We often have an assortment of animals visiting our bird feeders, especially at night. We expect to see several deer, rabbits and skunks most any evening. We seldom see bears make it to our back yard! Around 8 pm this evening I got a text from a neighbor who can see our back yard saying, “There’s a big bear at your bird feeder!” OMG!
Bert was not home so I grabbed my phone and hustled to the garage door, turning out the house lights as I moved from the office to the garage. A very large bear was calmly sitting under the bird feeder just slurping up the seeds. Must be snack time!
I sent this picture to Bert, who was nearby at a local club meeting. I opened the door and yelled at the visitor, but he didn’t seem annoyed by my shouts. I waved to the neighbors who were sitting on their front porch watching the whole adventure. By the time Bert got home 20 minutes later the bear had just casually wandered over the hill. The bird feeder was not damaged so it will live another day. Whew, such excitement! I think I’ll be careful when I step outside in the late evening. That’s just a little too close for comfort! Happy Spring!
While it has been many years since I made Rice Krispies squares for my kids, I’ve noticed that this treat has been popular at various bake sales. I’ve also seen these treats packaged for lunch boxes in the cookie/snack aisle at the store and even sold at the local Sheetz convenience store! After making several batches lately for our local bake sale, I thought I’d share a few tips to make the process easier if you’d like to do it yourself.
Supplies
You will need (1) a 9″ x 13″ cake pan for one batch, sprayed with oil; (2) a large spoon to mix the Rice Krispies into the melted marshmallows; (3) a sturdy silicone spatula that is strong enough to press the mixture into the cake pan; (4) a table knife to cut the Rice Krispies apart when cool.
Ingredients
You will need only three ingredients: 6 cups of Rice Krispies, 5 1/2 cup small marshmallows, and 3 Tablespoons of butter.
Luckily, the recipe is on every box of Rice Krispies!
And the marshmallows are sold right across the aisle in the baking section!
And butter:
Making the Rice Krispies Squares
I measured out the Rice Krispies and the marshmallows:
I melted the 3 Tablespoons of butter in a large pot on medium low.
When the butter was almost melted, I dumped in the marshmallows:
When the marshmallows were almost all melted, I dumped in the Rice Krispies and mixed it up.
It didn’t need to be smooth, just so most of the Rice Krispies had some sticky marshmallow on them.
Then, using the sturdy silicone spatula (sprayed with oil) scoop out the mixture into the cake pan.
Use the spatula to press the mixture into all the corners and continue to flatten the mixture. I had to use both hands on the spatula to get it pretty flat and even across the whole pan.
At this point, let the pan sit for an hour or so, just to make sure it’s completely cool.
REMINDER: Soak your pan with hot soapy water until the bits of Rice Krispies can be loosened from the pan. I think melted marshmallows could be a great glue substitute!
The final step is to cut them apart into squares. I can never cut them straight so they are all the same size, so I asked Bert for help. Remember, he’s an engineer so of course it took a little planning to finish the batch! (smile) However, I ended up with 6 beautiful squares from each 9″ x 13″ pan. I now have 24 big Rice Krispies Squares to sell at the Memorial Day Bake Sale!
So, don’t be afraid to make Rice Krispies Squares for a bake sale…or for your family! The sturdy, oiled silicone spatula was key to easily spreading out the sticky pile of Rice Krispies and marshmallows!
Just a quick overview of how things are growing around here! We’re being cautiously optimistic because we could still have a killing frost. Luckily, Bert can move the tomatoes and hanging baskets inside if that’s expected!
The Radishes are looking good!
Can you see the red radish peeking out?
The lettuce is enjoying the sunshine! Almost time to start another row of seeds in the next bay.
The Sugar Snap peas are sending out tiny tendrils, looking for a place to latch on. Hopefully, we can guide them to the fences on either side of the rows.
The Asparagus keeps trying. We’ve ordered more crowns/roots to fill this bed.
The Super Sauce tomatoes are spending some time in the sun each day to get stronger stems and roots.
We even have a few tiny flowers!
Up on the hill, you can see the forsythia is starting to make a hedge along our property line. Love them!
The fenced garden has been rototilled and is ready for tomatoes, green beans and carrots. I may use a section for some herbs like basil, parsley and chives. In the first bay, I think the Lavender is dead! No green shoots at all. I think Bert will remove them so I have room for the herbs. The Echinacea at the other end is growing like crazy!
Echinacea
So, little by little we inch towards the safe time to plant temperature-sensitive plants. Even with beans and carrot seeds we have learned the hard way…it’s always risky to put some seeds in ground too early. They don’t like the cool damp soil. We might as well just wait!
If you have comments or questions, please email me directly at maryjkisner@gmail.com.
This past weekend the Ladies Auxiliary to the Boalsburg Fire Company held our semi-annual fund raiser…an indoor flea market-type yard sale and bake sale. Once I’ve spent two weeks baking various items and getting everything packaged and priced, the actual sale day is kind of fun. We see many of our friends and neighbors who come by to support our efforts and open our doors to many folks from around the area.
Along with all the baking I’ve been doing, I’ve been ramping up production of bracelets to get ready for the summer festival in July. In the back of my mind, I was thinking about a large stuffed animal that I could use to decorate my booth and drape a few bracelets on…something to attract attention. What a perfect opportunity to explore the many stuffed animals for sale. It became a kind of game to see which animals could show off the bracelets that I happen to be wearing that day. I also was a great way to get to know the vendors a little better. So, while our kitchen food and bake sale was going on and we had a little down time, I wandered around testing to see which stuffed animals could best showcase some bracelets.
Here’s the basic look at the Fire Hall:
Here are some of the baked goods for sale…just getting started. We managed to spread out to two tables!
Looking for Display Ideas
I just wanted to show you how much fun I had looking for display ideas. Almost every table had some kind of stuffed animal, but one vendor covered two tables with children’s toys and many were stuffed animals! Such fun!
Here are some pictures. Only a few of the animals were large enough to be a display piece but that didn’t slow me down!
How could I resist Miss Piggy and Kermit!!
Basically, shown below, these were the friends I came home with. Who knows where they may appear in my display!
I also ordered a stuffed moose from Amazon. That should arrive tomorrow! I thought I could hang bracelets on the antlers! We’ll see!
So, if you plan to come to the Art in the Orchard Festival at Way Fruit Farm in Stormstown outside State College, July 9-11, 2026, you’ll see what I decided to use in my display! Enjoy!
