BUG ACTIVITY BRINGS HOPE

Squash vine borers. They’ve infiltrated every single squash plant we’ve planted this year. The worst part? These guys bore down into the stems and kill the entire plant.

We even replanted some zucchini and yellow squash, stayed on top of Neem oil and diatomaceous earth and picking off eggs and they still got in. We are formulating a new plan for next year, because we do not easily give up.

Occasionally, these borers don’t stay in the vine, but rather attack the fruit. Although we, as a family, would just cut away the bad part and eat the rest, because we understand bugs are just part of organic farming, we *never ever* want to give anything potentially bug ridden to our friends, so we *do not* donate them.

So? What do we do when we see bug activity in the produce? Depending on severity, and type of bug, it may get donated to the compost bin to feed next year’s crop (we don’t with borers, they go in the trash, because they can overwinter).

We do open the fruit and see if we can save the seeds for another year’s bounty. We may not be able to give these away, but we can save hope for another year.

And if there’s anything good in there, like this butternut squash? Getting to see and taste what we’ve grown? What we’re handing off to others? It’s also quite a gift. Because we don’t give away our surplus, we give away 100% of the good these plants produce.

It reminds us. In the midst of loss, when things aren’t going exactly according to plan, there is always beauty, a gift (or two), and hope continuing forward.