Cleaning out the pantry is for the birds!

Bird Suet

2 cups lard/shortening/bacon grease

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

2 cups oatmeal

2 cups corn meal

1 cup flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup raisins

1 cup wild birdseed

Melt lard and peanut butter.

Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into molds. Store in freezer.

That's the recipe... here's the lowdown:

When we made these with Granna, (remember, Granna's Gardens?) she literally cleaned out the pantry. Almost rancid nuts, oatmeal that wasn't ohsofresh (does uncooked oatmeal go bad? really?), a little on the old and hard side dried fruit, cooked oatmeal that wasn't finished for breakfast, and stale chips might have even made it's way into the mix. We also crunched up egg shells and used that as a source of calcium (calcium? really?)

The kids had a blast, but I think the birds enjoyed it the most! (not to mention the sneaky squirrel...)