Homesteading at Orcadia Farm

We are learning a lot of exciting homesteading skills to share with you. We'll add them here as time allows.

Cheryl's Suet Recipe

 All the birds in the neighborhood come to our place to eat Cheryl's suet mixture. We have attracted chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers (7 different varieties) and even the odd oriole. We've even had 'coons come and sample from Cheryl's Gourmet Suet Restaraunt.

Ingredients

  1. About 10 pounds of suet (I get mine from a local meat processor, for .10/pound)
  2. 4-5 pounds of Extra Chunky Peanut Butter (I get mine from Sam's Club .. haven't found any larger)
  3. bird seed/peanuts/sunflower seeds

Directions

Melt the suet… this can get STINKY, so if you have a way to do it outdoors, that might be good. I don't, so we suffer some odor for a couple of days for the benefit of the birds. I melt it on a low temperature, otherwise the bottom can stick to the pot and burn a little. I also have a LARGE pot that is my "suet pot". (This pot isn't used for anything else!) As the suet melts, you'll want to check on it occasionally and break up some of the larger chunks. It's done when you have liquid and 'crispies' left. I usually pull out the larger cracklins and give it to the farm cats .. they like it too! I turn off the heat at this point and add in the peanut butter, carefully, so as not to splatter hot grease. The peanut butter should melt and mix in with the suet. Next I add bird seed/sunflower seeds/peanuts .. whatever you have that you would be feeding the birds. Add until it is not too runny, but not so thick you can't scoop it. It should be almost like a thick, chunky soup. I then ladle the mixture into old cupcake pans I have picked up over the years. These then go into the freezer until feeding time.

Warning:This recipe makes a lot of suet. If you're filling cupcake tins, plan on having at least eighteen. We have also filled old bread or cake tins. The birds don't care what shape the suet is in. The little cupcake sized suet cakes are easier to handle, though.
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