Winter - It Suets Me Fine

Photo: Under a cornflower blue sky, framed by bright-white clouds, a winter sun shines. Bare-bones trees rise out of a snowy lawn and tufts of golden grass, dried and lean left in the foreground. Grasses are great places for birds to take shelter and rest.

Chonky flakes of the fluffiest snow fell as if from a Hollywood snow machine - each a cluster of perfectly radiant crystals of frozen water. Watching it all sift downward among the bare trunks and hiding all but the tallest of shrubs and rocks made me appreciate the winter for what it is.

Some people curse the season, dream of perpetual sunshine, and groan at the inconvenience of it all. Bundle up, don boots, pull on gloves, scrape ice, shovel walks and driveways - all in the name of staying on top of the steady downfall that doesn't heed your exertion or your opinions. Nature will do what she's gonna do. It has become a national pastime to complain about the winter.

At my back patio bird feeder, I attract all sorts of wild birds with a custom blend of suet. I imagine it is delicious while it also provides essential nutrients of fat and carbohydrates. I blend my suet from reserved bacon grease and standard bird seed. There's always a jar in the fridge for me to pour the melted fat into when I make a spinach bacon quiche or cook bacon, eggs and fried potatoes for Sunday breakfast. I simply melt the solidified grease and stir it into a bowlful of cracked corn, millet, striped sunflower, and golden safflower seeds. In the early spring, I stir in finely ground egg shells to give a calcium boost to the little mammas.

This afternoon, a deep scarlet cardinal ate with gusto, messily collecting bits of seed in the corners of his bright beak. Soon, a pair of lead-grey and white juncos joined him and availed themselves of a tea-time meal. Their tiny beaks negotiated the suet carefully, only dropping the occasional morsel which another avian pecked from the ground. I watched this activity as gleefully as I observe guests relishing food that I cook.

I only offer my bird-friends suet in the cold season, packing it with a teaspoon into a feeder with specially carved pockets. In warmer seasons birds can get their own protein with worms, insects and such, but with snow covering earth, protein and fat are hard to come by. Humans also vary their diet in winter, right? We enjoy comfort foods like steamy soups, hearty stews, casseroles and warm cobblers.

True, winter isn't an easy season - it presents many challenges but allows us to work for opportunities. But winter wasn't designed to punish people. It isn't a personalized frigid torture-device. Winter is a season, just like the other three. To wish it away would be to lose part of the cycle of nature in the Northeast. I try to embrace every facet of this frosty season and continue to make food that comforts and sustains our bodies and souls. If making my special suet requires us to eat a rasher of bacon now and then - it is a sacrifice we are willing to make. Anything for the enjoyment and nourishment of our feathered friends!