Garden Update – Mo Bugs

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Saturday I arrived to find the Cantaloupes, thriving and untouched by the bugs.  Unfortunately the Squash and Zucchini I had tried to rescue were done for.  I pulled their corpses from the ground and witnessed hundreds of June bugs emerge from under the straw and begin to scamper up the pepper plants.

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I considered what to do.  After a little deliberation it was obvious that I should attend to what is working.  So many times I have focused on, and grieved, and wasted so much energy on what has not worked.  Feeling like a failure in the midst of an abundant garden has been a theme for much of my life.  Perhaps my garden is beginning to teach me to pay attention to that which produces the fruit.  The death of the Zucchini has actually made room for that which has much more promise.  Truthfully, I think that they both would have been crowded out and neither would have flourished if the bugs had not done their work.  See the Cantaloupe growing in the shade of the Tomatoes.  Last year I was quite a successful Zucchini farmer.  And in my mind I thought I would ever be.  I have never grown Cantaloupes before and on a whim I planted them.  That little space is more shaded and I wondered how well they would do.  Apparently the mix of sun and shade and the soil and the water suits them quite well.  Perhaps as we garden we need to keep an open mind.  Perhaps I am a Cantaloupe gardener after all.  Perhaps I am finally learning to let go of what is not and to celebrate what it.  I am kinda tired of Zucchini anyway.

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And all this fuss about Zucchini has not taken into account the Peppers and the Eggplant.  I like to add a layer of fried Eggplant to Lasagna.  It is very tasty.  The new babies are doing fine.  Purple Russian Tomatoes and Watermelons will all have their chance now to prosper in the absence of all the Squash.  I returned Sunday with a plan to deal with the bugs.  They will not just go away because I don’t like them.  I needed to take some kind of action to prevent them from invading the rest of the garden.  After a little bit of research I discovered a way to trap them based on their own proclivities.  So many times we attempt to wish troubles away.  Our thought process goes along a path of thinking in the negative.  “I wish they were not here” rather than “What am I going to do about this problem.”  I needed to know my enemy and their habits, what they want, and how to stop this once and for all.

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After the research (love some Youtube), and having gathered my supplies, I arrived Sunday afternoon with everything I needed to make some June Bug Traps.  The beer is optional.  I have two 2-liter bottles, two LED battery operated lights, a razor, electrical tape, and masking tape.  June Bugs are nocturnal and are attracted to light.  If one understands their enemy well enough there does not have to be much of a fight.  They can be led into a place where they will trap themselves.

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The simple idea is that they will be attracted to the light so they will climb up the tape, fall into the funnel, and become trapped.  Those who invade our gardens are not very creative.  If they were they would have their own gardens and not attempt to cannibalize others’.  There are times when we allow others unwarranted access to us because we are fearful or feel hesitant to act.  Invaders use guilt or a tender heart as pathways to steal the fruit they have not tended.  It was asked “Why do you give what is holy (bread) to the dogs, and why do you throw pearls before swine? For they will just wallow them into the mud then turn and cut you open for your trouble.”  At some point it is no longer the dogs nor pigs fault that we continue to waste our holy treasure and are repeatedly wounded.  If we continue to give what is sacred to those who can not value it that is on us and is no kindness to ourselves or them.

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Traps set.  Now get your little butts out of my garden.  Think I will have another beer as I wait for the sun to go down.  Be Groovy! 🙂

Jazzy Plato – Finding the Groove

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This was a fun night!  My middle boy, on the keys, said it was not weird.  That was the best compliment I could want.  He said it was like any other artist he had played with.  I had never considered the potential oddness for my children dealing with their daddy being just me.  I have spent my daddyhood encouraging them to be them.  Now that they are finding their own way it is so sweet they allow and even help me find mine. The recording did not work.  But the main thing was me actually putting it out there and seeing if they threw eggs.  No eggs.   Be Groovy! 🙂

Garden Update – Bugs

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Just as I was entering the season of harvest I arrived to check on the garden and saw three of the Zucchini plants decimated and prostrate, yellow and brown and full of bugs.  June bugs!  Hundreds of them.

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I didn’t get any good pictures of the bugs because when I saw what was going on I quickly began to pull the plants out of the soil and get them out of the garden.  I was ill.  Hundreds and hundreds of them were busy making their home there in my garden.  Eating and mating and laying eggs to provide for their next generation.  I remember why they are called June bugs now.  The plants and the fruit was ruined.  My intention and vision for that pace was taken over and used for another’s purpose.  They did not ask or say thank you or even kiss my ass.  They had their own purposes and set about to accomplish them.  After I calmed down during the clearing of the mess I remembered seeing some small signs of them last week which i did not attend to.  By not acting then I in effect gave my leave for them to do as they willed in my garden.  With no deterrent from me I guess they felt they were entitled to whatever suited their needs.  There are some people like that.  Those who seem to just take what they want as though their needs, wants, whims, should be addressed simply because they are.  The problem is that many times they intrude into others’ gardens to satisfy them.  If they are not deterred there is a risk the garden will be ruined.  I was raised in the Christian faith and from childhood was taught that I should be kind.  I agree with that.  The problem is that many times that sentiment is not correctly interpreted.  It is taught as though the command is to “be yea nice.”  But kindness and niceness are very different things.  Nice always says “yes” even when a “no” is required.  It can be sweet and gentle but it can also be weak and allow predators in with the sheep.  Kindness is based on a true response to a given situation.  Kindness seeks the yes but can if need respond with an unequivocal  hell no.  It was not the June bugs fault that they wanted my garden.  It was beautiful and lush and rich.  An ideal place for them to reproduce.  It was my fault for allowing them to get a foothold and then not acting after they did.  I saw a short video which may be instructive.

I am guessing the boy went home and perhaps rethought his life’s path.  What ever was the result I am guessing he did not attempt to put down roots in the big boys garden anymore.  I think there are times in a person’s life when god’s will for them is a swift ass whipping.  I think that it is most likely the only hope for stupid.  I am not promoting violence but force is the only thing a bully understands.  It may just save their life later on.  A skinned knee and a knot on the head won’t damage a boy, but being allowed to continue down a predatory path may just lose their soul.  Even Jesus gave some folks a good country ass whipping with a whip he made himself.  He was clear, decisive, and used appropriate force.  I don’t think the money changers harbored any doubt about his intention and willingness in that matter.

Are there people in your life who have been allowed to bully, and take, and intimidate, and set up shop in your temple?  God’s will for them and you is that they do not inhabit your garden.  They need to cultivate their own.  And it is incumbent upon us to tend and protect what was entrusted to us.  No, or even hell no, is also kindness.

Lesson remembered.  So I looked around and found that there was a Yellow Squash and one Zucchini that I doctored and trimmed and may yet salvage.

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I planted a young Zucchini and two purple Russian Heirloom tomatoes in the empty space.  The young Zucchini will probably last through the late summer into fall and the tomatoes are something I have never grown before.  So, it’s all good.  I planted watermelons in the large container and they should be pretty spilling down onto the hay in a month or so.

20150620_133010The cool thing about all of this is that in spite of the little setbacks the garden continues on producing its fruit.  Perhaps not my original intention but this may even be better.  I was going to have way too much Zucchini anyway and the Cucamelons in this container were stunted because the plant in front blocked the sun.  Now they have full sun everyday and can grow.  Plus I can have some watermelon to go with the cantaloupe.

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Just remember that bugs nor bully’s give a shit about you.  If there is going to be a shit given about your garden or your temple it will need to be you who gives it.  Cause if you don’t no one will.  And remember that grace sometimes comes in the form of a knot on the head.   Be redneck Groovy! 🙂