Edible Birdhouse

Shortly after I moved to Yakima, Susan and I were at the Cake Decorator Shop and I found an instructional book for making gingerbread houses. This book is unlike most in that it contains ideas for more than just gingerbread houses built for the holidays. The book includes patterns and instructions for Tiki Huts, Dorothy's House in Oz, a Pooch Paradise and a High Noon Saloon among others. Of course I just had to buy the book. I think we take after our grandfather who owned a bakery.
I decided about a year ago that I would start out with something small, like a birdhouse so my Mom and I went around town and gathered all the seeds I could use to construct the house so the birds could eat it. Then I started my school program and the box full of the birdhouse supplies got pushed to the back of the pantry.
A few weeks ago I got everything out and decided that I would make the birdhouse while my computer was getting repaired. I asked Mary to come over and help Susan and I make the birdhouse on Friday evening. As it turned out, we needed all three people, especially to hold walls in place waiting for the icing to set. Everything except the cardboard the house sets on is edible and the gingerbread is very good.
As you can see, the house does tilt just a little bit, but I doubt that the birds will mind.

Royal icing dries very quickly so I decorated the roof, Mary did the sides and Susan worked on the front and back; truly a group effort. The decorations include pumpkin seeds, corn, poppy seeds, lentils, craisins, pretzels, oat groat, amaranth and millet just to name a few.

If you have ever watched Challenge on the Food Network, you know that several things typically go wrong while working on these projects and this one was no exception. We worked through most of the issues and I think it turned out pretty cute for our first one. Even if the birds won't eat it, we got to practice our gingerbread skills.

What fun!