Entomology

Nathanael is taking an entomology course this semester, and since everything is nice and warm now, they have all begun collecting their specimens. Nathanael's growing collection is in little glass jars which now adorn my bedroom shelf. That spiny caterpillar on the corner is my favorite so far. I found that one for him while we gardened on Saturday.

 This particular course is focused only on agricultural pests, but that doesn't make the collecting too much more difficult, especially considering our pesticide free garden. It is nice that Nathanael has now learned the symptoms and appearances of certain pests and also helpful creatures, so he can tell me which to squish and which to encourage.

This amazingly bedecked critter is something we discovered on our walk home from church on Sunday. We didn't collect him, but let him continue on his merry way. Isn't he awesome?

In other insect news, the Mississippi is rising. 

That's our garden on the far left, the levee in the middle and the river on the right (where there is dry ground during other seasons). 

Basically this means the mosquitoes are killer.

I took some Benadryl in the middle of the night last night and the world is a lot less itchy now.

As for the plants, the broccoli is coming along steady and slow,

the squashes are beginning to pep up,

and the lettuce continues to be delicious.

Have you ever collected insects? Have you ever seen an aspirator for such purposes? 

I hadn't before this semester, but I think they're genius.