Andy Rust

     Anyone who knows my wife Marty would be surprised to learn how casual she is about the fruit flies in the kitchen. The kitchen is darned immaculate. By any standard our kitchen is C L E A N. And flying insects get the swatter immediately.

   The fruit flies are not a constant: we have worm composting of our organic vegetable kitchen waste, matter collected in the kitchen on the sink counter top, in a bowl, during cooking. Prior to the daily (that is my story and I am sticking to it) deposit of the counter top bin into the compost in the garage, there are a couple hours when the scraps are exposed.

   Enter the fruit pits and peach skins, etc. from Marty’s diet of fresh fruit. This is partially true: we never see the fruit flies, except…

   Open a bottle of white wine. Or fill a glass with white wine, and BINGO, there are fruit flies. If a bottle is not corked immediately, expect a couple swimmers in your glass or the bottle. They do not swim well, are on the surface for easy pickings, and have limited protein. At parties in our kitchen you see experienced Rust party - types with their hands over their glasses of white wine at the center counter. Snicker. Good wine, cheap wine… just white wine. Social butterflies eschew red wine, so they are stuck, next to the indoor garden on the counter, with hand to hand combat with fruit flies.

   Then there are the ants of Spring but I will savor that for another occasion.

Andy Rust

From a Reader (Surprised): Fruit flies ... fill a ramiken with 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2 t dish soap, and 1/2 cup water. Hide it somewhere on your counter. The flies will find it, fall in, and die.

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