where did they go

WHERE DID THEY GO

one thing we had to learn when we moved to the country n was to coexist with insects bugs yes even spiders
the house we moved into hadnt been really lived in much over the last few years before we arrived
so
all those bugs had become well established

more than once i heard my wife she scream as she got zapped by a scorpion

no i didnt resort to poisons or to non organic approaches

after consulting with my rainwater brother here is what i did
i put two rings of stuff around our house

one ring was diatomaceous earth not the kind you use in swimming pool but the organic gardening kind
this stuff works by cutting the bellies of insects as they crawl across them

the second ring was boric acid
this stuff is sold as a product called roach pruff
its also obtained from borax or borate like what you use in your clothes
it works by stopping up their air holes as they crawl over the boric acid

insects cant get resistant to these two products like they can the poisons

so as you approached our front door you could see this two rings going around our house
and
at the front door was a line of white stuff

if a bug crawled across the line
well it usually died

another ring i added a few times was  pyrethrum which is obtained from chrysanthemum flowers
it kills bugs but it also may zap the butterflies bees etc
so i used it only occasionally
some organic folks wont use this stuff

so we had a 2-3 ring of stuff around the house
then
inside behind all our appliance we dusted the diatomaceous earth and boric acid generously
we means i as my wife she says i overdid it some
then
i had to tear out at least three walls for water damage so when i replaced the walls i added a thick layer of this stuff on the base 4 x 4

over time all this stuff started reducing the amount of bugs that appeared in our house
also getting a couple of cats also may have helped

once we got a infestation of fleas from probably a cat or dog in our house
using the organic technique
i dusted all the floors and up 4 ft on the walls with this concoction of diatomaceous earth and boric acid
our whole house looked like a kitchen or a bakery

my wife she wasnt happy
she still whines about that what she jokingly called cocaine powder i threw all over the place

when we returned a week later
i swept up and vacuumed up all the powder
we never had fleas after that
although
we did have to buy a new vacuum cleaner since sucking up all that powder ruined our old one


so we solved or controlled the bugs in our house
but
we didnt contaminate or poison the environment
although my wife she isnt sure about that after seeing our white powdered house

sometimes in the spring when we would get home after driving from town
our car windshields would be covered with squished bugs

since arriving here one thing i noticed is
i dont see bugs very often
it is nice to get a reprieve from getting eaten up by mosquitoes
or
getting bitten by those painful fire ant bites

i rarely if ever see an insect in our house
maybe an occasional wolf spider which i just leave alone

now it seems
our insects are disappearing from the world
in some areas folks cars dont get zapped by all those insects
i know here we dont at all


it appears that the bad bugs arent declining
just the good ones
like
ladybugs and bees and mayflies and butterflies and moths and fireflies

why
insecticides and climate change and loss of habitat and use of non native plants and light pollution and highway traffic and one crop agriculture

our dead zone lawns dont attract insects

insects and bugs we have to have to grow our food
our lives depend on keeping these guys alive

we do what we can
we grow our food organically
we dont bomb our place with chemicals
i have always allowed inscets a few to just be around
i just never tell my wife she i let them escape

if we get a spider or wasp or bug we dont like inside
my wife she is good about scooping it up and transferring it outside

in the south one noticeable decline was the fireflies
a joy in my youth was to chase them and collect them in jars

it was only right before we moved from the country n that we had the fireflies return to our place

so
be careful what you use in your house and in your yard
be careful of spraying or placing all those poisons in your home
to kill the bugs
many who wont harm you or your home

we accept some or tolerate them
maybe
thats what we all should be doing

look at that list of why they are disappearing
try to fix those things that are wiping them out at your home

our food chain may depend on it

the organicgreen doctor