If you’re in the process of doing Spring Cleaning, odds are, at some point, you’re going to hit your closet and find a pair of pants you don’t want anymore.
If you’re like me, you have a favorite pair of jeans that you just can’t part with. Well, Chow.com has an easy way of turning them into a gardening apron, perfect for carrying stuff around.
A pair of cargo pants works just as well, though…
I’m not particularly proud to admit that I’ve had plenty of fruit flies, bite-mes, and/or annoying, black, flying bugs zipping around my home, since Fall finally set in. I apparently did a poor job of cleaning my peppers and herbs off before bringing them into the basement.
A little fruit fly humor to lighten the mood
As a result, I’ve been battling all the fun of aphids and the occasional stinkbug (which I just leave to the cat). Somehow, even a Lady Bug made her way into my basement, which I took as a sign that I truly have a problem. Spiders have set up shop in hopes of an easy meal.
Inverted soda bottle trap
A while back, I read some posts on cutting up a plastic bottle and inverting it (pictured above); I’ve read about fly paper; I’ve read about paper funnel traps; I’ve read about rotten fruit traps; I’ve read about buying an entire assortment of traps. None of these appealed to the laziness in me. Luckily, I found a super-simple solution to really keep the population under control.
Fruit Flies In Apple Cider Vinegar Trap
I settled on a hybrid, which has worked extremely well for me (pictured above) and required almost no work or attention from me. Gross. The process involves Apple Cider Vinegar, which I just love for many home uses. Here are the five easy steps to better peace of mind:
Once, I left the glass sitting on the counter and probably collected 50 dead flies, over the span of three days. For the last three days, I’ve placed it on my garbage can lid, and I’ve probably collected another 100. I am SO NOT proud of this, but at least I’ve found a way to effectively combat the nuisances until I can get my herbs back outside.
Probably need to bleach and/or torch the kitchen trash can(s), too, but that’s a chore for a better day.
A couple weeks ago, I watched the guys over at BasicBrewing.com make super-easy hard cider. The perks of this process is that you get one-gallon carboys, delicious hard cider and/or juice, and it is relatively inexpensive.
What’s even better is that the contents of the jugs are already pasteurized. So, there’s no need to empty the jugs at all. You should never touch the inside of the jugs with anything un-sanitized.
Sanitation is the most important part of brewing, pickling, or canning. Infection is the devil!
Also, make sure there are no preservatives in the contents. Otherwise, it will not allow the yeast to eat sugar and burp, producing alcohol.
Speaking of yeast, you’ll want to do a little research into what kind of yeast you’ll want to use. Some of the champagne yeasts will make the cider particularly dry. Some of the liquid beer yeasts will add some interesting tones to the final product. Me, I prefer it dry, so I grabbed two champagne yeasts.
The process is really easy. The materials you will need:
1. Mix up a sanitation bath.
2. Soak the stopper, airlock, jug caps, and packet/vial of yeast in the sanitation bath.
3. Dump the yeast into the jug.
4. Put the original cap back on. Shake to aerate.
5. Remove the cap and save.
6. Put the stopper in the jug, along with the airlock. Make sure you properly add whatever liquid you need to, to the airlock.
7. Put in a place, with little light that is temperature-controlled.
Optional: sample the cider/juice before hand. I did, and it was delicious.
I’m probably going to wait a month before bottling. And then I’ll probably let the final product age another month and then try a bottle of each at given intervals of one month, three months, six months, and one year. Assuming I have self-control. HA!
