Druids of Hollow Hills Grove got together and made suet and peanut butter treats for birds and other wildlife.
The Nature Spirits are very important to us as a Grove and many of us have gardens and/or live near woodland or parks. In this cold and dark time of the year, the birds, foxes and squirrels need high energy food to get them through the rest of the winter.
The Nature Spirits are those that swim, crawl, fly or walk on the earth. They are both seen an unseen. At every Hollow Hills Grove ritual we honour the nature spirits with offerings and other praise.
We combined melted suet with seeds, raisins, and mealworms to create a variety of treats that the animals could enjoy.
Once supplies are bought, the end result is a higher quality suet block than can be bought in the store and is it also cost effective – buying seeds in bulk as well as your own suet is cheaper than buying the ready made suet blocks at the garden centre. Plus, you have the satisfaction of having made them yourself.
Melting the suet and mixing in seeds is very easy and the end result sets quickly in the refrigerator and should be stored in a cool place.
We talked about the different birds and the kinds of food they like to eat. Some are seed eaters, some eat fruit, some eat dried and fresh worms. Some birds are not picky at all and will eat a little of each of those. Depending on the types of seeds you get will determine the kinds of birds you will attract.
Foxes have a sweet tooth and love raisins and peanuts.
Squirrels love monkey nuts, hazel nuts and other nuts you may have on hand.
In the end, we made 10 pine cones coated with peanut butter and nuts, 6 bread sticks covered with peanut butter and seeds and 13 suet and seed/insect/raisin blocks. They worked out well, and we all have enough food for the birds and other creatures for the rest of the winter.
