Squash Bugs

This year we have a serious problem with the squash bugs killing squash, cucumber, and zucchini plants. Some of the options (without using pesticides) we have discovered are hand picking the ugly things off, crop rotation, and not using mulch because they seem to hide under the mulch. We ended up planting those plants over again and are still battling the bugs.

Read about the squash bug

Urban Survival

In just about every area of my life, I have to be constantly seeking more knowledge. My philosophy on knowledge, often times we have to empty ourselves of the wisdom and knowledge that we "think" we have in order to grow. So I thought maybe focusing on urban survival skills in the next couple of weeks might be a good time to learn some new skills. Kody Lundin is a good teacher on this subject and an interesting character as well. Check out his video on YouTube:

Urban Survival Story featuring Cody Lundin

Stuck in my head

I have Reuters as my home page so every time I visit their website and see this horrifying image of the Pelican covered in oil, my heart sinks inside of me. Perhaps because that image only reaffirms my belief that humans are recklessly destroying the environment and (for the most part) the earth.

Rain barrels

These are the rain barrels we have been using to water the garden. We have four (65 gallon) barrels and would like to get two more to place on the other side of the house.

Spinach quiche

I had this bed of spinach that was getting ready to bolt so I decided to use some of it to make spinach quiche.





I like making quiche because it uses four eggs, and that is one good way to utilize some of the eggs from our chickens.





Also, I made my own crust, which uses the recipe (without shortening) from one of my previous posts.






And here is the finished product. A good bit of work, but not bad.

Update on the black widow

Recently, she got really fat so I suspected that she was getting ready to lay an egg sack. To get a better picture, I got really brave and stuck the camera lens into the top of the jar. Warning: don't try this at home!


Then today, when I checked on her, she (in fact) did lay an egg sack, just as I thought would happen. Now I need to either destroy the spider or get rid of the egg sack. I will probably just get rid of the egg sack. However, I have to be very careful, and make sure to wear leather gloves because black widows can be very aggressive when guarding their egg sacks. I will probably just poke something down in the jar (like pliers) and pluck out the egg sack.

Black widows

I found this one in my compost pile, not exactly in it but in one of the cinder blocks we use as a border around the compost pile. At first, I noticed the web. Then I started looking around and found the spider. We have so many black widows around here that I can now recognize their distinctive webs. Believe it or not, I actually found one in my garden bed one time. The bed was heavily mulched, and there was a small crevice in the mulch so the spider apparently took up residence. Why do I have it in a jar? Well, I have a strange fascination for the black widow, perhaps because their bites are venomous; and they have interesting markings. Therefore, sometimes I will catch one and keep it alive for awhile. However, I am extremely careful by wearing gloves if I catch a black widow. Thankfully, I have never been bitten yet.

Spider bites: First aid - MayoClinic