What to do? What to do?

  Those rascally raccoons decided to pay a visit to the orchards again two nights ago.  The peach trees took the brunt of their onslaught but the plum trees were high on their list of tasty treats.  I was a tad aggravated to say the least.  What to do?  What to do?  Mark had bought some of that nice netting from the home and garden place but that did not stop those coons!  The netting was a minor obstacle in getting to those plump peaches.  Needless to say, the netting is not much good any more.  I doubt that it would keep anything from munching the fruit now as it is torn to shreds.  Not that there are any more peaches to worry about but only a few of the plums were touched.  My son, Michael, and I picked one tree of the lovely fruits even though they were a tad green yet.  I could make jam out of them regardless and I was not about to let the varmints feast again tonight.

  The other plums were far too green to pick yet so a bit of ingenuity was needed.  The netting was redone and a bit of chicken wire was wrapped about the lower portion of the tree.  We did not have enough on hand to cover the top and that worried me a bit. Again...what to do?  What to do? It was then that Michael noticed that the Boysenberries had not been touched by the critters.  The birds pick a few each day but the coons had not touched the fat berries at all!  Aha!  He had a plan!  Since the vines had some tall shoots that were berryless, he took the snips to them!  Those tall, prickly shoots were to become our new barricade for the plum trees.  He and I carefully crisscrossed the tops of the plum trees with a thick layer of vines.  The trees now looked as if they had a thorny thatched roof!  Then, last night, NO COONS!  The plum trees with their new-found thorns were left untouched.  The raccoons ate the leftover scraps of peaches from the night before but did not go near the plum trees!  I think we might have hit on something here!  Michael informed me that we needed to plant a hedgerow of Boysenberry vines around the entire orchard!  The six foot wall of briers might just do the trick of keeping critters at bay.  We are mulling over the possibility.  Of course, that means we would have about ten times as many Boysenberries to pick but if it means we will have peaches, I will not complain.

  Today saw us in the kitchen chopping plums. I was reading the other day where home-canning is fast becoming a dying art. It seems that only those worried about unhealthy additives in our food supply are interested in taking on this chore.  It is far easier to pull something off a shelf in the grocery store that to spend several hours preserving foods at home.  Michael can make jam and jelly with the best of home canners so it was a delight to have him share the workload. He knows the ins and outs of all home-canning from hot water baths to pressure canners! As matter of fact, all my kids have learned this feat.  My eldest and his wife had a bountiful crop of plums as well and made lovely jam for their pantry!   Darling Daughter informed me last night that she cannot wait to get back to the Bayou to start up where she left off to go to college. She and her husband will fill their pantry, too!  Home-canning..the "dying art" lives on here on the Bayou (and in Georgia with my son and daughter-in-law!) Personally, I find that more young people are suddenly trying this "old school" method of preparing food for their families.  The new interest in "organic" foods has renewed the interest in home-canning. Perhaps there is hope yet for this dying art and hope yet for my peach and plum trees!