Fall fell a few weeks ago here at Arlee's Acre, but this weekend was the official calendar kickoff, so we acted accordingly. We really thought canning would be about over, but Pop's tomato plants came through for a double batch of tomato sauce. Big man got to season this batch, and it went into more rescued jars from my grandmother (Arlee).
Winter prep is not just about the human folks at The Acre, we also plan for our feather friends
as well. Suet cakes are a fun treat for chickens, but they can get a little pricy. Cupcake being the research specialist in the house looked up how to make our own, and it's really simple, plus it recycles a lot of stuff we have on hand around here.
First thing we need is wild bird seed and some small bowls. Kattie Grace loves her some breakfast bowls, so we keep the plastic bowl after she's done and use them to hold our chicken suet. We also use old pie plates and mushroom containers from fresh mushrooms. We also used two old bags of dried fruit we had lying around in the cupboard.
Next thing we recycle into suet cakes is old jars of peanut butter. Once a jar expires we keep it for chicken feed. We've even had a co-worker of Cupcakes donate a large jar. Last recycled item is fat. We have plenty of bacon grease on hand (that we pour into empty peanut butter jars) and today we used the drippings from the smoker. This is a combination of brisket, pork, rib and chicken fat, so you know it smells good.
The recipe is simple, about half a jar of peanut butter, mix in grease of choice until the peanut butter is a little runny. Then dump in a large scoop of wild bird seed and a little scratch grain, and any dried fruit that we just happened to have. Mix it up until it's a firm paste, then spoon into your containers. Thats it.
The protein, fat and bird seed keeps the birds warm when it's crazy cold outside, and they go nuts for it when you put it out in the yard. One container lasts about two days, so it's not an every day thing but we try to keep it out once a week when the weather is really cold.
Our last prep work of the weekend was smoker wood. Earlier in the spring I picked out a large maple tree and dropped it while the sap was up, I hope this gave the wood a sweeter than normal flavor. Having built in teenage labor, we went to the drop zone today and pulled the tree out where it would be easier to get to with my broken knees.
After we got it pulled out, I went to work on sawing some fresh wood. When I was Jacob's age, one of my jobs was to split dried maple or poplar wood and carry it in for my grandmother's cook stove. Now my mental therapy is taking an axe to a block of wood, and I'm a teenager again, for a very short time.
We love the smell of maple wood smoking meat, and Fraidy Mutt loves to lay next to the smoker when it's burning, like one of those hound dogs from Hee Haw back in the day.
I guess everybody wins.
So, that's our weekend prep work. The ant family is ready for whatever mother nature has in store for us, at least we are one weekend closer to being ready.
K&K
grt
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