Sometimes everyone gets along.
Mrs. Cardinal shares her sunflower seeds with a squirrel
Posted in Birds, Squirrels, Wildlife | Tagged BackyardBirds, birds, Squirrels | Leave a Comment »
A tasty and not too spicy chili.
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1½ cups chopped sweet onion
- 3 minced fresh garlic cloves
- 3 tablespoons chili powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 28 oz can tomato puree
- 16 oz can tomato sauce
- 1 cup water or chicken broth
- 2 16 oz cans kidney beans
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- Dash of clove
Preparation:
In a large pot saute onion and garlic in a small amount of oil. Brown ground beef, drain off fat and add beef to onion and garlic. Add chili powder, pepper, salt, brown sugar and clove. Mix well and cook for several minutes. Add tomato puree and sauce. Drain and add kidney beans. Add 1 cup broth. Add an additional ½ cup for soupier chili. Stir and bring to a boil. Simmer for one hour.
Makes 8 bowls.
Posted in Recipes | Tagged recipe | Leave a Comment »
The birds love homemade peanut butter suet dough. Today I had chickadees, woodpeckers and juncos nibbling away at it. Here’s a female red-bellied woodpecker and a chickadee enjoying a meal.
Other birds that like this treat are bluebirds, titmice, nuthatches, jays, wrens, thrashers and towhees.
The basic recipe is simple and only takes a few minutes to make. I’d like to take credit for it, but I found it in Bird Watcher’s Digest. I used vegetable shortening instead of lard; the birds didn’t mind.
Ingredients
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 cup lard or vegetable shortening
- 2 cups plain yellow corn meal
- 2 cups quick oats
- 1 cup flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- raisens (optional)
- chopped nuts (optional)
Preparation
Melt peanut putter and shortening or lard in large pan on low heat. Add remainder of ingredients and mix well. Pour into a pan allow to harden at room temperature. Chop into chunks or squares for suet cage. I like to use the plastic molds that the store bought suet comes in. Can also be served crumbled in a shallow dish. Store in baggies in refrigerator or at room temperature.
Now sit back and watch the birds. They know a good thing once they find it.
Posted in Birds, Recipes | Tagged BackyardBirds, birds, Recipes | Leave a Comment »
After enduring two weeks of below freezing temperatures and over a foot of snow we are finally starting to thaw out. Temperatures have been balmy, snow is melting, birds are chirping (well, a chirp here and there), and the sun peeked out from the clouds. My tolerance for winter wears out very fast.
I’m ready for spring. Here’s a view from my backyard deck taken around the end of June.
Posted in Garden | Tagged Garden | Leave a Comment »
Pollo alla Cacciatora or Chicken Cacciatore is a traditional Italian dish of chicken braised in a tomato and white wine sauce with mushrooms and vegetables. It is sometimes referred to as Hunter’s Stew – “Alla Cacciatora” means “Hunter’s Style” in Italian.
This is a great winter dish, one of my favorites and easy to make. It practically cooks itself. I’ve modified it slightly from the traditional by changing the vegetables and using boneless chicken breasts. I serve it over polenta in the traditional northern style but it can also be served over pasta.
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1½ to 2 pounds boneless chicken breast
- 16 oz can stewed tomatoes
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- 1 tablespoon minced onion
- 2 tablespoons chopped flat parsley
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon seasoned salt
- 1 small can pitted black olives
- 1 small can cut green beans
- 1 package instant polenta*
Posted in Recipes | Tagged chicken, Recipes | Leave a Comment »
It hasn’t happened on New Year’s Eve since 1990 and won’t happen on one again until 2028. Tonight, look up into the sky and see a rare phenomenon, the second full month in the same month, a Blue Moon. Assuming the night is clear, and that’s a big assumption here in Chicagoland, I’ll be looking high in the sky.
Why is this a rare thing? Because most years only have 12 full moons which occur approximately monthly. However, the solar calendar year contains about eleven days more than the lunar year. After a period of time those days add up to an extra cycle giving us 13 full moons every two or three years.
Will it look blue? No, but it should be brighter than usual. Tonight the earth will be at a point where it comes closest to the sun. Both the earth and the moon receive more sunlight, making the moon brighter this month. It will appear about 7% larger than average. And yes, that’s correct, we are now closer to the sun even though it is freezing cold here. That is because the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun giving us shorter days and less heat.
Then why is this called a Blue Moon? It can be traced to a 55 year old mistake. It’s use comes from a misinterpretation of the Maine Farmer’s Almanac in an article in the March 1946 Sky and Telescope Magazine. Widespread adoption of the definition of a “blue moon” as the second full moon in a month followed its use on the popular radio program StarDate on January 31, 1980. What is the traditional use of the term Blue Moon? According to the Farmer’s Almanac it is the fourth full moon in a season, a season being 3 months such as winter, spring, etc.
A safe and happy New Year’s Eve to everyone. See you next year.
Posted in Holiday, Science | Tagged BlueMoon, Holiday, Science | 1 Comment »
For the past few weeks there has been a bunny in my yard all evening. Rabbits are primarily active at dusk and dawn. In the summer I would occasionally see them during the day, usually eating something in my garden, but never after dark.
This picture was taken about 9pm. I just looked outside and he is still roaming around out there at 11:30pm eating seed under the bird feeders. I hope he stays out of the path of the owls.
According to rabbit.org,
Rabbits are actually “crepuscular”, meaning they are most active in the twilight hours of both sunrise and sunset. This is because before becoming domesticated, rabbits evolved as a prey species for thousands of years. Evolutionarily it was safest for rabbits to leave the safety of their burrow and forrage for food in the transition between day and night when the light is dim. This is the time when nocturnal (night) predators such as owls can’t see well because of too much light, and when diurnal (day) predators such as foxes, can’t see well because it is too dark.
Posted in Bunny, Wildlife | Tagged bunny, Wildlife | Leave a Comment »
The ice is very pretty but it’s treacherous out there. One pass around the yard was enough for me. This is a shot of my Magnolia tree coated with ice.
Posted in Nature | Tagged Ice, Nature, winter | Leave a Comment »
This little guy was chomping away at a walnut and didn’t care how close I got.
More Wordless Wednesday.
Posted in Squirrels, Wildlife, Wordless Wednesday | Tagged photo, Squirrels, WordlessWednesday | 1 Comment »
The Garden
Welcome to LadyMin's Place. Gardner, nature lover, bird watcher, citizen scientist, amateur photographer and sometimes geeky person. The garden is in a suburb of Chicago; LadyMin herself is virtually everywhere.
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Most of my photos are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. This means you may use them for non-profit or personal use as is without altering them in any way and you will give me credit and provide a link back to this site. Please contact me before using them. Thank you.-
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