Beauty Farming Life

YOU MAY WANT TO JUST SKIP THIS ARTICLE IF BUGS FREAK YOU OUT: CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE Giant Weta Bug Eating a Carrot (Image by Mark Moffett/Minden Pictures/Solent) Yikes!  Would you be this brave?  They say the bug is "vegetarian" and is called the "gentle giant" of the insect world, but still... Giant Weta Bug Eating a Carrot (Image by Mark Moffett/Minden Pictures/Solent) ...I'm not sure I'd go this far. It's amazing.  It's creepy.  It's cool.  It's scary.  It's fascinating. I'm all over the place on this one.  I'm just glad we don't have to deal with bugs like this at the farm! Enjoy?

Wasp nest on porch Was at the farm and happened to look up above the front door on the porch and saw this giant nest.  Haven't taken care of it yet because we don't have any wasp spray. So then I was going to gather some rosemary from our corner planter to bring back into town and as I reached toward it to snip a few pieces, I saw this! So my conundrum is that of course even if I get wasp spray, I can't spray it into the rosemary without making it permanently inedible.  Any suggestions?  Something natural that won't hurt the rosemary? Wasp nest in rosemary bush

 EQUAL PARTS: Several of you asked about the Fire Ant killer I used, it's a simple mixture of lemon juice and vinegar poured over the ant mound.  It's all natural and has worked well for us. I poured about 2 cups total over the large mound we had.  Hope it helps!

Spider webs in a field "J" from 2nd Family snapped this picture for us one day and emailed it.  I wanted to share it with you.  She was on a morning walk and and saw this field on our property that was just covered in spider webs.  Even though it's hard to tell in the picture, she said that the dew on them glistened like tiny jewels in the  sunlight.  I'm glad she captured the image for us. Nature can be so beautiful! Tomorrow will be more prepping in the garden.  Hope to build a few more raised beds and of course for sure get the rest of the weed fabric down.

Update later on the weekend and weed-fabric progress, but until then, look away if creepy crawlies bug (ha, no pun intended) you! Red ants OK, I know this might seem like a strange post and an even stranger thing to say, but I was happy to find these large red ants.  Now mind you, these aren't fire ants.  These do sting (or bite) of course, but they aren't really aggressive to you like fire ants are.  I remember them from my Summers as a child staying with my Grandparent's in Oklahoma.  I used to spend hours watching them go to and from their nest.  I have rarely seen them in Houston, and at the farm, I had never seen them. So during this weekend's unusually good weather, it was nice outside and I just stopped to watch them do their thing and take a few photos. Yet more red ants  It's fascinating because they are so large and easy to see, you can watch them pick things up and carry them around, follow the same trails, stop to...

 EQUAL PARTS: Several of you asked about the Fire Ant killer I used, it's a simple mixture of lemon juice and vinegar poured over the ant mound.  It's all natural and has worked well for us. I poured about 2 cups total over the large mound we had.  Hope it helps!

Spider webs in a field "J" from 2nd Family snapped this picture for us one day and emailed it.  I wanted to share it with you.  She was on a morning walk and and saw this field on our property that was just covered in spider webs.  Even though it's hard to tell in the picture, she said that the dew on them glistened like tiny jewels in the  sunlight.  I'm glad she captured the image for us. Nature can be so beautiful! Tomorrow will be more prepping in the garden.  Hope to build a few more raised beds and of course for sure get the rest of the weed fabric down.

Remember a few weeks ago I blogged HERE about a fire ant colony in one of the raised beds?  I was not sure what to use to eradicate them since it was IN the bed I'd be planting vegetables and herbs in.  Well, a few suggestions involved boiling water and so that's what we did.  We put a kettle of water on to boil one evening and I poured it over the hill... Empty fire ant mound Last weekend when we were out there, this is what I found.  Totally gone and, hopefully, all dead.  There was another great suggestion recently involving club soda being poured into the mound.  I might try that the next time. But until then... ...These are the only kind of ants we want to see at our farm.  The decorative, artsy kind!

Butterfly on a flower I took this picture, several in a row actually, while trying to capture just the right moment...and I did.  The above photo is very pretty and the detail below when I zoomed in is incredible (you can click to enlarge). I love taking pictures of nature's beauty! Butterfly closeup Not sure how much I'll photography I'll get done this weekend.  It's rained most of the week, on and off, and now it's supposed to rain again this weekend.  We'll see how it goes!  Hope you are off to a great start!

We were roaming around at the farm recently and noticed this line in the grass.  I thought it was odd as I hadn't really noticed it before.  So we followed it... ...it meandered around a tree and along the driveway.  So we followed it some more... ...then it veered off into the grass for a few feet until it ended at... This large, red ant hill! Now these aren't fire ants, though they do bite, but they are large and fascinating to observe.  I find it amazing that they have followed along the same route so frequently that it's created a visible path.  Or do they 'clear' it, much as we might clear a path through a bunch of trees to create a road or highway? Red Ants We left them alone, they've worked too hard, LOL!  Speaking of working hard, it's off to the farm for me, 2nd Man has to do some stuff in town and since I haven't mowed the grass in two weeks, we'll have to see how much it's gro...

Everywhere a wasp wasp...went to the farm and was in the shed where we keep the mower.  I looked up and saw wasp nests... A small nest was just starting here... Then there was another nest behind this piece of wood leaning up against the wall... Another nest on one of the posts of the shed... And finally, a nest behind a sheet of glass that was leaning against the wall! Raid Wasp & Hornet spray What the heck? I didn't even see any a couple of weeks ago, now all of a sudden it was like wasp central!   Well, after a few squirts of "Raid", they no longer exist.  Some of you suggested that we leave the nests up in order to deter other wasps from building in the same spot so we did that too.  Hopefully they'll stay away.  I also roamed around the perimeter of the house and found a few more nests in the eaves up near the roof and so I took care of those as well. Wasps are on the lis...

Part of the routine when we get to the house after it's been closed up for a week is to walk around and check all the drawers and cabinets for creatures... Scorpion in a drawer So I pull open the first drawer and all is clear.  The second drawer also clear.  The third drawer, oh oh!  There was a dead (thankfully) scorpion in the biscuit cutter in 2nd Man's baking supplies drawer.   I asked if we were having scorpion biscuits and gravy ...he was not amused. 2nd Family said they have found three scorpions inside their house lately, one in the bathtub, one in a sink and one in a cabinet.   Anyone have any scorpion advice? 

Avert your eyes if spiders bother you... You have been warned... Saw this lady (the females are always the larger, more colorful of the species), building a web near the mower shed.   I just had to get a closeup picture... Banana Spider Definitely intimidating! S he is called a Banana Spider, also known as a Golden Orb Spider.  While I did not put my hand TOO close, she is about the size of my palm.  I didn't show it in person to 2nd Man, instead I showed him the pictures.  He looked and went "what the hell?  It's like we live in the rain forest!!"   We don't mind sharing the property with her and as scary as they look, they are not poisonous.  A bite can cause irritation and pain like a bee sting, but it only lasts a day or two.  In rare cases it can cause an allergic reaction but for the most part, it's not terribly aggressive.  The upside is that they do catch and kill fruit flies a...

These are all over the farm.   Not sure what they grow up to be when the cycle is complete, but it's always fun watching nature do its thing. I do believe though that if you touch these, they cause a severe rash with raised welts.  I seem to recall a childhood incident with one, but not sure if it was this.  Black Wooly Caterpillar  I'm NOT going to take a chance and find out.  I just left them alone, they weren't on any important plants, just on the weeds and grasses around the property. Caterpillar  They are kind of pretty to see and imagining the transformation that they will soon be going through is fascinating.   Nature truly is amazing...

Do you see it?   Up there in the tree? What about now?   There in the middle? How about now?   YIKES! Wasp nest in tree   Yep a HUGE wasp nest way up in a mesquite tree, not too far from the bee yard area.  I had to take care of it, we hate using chemicals but these wasps can be very aggressive and I don't need to bump into the tree with the zen machine and have them fall on me... that wouldn't be so "zen", ha.  They are also very near the beehives and we don't need any sort of insect war going on...  I used wasp spray that shoots about 25 feet and that was just about at the far end of the range.  I did it and then ran.  Wasps are gone now. I guess I'll have to keep an eye on the sky from now on as I roam around.  Recently, 2nd Family's "R" was stung several times as he was cutting a limb on a tree and didn't see a wasp nest that was higher up until it was too late.

Since tomorrow is Halloween... can you see it?   Up there in the sky, between the two trees? Ah, maybe now you can see it a bit better...but just in case it's still hard to see... How about NOW?  

So...over the weekend, even though it was wet, I had to check on the garden area, a few plastic panels had come off so I was looking around.  I went over to a metal can that we have and took the lid off to see if everything was OK inside.   I saw a spider web... And upon further examination...a spider... But not just ANY spider... Black Widow Spider THIS spider...a freakin' black widow spider! Are you kidding me?  I found this not reassuring info online: "The female black widow spider, identified by the red hourglass shaped marking on her abdomen, is considered the most venomous spider in North America.  Her venom is 15 times as toxic as that of the rattlesnake." I quickly took a picture with my cell phone and thought "this would be really detailed with my camera because I can zoom in".  I walked from the garden to the porch, got the camera and walked back. I looked inside the can to snap a picture and she was gone.  I lo...

Noticed that a few leaves were stripped on one of the tomato plants and some fruit had parts eaten off.  I immediately started looking for critters... Green Hornworm Caterpillar  ...and sure enough, I found one... Tomato Hornworm ...and then two!   That was all though, I checked the plants thoroughly.  Ugh, I hate these things.  Masters of disguise and they are so creepy looking.  They can destroy a tomato plant.  I picked them off and "dispatched" them.   They didn't do much damage from last weekend to this so I think I'm OK until next weekend.  I also saw a few red and black spidery looking bugs.  I had some spray on soap mix that I used on both plants and that seemed to take care of them, but I'll have to do some more research. Anyone have any suggestions?