Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Homesteading Disasters (Or I've Been Weeviled)

So, some of you may remember a post where I talked about dehydrating blueberries,  and despite going way longer than the dehydrator instructions, I wasn't completely convinced they were dry. I had a great suggestion to put the dried blues in the freezer, in case they weren't 100% dry. But, sadly, by the time we got home from California, they had already started to mold. This almost brought tears to my eyes. Luckily though, since this was my first time using a dehydrator, I envisioned that something like this might happen. So I only dried about a pint of the blues and either froze or ate the rest fresh. So, at least I didn't lose my whole harvest and next time I will know that they need to go longer. Much longer.
In other garden news, in August I posted about saving seeds from my pea plants. Well, yesterday I decided to check in on them and this is what I found:
Ewww, right? With a quick google search I found out that they are cowpea weevils, a type of beetle that eats pea seeds. Awesome. I guess I will be buying my pea seeds next year. They are pretty fascinating though, because you can see the holes where they ate their way out of the seed. My question is how the heck do I prevent the weevils from getting into my seeds? And was I eating them when I ate my fresh snap peas? Yikes. Anyone have any experience with these pesky guys? I am obviously going to toss these seeds, but I would like to be able to save (pest-free seeds) in the future. What am I doing wrong?

4 comments:

  1. Taryn,

    The first person to win the E-Course Giveaway on my site never responded. So I picked another. It's you! E-mail me and I'll get you the password to begin the course, which starts this week.
    XO
    Rachel

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  2. I have not personally dealt with this little pests but they are frustrating aren't they? Perhaps next time you could store them in the freezer to potentially kill any eggs. I store many of my seeds this way. One thought I had.... if the holes are all the way through the pea you could string them up as natural beads....just a thought! :)

    ~Cynthia
    brambleberriesintherain.com

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  3. Well, I'm kind of creeped out...I'll have to keep an eye on our pea seeds.

    So sorry about your blueberries. I hate those kind of disappointments.

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  4. Ewwww...it's amazing how these little buggers can destroy our hard work. I discovered an insect called a squash vine borer which demolished my squash plants this year :( However, I look at my garden as a great experiment, and at least I know what to do next year. I've yet to try peas, so I don't know!

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