Fun with Fermentation: Sauerkraut, Part II

After blogging for about 6 months now I've learned a lot.  Sometimes I take too many pics and sometimes not enough.  Be glad that there are no pics for this post.

Last night I made salsa verde (recipe & pics in a future post) and wanted to can the sauerkraut I've had on the counter for a while since the canning kettle was going.  The kraut was done about a week ago so I'd left it on the counter with a basket on top, the baggie of brine still floating on the liquid's surface.

Mistake.  Always put a lid back on anything that is fermented. 

Always.

I lifted off the backet to discover that the sauerkraut was ruined.  Two things had happened.  First, there was mold.  Most things that ferment will get a small amount of mold on any bits that float.  The submerged bits will be fine.

Second, and most egregious, was that the fruit flies had had a sex orgy.  That baggie of brine had become a waterbed for their fruit fly Boogie Nights!  Be glad I didn't take any pics.  There were pupae husks all over the baggie and on the sides of the pot.  It was disgusting.

At least the fruit flies were happy... until I dumped them into the garbage disposal.  What's weird is that I hadn't noticed many fruit flies in the kitchen, though I did hear the occasional strain of Marvin Gaye emmanating from the counter late at night.

Sigh.  That'll teach me.  I should have put an impermeable lid or cover on it.  I should have canned it 2 weeks ago.  I should have put it into the fridge.

Thank goodness cabbage is cheap.  Had I lost my pickles I would have cried.

Fruit fly trap

Fruit flies are an annoying fact of life unless you keep everything in the fridge.  And since tomatoes get disgusting in the fridge, it's highly possible that you are battling fruit flies right this very moment.

When I'm canning lots of fruits, fruit flies are an absolute menace because I generally don't keep the fruits in the fridge for the day or so it might take me to prepare to put everything up.

Here's how to make an easy, natural, non-toxic trap for fruit flies.  I got this "recipe" from a vendor at a farmers market a few years ago and have used it ever since.  During my canning periods I can catch upwards of 40-50 in a single night.  This is an incredibly effective method to catch and dispatch these flying pests.

You'll need:

• small glass jar (8-12 ounces)
• apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar might also work
• 2 drops of dish soap
• tap water

Pour about 1/2 inch of vinegar into the jar.  Add a couple of drops of dish soap, then fill the jar to the top with tap water.  It doesn't matter if the water foams.  Place the jar next to your problem area.

Why does this work?  Fruit flies are attracted to the fermented scent of the vinegar (you won't notice it).  They land on the surface of the water to feed but because the surface tension has been reduced by the addition of the soap to the water, they sink like teensy pebbles.

In my experience the traps work indefinitely.  When they get unsightly due to their effectiveness, dump the liquid and start a new trap.

Problem solved.

Damn garden pests

Clearly my garden is yummy not only to us.  Growing food is a constant Battle! Of! The! Bugs!  The question is who can get to the plant first?

In the clematis corner we have Earwig Damage!

Battling Earwig Damage is Hole-y Margarine Cup and his sidekick Canola Oil!

So far Earwig Damage is kicking Maragine Boy's puny arse.  He'll soon be replaced by Newspaper Tube Man.

Ever seen one of these beeeyootiful butterflies?

Don't for a SECOND think it's an innocuous insect.  This jerkwad of a bug's larvae turn my cabbage into lace.  It's called a cabbage moth for a reason.  As you may notice from this fuzzy picture the damn worms are exactly the same color as the cabbage leaves in the background.

Twice a day, and I do mean TWICE, I comb over the cabbage plants for the damn things.  This morning I found 5, this evening 3 more.  And that's on top of the 5 or so I got yesterday.

Luckily the chickens looooove cabbage moth larvae.  They've gotten a steady diet of the teensy green twinkies over the past weeks, which they've dutifully turned into eggs for us.

That's kinda gross when I say it like that.  Nevermind.

And finally, there's an even more insidious insect in the yard.

The western tent caterpillar:

I found 2 small nests last weekend in my apple tree, thankfully before they had grown to any substantial size.  This one had only just started to hatch, with maybe a half dozen caterpillars munching and tenting.  You can see the white egg case in both pics.  The larvae were about a half-inch long.

Tent caterpillars seem to come in cycles here in the PNW and this is only the 2nd time I've ever found them in my 7 years in my home.  I suspect that this is going to be a bad year because we had a relatively mild winter.  Tent caterpillars can be terrifically damaging to trees, not to mention unsightly. 

There are lots of different ways to deal with tent caterpillars.  The best way is to simply prune the affected branch and discard it in the yard waste bin.

And in case you're wondering, as I was: yes, chickens love tent caterpillars.