Please forgive me for asking a dumb question. Why do we need to use fat/suet for bird feeder?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. - Lao Tzu “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” - Winston Churchill ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ --- On Fri, 12/26/08, Mike McGrath <[email protected]> wrote: From: Mike McGrath <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Community_garden] Rendering Suet To: "DAN-TAMMY BOWDEN" <[email protected]>, [email protected] Date: Friday, December 26, 2008, 2:09 PM I like the idea of making suet cakes--but I take the easy way out instead (what a shock!) I only fill my feeders with fat from beef and pork; the first from trimmings that butchers save for me and the second from what I like to call our "hippie bacon"; really thick-sliced, uncured stuff from a nearby sustainable farm. I freeze it, let it half thaw and then trim off virtually all the fat and just cook up the lean. Almost guilt free! Chicken fat goes to the cats. Hoppy Holidays! ---McG ----- Original Message ----- From: "DAN-TAMMY BOWDEN" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, December 26, 2008 5:02 PM Subject: Re: [Community_garden] Rendering Suet > Dorene, > > I think I would experiment with mixing the bird fats, four-legged fats, > flour, and birdseed. The two types of fat should mix well when hot, then > when mixed into flour & seeds it would make a cake that should hold > together well. And flour is relatively inexpensive, although I don't know > the price of birdseed. > > Dan > > > CREATION SPEAKS > Inviting man to the heart of God through the biblical mandate to care for > creation > www.creationspeaks.org > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Alliums > To: [email protected] > Sent: Friday, December 26, 2008 10:29 AM > Subject: [Community_garden] Rendering Suet > > > Hi, Folks! > > > > No one else is talking, so I'm taking up space! :-) > > > > We decided to try Mike's advice on fruit tree bug control and are putting > suet feeders in our fruit trees to get them used to patrolling the trees > and > hopefully, in the Spring, eating those bugs. So far, the chickadees seem > to > really be enjoying it - I'm seeing more chickadees than I've ever seen at > the community garden. > > > > However, when I'm paying top prices for grass-fed, free-range local meat > at > the farmer's market, it seems a waste to go out there and buy suet blocks > for the birds. So, how do people render their own suet? > > > > Right now, I'm skimming off the fat and then putting it in a pie pan in > the > oven whenever I'm cooking something to boil off the water (too cheap with > energy to boil the fat on it's own on the stovetop! ;-)) This seems to > be > working with four-legged meat products (lamb, beef, pork), but no so well > with poultry (chicken, turkey, etc). I can't get the poultry fat to > render > down such that it's not a thick liquid at room temperature. > > > > Now, if I lived in a more reliably cold region, I'd just shove it into > the > suet feeder and let the cold weather keep it solid. But here in > Southeastern PA, where it's 20 degrees one day and 50 the next, I'm > afraid > that I'll have chicken fat leaking out of the feeder and dripping onto > the > branches/ground which will probably attract rats, rather than chickadees. > > > > Any advice appreciated! > > > > Dorene > > > > Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator > > St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden and Labyrinth > > > > A mission of > > St. John's United Church of Christ, 315 Gay Street, Phoenixville, PA > 19460 > > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20081226/c52c10d7/attachment.html> > _______________________________________________ > The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of > ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and > to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org > > To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: > http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20081226/c19c6389/attachment.html> > _______________________________________________ > The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of > ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and > to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org > > To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: > http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org > > _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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