I found him in the garden
hiding in plain sight.
He slowly turned his head
and then he tried to take a bite.
I scooped him in my bug house
and fed him grass and ants.
I showed him to my brother.
“This guy’s good for plants.”
I gave him to my mommy.
She smiled and scratched her head
“I think you are mistaken,
the male’s already dead.”
She pointed to its stomachs
and counted one by one.
“A girl has 6, a boy has 8
You’ve caught a girl my son!”
Posted in Garden Stories, Joe the Bug Hunter, Poetry, Writing
Spring has zipped right into summer and the boys are outdoor explorers once again.
I bought little notebooks at the Dollar Tree last week. I thought they could use them as their Nature Journals. They’re small and easy to pop in their pocket for their outdoor explorations.
As soon as they’d personalized their notebooks, they headed outside to hike the swales and search the property for something new to record.
Joe hopped on his scooter and hunt for milkweed.
Jake waded through the tall grass searching for carrots.
They both enjoyed showing me what they’d found and recorded in their journals.
Last night, while hunting for wild mulberries, we made quite the discovery.
“Mom! Come here and look at this! Hurry!”
Joe was by a large milkweed bouncing on his toes. “Look! A monarch butterfly caterpillar!”
Jake, who’d been hunting for carrots again, ran over to join us. He was just as excited as Joe and both boys recorded the find in their journals.
We contemplated putting it in our bug house, but ultimately decided to leave it in its natural habitat and observe it daily.
Joe added more detail to his milkweed drawing on the spot.
We continued on our trek through the swales, once again in search of wild mulberries.
Today, when my nieces came over, the boys could hardly wait to show them the caterpillar. As I finished making a fresh cup of coffee, Joe burst in the house with some sad news…the caterpillar had been killed.
“A spider is eating it right now!”
He was shocked. Angry. Absolutely heartbroken. This spider had destroyed his monarch butterfly caterpillar.
I followed the crew to the milkweed to see the carnage for myself.
It was a sad and gruesome sight. Joe wanted to get rid of all the spiders.
“This is how nature works buddy. Why don’t we find out more about this spider?”
He perked up a little bit at that, but I think he was more eager to find out its weaknesses so he could retaliate. Either way, the distraction worked.
We spent some time looking at pictures of spiders on the internet. One was too brown, another too small. We searched and searched, comparing our picture of the predator with the Google results until…we found it.
The Crab Spider had eaten the caterpillar.
“Now that we know what it is, we can research it. Find its weaknesses.”
“Ok Mom. But right now I’m going to go find frogs with the girls.”
Just like nature, a little boy’s moods can change in an instant. Something new pops into their mind…and they’re off on another adventure.
A world of danger
A world of discovery
A world of wonder
Posted in Education, For the Kids, Haiku, Homeschool, Jake the Bug Hunter, Joe the Bug Hunter, Life, Poetry, Writing
They creep up to the window
They climb up on the plants
They sit up on a green leaf
They watch the wasps and ants
We like these bright green ninjas
We love the way they work
We see them move so slowly
We watch their long arms jerk
When they’ve caught their target
They sink back down again
And munch the bug they’ve captured
Antennae, legs and skin
They’re really kind of scary
They move so soft and quick
If they were any bigger
I’d smash them with a stick!
In all seriousness, the praying mantis is an amazing insect and extremely useful in the garden. They are silent and efficient hunters and they prey mainly on common garden pests.
Most of the mantids we have found are in and around our rose bushes. There are–or were, a large population of Japanese beetles on these bushes. I think the mantids enjoyed a daily feast.
Posted in Garden Stories, Jake the Bug Hunter, Joe the Bug Hunter, Poetry, Writing
Operation Japanese Beetle Eradication (JBE)
Date: June 30, 2017
Subject of Study:
Japanese beetles aka Revolting Beasts
Entomoligists:
– Joseph the Bug Hunter (JBH)
– Jacob the Bug Whacker (JBW)
– Issabella the Scout
– Cheyenne the Soldier
– Melissa (Mom)
Report:
Experiment #1: The beetles in the bug house were not as destructive as I thought they would be.
Status: Failed.
Experiment #2: The containers with dead beetles were slightly effective, but by the time we installed them around the perimeter, there were just too many beetles to combat.
Status: Failed.
Experiment #3: We tried a homemade essential oil spray: cedarwood oil with water. We sprayed one row of kiwi and, while there were fewer beetles the next day, there were again too many to combat.
Status: Failed.
Experiment #4: After seeing that they were leaving the chocolate mint completely alone, my niece had the idea of making a “potion” of mint and water. We pulled a bunch of mint and blended it up with water, strained it and loaded up a couple of spray bottles.
The troops were deployed. This time, we sprayed two of the rose bushes, leaving the third as our control.
Again, it worked slightly, but there were just too many to combat.
Status: Failed.
What do we do now? I’m at a loss. Further research will be needed to determine our next steps. Stay tuned.
Posted in Education, Garden Stories, Haiku, Jake the Bug Hunter, Joe the Bug Hunter, Permaculture, Poetry, Writing
Operation Japanese Beetle Eradication (JBE)
Date: July 2, 2017
Subject of Study:
Japanese beetles aka &#%!@?s
Entomoligists:
– Joseph the Bug Hunter (JBH)
– Jacob the Bug Whacker (JBW)
– Melissa (Mom)
The Final Experiment
While I believe that one or all of the natural methods we tried would have worked to manage the onslaught of the beetles, I also believe that, by the time we tried them, it was too late and there were just too many to combat.
So, I am going to try organic Neem Oil in an effort to stop them from completely obliterating what is left of the vineyard, fedge and our young fruit trees in the swales.
We are also going to spread milky spore over the lawn to kill as many grubs as we can in the hope of hatching fewer beetles next year.
The potential problem with both of these methods is the cost.
Beetles are laying their eggs all over the 5 acres we own for the entire 8 weeks they are here. That means that next year Japanese beetle grubs will be waiting to emerge from the soil as a full-grown army of maniacal demons.
If we wanted to cover the entire property, we would need a ton of milky spore to have a chance against such an enemy.
Does this mean we won’t try it? Absolutely not. I will try everything withing my power to destroy my insect enemy, but we need to be vigilant and prepared with the other methods we have tried in order to stop–or at least better manage this blight.
They may have defeated us this year, but my team of entomologists will be back to fight the battle anew next year…armed with new knowledge and better weaponry.
Down but not yet out
We learn from all our failures
And come back swinging
Posted in Education, Garden Stories, Haiku, Jake the Bug Hunter, Joe the Bug Hunter, Life, Poetry, Writing
Operation Japanese Beetle Eradication (JBE)
Date: June 26, 2017
Subject of Study:
Japanese beetles aka Revolting Beasts
Entomoligists:
– Joseph the Bug Hunter (JBH)
– Jacob the Bug Whacker (JBW)
– Melissa (Mom)
Report on 1st Experiment:
The beetles in the bug house are not as destructive as we predicted. It is possible that we have disturbed their behavior patterns by taking them out of their natural environment.
But I suspect something more diabolical.
They are up to something. I just know it.
New Observations:
– With high winds in the early afternoon, subjects behaved as they do in early morning and twilight hours. They were hanging on tight to their green victims, but they did not flee when approached.
– They are moving onto the blackberry leaves in force. I find more congregating there everyday.
– There are no Japanese beetles on the blanket of mint growing on the vineyard floor. Is the scent too strong?
They are increasing in number and becoming more destructive by the day. We must figure out how to stop them before it’s too late.
Experiment #2:
In further studying natural methods of disposing of the revolting beasts, we have decided to strategically place containers of drowned beetles around the perimeter of the most attacked areas of the homestead.
Other beetle battlers have reported success with this method. Apparently, the smell of rotting beetle bodies deters others from coming into the area of destruction.
Results pending. (I’ll believe it when I see it.)
Operation Japanese Beetle Eradication (JBE)
Date: June 23, 2017
Entomoligists:
– Joseph
– Jacob
– Melissa
Subject of Study:
Japanese beetles aka Revolting Beasts
Appearance:
– Six legs
– Oval in shape, 1/3-1/2 inches
– Metallic green with coppery brown leaf covers
– Five patches of white hair on each side of the abdomen and 1 patch on the lower abdomen
Life cycle and Known Facts:
– Egg, grub, and adult stages.
– From early June to late July they emerge from the soil as pupa, become fully grown adults and begin their attack.
– They have an 8 week lifecycle during which they are laying eggs every day.
– The females live for a couple of weeks feeding on trees, shrubs and roses in the morning.
– They hide during mid-day and return to the desecrated plants in the afternoon.
– At this time, they carry out their true objective: they lay more eggs.
– They leave their scent on the leaves they eat as if to tell their cronies “this is a good spot”.
Observations:
– The beetles seem to be sleeping during twilight and the early morning hours.
– Cool rainy weather makes them lazy and depressed.
– In extreme winds, they have a tighter grip on the leaves they are desecrating.
– They are beginning to go after the early fruit as well as the bright green leaves.
– They love roses and are VERY fond of hardy kiwi and grape leaves.
– They are starting to attack blackberry, seaberry, aronia, cherry, blueberry and raspberry leaves.
– They seem to enjoy healthy plants as they are leaving the unhealthy ones alone.
Experiment #1:
– I caught four of the fiends and put them in my son’s bug house for observation.
– In this first experiment, we will make note of how long it takes 4 beetles to devour a leaf.
Results pending.
Joe found a beetle today while we were woodchipping the garden.
It was huge.
It was shiny.
It was making a weird noise…a cross between a hiss and a squeak.
Joe and Jake both thought it was cool.
I thought it was creepy and wanted to feed it to the chicks.
“I wonder what it eats,” said Joe as he put it in his bug house.
“We found it in the wood pile so let’s put some wood in,” said Jake.
I watched them work together, putting wood chips, grass and dirt in.
“What kind of beetle do you think it is?” I asked them.
They didn’t have any guesses, so Joe and I went inside to get a few bug books. The boys both wanted to “do research” on the trampoline so we climbed on with the books and the bug house and started looking for a match.
The beetle was hard to see, so of course Joe needed to take it out.
I tried nonchalantly scoot away when it crawled its way toward me making its weird hiss/squeak.
We looked through all of the insect books and came to the conclusion that Joe had found a female stag beetle.
“Are you sure it’s a stag beetle?” I asked Joe.
“Yep. See, it has the same spikeys on its legs.”
He turned it upside down and touched its back leg causing another hiss/squeak fit.
I tried to get the crazy sound on video, but it would not cooperate so I found a YouTube video of a stag beetle making the same sound.
The boys played with it for a little while longer while I watched on.
When they got bored with it, they put it back in the bug house and put the bug house on the picnic table.
I gathered up the books and told them I was going to go inside and fix dinner.
“Ok, could you take the bughouse in with you? I want to keep an eye on the beetle.”
Gulp.
Bugs in the garden
Learning on the trampoline
Beetles in the house
Joe set down his magnifying glass and rubbed his eyes, sure he wasn’t seeing clearly.
After a few minutes, he picked it up again and looked at the small, worn piece of bark.
They were still there. Tiny, squiggly paths swirling all over the underside of the bark.
What did it mean? What could have made these swirls and whorls?
Sighing and scratching his chin, Joe carefully put the bark samples in his Bug Collecting Bag, snapped a few pictures of the log he had found them on and headed to his lab to do some research.
After searching his favorite bug blogs and typing a few key phrases in Google, he was still stumped.
He’d found nothing to explain the odd paths he’d discovered.
“What are you up to sweetheart?” his mom asked, poking her head around the door.
“Oh, just trying to figure out what these odd markings are.”
Joe showed her the piece of bark. She ran her fingers over the tiny rivulets, feeling the grooves.
“Hmm. I’ve never seen anything like this before. At least, not on a tree…” she said, her voice trailing off.
Joe shook his head and let out a frustrated sigh.
“Any luck with your research?” she asked in a strained voice.
“Nope. Not yet.”
“Well, you’ll figure it out. You always do.”
His mom quickly left the room, mumbling something about fixing dinner. It was only after he’d put the bark back in his bag and shut his laptop that he realized something was off about his mom’s response.
She seemed almost nervous, or…something. What was it she said after she examined the bark?
I’ve never seen anything like this before…at least, not on a tree…
“What an odd thing to say,” he mused.
Yes, he would figure it out…he always did.
To Be Continued…
Posted in Joe the Bug Hunter, Writing
Joe sat in the driveway peering into an old and broken ceramic frog.
“What are you doing buddy?” asked his mom, throwing a bag in the garbage can.
Joe looked up at his mom, a sparkle in his eye and a smile on his face.
“I found a new bug.”
His mom wandered over and crouched down next to him.
“Ah,” she said. “Roly polys.”
“Roly polys?” Joe asked, raising his eyebrows. “What are roly polys? Why are they rolling into a ball? What do they do?”
His mom smiled. “You should do some research and find out.”
Joe didn’t need any more encouragement. He hopped up and got his bug house from the garage. After popping a few roly polys into the container, he raced inside to research his new find.
***
“They live under rocks and like dark, moist places,” said Joe. “No wonder I found a bunch in the frog.”
“How many did you find?” his mom asked.
“Oh, ten. Maybe 12. But I only brought 6 inside with me.”
His mom glanced up from scrambling eggs.
“They are in your bug house, right?”
“Of course!” he laughed.
“What else have you learned about them?”
“Let’s see…they live a long time, up to 5 years!”
“Wow, that is a long time for a bug.”
“Not when you think about how long a black garden ant lives,” said Joe as he clicked on a new link. “They can live for 15 years.”
Click, click went the mouse.
“They have a bunch of names,” Joe said. “Pill bug, sow bug, potato bug and doodle bug…wait a minute, it says here that they aren’t bugs at all.”
Joe was getting excited. He eagerly read on.
“Not bugs?” said his mom, puzzled. “Then what are they?”
“Crustaceans!”
“Crustaceans? Like shrimp? On land?”
“Yep! It says here ‘Roly poly bugs might not look like lobsters or crabs, but they are actually land-based crustaceans.'”
Joe’s eyes were wide and gleaming. But…as he read on, the sparkle faded and his smile turned into a scowl.
“What’s wrong?” asked his mom, noticing his expression.
Joe sighed and turned to face his mom.
“They eat dead and decaying plants.”
“Ok, but why so glum? That helps the garden,” she said.
“They also eat live plants–young plants and seedlings. In the garden.”
“Ah.”
“Yes,” Joe said darkly. “But we don’t want to get rid of them completely. They help the worms turn the decaying stuff into soil. They speed up the process.”
“So, what do we do about them?”
Click, click.
“We could use diatomaceous earth, but that will kill all the bugs, even the good ones.”
Click, click.
“Or, we could pull mulch away from the seedlings to keep the moisture away.”
Click, click.
“Or, we could just continue to start all of our seeds inside and transplant them when they’ve grown beyond the seedling stage.”
“Why don’t we do both?” asked his mom.
“Both?”
“Yes, we could start some indoors and direct sow some. Then, you could compare results,” she added.
“An experiment?” Joe asked.
“Yep. I wanted to do that anyway. The volunteer tomatoes we had last year were stronger than the ones we transpla–“.
“An experiment!” Joe jumped up and grabbed a notebook, a pen and his bug house.
“Thanks Mom!”
With that, he ran downstairs to start his seedlings leaving his mom smiling and shaking her head.
Posted in For the Kids, Garden Stories, Joe the Bug Hunter, Writing
a pinch of homestead 
