Newsletters #10-09

Oh happy day. We purchased a potato digger that would qualify as a museum piece. With no tires to go flat, this gem was once pulled by horses. It has made our potato digging a pleasure. All we have to do is pick them up. This weekend was the perfect time for this job since we didn’t have to deal with mud.  We didn’t have to wash the potatoes, leaving more of the new skins intact. What a great way to spend Labour Day.

So what’s bugging me this week? Grasshoppers and mosquitoes. The sound of  grasshoppers bouncing around on the plastic mulch is like pebbles thrown against a window. Grasshoppers do not make holes in leaves. They eat the whole leaf and every day we have to assess new damage as plants become denuded of their canopy. They seem to especially love beans but they will feed on  anything green except us.

The mosquitoes are another story. They feed on us. Since we are a certified organic farm we have to request that the fogging with malathion stops 100 meters on either side of the farm.  The mosquitoes  thrive. They are undeterred by everything we have tried including Deep Woods Off. A stiff breeze slows them down but does not stop them. We have to wear mosquito shirts that have hood parts covering our faces.  They hide in the shade of the plants we are harvesting and become brazen aggressors. Crazed for a blood meal, they swarm us in clouds with the persistent sound of a buzz saw. Wherever the shirt touches our skin, they sink their proboscis and make us feel like pin cushions. We thought that we had escaped this nuisance but with the late season summer temperatures came the reminder of Manitoba’s  fame. With all due respect, we even have a statue of this provincial bird in our back yard, a mosquito bigger than a child’s head.