And since we are a designated Bird and Breakfast Bird-Friendly Business, we willingly obliged. Guy's outstanding photo, taken here at Big Mill B&B, earned him 1st place in the 2010 Beaufort County Arts Council Nature/Wildlife photography contest. 

Our zinnias seem to be a favorite 

Photo by Guy Livesay

Guests often ask me if there is any time during the year when you should stop feeding hummingbirds? If you have had a similar question, here's my answer:

It is perfectly alright to leave the feeders out until freezing weather arrives. The birds usually leave when their food sources (flower nectar and bugs) are no longer available. You may get a traveling hummingbird guest en route to warmer climates.  Big Mill seems to be a favorite spot for such hummingbird "refuelings!"

Hummingbird Nectar Recipe

4 parts hot boiling water
1 part refined white sugar
Few drops of red food coloring, optional, but not necessary

Stir this mixture until all the sugar is dissolved. (Audubon suggests that you boil the sugar to kill any bacteria. If you change the water every day, this is not necessary).

Allow solution to cool before filling feeders. This sugar water can spoil in hot weather, so change it often, at least two times a week or more. Store any excess nectar in the refrigerator.

Oops! Just gotta get to that great nectar. (Photo by Guy Livesay)

So, have you had any good hummingbird sightings this summer?  Share your best photos with us over on Big Mill Bed and Breakfast's Facebook page .

And while you're there, take a minute to write on our "Wall."  

Guy Livesay took this photo of one of our feathered Goldfinch guests
admiring our gorgeous azaleas in full bloom.

We offer food & lodging for finches, bluebirds, purple martins, barn swallows, Carolina wrens, hummingbirds, cardinals and throngs of other birds. There is no charge, but they are encouraged to pose for photos and to sing.

(Bluebird photo by Guy Livesay)

Many feathered couples stay at Big Mill Inn and they especially enjoy our homegrown sunflower seeds and suet.  In fact, our Big Mill Birds are quite discerning and refuse to eat the store-bought suet.

So while I am making breakfast for our people guests, I whip up a batch of homemade suet for our Big Mill bird guests.  They love it! I am excited to have discovered a great use for left over bacon fat — it makes great suet! 

The woodpeckers at Big Mill really like fruit so any excess fruit goes into the suet. I have great hopes of making soap with the bacon renderings some day, but that hasn’t happened yet.  Until then, it is suet.   

Big Mill SUET RECIPE for the Birds

• 3 cups corn meal
• 1/2 cup shelled seeds like sunflower or thistle
• 1 cup crunchy peanut butter (store brand is fine)
• 3/4 to 1 cup rendered fat.    (lard, bacon drippings, etc.
• Several large pine cones
• Optional: 1 cup chopped fruit and/or a cup of quick cooking oats

In a large bowl, mix the corn meal and seeds together. Using two forks cut in the peanut butter, as you would for a pie crust.

Melt the fat and pour into the corn meal and peanut butter mixture. Mix well and allow to cool. If it is too runny, add more corn meal or some oats.

Stuff the suet into a pine cone. Hang several of these stuffed cones from a limb (as in photo above.) In a few days your birds will love you. I hang mine near a feeder to speed this process.

This recipe is very flexible-and a good way to use grease and fruit. Store excess suet in the refrigerator.

(Photo of Big Mill Bed and Breakfast Goldfinch by Guy Livesay)

Big Mill "Bird and Breakfast" Earth Day Special

Here’s how it works:  Just call us anytime during the months of April and May, 2009, book a two-night stay for any time in 2009 and mention this special promotion when you make your reservation.

You’ll receive:  
A one year’s subscription to Rodale’s Organic Gardening magazine, a thistle bird feeder or sock and some honest-to-goodness Big Mill homemade suet with a recipe card, so you can keep up the good work when you get home.

We are Bird Friendly and our birds know it. Moses has retired and poses no threat.