Last winter was one of the coldest on record–day after day after day of just blistering cold. So cold, in fact, that “it should really cut down on the bug population”. HA HA! Liar, liar, pants on fire. That saying is absolutely not true and I think next time I hear someone say something like that I’ll have to put my hands over my ears and go “la la la la la I can’t hear you” just to keep from being rude…..well, that in itself might be considered rude. On to today’s post……
This year is a banner year for Japanese beetles–well, here on the farm anyway. I actually found their central meeting place last evening……
As you can see, there are literally hundreds of beetles on this Pussy Willow hedge–must be the Motel 6 in the beetle world. An evil thought struck my mind. I usually carry a container of water with me through the rose arbor to collect jap beetles in the mornings on the way to the chicken house because they love to sleep on the rose bushes, and they are very still and easy to knock off into the water.
I got a small bucket and put a couple inches of water in it–just plain water, no soap or oil or anything, and started knocking the beetles off into the water. It’s an entertaining game to see how many beetles you can knock off at one time in the bucket without any falling on the ground…….
As I made my way around the hedge I collected several inches deep of beetles in the bucket.
When I felt satisfied that most of the overnight guests had been successfully checked out, I took them one step further……..
The girls say “hmmmmm good Japanese beetles, thanks, mom!”
Wild Things Farm 