Friday, June 11, 2010

Me vs. The Colorado Potato Beetle, or Let Me Introduce Myself



Before I begin my gardening adventures, let me tell you who I am and why I think I have the right to post on Carly’s blog.  My name is Sara, and I’m Carly’s cousin.  We have always done things together, from taking dance lessons to going to school to, now, raising our babies.  We decided it would be fun to blog together as well, seeing as how Carly lives on a modern dairy farm, and I want to be a farmer.  We also wanted to share about our lives on our farms (hers, real; mine, semi-imaginary) and about being mamas living in the country.  I’ve beat Carly there; I have a 7 month old daughter, Ada, who I will probably mention quite often.  Now, I just can’t wait for Suzanna to come so Carly and I can share the parenting adventure as well!

Now, about my “farm”…let’s call it a “farmstead” instead.  I’m a history freak, wanting to do things the old-fashioned way and live parts of my life like I’m in the 1800s (much to the chagrin of my technology-savvy, super-in-the-21st-century, graphic designer of a husband, God love ‘em).  I just feel that there’s a lot to be said about the way things were back then.  Though rougher, there was more of a community spirit and a simpler way of life that I’d love to get back to.  I love my clothesline, my garden, my animals, quality time with my family, and the fact that I’ve mastered the art of baking bread from scratch.  Things back then were also more environmentally friendly, and I am a self-proclaimed semi-hippie when it comes to matters of Mother Earth.  I take my own bags to the grocery store, cloth diaper my baby, and am a recycling fiend!  I like things to be practical, efficient, and, above all, natural.

I want to start my own farm, with sheep and goats.  Right now, it’s just all produce, but it’s coming along.  It will be fun to see the difference in how Carly and John’s operation runs as opposed to mine, and how our ideas differ on this blog.  I try not to get off on my earthy tangents around John; he’s polite, but I’m sure he’s wanting to roll his eyes and give Carly an earful when they’re alone.  But they love me, and I love them, and we’re all in the same family.  I guess what I’m trying to say is, this should be fun, because the readers of this blog will get two different perspectives on life, gardening, farming, and living in the country, and neither is better than the other.  That’s partly the point.

So my first adventure.  I went out to check my potatoes, which numerous sources say is one of the easiest crops to grow.  Yeah, right.  I’ve tried them before, and they always get eaten up by bugs (much like my poor eggplant), and then, when my sweet potatoes miraculously made it last year, my little sweet potatoes were just that.  Little.  About the size of your thumb.  Drats.  So, being the optimist that I am, I planted both regular and sweet potatoes this year.  I went out to check on them, as mentioned, and, alas!, bug holes everywhere!  I inspected the plants, and sure enough, little red bugs covered the leaves.  I flicked one off. 

A few days later, I looked up these red bugs, and discovered they were the larvae of the Colorado Potato Beetle, a vicious looking fat bug with black and yellow stripes.  I hated them.  The website I found gave explicit instructions as how to get rid of them.  It said to find a bucket and a stick and knock the bugs into the bucket with the stick and DESTROY THEM!  Yes, it actually said that.  Well, obviously it was all out war.  So, here I go with my five-gallon bucket and a gardening hand tool that I have no idea what its actual purpose is, to the garden to kill some bugs.  My trusty dog, Sadie, is right beside me.  We get to the potato plants, and I bend down to inspect.  Yep, black and yellow bugs.  Everywhere.  Sadie gets excited, and flips around quickly, only to run down an entire potato plant.  It springs back up from the ground, but all the bugs have been flung off.  Okay for the time being, but my instructions are to catch and destroy!  Needless to say, I yell a little and Sadie goes off to dig up buried bread somewhere, happy as can be.  So, I take my stick and try to knock some of the bugs off the second plant.  Just so you know, a five-gallon bucket is way too big.  I tramped back to the house for a little bucket not much bigger than a quart jar.  A little water in the bottom and it’s a nice bug trap.  So I’m out beating bugs off my plants, and squealing with delight as they drop one by one.  Jordan, my husband, comes out to check on me.  I guess my giddiness is contagious because he’s interested too.  Once I’ve beaten the bugs off all the plants, I pour them in my five-gallon bucket with water in the bottom, and set another bucket on top.  I’m afraid to set them on fire, so drowning is the only way I know to destroy them.  The instructions said to beat the bugs off two times a day; well, I’m a working mom.  I wish I had time to beat my potato plants, but it only happened that one time.  I’m happy to report, however, that all the leaves have grown back and my potato plants look incredibly happy and healthy!  I envision a good crop.  I’ll let you know.  Sara – 1, Garden bugs – 0.

2 comments:

  1. Well that sounds like some intense debugging in my opinion!
    Im glad you are seeing positive results!
    Keep it up ladies.
    -Shannon

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  2. Next, I think you should entertain, or sadden, them with the story of the Great Chicken Massacre and why the first ladies, are no more.

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