Creative

Creative Recycling


This harvest wreath is intended as a feast for our feathered friends and cost next to nothing to make.

The base is made from a wire coat hanger made into a ring; keep the hook to hang it with. This is covered with straw which had literally fallen off the back of a lorry. The wire and string used in construction had been used before.

The other ingredients were either home grown or picked from the hedgerow.
Use any berries that are ripe like hawthorn, blackberries and rose hips etc.
The cones are buttered with fat and then seed pressed into them.
I had grown my own sunflowers and used some small ones that had gone to seed
I used Teasels but you could use any thistle type plant with seeds for finches.
I used small windfall apples but Crab apples would work well, in fact any available spare fruit and berries.
You could also use dried mini corn cobs or Millet.

The base is bound with Hops, you could use Ivy etc. it’s just to cover the straw but anything the birds can eat is a bonus. Then all the other ingredients were added.
I also included a version that has a separate wire sunflower shaped feeder filled with peanuts. This is simply hung behind the wreath by looping it over the coat hanger hook.

Only hang where you would tolerate a bird feeder as some seeds will no doubt drop to the ground and be missed by hungry birds.
Do not add anything to the wreath that could become a pernicious weed on your plot.