Happy Easter

Happy Easter!This is the view of the back of our place early on Easter morning.

You can see just to the left of the chicken run is where my little plum tree is planted. The stupid chickens still think that snow is food. Chickens aren't really known for their brains, so I'm not surprised.

I have been indoors today, repotting some houseplants, cleaning up a bit and watching some TV (which is something I don't get to do too often).

I filled up the bird feeders as the birds looked hungry to me. I made up some homemade bird feed earlier in the week that involves melting some lard, cheap peanut butter, adding in oats, corn meal and some raw peanuts. This weeks efforts at homemade bird feed filled up five aluminium take out trays with a few big spoonfuls left. I set the filled trays outside to cool and took that extra amount that wouldn't fit in the trays out to the bird table and plopped it in the middle.
I have some suet cages that these primitive slabs of bird food fit into perfectly once they've been popped out of the trays and the birds love the stuff. I must admit that if I were a bird, I'd like it too. It smells so nice when I'm melting down the peanut butter.

I have put the recipe up before, but I think it bears repeating.

1 jar of cheap (cheep - snort!) peanut butter 450g
1 block of lard 500g
melted these two ingredients in my big soup pot

Then added
cornmeal - 500 g
porridge oats - "some" approximately 300 g
flour - 300 g

It is quite good to make this after one has been clearing out the cupboards. I threw in some old peanut butter that had started to settle and had a layer of peanut oil on the top of it. I have some old raisins that should have been used years ago, those went in too. I have added in mixed bird seed in the past.

Making your own works a bit less expensive that buying suet blocks and balls in the shops.

This recipe is great for filling up a woodpecker feeder. To make one of those, drill some HUGE holes in a short piece of small log, fill the holes with the above bird feed mush, hang it on a tree with a piece of wire or rope and presto, instant woodpecker feeder! If drilling out a log is a bit ambitious for you, just press the mixture into tree bark and cracks in the tree for the birds like nuthatches and woodpeckers.