Get to the source

Last fall I had an infestation of fruit flies. I fought with them for a week or two before I realized that the tomatoes that were ripening in the back porch had one or two bad ones in each box and they were the cause of my house being invaded by fruit flies. Once those boxes of tomatoes were gone the fruit flies disappeared fairly quickly. 

Last week I noticed an infestation of something similar to a fruit fly but bigger in my kitchen. I did some research and concluded that they were phorid flies sometimes called a humpback fly. They are a real nuisance. Once they arrive, they can even breed in drains, garbage cans, and the like. 

The garbage can got a thorough cleaning with bleach water; the drains got boiling water poured down them. The flies diminished and I thought I had it under control. Then they came back, seemingly more than before. I built some traps, baited with apple cider vinegar. The traps worked well and again the number of flies diminished, only to come back again. 

Now I was getting frustrated. Where were these little buggers coming from and what were they breeding in. My research indicated that they breed in decaying matter, garbage bins, drains and the like, but they also breed in decaying vegetable matter, even decaying animal carcasses. It was time to get serious, this last weekend I decided it was time to do a complete clean out of the back porch. It tends to catch a lot of flotsam and jetsam and sometimes things get covered up and lost in the shuffle. 

I started on one side and started moving boxes, taking things out of boxes and making sure there was no box unturned, so to speak. It didn’t really take too long. The second box in contained three watermelons and a pretty much completely decayed melon of some kind. I threw the box out the door. The next day the chickens got a present of some melons. Then I moved some more boxes, bags of cereal grains, etc and found a box with a dried up zucchini. It also went out, then containers were acquired to keep the grains in and they were all taken care of. The fly population has dropped to almost zero now. I just hope I don’t have any more surprises out there; I still have one box I am not sure of. 

This all makes me sound like a terrible house keeper, I assure you that I am not that horrible, I am not perfect by any means, but this is not the norm. During the harvest and the tomato marathon a lot of boxes of produce got brought in, then my canning supplies came in also. That coupled with the moving of canned goods back to the porch, jars coming and going, and some boxes just got other boxes set on top and out of sight, out of mind. At least until the flies showed up. 

But I have gotten to the source, and now I can move forward with eliminating the flies. I just hope they don’t start breeding in the drains. Maybe they will get a boiling water wash again tomorrow. 

Chili-Mac Casserole

One of my favorites to use leftover chili, and great comfort food. 

Left over chili, how ever much you have

1 bag macaroni cooked, adjust depending on how much chili you have

1 pound grated Mexican cheese

Put the macaroni in a casserole dish or lasagna pan, pour chili over to cover and stir to combine. Cover with cheese and bake at 350º until hot and bubbly, serve with a salad for a complete meal in minutes that is warm and comforting.