Bugs, Garden and Harvest

The end of a hot, hazy summer is approaching, but many of the animals and insects on our acreage don’t seem to notice yet. The flies are still buzzing, the cicadas are still humming and the crickets in our yard and garage are still chirping. What started as tiny grasshoppers a month ago are now full grown bugs hopping and flying around everywhere, and there are dozens of dragonflies soaring through the early evening sky, showing their amazing flying skills while eating their fill of whatever they can catch. There have been strange looking bugs I can not identify, which usually only live a few days. They are long, skinny and bright green, then others came soon after that are dull green and fat. The bees that came through first were the large, loud, round bumblebees. Then about a month later came the tiny, conical shaped bees that have to fly around your mouth and eyes to find contentment. I have seen a few very small toads this season, no snakes, and the usual horde 0f rabbits.

The garden this season produced below average except for the cucumbers, which came on like nothing we have ever seen. We eat them raw everyday, have bartered some with a neighbor for farm fresh eggs, made pickles, gave some away and we are still harvesting them.

The corn and beans are browning rapidly, and we noticed recently a few fields have already been harvested. Our usually quiet road will soon be busy with trucks, tractors and combines coming and going while gathering the annual bounty.