For the Birds ❄ Christmas Treat

Ingredients: 

2 cups beef fat

6 tablespoons birdseed

4 tablespoons dried cranberries 

One morning, after I had had barbecue short ribs in the slow-cooker the previous evening, I took the pot out of the refrigerator to whip up a treat for the birdies. ;) 

All that good fat rises to the top up the broth and solidifies in the cold, so it's easy to scoop off and put to good use. 

It actually looks really appealing... like soft soap. 

 

To make it easier to use, you'll want to put the fat into the microwave for about 30 seconds, just until it's softened and a little liquid has pooled on the bottom like here....

( The kitchen smelled like barbecue while I did this, and the two spoiled kittens we have running around the house thought I was making something for them. They planted themselves in front of the microwave and mewed their little noses off. )

Now mash it all together with a fork...

We had a bag of premixed seed for wild birds such as sunflower seeds, cracked corn, and white millet. You can select whichever seed your bird-feeder frequenters tend to prefer.

I threw in some dried cranberries, too. It's Christmas... I can share...

~~Mix it all up~~

Line a baking sheet with wax paper and select your cookie cutters.

Carefully distribute your mix, and use a toothpick to guide the "batter" into all of those little nooks and corners to get the full shape in your finished product. 

 Now you can either slip it into the freezer, or set them outside to chill. 

I thought I would be clever and put a toothpick in each one so that when they were hard I could slip a ribbon through them to be hung up. That didn't work for me. 

The holes were too small and the toothpicks were too firmly stuck inside for me to remove them without breaking the hardened suet. 

I didn't want them to thaw any, either, or they could get ruined. So I ended up breaking them off and just tying ribbon around the middle of each. So the molds with pointy little edges like those leaves are the best to use. 

   

The giant rose bush is where all of those little finches and sparrows hide out on these wintry days. So that's where this suet gets hung.  

The Lord even cares for the sparrows.

So I say that Merry Christmas is for the birds, as well as us. :) 

Herbs & Jars ♥

It has just been a fun, mad dash to harvest and dry herbs around here before they begin to go to seed. I've been researching in the middle of projects and cluttering my bedroom floor with crispy leaves and scrapbook paper. Kind of a rushed way to learn things about each herb, but there will be time. For now, I have simply been looking for the right methods for each plant to be dried. They all take different lengths of time and some need special attention before they're ready... 

About a week ago, I rigged up this little line from the rung of a ladder to the spindle of a chair in one corner. Pinned in experimental clumps were lemon balm, cinnamon basil, globe basil, sage, chives, parsley, catnip, and oregano- respectively. I knew those mini clothes pins I picked up at Hobby Lobby would come in handy. 

My room is the coldest in the winter, and the hottest in the summer. It's ideal for hanging herbs, and with the window open or the fan going, the air-flow is great. 

Lemon balm has been decidedly the fastest drying of all. It has been ready within three days, followed closely by catnip, actually. The slowest is definitely parsley along with oregano. 

Time to prepare some containers for these herbs once they are dried! This is the fun part. :D

Before

After

Yesterday, while the milk tank washed, I ran up to the weedy side-hill by the barn and collected wild yarrow flowers to add to this mix of drying vegetation. Just in time, too. We got quite a rain storm! I intend to do a lot of looking into of its use as a fever reducer.

And the day before, I picked a swathe of spearmint. It's been growing wild along the creek banks both at the barn and by the pond ever since I can remember. I sort of associate the scent with frogs now, due to my childhood romps through the mud with siblings on amphibian-catching adventures. 

The spearmint was dry within two days. 

At present, I've moved dill, sage, lemon balm, catnip, spearmint, and some basil to their individual jars. 

The aroma in my room was really strange. Plants that were half way between living and dead, strong odors and sweet scents all blended together (plus remember the frog-related smell)... it was a different atmosphere. XD

Sage came out so nicely. It's a different look from most of the other leaves...

Globe basil can probably be allowed to grow a bit bigger before I pick more. Its size certainly doesn't lessen its strong smell, though! 

I had an eager little helper. ;)

While processing the catnip, I had my cat Emily mosey on over. She inhaled my fingers with deep interest and affection. :P

And lastly, cinnamon basil. Very pretty purple flowers... the odd thing about it is that it tastes like anise. I've been calling it my licorice basil.

 Ahhh... everything is coming together.
On the subject of gardening, the snapdragons in the barn garden are so glorious, and new color shades and combinations develop each year. My favorite summer-autumn flower. ^_^

I asked God to bless the garden as the dirt was worked, the seeds panted, and the weeds pulled. Throughout the obstacles of torrential rain storms that should have washed the seeds away, thieving bunnies, and swarming slugs, it truly has survived all odds. Everything prospers and I am so happy.
And look! I attempted rosemary twice, both times with failure. And now a tiny sprig has appeared nowhere near where I planted it. Mysterious ways. ;)

 Thank You, Father. 

Homesteading and Housekeeping: A Cook Book

Another project I intend to make serious progress on this year is my scrapbook-cookbook.
I purchased an empty scrapbook at Hobby Lobby this Autumn along with paper and stickers to create the style I wanted.
I didn't care for the cover of the book, so the first thing I did was measure and cut out a more likable front and back, and slipped in beneath the plastic, over the original cover. I added the tags Happiness and Summertime, too. These were cut out from an old book of pre-made scrapbooking pages from Debbie Mumm...

I cut out tags, pages, and labels to write recipes on. Then little accents such as stamps, stickers, decals, and borders make it look artsy. ;)

I call it Homesteading and Housekeeping, and though it is primarily a cookbook, it also has basic guidelines to housekeeping techniques. I have three sections: Housekeeping, which is the cooking and baking part; Homesteading, which has tidbits on gardening, herbal information, animal-care, and household tasks such as the laundry soap recipe, cleaning tips, etc; and lastly Heartwarming, which is more like the scrapbook part of the whole collection- pictures, quotes, memories, and words of wisdom to remember. 

When I'm not working on this book, everything gets stashed in a bin that slides right under my bed. And when I am working on it... my whole floor is a mess. XD