Goodbye Fiona/I Mean Fred, Homemade Non-Toxic Ant Spray, Tons Of Blackberries!!! Not So Much Chokecherries

What a nice couple

Goodbye Fiona- I Mean Fred-
Well you know how it goes- the hatchery gave me two pullets, and one's a roo. When I saw the larger comb and wattles developing I knew I was in trouble. Sad thing is he's a really sweet little guy, loved to cuddle, easy to handle and loves treats. I REALLY want to keep him, but no roos in the city. He also tried mounting one of the girls, Gwyn, last night. Ew, I'm done. I've already cried over this, but it's the way it is. I placed a posting in Backyard Chickens, but no one would take him. So last night he went on Craigslist. I hate to do it, but I don't have much recourse. He's just starting to get some amber and light brown in his feathers, and should be quite handsome! I'd really like him to go into a small flock, and for someone to keep him. Here's hoping... Lesson learned, no more "feather sexed" birds for me :(  Glad I bought four total, 3 different breeds. I was hoping to get my flock up to six laying eggs, but I'll wait until next spring...

Homemade Non-Toxic Ant Spray-

After seeing a small line of ants coming in near my back sliding glass door near my kitchen I panicked. I do NOT want ants in the house! I did some research and made a quick batch of homemade spray. I used the following, and put in a 1 Qt. empty spray bottle-
mix 1/2 water to 1/2 vinegar,
add 2 squirts of dish washing soap
Shake well. Spray well on all visible ants. Kills 'em good, drowning the guys, not too much odor. I also put out some indoor traps, but I was able to get the majority of the with this spray. Cheap and effective....

Tons Of Blackberries!!!-
The last 2 years we had a light harvest on our organic blackberries. This year, score! I picked 1 Qt. last night and they were dead ripe. All gone today :) Superb with good vanilla ice cream and on cereal. We can get quite a lot from a small area. We have 2 rows, about 4' high and 4' long, about 2 ' apart. There's another good Qt. there now, so I'll pick more tomorrow. I love to bake with them, and freeze some for winter baking. They are SO sweet! Worth all the scratches. I did minimize the scratches by trimming off any empty canes, with zero fruit. Makes it much easier... Yum, yum...

Not So Much Chokecherries-

This year I got a pretty small batch of chokecherries. I picked about 2 cups, which yielded about 4 1/2 of my small, mini jars. These jars are great for really small batches. I just water can them on the stove top. The flavor is the best jelly I've ever had and it's a very unique flavor. Everyone who's tried it, and most have never had it, love it. It's tart and citrusy. As sour as the cherries are, you still add lemon juice to the recipe. It seems counter-intuitive, but it works. Luckily I have several jars from last year! Dave and I did a major trim of it this weekend, hopefully that will boost production. Also trimmed the lilac that was creating too much shade for it. I never know what creates a "good" year or "bad", ah well....