They Can't All Be Winners

So, it was past time to take down the Halloween wreath, but I wasn't sure what to replace it with.  It's WAY too early for a Christmas or winter wreath and well, let's just say Thanksgiving is not my favorite so I couldn't come up with anything along those lines that fit my parameters of: inexpensive, using mostly stuff I already have on hand, quick-ish, and able to be out in the weather .  So, I perused my pinterest account and found this birdseed wreath.  WOO!

 All it takes is birdseed, water, plain gelatin, non-stick spray, a stockpot and a mould.

 Add 2 packets of gelatin to 1 cup water and simmer until the gelatin is completely dissolved.  Then stir in 2 cups of birdseed until completely blended.

 Press the mixture into mould that has been sprayed with non-stick spray, then refrigerate for for at least a couple of hours.  I doubled the recipe and as you can see it filled the Bundt pan only about halfway.

I left mine in there for about 24 hours, then popped it out onto a cutting board, wrapped an oilcloth "ribbon" around it for hanging and prepared to walk it down the road to the "entrance" of the property.  It was kind of crumbly around the edges, so I stayed out of our super warm kitchen and took it down there on the board, defending it from Betty the whole time.  Delia was focusing her attention on running around the lower pasture looking for turkeys and probably turkey turds.

I hadn't really thought this part of the project through in that I couldn't really set down the delicious birdseed jello mold where Betty could get to it and I needed to take down the other wreath while holding the new one level on the cutting board and keeping my camera from whacking into things.  Somehow I managed to unwrap the wire on the Halloween wreath and set it on the ground out of the frame of the photo I had in mind.  Then I turned my camera on and got the settings in order so I could act fast.  Finally,  I managed to get the new wreath's oilcloth "ribbon" around the fence post and set the cutting board down out the shot and when I turned around... the wreath had disintegrated!  ACK!  Dammit!  Sigh. I came down here with the camera and I took those in-progress shots, so I'm going to finish this!

Red arrows indicate pieces of what had seconds before been a cute little wreath for the cute little birds to eat cutely.  The arrow pointing the left out of the shot is a piece of wreath that Betty was eating kind of cutely, but not as cutely as the birds were going to eat it.  I collected all the pieces I could find (5) and brought them back to the house with the Halloween wreath, fending Betty off both the entire time (probably less than 5 minutes, but still).  The Halloween wreath went into storage with the other Halloween decorations; the remains of the birdseed wreath went on the second story balcony where I hope the birds will find them, but the dogs won't.

I'm not sure where I went wrong, but I think I may not have let my gelatin simmer until it was completely dissolved.  I am going to try again, but perhaps with a different, smaller form.  I've seen similar wreaths made with suet as the binder, but the directions I saw had me rendering the suet, straining it and then rendering it again.  Uh, ewww.

In other wreath news: I think I have what I need for a Christmas/winter wreath, but I can't seem to find my wreath frame.  Ever have those times when you believe you've been stepping over something for ages, but can't find it when you're ready to use it?  Sure they're only a few bucks, but dammit I moved that sucker into 2 houses across 3 state lines and I'm going to use it.