Making Suet Bird Feeders

Last month when our church had their annual Sportsmen's Banquet, I brought home a 5-gallon bucketful of leftover fat and au jus from the prime rib. I poured all the natural juices into containers to freeze for soups and gravies later on. Then I cooked all the fat and poured it through cheesecloth to get out any bits of meat. I ended up with a large bowlful of nice white fat. Well, I've been keeping the fat cold to keep from going rancid. Yesterday I heated the fat until it was liquid. Then I added birdseed, whole grain flour, cheerios, a little peanut butter, and sunflower seeds.
This is what it looks like all mixed up. I found the directions to making suet cakes here on this wonderful bird website. There are several recipes to choose from.
My sister-in-law had given me 6 birdseed bells for Christmas. When the birds had eaten all the seed, I washed the plastic hangers so I could recycle them. So today I got my hands into the greasy birdseed mixture and pressed mounds of it onto these plastic hangers. Then into the freezer to harden.
Fortunately I have a commercial freezer in my mudroom, so there was plenty of space for the birdbells.
Today I threaded some cheap twine through the hangers and hung them on my porch. I've already seen a few birds nibbling at them, so I guess it was successful! I figure these 6 bells cost me a little more than $1 to make. They sell for $1.22 each in the commissary. Just when I was bemoaning the fact that I smelled like prime rib, my hubby walked in with a bunch of flowers!
Tomorrow we are having the old folks from church over for lunch, so we are busy cleaning and cooking. Today I made a pineapple upside down cake, a batch of brownies, a cheesecake, and a carrot cake. All week I have been building up my sourdough starter so that I have enough to make four 9x13 dishes of dinner rolls. It's so exciting...especially now that my home is spotless!

Tomorrow morning I will get up early to put the four beef roasts in the oven and form the sourdough batter into rolls. Everything else is a piece of cake.

Today we had 70+ degrees and it was beautiful. Tonight's storm could be severe. I'm hoping it holds off until Mike gets home from church with the two banquet tables.

Many blessings ~ Kathie

It's a QUILT Giveaway!!

Thanks to my friend Deb over at Mountain Musings, I learned about a wonderful quilt giveaway from Dana over at the Old Red Barn Company. This giveaway is perfect for you nonbloggers ~ all you have to do is go here and leave a comment (scroll down to the bottom of the page). This is a picture of the quilt Dana is giving away. A wonderfully scrappy quilt! But do yourself a favor and go visit Dana's website where she sells handmade bath and body care essentials. I am impressed with the natural ingredients she uses ~ sugar, coconut, goats' milk, etc. But make sure you leave a comment ASAP because this giveaway ends Wednesday, March 19th at 7 pm.
Our church family is saying goodbye to another much-loved member today, Mrs. Marguerite. She was such a blessing to all who knew her. Always giving encouragement to moms and dads. We will surely miss her. Mrs. Marguerite has been one of our church's most faithful prayer warriors. Her testimony shone in the hospital, faithful to the end. Thank you Jesus for letting us know her these past five years. "She openeth her mouth with wisdom: and in her tongue is the law of kindness." Proverbs 31:26
Ruthie and I spent the afternoon in the kitchen yesterday. This is Ruthie cutting up potatoes to go in our Veggie Beef soup.
I have been having so much fun with my sourdough that I decided to try something new. My first starter I made with 1/4 tsp commercial yeast. So I decided to see if I could catch some "wild" yeast to make a starter. It took just 12 hours! The night before, I mixed 2 cups flour and 2 cups water, stirred well, then laid a piece of wax paper on top. The next morning it was bubbly and frothy! (Several websites said it would take 3-12 days.) And it smells exactly like the San Francisco sourdough bread I remember so well! This picture shows my starter before I've scraped down the sides and stirred it.
These are the sourdough English Muffins I made yesterday. They were yummy!

They looked burned in the picture but they're not. My griddle was perfect for cooking them at 275 for 15 minutes.Et voila! They are very tasty. Did I mention that these were easy to make?
I also made a baguette. Ruthie spread these slices with hummus that Maggie made with roasted garlic. Yummmy!

Many of you know that I get allergy shots because of my allergy to dust mites. The shots have really helped and I was thrilled last week when I started the maintenance dose. Yippee! I guess I celebrated too soon because I have an itchy rash on my legs, arms and neck, watery eyes, congestion, and now laryngitis. Back to a lower dose. Meanwhile I'm in a fog from the Benedryl. No cooking today!

We are getting excited about going to Texas. I wish Mike and Sarah were going, but they will stay home to take care of the pet stock. I ordered my 50# of fingerling potatoes, so they should be ready to plant when we get home.

Have a good Tuesday. Many blessings ~ Kathie

Charlotte Hall Farmer's Market

This morning we drove up to the farmer's market to see if we could get some fresh strawberries. We bought one flat. They were good for early season but not very sweet.

And looky what we bought for $5! It was very sweet. I was absolutely floored! I expected a bland watermelon, but this one was good. I wish I had bought two.

The girls and I had fun walking around looking at the many different vendors.

It was a sunny day, got up to 65, but the breeze made it seem cooler.

The amish did a lot of business today selling many different animals ~ goats, ducks, chickens, puppies, bunnies, wild turkeys, guinea pigs, pigeons, and pheasants.

There was one man there selling rottweilers and he made me very nervous. The rottweiler got very excited when another dog walked by. The last time I saw this dog, the owner had a huge collar on him that was chained to the truck with a substantial chain. Today he was holding him (or trying to) by a thick leash. Still gave me the chills!

This marketplace used to be mostly amish run, but a few years ago most of them left to start their own marketplace. It does a huge business. According to the agricultural section of the newspaper, six families earned $845,000 in income last year! As you can imagine, this year there are twice as many farmers selling.

We try to avoid the one covered pavillion where the felt Elvis pictures and Beanie Babies are sold. A few years ago I bought my lilac bushes there for $15/plant. The same plants were being sold in Walmart for $55/plant. So there are good deals as well as shoofly pie.

The Charlotte Hall farmer's market is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays all year, weather permitting. However, only half of the vendors are there on Wednesday, and no animals. Just one word of caution, the restrooms are terrible. Take your children to the restrooms at one of the nearby fast food restaurants before you go. See you there this summer!

Many blessings ~ Kathie

A Plea to Fishy Cars

Have you seen all the cars that have bumper stickers with a fish on it like the above fish? I have been trying to figure out what the fish means. I thought I knew. I think I have finally figured it out. I think the fish means, "Get outta my way! I've got places to go and people to see! I don't care if I'm taking away your right-of-way!"

Do you know what I mean? It just seems like the fastest and meanest people on the highways have these bumper stickers. It reminds me of this joke:

A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection. The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration, as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup.

As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell.

After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him." I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk; naturally... I assumed you had stolen the car."

I know this joke is intended to be funny, but it is too close to the truth to be funny for me. So please, if you have a "Jesus fish" on your car, be polite. Try to drive as though you are a child of the King. To quote Dr. Bob Jones III, "Live your life in such a way as to show how great your God is." If you can't, then please take your fish off!

Remember, your walk talks louder than your talk talks!

Thanks for listening. Many blessings ~ Kathie

Everyday News Network

Today my children and I have been downloading and watching some short video clips on http://www.visionforum.com/. If you have a son who is a man's man like my son, then these are the videos for you! The above video is titled, "Fort Eagle: Grey Tree Fort." This video is titled, "Compound Bow." These videos are made by children. But these children are well-spoken, articulate children which makes the videos a real pleasure to watch, even for Mom who only has about 40% of her hearing.
This video was a real winner in our home. It is titled, "How to Skin a Dove." It takes us about 10 minutes to download each video. (Now my brother Floyd will write and say it only took him 6 seconds thanks to DSL, hee hee. Well I beat you to it!) No sibling rivalry here! :-)
This little guy narrated a video called, "Chainsaws and Skidders." There are also some girl videos, but mostly boy videos. But my daughters enjoyed all of them.

Mike comes home tomorrow night after spending two weeks in sunny California, so we are busy cleaning and scrubbing. We have been watching wildlife do their annual, "We Survived Hunting Season" dance. We saw a pack of wild turkeys (pack? flock? herd? I don't know, will look it up), and many deer. The deer keep grazing near my garden plot, so there may be a battle soon. (Added later: I googled "gaggle+of+turkeys" and found out that a bunch of turkeys is called a rafter. Never heard of it! I actually took a picture of our rafter of turkeys, but they blended into the forest so well that they are barely discernable, so here's a picture from DNR. I learn something new everyday!) Have a good weekend. Many blessings ~ Kathie

Maggie and Anna, Milliners

Isn't this a gorgeous quilt?! Maggie made it this week. I am just so surprised! I knew Maggie and Anna had been spending a lot of time in my sewing room but I had no idea what they were doing. Anna cut out the pieces and Maggie sewed them. Here's a closeup of the fabrics:
I would never have chosen these fabrics to go together, but now that I see it, I love it! Maggie made the top 64x88" to fit on a twin size bed. I think we will put this top on my frame and handstitch it. I think!

Anna was also busy cutting out a Christmas quilt kit to sell on eBay. This will be her fourth kit to sell. It took Anna 3-4 years to perfect her cutting techniques and now there's no stopping her! If you'd like to buy this kit, we sell our Churn Dash kits for $10 plus shipping (9 oz from 20659). No shipping if you are local.

The Bible doesn't have anything to say about quilting, but I know that God has a great appreciation of colors (and needlework!) because in Exodus 26:36 when He is giving the requirements for building the Altar, He says, "And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework." Can you imagine how beautiful those colors must have looked?

The end of quilting season is getting closer and our thoughts are turning towards gardening. I hope my quilting friends had an enjoyable quilting season. Of course, most of us will carry a few quilting projects on into the summer :-)

Many blessings ~ Kathie

PS ~ Forgot to explain about the Milliner part. Milliner means hat maker, but during the wild west days of our country (only 150 years ago!) a milliner was a general seamstress who sewed anything and everything. A typical milliner's shingle read, "Mrs. John Doe, Milliner." That's my history lesson for the day!

Where did the weekend go?! Sure went fast! We started off with Lizzie's piano recital on Saturday. It was nice seeing old friends and hearing all the pianists. I didn't realize this was an adjudicated event. That always adds a bit of nervousness and excitement!
We came home and did a bunch of chores, then played Dutch Bliss and Rumikub for the rest of the afternoon. Maggie can't handle the cards with her crippled hands, so she teamed up with Ruthie. They make a killer team!
That evening we made sourdough doughnuts. Even though my children loved them, I think my regular whole wheat doughnuts are better. The above picture shows the doughnuts drying after dipping them in glaze.
Of course, if you're gonna blow it nutritionally, might as well go the whole way! Maggie made some chocolate fudge icing that Anna piped on. They were delicious. Everyone fixed their doughnut the way they liked it. I rarely get out my fryer, usually just once or twice a year...I just hate the cleanup part! And my doughnuts taste almost as good when baked. The best part is that I measured the oil both before and after frying, and there was no measurable amount of oil absorbed by the doughnuts. Wonderful! (I attribute this to the fryer which keeps the oil cooking steadily hot without overheating.)

Last night at church we had a farewell reception for a family at church. Afterwards we played badminton until 9:30 pm. It was so much fun! Every time I go to the thrift shop I buy any rackets that I find. I probably have 25 rackets and 20 birdies. We don't use a net, we just team up and start whacking the birdies. So much fun!

I hope you had a good weekend. Yesterday on the way home from church, we were slowed down by a terrible accident. Reminded me that we never know when the course of life is going to drastically change from one moment to the next.

Many blessings ~ Kathie