Animals

Bug Off!

I have learned a lot of tolerance when it comes to insects...

let's face it, you have to when you live this close to the woods.

But what I can't tolerate are those teeny, tiny gnats.

You know the ones (and if you don't, you are oh so lucky!)...

they buzz around your head biting wherever they can,

flying up your nostrils and into your ear canals.

It's amazing to me how the tiniest of pests can be the most formidable adversary!

I have looked at the horses with envy at times...

safe and secure in their fly-masks.

I have even considered donning one myself to work in the garden.

I just cannot get the fit quite right.

Yesterday, as I was preparing to do a bit of gardening,

I suddenly had an "Ah Ha!" moment.

I remembered a mosquito net that I had bought for our trip to Alaska two years ago.

(Luckily, I remembered where I had stored it.)

Perfect!!

I can hardly believe that I have been battling these nasty little gnats for all the years of my life

and never once considered wearing a net.

Now, here I am gardening...

my hands in the dirt, bugs all around me...

my head sitting nicely inside a screened-in-porch!

Eureka!

Since we made the commitment to garden organically,

we have had to learn to live with the garden insects.
Some of them delight us...some of them, not so much.

And for the most part, gardening organically has worked out.

It is always a race to harvest the squash before the squash beetles decimate the vines.
And you should see my pumpkin vines....horrible massacre by squash beetles!
I will still be able to harvest some pumpkins, however.

I just pulled what remained of zucchini vine carcasses from the garden.

The score is.... Bev - 10, Squash Beetles - 10.

After all, there is only so much zucchini one can tolerate, right?

Eventually it happens to us all...we give the zucchini away, right?

I harvested lima beans yesterday, and more Christmas limas for drying.

Picking them was easy!

Cleaning them took a little longer.

In the end, this bowl was completely filled.

I spent a rather pleasant bug-free afternoon in the garden...
weeding and harvesting and enjoying the sights and sounds and smells.

If you, too, have been suffering at the wings of gnats and "no-see-ums"...
take my advice, and get yourself a head net.
Amazon has a lot to choose from.... HERE.

The MaryAnn Update:

MaryAnn seems to be doing fine. She is still wheezing.
She is also still doing everything she normally does...

eating, drinking, coming out to visit...

I am much less worried about her now.

PS....Don't forget...
this afternoon Daphne and Chloe will be drawing a name for our giveaway winner.
I will post the winner tomorrow...Saturday.
Yes, we will have a Saturday posting this week!!

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