Cloudy, 8 degrees

We weathered the second big storm of the year just fine, though it threatened holiday travel across the midwest with freezing rain, the most treacherous of weather. It rained here for about two days straight it seemed, but I'm happy that we escaped the 20 inches of snow a couple hundred miles to our west.

Once the rain stopped, the temps dropped, turning the rain and slush into a nice hard glaze. Our driveway now has an underlayment of ice under a coating of thin, dry snow. Still, it could have been worse, so I'm not complaining.

That is a picture of a robins' nest above. It reminded me that last week I heard and saw a robin in the top of my black walnut tree at the end of the driveway! Now that is one procrastinating bird! I tend to allow myself to forego filling my bird feeders in the lush months, but I am compelled to do it during this type of weather. I know studies have shown that wild birds do not become dependent on feeders, but I fugure it can't hurt to offer them some extra protein and carbs when it is so cold and windy out, with not much to eat out there, at least for some species. Besides, it does provide us with an interesting and flashy show outside. We get lots of woodpeckers, like downy, hairy, flickers and nuthatches. I'm waiting to see a red-headed woodpecker here. Of course we also get the sparrows and finches, cardinals, doves, blue jays, etc. We'd probably get more if I put out some water for them, but I can't justify adding to our already high electric bill. Add to that that Dottie would surely find it a great place to stalk birds. And well, you know, maybe some day if I get my compost pile heater going, I can place a water dish on top for the wild birds. This reminds me - I forgot to ask for a bluebird house for Chirstmas. I hope to get some of those up early this Spring. I've heard bluebirds around the farm, and I just love seeing them and listening to their beautiful song. I don't know for sure, but I think they are making a pretty good comeback, another success story of humans waking up and learning what we should and shouldn't do if we want to preserve nature's most beautiful gems.
I hope to get a permanent pasture going on our land this year, and that attracts grassland birds such as meadowlarks and bluebirds, etc. This is a group of birds that has been hit very hard by development and modern agriculture practices, so we graziers try to encourage and provide nesting havitat for these important insectivores.

It's also satisfying to provide our backyard birds with suet and lard from our own animals.
Speaking of lard, we got ours back with our butchered hog this year, it comes in a big bag in chunks. We will render it by putting it in a crockpot and letting it melt down and drawing off pure, white lard with which I hope to encourage Karen to make delicate pie crusts ;) I bet that won't take much!

One of these days I will explain the benefits of good fat vs. that of bad fat, and why our animals are full of the good stuff. I think many people are catching on to this, still I know it's been so ingrained in our society for so long, to avoid animal fats because they are unhealthy, that it's still common to run into people who don't believe us. Like trying to convince people that pork really doesn't need to be cooked until it's well-done! It doesn't, and you'll be glad you didn't!