La Belle's Hobby Farm: Spiders vs. Worms, Round 2!

A three year old child is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty-six dollar set of swings
as it does out of finding a small green worm. 
~ Bill Vaughan

O

 ne worm vs. spider bout wasn’t enough for the Bloodthirsty Gardner.

I must be three years old and forgetful!

Tia was missing from my garden one morning.  And the morning after that.  And then evening followed and on the 3rd day of the Mystery of the Missing Arachnid, I was as heartbroken as Wilbur. 

She must have had her babies and gone off to die! I wailed to my tomato plants.  Now who will protect you!?

I did see the webs of a few different spiders, which made me feel a little better.  Maybe others were taking up the slack.



A perfect circle amoung the rhodies.
© 2012 Mikaela D’Eigh, La Belle Dame De Merci

 



An orb weaver with silk to spare.  Is there anything more beautiful than a web with dew on it?
Of course, there's nother creepier either.
© 2012 Mikaela D’Eigh, La Belle Dame De Merci



To my untrained eye, a cross between a funnel and an orb
© 2012 Mikaela D’Eigh, La Belle Dame De Merci

This orb weaver built this in the mulberry weed - right over my garden.

© 2012 Mikaela D’Eigh, La Belle Dame De Merci

 Day 4 and 5 I was busy with preparing for dinner guests.  Finally, on Day 6, as I was mowing the backyard, a bright yellow spot caught my eye.  It was Tia!  She had moved her web over to the shed ~ more chance at catching dinner over there, I suppose.  She was busily wrapping up a  meal, so I left her alone.  Then yesterday, as I was picking some ripe tomatoes (sweetest I’ve tasted yet!), I spotted it.

A bag worm.

You know the kind: thin, yellowish-green, and voracious.  I was already miffed that something ~ perhaps the strong winds we had late yesterday afternoon ~ had almost flattened by my tallest basil plant. (I know they’re not supposed to look like miniature trees, but I couldn’t help it ~ I liked watching them grow!)  So I was ready for a scapegoat when I spotted Le Creepy Crawlie.  I said something along the lines of Arghsmrksmorfblah, scooped him up, and stomped over to Tia’s new home.



Yummy!  Insect burrito for dinner!

© 2012 Mikaela D’Eigh, La Belle Dame De Merci

She was enjoying a rather large fly burrito.  I tossed Le Creepy onto her web and waited.

I didn’t try to sit, lounge, lean, or in any other way, injure myself by watching the show.  And as it turns out, there wasn’t one.  Again. She ran down to inspect the vibrations on her web, stood stock still for a moment, and then ran back up the web to her dinner.

Are you kidding me?

So I googled and found that, yes, most spiders eat worms.  But some spiders are picky, and sometimes, it’s probably just not hungry at the moment, only curious enough to inspect and then run away.  I did say I interrupted Tia’s dinner-in-progress.  Sigh.  I think my worm vs. spider fight promotion days are over.

For reals this time.

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

La Belle's Hobby Farm: Giddy Over Gardens (and Dragons)

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops,
but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.
~ Masanobu Fukuoka, The One-Straw Revolution

I

am garden-giddy. 

Spying firm, light green tomatoes peeking from beneath large, healthy leaves does that to me. 

So does seeing how humongous my basil has grown and the lovely dark green of my rosemary.  The mint I planted in pots died a slow, agonizing death, but the health of my ground-rooted plants heals the ache of that flora-cide ~ still searching for the cause of death and a motive. 


photo copyright 2012 Mikaela D'Eigh

When I make it home before dark shrouds my little beauties from my loving gaze, I spend a couple of hours gently pulling weeds, snipping blooms off the basil, lightly watering, and talking to my plants and the beneficial bugs that protect them.  

This time in the garden is akin to time spent in prayer and meditation.  My bare feet connect to the ground and its energy,* I take a deep, cleansing breath of the twilight air, and give thanks to God as I understand Him for the gift of Himself, this land, clean water, and loveable creatures.

Playing Favorites

When I first cultivated the ground and began planting my tommy toes, there was one dragon-fly that would flit shyly around.  I always talked to him in a quiet voice.  Each week, he ventured closer, until now he brushes close to my hair and sits on nearby plants and watches me putter around the garden.


photo courtesy of Jose Angel Astor, 123rf.com

I adore dragon-flies.  They remind me of fairies and their colours are quite stunning.  So imagine my delight when this past weekend I counted four additional gossamer-winged guests!  The first one must have communicated that I’m an okay sort, because the new ones don’t seem frightened at all and fly and dip around me when I call and coo at them.  I have noticed a couple of their brothers or sisters in the train station parking lot, but I confess I’m too embarrassed to talk to them with my fellow commuters walking nearby.  Go ahead and say it.

Chicken. 

That is what is so great about living in the boons.  No matter how I feel or what kind of day I’ve had, I can go outside and talk to my plants, insects, and animals and there is no one to raise a judgmental eyebrow and tap their head.  And without fail, my tension fades with the sun.  As I tuck my tomatoes in for the night, I feel a little punch drunk.  And why not?

After all, “as an apple tree…is my beloved…”

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

*There is some science to back up this revitalizing feeling, called earthing.  I have found some information online about it, but need to do more research before I recommend any sites to you, dear readers.  If you  have thoughts, share them in the comments.  More to come in future Hobby Farm posts!



Top Five Friday: Buggin' You!

Rain makes corn,
Corn makes whisky,
Whisky makes my baby
Feel a little frisky!
 ~ Luke Bryan, Rain is a Good Thing|

T

he best defense is a good offense and as I mentioned Wednesday, the best way to keep your tomato’s enemies at bay is to build up the native troops.

My friend Tia, the Common Garden Spider, is one of those.  But there are other “branches” of a vast natural military that are just itching to get in to your garden and decimate the bad bugs of summer.

Some may ask why bother with beneficial bugs when you can just spray chemicals and kill all the bad ones, plus all the nasty weeds too.  Right off the bat, those sprays kill all bugs, good and bad.  I’ve heard of collateral damage, but to me, that’s just insane. 

I was taught that all actions ~ good and bad ~ have consequences.  Even if no sees you do that dastardly deed, or you think it only affects you, or the ever quoted and always wrong: “as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone.” 

That is nonsense.

Unless you live in solitary confinement in the desert somewhere [in which case you aren’t even reading this], your life touches other lives, for good or for ill.  So no matter what you do, there is an interconnectedness with others you simply cannot escape.

It’s the same in nature. 

The most obvious example are bees.  Bees make honey.  [Yum.]  In doing that, they also help pollinate different plants. Without bees to pollinate them, certain plants would die out.  Think that doesn’t concern you?  Honey has beneficial qualities, one of which is to help allergy sufferers build up an immunity to the pollen in the region.  Not to mention, I happen to really enjoy certain flowers and wouldn’t want to see them become extinct!

On top of that, where do you think those chemicals go?  They just kill off everything and magically disappear or become non-poisonous all of a sudden?  Heck no!  They seep into the ground, get sucked up into the roots of your plants, slither into those luscious red tomatoes.  Mmmm, my favorite: tomato and cheese sandwich with a side of Round Up™.

Yum.

Instead, round up the natural troops and beat those aphids and other nasties at their own game, with these top five beneficial bugs.

Going to the Ladybug Picnic!

Ladybugs

I thought everyone knew that ladybugs were good for the garden, until I saw my mother sucking up bunches of them in the vacuum.  Granted, they were in the house and not the garden [still haven’t figured that one out!], but honestly, the vacuum?!  The best thing that ladybugs do is lay their eggs in a nice, wet, garden.  Their little brood hatch and eat up all the aphids in sight.  The adults eat some too, but it’s mainly the babes that are your hard-working bug eaters.



I believe in miracles, you lacy thing!

Lacewings

A pretty predator, with tiny veined wings that give it its name, the lacewing is another good defense against aphids.  I was very happy to learn that they like to lay their eggs in apple trees near aphid colonies.  As I have several apple trees, this is great news for me and horrific news for the aphids.  Mwhahahaha!



Hold your fire!

Soldier Spine Bugs

These guys are most often the victims of friendly fire.  And no wonder: they look just like the dreaded stink bug.  The difference is very slight, but because the Soldier Spine bugs are voracious eaters of hornworms, leafhopper nymphs, corn earworms and other small caterpillars, it behooves a wise gardener to look closely before squashing.

Not a bee!  Not a wasp!  An aphid-eating machine!

Syrphid Fly

Another innocent victim of friendly fire is the Syrphid Fly.  Over the years, I have become less jumpy when I hear a buzz or see a black body with yellow stripes flying nearby.  Mostly because I’ve learned that buzzing things won’t sting you if you don’t bother them or their nest. So I keep a respectful distance and let them do their thing.

Now I have one more reason to be careful.  Syrphid flies look like wasps but have only two wings.  Like ladybugs, it’s the babies that are the most beneficial.  They can eat up to 400 aphids during their babyhood!  They also eat ants and termites.  Yay!  But look closely, because the larvae look like slugs.



Beetles.  Always makes me think of The Mummy.

Ground Beetles

Not all beetles are evil!  Ground beetles do tend to freak me out a little when they get in the house ~ we always called them “miller bugs” ~ no clue why, but they are the special ops of the garden, hiding under rocks and running very fast when those rocks are moved.

And I thought gardening was just about plucking weeds, watering, and harvesting!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Do you encourage beneficial bugs in your garden?

La Belle's Hobby Farm: O What a Web We Weave!

You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing.
I wove my webs for you because I liked you.
After all, what's a life, anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die.
A spider's life can't help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies.
By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle.
Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that.

~ E.B. White, Charlotte's Web

W

 hen you are committed to gardening organically, without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, people often ask how you deal with bugs.

Why, more bugs of course!

Ever here the old adage, fight fire with fire?  This advice is very true in the sustainable, organic garden.  Hmmm, sounds like a topic for this week’s Top Five Friday post.  However, since today is my defacto garden post day, I’d like to introduce you to Tia, (pronounced tsee-uh) short for Argiope aurantia.    

A little bigger than our old friend, Charlotte.

Much more poetic than Common Garden Spider, or Black and Yellow Garden Spider.  I was very excited to look her up.  She's textbook perfect, down to the zig-zag line in the middle of her web.  She's actually hanging upside down, the picture isn't saving properly for some reason.

Tia is perfectly harmless ~ to you and me.  And she is great help in keeping down the fly, mosquito, and aphid populations.  Although the mosquito colonies seem to have grown especially huge this year, so maybe Tia needs some friends to help out. 

A list of which I’ll save for Friday.

In the meantime, enjoy her beauty and be not afraid!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Got spiders in your garden?  I’d love to see them!  Digitally, of course.  I like what they do, but they still give me goosebumps!