country n news-locusts

COUNTRY N NEWS-LOCUSTS

a few years ago it felt like we were having a swarm of locusts
here at the country n
like those described in the bible
like those you see on tv in africa

there were grasshoppers everywhere
if you walked by our barn which has metal siding on it
they would jump and hit the metal siding
making this twinging sound that seemed to follow
you as you walked down the back side of the barn
an eerie sound that really gave you a feeling of how
bad the infestation was of these varmints

if there was a plant on the property
they were eating it
leaves and sometimes the bark off the limbs

they ate all the figs and all the fig leaves off the fig tree
they ate the oranges the leaves and the bark off the orange bush
they ate all the tomatoes and its leaves
ate all the okra
ate all the peppers even the jalapenos
ate the leaves off the oaks
ate even paint on some folks houses
ate anything they could

now the chickens and guineas enjoyed the grasshoppers
they feasted on them all day long
giving us what i called grasshopper eggs

in the early morning while it was still cool i would walk
down to the garden
which was surrounded by the chicken run
shake all my tomatoes and run the grasshoppers slowed some
by the morning coolness
straight into the path of 15 waiting chickens
a morning frenzy and feast occurred
take that i said

this place that summer looked like when the terrible
hail storm and ? tornado came through our place
trees without leaves
a partially destroyed garden

so that summer
i declared a war on grasshoppers

now folks in town dont notice this infestation like we do
since we are surrounded 360 degrees by ranch land
prime real estate for these armies of grasshoppers

so here is my prime weapon against these invading armies
its called nolo bait
here is how it works
there is a fungus placed on some type of product that looks like
tiny wood shavings
when the grasshoopers eat this stuff
the fungus goes to their brains and kills them
then
those stupid grasshoppers eat those dead ones
then
the fungus in the dead ones infects the cannibalistic grasshoppers brains
these hoppers die
the cycle continues exponentially over time

now i treat by putting this stuff out using my seed spreader around
the perimeter of the one acre my house sits on
and
fairly heavy in my garden
i do this as soon as i see a lot of small grasshoppers
the time arrived this week
so i spread out this stuff
then
i will repeat an application in 1 month

this is an acceptable organic method of killing them

then
i start the every morning roundup of the hoppers in my garden
scaring them into the beaks of the awaiting chickens
man those chicks love grasshoppers

then
we let out our chickens and our grasshopper eating machine guineas
into the surrounding pastures

that plus anytime i can catch one in my hand
i feed it to the chickens
its like sharks going after fish bait on shark week
or
i just throw them against the metal wall of our barn
feels good when i do both

so each summer i do this and get fairly good control of the hoppers
much better than some of my neighbors who take a less organic
approach

ill do anything to save my tomatoes

now i get this nolo bait online
from amazon since i can get a bigger bag at a cheaper price

many local nurseries have it but its usually in a smaller bag

my war against grasshoppers
i think i am generally winning it each year

the organicgreen doctor