Lantern Flies Anyone?

 

Five Lantern Flies  

You have Lantern flies? They are an invasive bug that can do a lot of damage to trees and crops and are spreading pretty rapidly here in the U.S. And guess what? There host tree is usually the Tree of Heaven which is also an invasive tree! I don't know what's worse, the bug or the tree and I have both.

To me, the bug isn't so bad, at least not on my part. The tree (Tree of Heaven) should have been named "The Three of Hell", why? Because it's hard as hell to kill and they are growing all over here on my property. On the one bank I must have cut them down about six times, the last time this past spring and they already grew back from about 1-3 feet!

You can kill them by pulling them out by the roots. They also make a tree killer that is suppose to kill them but it cost like $200 for 2.5 gallon. I really hate spending that kind of money and it doesn't work. I think you either have to hack into the tree all away around it or cut it off then spray this stuff on the stump or in the hacks you made around the tree. Also there are certain times of the year you have to apply it, like late summer as the tree pulls "whatever" back down into it's roots so it pulls the tree killer down into it's roots.

Anyways.... I guess in the spring I'll have more trees to cut down, at least they won't be as big as the ones I cut down this past spring. As for the bugs.... someone else can deal with them.

BBQ Ribs Anyone?

 

BBQ ribs on the smoker.  

What can I say, they sure were good! Not great, but good. The first thing wrong was the rub I put on them, really didn't care for it that much. The second thing was I cooked them a little to long. Hey, what can I say, I'm still in the learning process of cooking on a smoker. I put what we didn't eat in the fridge and picked at it a little later. I was pretty good then to.... except again for that rub I didn't care fore.

The week before we had large chicken breasts that were pretty good. This coming weekend were going to try some thick porkchops smoked. The recipe I'm using is pretty simple, salt and pepper. I find a lot of different recipes for different things but.... probably spend a small fortune buying what you need for the recipe. Not only that, a lot of times they use stuff I never even heard of.

Another thing I find rather troubling is for instance take anything you want to smoke such as ribs, chicken, porkchops, etc., etc., I'll bet you can find like 100 recipes for each one! You know what that means? You make one and you either like it or you don't. So you end up eating something you really don't like or you do. So, you have to go through how many recipes of something to find the one you really like.

But maybe your like me.... I'll pretty much eat anything if I like it or not.... unless it's really terrible. I'm planning to do the porkchops this Sunday, I'll let you know how they turn out.....

Smoker

 Well, I went and bought a UDS (Ugly Drum Smoker), I don't think drum smokers are ugly though.

I didn't really get to cook much in it yet. A few day's ago I did large chicken breasts and today did a pork tender loin. The loin was ok but being we bought it already to cook, I think it could have used a different kind of seasoning on it.

I do like the fact that when you get the temp set, it will really hold that set temp really well. One bad thing about the smoker is the shipping. I see a number of people complain about getting broken parts like a bent thermometer or some other minor thing.

When mine arrived by UPS, the box was kind of all ripped up with tape trying to hold things together which didn't do a very good job. Everything in the box is packed in styrofoam so everything was ok when I finally got the box off. I think the smoker weighs in at about 130 pounds or close to it, or maybe it as 149 pounds, either way, it's pretty heavy.

Guess maybe over the week end I'll have to try something new to cook in it. I think the biggest problem is the fact no matter what you choose to cook, there is probably a hundred different recipes for it, so then you have to figure out which recipe you want to go with and also wonder will you like it when it's done.....