one they come to the window. It's this quiet, slow time of day that I luxuriate over my cup of coffee and am grateful for the little things......particularly juncos!

Since Spring is on it's way and along with it a plethora of new birds we decided to make a bird treat. I had a couple of larger pine cones lying around so we thought using those as our vehicles with which to deliver our snacks would be sufficient. Most recipes for bird snacks call for lard or some other animal derived fatty substance........we went with peanut butter! I can only think it's healthier for the birds who will gorge themselves and, well......this is a whole other topic entirely! Nonetheless, peanut butter will offer them the extra calories essential oil content and will also work to glue our birdseed on to the pine cones.





The basic rule is to have fun, make a messy and lick your fingers!!! Simply coat a pine cone with peanut butter (smooth or crunchy would be fine as well as ANY other type of nut butter)and then roll the peanut butter slathered pine cone in birdseed.



We tied our two together with some twine and hung it on a branch where the birds wait their turn for the other bird feeders.



After we had hung up our little surprise for the birds we sat quietly on our porch step and waited and listened and watched the flurry begin. The chickadees and juncos discovered the pungent peanut snack and flitted by and around the pine cones. I had suggested to Charlotte, and not only because I wasn't wearing my coat, that we sneak back inside and watch from our window.

Once we returned and warmed up a wee bit we came to the window to discover this.......




Today I am grateful for my children,the birds and this most inspiring day!

"One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste." ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe