For The Birds

Backyard birds won't know the difference between a fancy, store-bought bird feeder and one that's homemade, so save your pennies and make one out of an empty milk carton. Cut openings on opposite sides of a clean carton and coat with nontoxic paint. Glue Popsicle stick shingles onto the roof. For a perch, poke holes below the openings and slip a dowel through the holes. Fill the bottom of the feeder with birdseed mix. (You can make your own mix by combining a variety of nuts and seeds, such as sunflower seeds, millet, thistle seeds and yellow corn.) Then hang the feeder with wire in a spot that's easy to view but far enough away from fences or posts to thwart predators.