Friday, January 26, 2007

From my kitchen window

A lot of my day is spent in the kitchen. I don't mind. I enjoy cooking and creating in my kitchen. Clean up is made more bearable by the two windows behind my kitchen sink. They certainly don't offer the best view of the 100 Acre Wood, but if I look beyond the drive way, beyond the vehicles and equipment, I can see the hills, the tress and some of the reasons we chose to live here. It is also one of the few times, like hanging clothes on the line, that I can accomplish a task and enjoy a stolen moment of peace and quiet.

From my window, I can watch the kids playing, but I often find myself watching the birds. Last spring I watched a momma bird and her babies. This winter we put bird feeders on a small tree near the window. Our feeders are nothing fancy, but the birds don't seem to mind.

On the small tree you will find two stale bagels covered with peanut butter that Lydia and Nolan made at story time. They were covered with sunflower seeds, but one particularly greedy bird removed them all over the course of a day.

There is also a feeder made from an old milk jug. We washed it out and cut two large holes in the side. Then filled it with seed and tied it to the tree.

The final feeder is the net bag from some apples, filled with "bird cake." Making the "bird cake" was part of our science lesson one day. The recipe was on page 268 of "Further Up and Further In"

Bird Suet
2lbs lard (do not substitute shortening!)
6 cups cornmeal
3 cups wheat flour
4 cups oatmeal

Soften the lard to room temperature. Stir in the other ingredients a couple of cups at a time until the mixture is quite thick. Freeze in tuna cans or small plastic tubs.

I enjoy watching them at the feeders. There are a few varieties that come. I need to invest in a field guide to birds. I should keep it in the kitchen, then maybe I would actually learn to identify these birds. Today, I spent a little time trying to capture them with my camera. They tend to grab and go, so, I didn't get any great shots, but here are a few things I saw today from my kitchen window.

6 comments:

  1. How pretty! I love my kitchen window, too. I didn't have one in our apartment, so it is one of the things I truly cherish now.
    I also want to try your recipe. The meat packing company in our town sells huge chunks of beef lard for practically nothing. I don't have any trees near the house, but we could hang some in the back and let them feast.

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  2. I should have mentioned too that I didn't buy lard I used saved bacon grease. FYI

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  3. I too love my kitchen window. While it's not the best view, it does give me the mountains and like you allows a lot of quiet time. I don't think I could live in a house that didn't have a window by the kitchen sink.

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  4. I don't really have a kitchen window but I can just imagine how beautiful your view is!

    Thank you for sharing this with the Carnival of Family Life.

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  5. Thanks for sharing your view. ;o) There's such power in the simple things. ;o)

    Hugs,
    Holly
    Holly's Corner
    Here via the Carnival of Family Life. ;o)

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  6. You have a lovely view from your kitchen window. I could certainly tolerate kitchen work a little more if I had such a view.

    Here via the carnival of family life.

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