Snails be gone!
Moist weather always brings the snails and slugs to the yard. I think these little guys can be really beneficial for a healthy, organic garden, but that doesn’t mean I love what they do to my plants.
That’s why I sprinkle cracked egg shells around the base of ones I want to salvage.
The edges of the shells are too sharp for their under-bodies, so they’ll stay well away.
However, to get rid of them all, fill a shallow dish with stale beer. It’ll attract them into the dish, where they will drown, leaving you pest-free naturally.
Pie time
I recently spent a bit of time in the US and ate at diners…a lot. Most diners will have a glass cabinet full of yummy pies and plenty of them will feature a traditional cherry pie. When I got home, I found a great recipe in one of my old books which I adapted and found it surprisingly easy to make.
This is going on the list for the next picnic.
Shortcrust pastry
1 can or jar of cherries – I used Delmaine
3 tbsp cornflour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp almond extract
1 Preheat oven to 180C. Roll out your pastry and line a greased small flan dish. Leave enough pastry to form strips over the top, then store the pastry tin and pastry in the fridge.
2 Drain the cherries and collect all the liquid from the can or jar. If it does not make 1¼ cups, then top up with water.
3 Pour the liquid into a small pot and whisk in the cornflour and sugar. Heat the liquid gently while whisking until it bubbles and forms a thick sauce. Remove from the heat, whisk in the lemon juice and almond extract, then fold in the cherries. Cool.
4 Spoon the cherry mixture into the chilled pie base and top with strips of pastry. Bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the fruit mixture is bubbling. This is equally good served hot or cold.
Reader letter of the week
*Dear Wendyl,
My feet spend a lot of time in gumboots. I can’t really take them off and let them breathe because of my work, so I have a problem with foot odour that I’d really like to get rid of. Do you have anything that can help?
Judy*
Hi Judy,
Smelly feet and shoes are a common issue, especially in winter when we don’t tend to go around in bare feet as much. But don’t worry! Follow my three-step plan
to beat that foot odour:
1 Sprinkle the inside of your shoes and gumboots liberally with baking soda. Follow up with a few drops of tea tree oil and leave overnight. In the morning, shake out the powder. Do this treatment once a week to ensure you are killing off any fungus living in the shoes.
2 Soak your feet as often as possible, even once a week, in a bucket of warm water with 2 tbsp sea salt and 2 tbsp baking soda added to it.
3 Take 50ml base oil, such as olive, almond or jojoba. Add to that 10 drops of lavender essential oil and 10 drops tea tree essential oil. Rub this oil into the feet, preferably in the morning before you put your socks on, as a deterrent to fungi and odours.
What to do with old towels
I recently stocked up on some new fluffy towels for winter, which prompted me to give our linen cupboard a bit of a clean out. I hate throwing things out, so I came up with a few ideas of how I could re-use them.
1 Turn them into cleaning rags. Towelling’s absorbency means it’s perfect for mopping up spills and its texture – especially when it’s rough from use – makes a fantastic scrubber. Cut your towel into squares and you’ve got enough to last you until the next cupboard clear out!
2 Use as packing material. I use old towels and sheets to protect fragile items for packing and storage. Wrap breakables in old towels to avoid using unrecyclable bubble wrap and packing foam.
3 Make a dog toy. Cut a towel into long strips and knot them together. Your pup will love tugging and chewing on it!
4 Donate to an animal shelter. They need unwanted towels and blankets to keep the animals warm. I get my husband to drop them off because I couldn’t come away without picking up a new pet!
A rubbish tip: Line the bottom of a compost or rubbish bin with a few sheets of newspaper to absorb the juices from your trash. That way, when it’s time to put the rubbish out, you won’t get any nasty drips.
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