#111: Garden Chores and Fruit Flies
Garden Chores, Fruit Flies, Art of the Pie turns 6 and a Special Cookbooktober 25% Off Offer to Celebrate!
Mulch
I sit down on the deck with my mug of tea to enjoy the early morning when a message comes through from Jena, the garden goddess who helps me with some of my larger projects. “The mulch delivery is on its way.” Now? It’s not even eight, I’m still in my jammies, the area where it is to be dropped has to be cleaned out, and tarps spread before the mulch, all seven yards of it, can be dropped. I thought it would be coming after noon. I leave my tea, head back in to get work clothes on, put a bandana over my hair, slide boots and gloves on, and head back out.
I open up the double doors of back gates for the truck and start moving wheelbarrows, hoses, and various garden things that have been “temporarily” placed right where the mulch is to go. Not long after, Jena arrives and spreads another tarp just before the truck arrives. Steve backs it in, gets out, and recalls being here before as I hand him a check. Yes, he has. When I started this garden, he brought two truckloads of organic compost from his farm that wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow I spread with Duncan’s help. Now I have another small mountain facing me.
Looking at my schedule for the days to come I wonder how the heck I’m going to get it all done. It looked so easy when I put it on my list, but now I’m feeling breathless. If I clean up the tomato and strawberry areas, Jena says that she can come over while I am in New England to do the rest, but she’s busy too as a single mom taking a full load of college courses. Somehow it will get done. It always does.
Fruit Flies
I hate them…absolutely hate them! I have tried my best to keep food put away, counters and sink drains clean, but this year they are out in force. My usual trap of apple cider vinegar, red wine, or fruit juice with some pulp in it, placed in a glass with a piece of plastic wrap pierced in a few places with a chop stick over it, is working ok but apparently not well enough as their population is increasing.
Yesterday at Swain’s, the general store in town, I pick up an old fashioned sticky tape fly catcher ribbon, the kind that unwinds in to a long strip and then hangs on a nail or thumbtack. On the shelf next to them, I see a box with reusable fruit fly traps that claims to trap fruit flies in ONE day. I take the bait and bring it to the check-out counter and head out on the rest of my errands. When I get home in the afternoon, I set up the new traps using the secret sauce that will attract those pesky flies. I’m so hoping that when I get up in the morning they will be gone, gone, GONE, but when I head in this morning to make my tea, there they are having an old-time gathering with multi-generations hanging out on top of the traps. It hasn’t been twenty-four hours yet and I’m crossing my fingers that the traps will work as the box says it will, sending ALL those damn fruit flies to the great beyond.
A Special Subscription Offer to Celebrate Cookbooktober and Happy 6th Birthday to Art of the Pie!
When my first book was about to be published in 2016, I learned that October is known as “Cookbooktober” in the publishing world as that is traditionally when cookbooks are launched. All three of the cookbooks I have been so honored to have published are celebrating their birthdays this month.
Pie Camp: The Skills You Need to Make ANY Pie You Want is turning two on October 16.
Home Cooking with Kate McDermott is turning four on October 8.
Art of the Pie: A Practical Guide to Homemade Crusts, Fillings, and Life is turning 6 TODAY October 6!
To celebrate, I’m offering 25% off ALL new one year subscriptions through the end of October! Use the link below ⬇ to take advantage of this offer.
What I’m Reading
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
I loaned my copy out and after a few years thought it would never come back, but recently a copy found its way to me and I’m loving reading it again. Can’t wait for the movie to come out.
What I’m Listening To
Cut the Cake by John McCutcheon
I loved this tune when I first heard it years ago and it seems perfect for this month, too. Enjoy!
And if want to wish happy birthday to my three books, I hope you might click on the little ❤️ below ⬇ and leave a comment, too.
I think you lent A Gentlemen in Moscow to me! And I think I in turn lent it to someone else, or maybe it’s still on my shelf in NJ. So sorry! But I loved the book and also can’t wait for the movie to come out with Ewan McGregor. Can’t wait to see you!
I can't wait to see what your in-person offerings are for pie classes!