Grow the Change: Minutiae

04 May 2009

Minutiae

Keeping an eye on the minute things. Like the first flower blossom of the season. Violets gone wild in the garden. And the daily emergence of all manner of insects in the soil and in the air.

This is a ground beetle, pretty fascinating creatures, without the ability to fly, they "bomb" their potential predators with a noxious gas. They are also carnivorous predators, and will eat up all manner of pests in larval stages.

Like this grub. I haven't positively identified it, but I suspect that it is the caterpillar stage of the pea moth.

This smallest of bees is now out with the wild honey bees.

Keep your eye on the little things that inhabit your garden. You will often find more allies than foes.

2 comments:

Paula #870 said...: I love the tiny things in the garden. I find myself unable to see the big picture for looking down at the microscopic...so so interesting!; May 18, 2009 at 7:18 PM
Freija and Beringian Fritillary said...: Paula, me too. I've really taken to finding out what kinds of insects inhabit my garden, and have begun to carry my camera around with me while I plant and weed! LOL; May 20, 2009 at 3:42 PM

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The way we live

Just in case you are curious about the way we live... We produce enough income from a half-acre market garden to live a simple, debt-free lifestyle. We are off-grid and produce our power from an 80 Watt solar panel to run the things we need. We hydro-cool our perishables, and can, dry or cellar our food instead of running a fridge or freezer. We cook and heat water with wood, year-round, which means getting a fire going each morning, even in the heat of our two week long summer, and doing all the cooking and washing before the heat of the day. We ride bicycles to get where we need to go, especially to the Community Internet Access Center, and barter for rides into town for shopping a few times a year. In our Northern garden, Zone 4, we produce and preserve our own vegetables, herbs and most of our grains in a half-acre garden and acre grain field. We keep a small herd of goats, and a small flock of hens, to produce our meat, dairy products and eggs. We live seasonally, our daily life in the spring centers on planting and cultivating, our daily life in summer centers on harvesting and preserving, our daily life in fall centers on preparing for winter, and our daily life in winter centers on reading, learning, writing, philosophizing, planning and crafting. We are always looking for ways to innovate the tools and techniques for growing food on a home-scale. And we are always looking for ways to strengthen the effect of our lifestyle choices by connecting what we do with the larger community.