Sour Plums

There was a half gallon jar of plums that had been soaking in apple cider vinegar for a month or so and today I drained the liquid off to make a plum flavored vinegar. I tasted one of the plums and it was beyond mouth puckering sour. I dumped them in the trash because I didn’t want to put them in the compost pile with the seeds. I wasn’t sure if they might cause a problem for the tiller once the compost gets in the garden.

Later, I was telling Vince that maybe I should have mashed them all up, removed the seeds and spread the “mash” out in the garden because we have to work so hard to try to get the soil more acidic. He said “Go dump them around the magnolia tree!” Between the alkaline soil and the alkaline water, the magnolia tree isn’t doing much. I said “Do you think the chickens will eat them?” Vince said “No. Not if they’re sour.” Wrong!

When the chickens see me coming with anything in my hands, they are so sure it’s for them and they follow me around. They each grabbed a plum and ran off with it.

I watched to see if she was going to eat it and she did. They ate every single plum. So much for the acidic plums helping the magnolia tree! The chickens enjoyed them but I think those chickens would eat anything!