Thursday, September 4, 2014

Grape Jelly, Protecting Apples From Pests.


I must say that I am enjoying the jelly made from our California Rodger's Red grapes. This wild grape is a royal pain when it comes to juicing, as I mentioned in past posts. The juice is sweet and so is the sugar free jelly. This time, I tried to add a little Stevia to the jelly. There are some Stevia sweeteners that I avoid. I found that some had GMO's (genetically modified organisms) added to the sweetener. I use one that is just that-"pure Stevia," without any added ingredients. The jelly tastes like I added sugar.

I also made some batches with just the juice and pectin. Both are equally delicious, since the grapes are sweet just the way they are.

Now, my husband isn't one for eating jelly, but once he had some the homemade jelly, he is hooked.
  Here is just a portion of last year's crop









Then, there is the Cody Moth


 



The Cody moth. Here are some tips. This Cody Moth destroyed a large apple.

Yesterday, I harvested this year's apple crop. The crop this year is much smaller. If the apples didn't get eaten by the squirrels, the cody moth destroyed the others. We put up traps for the Cody moth, so there were fewer apples that were destroyed.

I also harvested our pears. As with the apples, the pears were a delight to the local squirrels. Now, that we have a beehive next to the pear tree, we once again have pears that we can actually eat. Before, I would notice that the pears were disappearing one by one. I learned about the paper bag trick,which prevented the squirrels from taking my precious pears. I had no issues with using the paper bags over the apples. We choose to be organic. Here is another useful technique for protecting those precious apples.

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