making lemonade from lemons...so to speak

Good Morning!  I know!  It's Monday and I'm posting something.  Too weird right?  Well it's because we're on vacation!  No outside the home work.  I will still have a house to clean, beans to can, berries to pick, etc, but no alarm clock, no occupation, and to top it all off we are on our way this week to Tybee Island for a family reunion.  Not all of us are going, but some.  It will be grand, and then there will be no work at all (it will be waiting for me when I get back lol).  So until then, enjoy this during the week post.  Once I am home permanently this may become a normal thing (GASP).

So on to the topic at hand.  Making Lemonade from lemons, or in this case making something useful from June bugs and Japanese Beetles.

I hate to spray my plants.  Really hate to spray.  I avoid it as much as possible.  There are times when I have sprayed, but would rather find a way to raise the fruits and veggies I get without it.  For example: Mexican Bean beetles find my garden all the way from Mexico every year.  I have tried to spray in the past, but really it does very little good.  I tried Diatomaceous Earth last year, and, again, not much help.  So this year I planted my beans as early as possible.  Once these beans are done, and I can already see the Mexican beetles a comin, I will pull up the plants, compost them, and leave the area bare for a bit.  Then about the middle of August, I'll plant the rest of my beans in the hopes I can fool those little buggers into thinking "nuthin to see here, nuthin to see.  Move along".  This is a trial, mind you.  No Guarantee here.  Not yet anyway.  We will see what happens.  Again, avoiding the spray.

Also, along that vein is my problem with June Bugs and Japanese beetles.   They love my Blackberry bushes and my Peach trees.  Funny thing is so far they are leaving other things alone (knock on wood).  If you have the time and patience to do so, you can knock some of them out by filling a container with soapy water and go out and pick them off by hand early in the morning before the sun's warmth stirs them up.  I've been doing this for the past 5 days and as of today I think I'm making progress.  So no need to spray (for now) and the lemonade from lemons?  The chickens love the results.  I give them all of the now drowned beetles and then dump the water on a plant in the garden.  So I get pesticide free berries using free pest control, and supplement the feed for my chickens.  It's all good.....well unless you're a June Bug or Japanese beetle.......