BIRD FEED: Yesterday we promised to share a recipe from the Penn State Extension for a type of bird food.

According to the recipe listed on the Extension’s website, “’Marvel Meal,’ a mixture of peanut butter and other items, is fun for children to make and is a favorite of chickadees, titmice, wrens, and even bluebirds.”

To make Marvel Meal, mix the following ingredients:

 • 1 cup peanut butter

 • 1 cup vegetable shortening

 • 4 cups cornmeal

 • 1 cup flour

 • A handful of sunflower seeds (optional)

The Extension recommends putting the mixture in the holes of a log feeder or even spreading it right on trees, with no feeder necessary. If frozen, it can be placed in a suet feeder.

GARDEN: We know it’s still winter outside the window, but it’s getting to be that time of year when we start thinking about what we’re going to plant in our garden this spring.

We thought it was good timing when we received in the mail a poem by Frances Wolfe Haight of Kane about the magic that is life in the garden.

    “God’s Garden”

I decided to plant a garden,

I tilled and raked and hoed,

I worked hard, I thought,

But needed God’s help to make it grow.

I went to the country market,

To buy seeds of all kinds to sow,

I sprinkled them generously in the soil,

And prayed that God would make them grow.

When weeds appeared here and there,

I pulled and dug in each row,

My part was work and sweat,

But God’s the one who made it grow.

The sun shone and the rain came down,

Each day new sprouts began to show,

I really worked hard in that garden,

But I knew God was making it grow.

The flowers and vegetables thrived,

All my neighbors said it was so,

I thanked them for their compliments,

But I thanked God for making it grow.

Frances tells us she wrote the poem for the 1992 Kane Garden Club booklet.