Good News from "Bad Bugs"

During the kids' nap times today, I went outside to work in my garden. I often use this quiet time of the day to do a bit of weeding and check on all of my plants. Today, I noticed what appeared to be a large red wasp buzzing around my summer squash. At first, I avoided it, as I am rather afraid of wasps and bees, but then I remembered reading about a common garden pest that looks like a wasp but is actually a moth. When it landed at the base of a squash plant and began to deposit its eggs, I realized unhappily that it was, in fact, the dreaded squash vine borer.

I chased it away repeatedly, its resemblance to a wasp making me afraid to kill it with my bare hands, even though I knew it could not hurt me. Finally, after the moth left for good, I returned inside to read a little about eradicating these bugs from my garden. Armed with photos, a bit of knowledge, a box cutter, and a pair of tweezers, I went back to the side garden ready to do battle to save my plants. I do not really mind if the borers get the zucchini, since I doubt those plants will produce any fruit this year, but I definitely do not want to lose my pumpkins or my butternut squash. I had read that the butternut is resistant to the vine borers, but that pumpkins are very susceptible to being damaged by them.

When I reached the garden, I began examining the base of each vine. I plucked a few eggs from one of the summer squash, but I could not find any on the other plants. Then, I noticed what I had hoped I would not find - a small hole near the base of my only healthy pumpkin vine. I debated whether I should operate on the plant and risk killing it if I were wrong, but I decided that leaving a vine borer inside the plant would be worse than cutting it open a bit. I carefully sliced open the vine, beginning at the hole, and removed a fat, squirming vine borer from the stem.

I checked a little further down and could not find any more of the caterpillars. I shoveled a few scoops of damp soil over the cut stem and over a few of the leaf joints on the vine, where I knew the plant had been putting down auxiliary roots. Hopefully, the plant will survive the surgery, since I caught the bug before any damage had occurred.

Next, I examined the other squash plants in my garden and removed a smaller borer from a zucchini plant. The rest of the plants appeared to be okay.

When Hannah came downstairs from her quiet time in her room, I showed her the picture I took of the squash vine borers, and I brought her outside to look at the plants. I explained that just one tiny caterpillar could kill an entire plant. Together, we checked, but could not find any more of the "bad bugs" as Hannah called them.

After we returned to the house, I pulled out my Bible and read Genesis 3:17-19:

"To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."

I shared with Hannah that bugs and weeds and powdery mildew and other garden ailments are all part of the curse, the punishment put on the earth because of the Fall. I explained that our sin has caused the difficulties we have in producing food from the land, but that God still blesses us and allows us to eat the fruit of our labor. And, He often gives us an abundance, well more than we need, though it does not come without effort. Furthermore, we can rejoice in the good news that we are redeemed and sin no longer defines us. Instead, we have hope for a future "in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Matthew 6:20). And that is the Good News we can learn from "bad bugs."

Summer in the Garden

Apparently, I am too busy in the summer to update my blog much. We have traveled and played and camped and explored, and through it all, we have learned. The overarching theme of this summer, however, has been gardening.

At the beginning of last school year, I wrote out a wonderful plan of all of the units and activities I would do with the kids that year. In reality, we did more informal units, based around their interests and activities, while focusing on reading, writing, and math. One of the last units I had planned for the year was "plants and seeds," and I felt disappointed that we never studied it. Then, a few weeks ago, I realized that we have completed nearly the entire unit in the course of our summer gardening adventures. And, the kids likely learned more from their hands-on experience than they would have learned from formal instruction.

Our project began with the construction of a 4'x8' raised bed garden in our backyard.

Josh used a rented sod-cutter to remove the grass, while bug-loving Hannah rescued earthworms and white grubs from the dirt below.

Then, we measured, cut, and assembled the boards, and Josh gave each child, including Becca, a turn to help him drill holes for the screws.

Finally, we filled the box with topsoil, compost, and peat moss, and planted vegetable transplants and seeds.

Because the sod-cutter was so easy to use, we decided to create a second 4'x12' garden next to the garage.

We planted a lot of veggies throughout the summer: slicing tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green/red bell peppers, sweet orange peppers, cucumbers, pole beans, purple and yellow onions, red and orange carrots, turnips, broccoli, romaine, zucchini, summer squash, butternut squash, and pumpkins. The kids have helped me plant and harvest and weed and have seen tiny seedlings develop into large and bushy plants, covered in ripening vegetables.

Romaine:

Tomatoes:

Pepper:

Onions:

Cucumber:

Broccoli:

Pole Beans:

In addition to this experiential education, the kids and I have read several books to complement what they are learning. One of their favorite books, Muncha Muncha Muncha, has taken on new meaning to them, in light of them having their own garden. They have become much more sympathetic to poor Mr. McGreely, who keeps losing his vegetables, and they dislike the "bad bunnies" who keep stealing them. They also love the book The Carrot Seed, in which a little boy plants a carrot seed and cares for it, even though everyone tells him that the seed won't come up. In the end, of course, a huge carrot comes up and proves everyone else wrong.

Finally, our Bible times have reflected our gardening theme as well. The kids' new knowledge of gardening helped them understand two parables on a deeper level then they have in the past - the parable of the sower and the parable of the weeds. Isn't it amazing how Jesus uses common experiences and objects to explain his Kingdom, so ordinary people, even children, can begin to comprehend the mysteries of faith and eternity?

I do not think I could have planned a better unit on seeds and plants! I may pull out a few of the worksheets I have from a science book I purchased, but overall, I am amazed at what my children have learned this summer simply by being included in my gardening project. I think this is further proof that "Learning is Life."