Suet day

A few months ago, I bought a suet feeder from Joanne, a fellow Master Naturalist, who makes them as a fundraiser for Friends of Blanco State Park. Finally, this morning, I got after it and made some suet myself. But I think I still have some learning to do. I made the recipe below, then set the small pot in the refrigerator to cool. I guess I thought it'd have a cookie dough consistency. Well, not completely. Twas a bit crumbly to mash together into small balls. But I'm sure the birds won't care. We'll see what they think.

I came upon this recipe in a nature blog that Charlotte T. emails to her subscribers. Thanks, Charlotte!

Charlotte's No-Melt Suet

1/2 cup lard
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup cornmeal

Melt lard and peanut butter in large saucepan. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Put into molds; chill in refrigerator until firm. Charlotte uses recycled commercial suet molds to form the cakes and then stores them in ziplock bags. 

UPDATE–Charlotte sent me a nice email after reading this post and some additional comments on her suet recipe....

"Regarding the suet recipe, you sometimes need to "fiddle" with it.  If mine is too soupy, I add more cornmeal or flour. If it's too crumbly, add more melted peanut butter or lard. It seems to vary as I use different brands of ingredients (buying whatever is on sale at the time). But it does set more solid the longer it stays in the fridge. I form little cigar shapes for the cedar hanger and just cram it in tightly. Also, sometimes I add raisins or chopped pecans or shelled peanut pieces just to give the birds a bit of variety. It's an easy recipe to tinker with."

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 26, 2013–Well, one of our local woodpeckers has discovered the suet. Yesterday, I heard one call as it got closer. Then, bingo, it landed on the suet feeder! This morning, I recognized the same call. Sure enough, here it came, right on the suet feeder. Yay! 

UPDATE OCTOBER 4, 2013-Not a great video. But hey, you can see the woodpecker.