"We focus on giving at the holidays, or try to remember that we should be focused on that," Sahner says, "so I think it's fun to think about giving in different ways, including to the creatures in our backyard."
Sahner's family lives in downtown New Hope, on a 30-foot-by-90-foot lot with a creek. Not a huge property, but big enough to support an interesting biome of birds, salamanders, squirrels, opossums, groundhogs, foxes, and deer.
It's a fine setting for a wildlife tree. So in early December, Sahner and her daughter Katie, 31/2, attended a trim-a-tree workshop at Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve in New Hope.
As dusk descended, the group hurriedly scoured the woods for pine cones to dip in melted suet and roll in black oil sunflower seeds. The Sahners and others also made garlands and wreaths out of Cheerios, cranberries, raisins and grapes, and "icicles" out of peanuts in the shell, using cotton string and a plastic embroidery needle bought at a craft store.
"The colors are very festive," Sahner says.
More importantly, the wreaths, garlands, and "icicles" provide nourishment that's rich in fat and protein, allowing birds, especially, to maintain a high metabolism and normal body temperature in the cold.
Two days after Sahner attached the ornaments to a pine tree in her backyard, the feast began. "When I took our dog out this morning, I discovered that a cranberry wreath and one peanut icicle were already missing," she says.
Virginia Ranly, of the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Upper Roxborough, stresses the importance of offering food for birds in winter. And it's not just that the usual sources - seeds, insects, berries - have disappeared or been eaten up.
There's a larger issue.
