If this were a song it would go something like this…..
My suet cakes bring all the birds to the yard
and they’re like, it’s better than yours,
Dang right it’s better than yours,
I can teach you, right here, no charge! ………..Repeat and sing while you make it!
My backyard is for the birds!!!! Literally. I do enjoy my Perennial Garden during Spring and Summer but to be honest, the lack of any blooms in the throes of Winter leave me melancholy and longing for warmer weather. I believe my backyard birds feel the same way. And since we are in the middle of Winter, I thought I would just make the bird’s day with some homemade suet cakes that will BRING THE BIRDS TO YOUR YARD!!
Step by Step with pictures for illustrations:
Gather ingredients. Chop anything that would not fit into a tiny bird’s mouth into tiny bird mouth size pieces. You could also add additional ingredients birds love such as mealy worms, live worms from the bait and tackle shop, bird seed, raisins, orange pieces, cherries, crumbled cornbread, Cheerios, berries, etc. be creative but healthy, with as little added salt as possible.
Mix all dry ingredients together and place into a recycled takeout container. (You could do a large batch and freeze in individual containers pulling out and replacing as needed, then discard or re-sanitize when empty.) Place container of peanut butter in microwave for one minute, adding a minute until you reach liquid pouring consistency. Careful, this may be hot, and young children may need assistance. Pour liquid peanut butter over the mixed dry ingredients and stir just until ingredients begin to bind together (this ensures the messy guys won’t scatter your ingredients all over the ground). Smash it down securely with the back of a soup spoon until the suet is secure in the container. Note: I do not use lard as some recipes call for. Since the Doctor says it is not good for my heart, I didn’t believe it would be good for theirs either, so I omitted it in this recipe.
It took about 15 minutes before word got out in the neighborhood. Bird news travels fast. Enjoy the view and HAPPY BIRDING!
