Cayenne is not just for Tabsaco Sauce anymore

<p>I have been growing cayenne peppers this year, among other various fruits and veggies. But right now since the garden has stopped producing and the bounty has been either eaten, given away or canned; I am focusing on the cayenne peppers.<br><br>I have just three plants this year, but they have been hardy produces of some lovely peppers. At first I began stringing them and drying them on the back porch for what reason I&#39;m not sure.&nbsp; But now I have found the reason. You see there is always a method to my madness, even if I don&#39;t know it right away.<br><br>It all began when I went to the local feed store (Jones Feed and Seed) and asked if there was some way to keep the squirrels out of my bird feeders. I have been blessed with several crops of squirrels and the birds are suffering because of it. The guy behind the counter (his name escapes me now) said that birds can&#39;t taste hot stuff, but squirrels and raccoons and the like can because they are mammals. He said to mix cayenne pepper with the bird seed and that should help deter the squirrels. So off I went to buy the biggest &amp; cheapest bottle of cayenne pepper, ground of course. I mixed the cayenne with every batch of bird seed I put out. At first it worked, but then the squirrels didn&#39;t seem to mind the added spice.&nbsp; This is when I decided to grow my own cayenne pepper plants and see if I couldn&#39;t do a better job than the store bought stuff.<br><br>So now I am grinding the peppers dry and fresh in the blender and adding vinegar ...just plain white vinegar and letting the mixture sit for a couple of weeks. Then I strain the vinegar off and put it in a container (glass canning jar)&nbsp;to be used in the garden next spring &amp; summer to spray on the plants to keep the varmits away. I keep the ground pepper and add more vinegar. I do this about 4 or 5 times. Right now I have a full quart of cayenne flavored vinegar. I want to have at least 4 quarts by spring. Anyway, my goal is to use the peppers and their spicy hot powers for as long as I can. Once I have finished with the vinegar &amp; pepper solution, my next step will be to dry out the mashed, ground, vinegar soaked peppers.<br><br>Right now I am drying a small batch of the pepper mash on the wood stove. My goal is to mix this with the bird seed and test how well my theory of squirrel deterrant production has manifested itself. Don&#39;t get me wrong I like the furry critters. I even adopted one that fell out of the tree last year and had him about a month before he went to squirrel heaven. I just like to see all the birds that come through here without having Sparky (my dog) chasing the squirrels, which causes the birds to fly off. <br><br>We live in a bird migatory path, so there are a lot of species that come through for a break, for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner. I keep a variety of seed and suet around just for that reason and that reason alone.<br><br>I do feed the squirrels...but there plate (so to speak) is outside the fence line. Also, when the squirrels realize that the veggies are ready in the garden, so do the racoons and mice. <br>I will keep you posted on how well the cayenne mash I created works as a squirrel deterrant for bird seed.<br>Katie Bug, signing off......for now.<br></p>