Hello Friends!

 I live in Southern California and this week we are back up to over 90 degree weather again. And with that warm weather comes flies… UGH! I cannot stand flies! They gross me out beyond words. I love to eat outdoors, but with the flies? No thank you. Well, I have got a great trick for you to make sure you will have a fly free, outdoor dining experience! (For those of you in cold climates, remember this for next summer!) 

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It is as simple as a heavy duty Ziploc bag and pennies. Sounds crazy I know, but trust me… it works! If you filled a quart sized Ziploc (I use heavy duty freezer ones so the water won’t leak out) bag about 2/3 full with water, add 3-4 pennies (the need to be shiny and newer) and hang the bag outside in the area you want to keep the flies out, it will do just that… keep the flies away. Well… I thought… I could really put this to the test! As you know, I teach cooking classes and in the summertime we take the class outside and grill and dine al fresco. The first year we did this I had to keep the food covered to keep the pesky flies off the food. It was of course a big bother. Then I tried this trick…. I hung about five of them on my back porch around the food and eating tables and …. voila… no flies! It was amazing! I mean seriously amazing!

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The food was untouched by anything but humans! It was a glorious night and a glorious finding! There were no flies to be found on or near the tables where we ate either. Isn’t that a beautiful thing?! 

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So there you go! They may not be the prettiest things, but given the choice of hanging these “not so ideal looking bags” or having flies over everything you bet I choose the bags! I hope to one day find some cute, clear, hanging jars that I can put the pennies in as an alternative. I bet that would work too? No one seems to know for sure why this works but I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that it does! Just make sure to change the bags out with fresh water and pennies every day you plan on eating outdoors. I hope you are loving this tip as much I do! 

Update: I put pennies in clear mason jars filled with water and placed them on the table around the food and did not get the best results. I thought that would look a lot better than the Ziploc bags hanging around the table. They did look better.. but we still got flies… so I’m back to using the Ziplock bags. Dang!