by Daisy | Jul 17, 2013 | Bugs & Critters, Garden
I thought of titling this post How I Catch Voles, to avoid the use of the word kill, but the truth is, I don’t capture them and release them to the wild. I don’t enjoy vole-icide, but when, the other day, I went into the garden and saw practically an...
by Daisy | Jul 8, 2013 | Bugs & Critters, Garden
Year before last, I had so many cucumbers I didn’t know what to do with them. I collected baskets and baskets and made dozens of jars of relish, pickles, and jelly. Just kidding, I didn’t make cucumber jelly. But I was tempted. Then last year, I...
by Daisy | Jul 3, 2013 | Garden, Plants & Uses
The seed of milk thistle (Silybum marianum) contains silymarin, thought to be useful in treating diseases of the liver such as cirrhosis, jaundice, and hepatitis. It has also shown promise in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, and it may be helpful reducing the...
by Daisy | May 22, 2013 | Garden, Plants & Uses
I visited my sister last week and she invited me to look over a bare garden bed in her backyard in which she had sown several kinds of seeds. Being a normal sort of person who doesn’t research seedling identification, she didn’t know if what was sprouting...
by Daisy | May 15, 2013 | Bugs & Critters, Garden
The other day I was hanging out in my potato patch, just watching lady beetle larvae crawl all over the place. I turned over a leaf and saw this: The photo isn’t very good, and it’s hard to describe what’s going on in it, but it seemed like there...
by Daisy | May 13, 2013 | Bugs & Critters, Garden
Our yard and garden has been crawling with these tiny, alligator-y, black and orange critters. Do you know what they are? How about this? How about now? The first photo is the larval stage of the lady beetle. The second pic shows the pupa of the same. Of course, in...
