Thanks everyone for sharing the knowledge with me. At first, I was a little worried. Aren't we clotting poor little birds' arteries? :-) However, thanks to all of you that explained to me why it is necessary. We probably don't have to worry about the little birds' arteries anyway. They have plenty of exercises flying around. I also like the all the recipes, and tips about making soaps and candles. Really cool.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 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, Libby J. Goldstein <[email protected]> wrote: From: Libby J. Goldstein <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Community_garden] Rendering Suet To: "Mike McGrath" <[email protected]> Cc: [email protected] Date: Friday, December 26, 2008, 6:26 PM It may have turned into white bread with mayo. Libby On Dec 26, 2008, at 9:22 PM, Mike McGrath wrote: > Gee. I was kind of hoping we'd follow the 'bagel wit a schmeer' > trail.... > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Diann Dirks" <[email protected]> > To: "DAN-TAMMY BOWDEN" <[email protected]>; > <[email protected]> > Sent: Friday, December 26, 2008 9:11 PM > Subject: Re: [Community_garden] Rendering Suet > > >> I have successfully made a lot of suet for my birds for two years. >> I get free beef fat from the local butcher with meat scraps >> attached. I use the pure tallow for soap making but after the big >> chunks cook down a bit, I put it into my high powered blender and >> break it down into a think porridge type of consistency. Then I >> run it all through a sieve and whatever is still solid in the >> sieve, I add peanut butter and bird seed, whatever I have on hand, >> mix it up, and lay it into a cake pan and freeze it. When it is >> about half frozen, I take it out and cut it into suet feeder sized >> blocks, then freeze it the rest of the way. Once frozen, I break >> the chunks up and freeze them again and put them in zip lock >> baggies. One cake pan yields about 6 or 8 blocks depending on size >> of pan. The tallow left over I boil again with salt water a couple >> of times and get pure white soap quality tallow which works great >> for soap making (or candle making if you add parafin). >> Hope this helps. >> (as a tip, if it's cold outside, I put the tallow/water in a pan >> and leave it out over night. The tallow is a nice block on top and >> the impurities have sunk to the bottom of the pan in a jelly like >> stuff which is easy to scrape off and throw away as it is full of >> toxins.) >> The birds love this. I have also thought to grind up soup making >> bits from chicken or turkey carcases and add it for protein. There >> is enough fat left in the tallow leavings to solidifiy the >> mixture. I can't keep it in stock as the birds will go through 2 >> blocks every 3 days or so. >> Hope this helps. Di >> ----- 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 >> > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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 "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired." Fanny Lou Hamer -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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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
