Yesterday we had our first snow here in Central Missouri and the birds were swarming the one bird feeder we had managed to fill in time. So today I got out the jars of bacon grease I had been collecting over the course of the last year (we love BLT’s in summer!) mixed them up with some songbird seed mix and made these hanging suet balls. We made plenty for Christmas gifts and enough to hang from the trees around our yard.
Here are the easy steps:
In a big bowl, using a wooden spoon, mix fat or lard or peanut butter with bird seed. You can use an already made mix, or mix up your own seed.
With a 1/2 cup measurer, scoop out and plop the mix onto a large cookie sheet covered with cardboard or newspaper.
Set the mixture out in the freezing air, or in the freezer for about 2 hours.
Once it is pretty frozen, but not too solid, form each pile into a ball.
If you have brought them inside to make the balls or if they have thawed too much and become soft, let them freeze up again before attaching the string.
To attach the string from which to hang them, cut about a 2 foot piece. You could use old ribbon or twine or jute. Ones made with ribbon would add a festive touch.
Wrap the string around the ball once and tie, leaving a little excess to tie each time. Wrap again and tie as many times as you can, but making sure to leave enough string to tie to the tree.
That’s it. Just make sure that you keep them frozen if not using right away.
To find locally made items, such as this, in your area, check out Pick-A-Pepper.com!
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