Thrifty Backyards

Re: Home made suet

Bea1549 — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

like this one!thanks great tip!You must be very experienced in birds.

Re: Good Morning All

bloompicker — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

goodmorning, alittle snowy here yesterday but better totday, im off to the big town to do some shopping as well. im doing a bottle tree at present then im going to try my hand at a bumble bee craft made out of a bowling ball,have you seen that project? im having my first of many cups of coffee also ,so im off of here to refill. have a good day and chat with you later. bye

Re: Good Morning All

myangel0162@yahoo.com — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Good morning, I would be interested in seeing the bottle tree and the bee out of a bowling ball. If you get a chance, could you post a pic or email me one. Thanks! Lisa

Re: Good Morning All

leehoo — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Good morning everyone! I'm new here and very excited about gardening. I've been keeping myself busy spring cleaning but I can hardley wait to be outside gardening again! A friend of mine made a ladybug for me from a bowling ball, its very cute. I would like to make the caterpiller for my flower garden. I think that would be fun! Maybe a little later on in the summer. Have a wonderful Wednesday! Linda

Re: Good Morning All

Lori Rose — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Only 17 more days till Spring (on the calendar at least) I was so excited to turn the page from February to March. Spending lots of time looking at the seed catalogs. CAN'T WAIT TO PLAY IN THE DIRT!

Re: Good Morning All

bloompicker — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

hello back to you ,iam sorry to say i dont have a picture of the bottle tree or the bee yet, but will post a picture as soon as i can. the tree is simply made from a sturdy branch of some sort mounted in the ground with some type of support or you can get a 4x4 and drill holes ramdonley and purchase different colors of bottles small vases clear ones etc and hang on pegs or the branches of the branch. the bee is made from a bowling ball painted ablack ball is better i think and tape off stripes and then paint yellow where the tape isnt.the wings are made from mesh wire outlined with copper wiring.i found this on the internet not sure where but will try to find it again and let you know. iam sory i cant be more helpful at the moment. good luck. bye

Re: Good Morning All

bloompicker — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

hello its the bloompicker back at you already, i found this site you can go to,felder rushing.net/bottletreeman.html i hope this is helpful or just type in bottle tree and search. bye

Re: Large Planters

bloompicker — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

i just want to say that i love your winking smiley face as much as i do your ideal with the big planters. thanks for making me smile. bye

Re: Good Morning All

leehoo — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Hi, if you just enter bumblebee bowling ball and search in the upper right corner it will bring up the bee for you! Have a nice evening..... Linda

Re: Suet question

suenjef — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Check out my home made suet recipe in the community

Home made suet

suenjef — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

I noticed in my latest issue of B&B, Feb/Mar, on page 8 someone listed uses for 1/2 gallon milk and juice cartons. My wife and myself use ours for home made suet cakes. You should be able to go to any butcher or meat locker and they will give you free beef tallow. We then buy bulk items from Sam's club or whatever you prefer. Cook down your tallow and add the bulk goodies. When it starts to thicken we pour the mixture into our cartons and freeze. After it's frozen I cut into 1 inch thick slices with an old handsaw and put the cakes in freezer bags. The cartons are the perfect size to fit in your suet cages. We use peanut butter, raisins, dried cherries, unsalted peanut pieces and unsalted sunflower seeds. We also add oats and cracked corn to the mix, hang it beside the store bought suet and I guarantee the home made will go first. It's hot work and very messy but well worth the time and effort. We started with 40# of tallow and made 22 half gallon cartons of suet, if you slice it right you can get 7 or 8 cakes per carton. With all the purchases of bird goodies for the mix it figured out to 47 cents per cake, and that is a premium cake! Starting drinking OJ and save those cartons!

Re: Good Morning All

bloompicker — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

good morning back to you too, im a new member here so iam new to meeting people on line. i am in south carolina suspose to have a nice day here going out to clean up some, iam definitely ready for spring. looking forward to getting things ready for planting flowers and maybe adding a small deck. perhaps a small water feature of some sorts. have a nice day, and perhaps we will chat again sometimes. iam known as the bloompicker. bye

Re: Good Morning All

sebrown — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Hi and GM Bloompicker

I think we will have a nice day here also like you I am ready for spring I am going to try to get in to town today and do a little shopping for my spring projects.by the way I like your cute name. have a great day. need my morning coffee and I will be up and ready for the day. well maybe after my 3rd cup.

Welcome to bloompicker and all newbies recently signed on~~~~~~~`

Posynut_NY_zone4 — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Hope you are enjoying visiting here. I visit here periodically, but am on gardening, birdwatching and backyard chat most of the time. You can reach any of those by clicking on community and choosing forums and then from there click on any one of the forums listed. There are several to choose from. All are nice folks and busy boards.

I am from New York State and with a new month will be looking for a few nice days here and there and the extended daylight hours, too. Eventually we will have Spring, but can't depend on March and April weather for too much warmth. We have rain/sleet/snow even in April at times. Oh, I forgot, and some MUD, too!!!!! I have flower beds so am always anxious to work in those in the Spring. Now we have plenty of snow, and icicles and they are melting today as it is near 40 out. Gray skies so could have snow showers radio said.

Enjoy your day.

Re: Suet question

Sherry12345678 — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Hi, I bought 50 pounds of birdseed and am looking for a recipe for birdseed blocks. I thought you used Crisco or peanut butter ... not sure...

Re: Suet question

mama_porter — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

I ended up experimenting with the sunflower seeds and knox gelatin, it was pretty thin, however I poured it into some plastic containers I had saved. and put it in the freezer, we will see....

Should be lots of suet recipes on the site. I saved the plastic containers from purchased suet, lined then w/plastic wrap, then made the mixture, poured in the forms, then wrapped and put in the freezer.... the birds love this one:

1 cup melted suet or lard

1 cup peanut butter, I used crunchy

1 cup flour

2 cups corn meal

2 cups quick cook oats

raisins, chopped nuts, seeds

melt suet and/or lard, pb - stir in flour, meal, oats - then add raisins, nuts, seeds, etc...

makes 4-5 blocks.

Re: Suet question

Posynut_NY_zone4 — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Lard is better to use than Crisco. You can buy 1# lard in the dairy case in the grocery store or you can purchase just plain suet in the meat department. You can hang suet just the way it comes in a plastic net bag and the birds will eat it. Do not add birdseed to it because that is what calls the squirrels to it. The squirrels won't eat plain beef suet you buy in meat dept.

Also, have you tried the bird-watching site here? Go to the right hand of your screen and put your mouse over COMMUNITY; then the drop down will appear and click on forums.. That will take you to the page that lists all of the forums on the sites; click on bird-watching and it will take you there and you can post and ask questions about suet and/or birds there. Many will have answers for you.

I have made my own suet before and I use leftover bacon grease or any kind of grease I have from meat on hand, or lard. I add peanut butter, crackers and/or bread crumbs, any kind of nuts I have, raisins, dried apricots or any dried fruit, oatmeal or cornmeal and birdseed. I use the containers store bought suet comes in and put it in the freezer until I need to use it. Then just pop it into the suet feeder.

Re: Suet question

woodlandgal_WI_zn4 — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Welcome Sherry and mama porter.

My recipe is similar to the one above. I find the lard at Walmart near the cooking oils and buy it by the pail. In the winter you can use beef suet, but it melts above 70º in the summer and gets on the birds' feathers. I get my beef suet at a meat market/butcher shop where it is a fraction of the price it is at a grocery store.

After I mix it up, I put it in a wax paper lined 9 x 13" cake pan and let it set for awhile. When it stiffens up I cut it into blocks sized to fit in a suet cage. Then I freeze it right in the pan. After it is frozen it breaks easily into the blocks and can be put in plastic bags.

Re: Welcome to bloompicker and all newbies recently signed on~~~~~~~`

woodlandgal_WI_zn4 — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Welcome to Thrifty Backyards from WI. This year we are short of snow, but the cold temps sure got here. I am glad to see March and milder temps already.

Good Morning All

sebrown — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Good morning everyone Just having my morning coffee and came online to see what was going on in your lives today.The weather he in Pa is cloudy with snow flurries. would like to get to know a people on here because i like making friends and love to meet new people