There are two sides to every story. There's usually another way to look at things.
For me, this applies to caterpillars.
I don't mean the rare swallow tail butterfly variety, I mean the common show up in droves and destroy your sunflowers before they turn into moths variety.
My organic solution?
To look at these little fellows not as pests, rather to introduce them to my children as little furry friends.
The kind of friends that they can gather and make homes for.
As long as its far away from the sunflowers, and as long as they try to gather every last one.
This works out nicely for our friend the Ladybug, who has become more off limits to little hands.
Now my ladybugs can work, and my babies can play to their hearts content.
And my sunflowers will live to see another day.
The flip side to my plan is probably how the deal works out for the caterpillars. I am not exactly sure what happens to them... They get moved to cute little homes, then they disappear over night. Is it a lizard eating them? A mass exodus that has left them wondering my backyard?
I just don't know.
That's a flip side to gardening for me.
Before gardening entered my life, I had a fairly strict policy of no bug killing.
(unless they are posing a health risk to my family like mosquitoes, or black widows)
Now look at me.
Squashing squash bugs with rocks.
Rubbing eggs off of leaves with my bare hands.
And making up macabre little games for defenseless caterpillars.
2 comments:
Oh, I had to laugh. I have a very similar game with snails. We have a lot. I don't want to kill them, but I don't want them in my kitchen garden. So the children play hunt the snail, put them in buckets and then take them to another part of the garden. I'm sure they miss some and I'm sure some find their way back, but I am just playing for time. The longer the snail are away, the more of my plants survive.
pretty cute..and thoughtful! I am the same way!
suzy
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