Mama is now teaching the Sunbeams in primary. She does a great job! Her lesson from Sunday was on bugs and birds. Sunday morning I went out in the yard, turned over some rocks, dug in some dirt, looked in the compost, under some boards and got a pretty decent collection for it still being early spring. Here is a list of what I put in a bug jar for her to take (I wrote up the list and taped it to the jar so the kids could try and find the different kinds, and maybe a bit because I was proud of myself for finding them all :)
big snail
little snail
millipede (2)
centapede
worms (2)
slug (a big ol tiger one, not one of the little gray ones which i just left alone)
slug (a big ol tiger one, not one of the little gray ones which i just left alone)
big fly
spider (baby daddy long leg)
sugar ants (3)
cricket
rolly polly (lots of different sizes)
box elder bug
small, shiny, long skinny black and red beatle
The only thing I didn't get that I usually have lots of are earwigs. I don't like those so maybe thats why. I also decided against taking a wasp/bee.
Part of gardening is dealing with bugs. I have lots of worms in my garden now which is great, means my soil is doing well. Unfortunately there are some not so helpful bugs too. I've been amazed how many slugs/snails are still around after the great masacre last year. I'm working on having various natural pest controls ready this year to deal with squash bugs, and other ills but I'm not sure what to do with the snails and slugs. I want to try the beer thing, but I don't really want to buy any. Maybe I could ask our neighbor for a can?
5 comments:
I bet the kids loved being able to look at all those bugs. I HATE earwigs! I always thought that they climbed into peoples ears. It didn't help that Jared showed us that SCARY BEYOND ALL REASON movie.
I'm impressed with how many buggies you got. Must be a healthy garden.
I bet I could round up a couple of roaches for you :-)
there's actually snail poison that you can put out. They will eat it and shrivel up and die
Quite the bug collector. Did the bugs want to eat each other? Or did they leave each other alone? I'll take you and buy some beer. I've never had that experience.
I remember how much fun Aaron had getting bugs for Nathan's bug collection at "Ricks" the year we home schooled. We had some kinds that others didn't have so he could trade.
I have heard that if you apply diatomaceous soil it will keep snails and some other bugs away--too sharp for them. Might be worth a try.
Post a Comment