Once I had a Garden...

I use to have a garden. It had a plethora of lettuce growing in it. It also had a decent stand of peas and carrots.

This garden of mine never got sprayed, but nothing was bothering it.

Then the grain field behind our house ripened. This apparently forced these varmints to seek lush green food elsewhere. And that elsewhere I speak of was my garden. The garden that I once had. The garden that got eaten alive. I hate to blame it on the grain field getting ripe, but that is the only conclusion I can come to. It seems the transformation from healthy thriving garden to dead and eaten garden has happened over night.

How many grasshoppers can you count? I counted 14.

This was lettuce.

These were carrots.

Luckily, the grasshoppers don't seem to be very interested in the plants I care the most about, like my tomatoes. (Knock on wood--they could become very interested once they finish off the last of the lettuce, which will likely be today. Only time will tell.)

On a side note--I have never been a fan of starlings. Probably because I've had a few unpleasant experiences with starlings. Who ever it was that thought he should introduce starlings into North America needed to have his brain examined. Ok, maybe that's a little harsh, but I really think starlings are a waste of a bird. At least I thought that until yesterday when I watched dozens of starlings eating multitudes of grasshoppers in my yard--almost like the Seagulls and the Mormon Crickets. Then I thought, "maybe they're not so much of a waste after all." I'm still not a fan of the bird, but I have found one positive feature in them.

One more side note--things could be a lot worse. I've heard that grasshoppers have recently caused so much damage to the grass in the Plains region that ranchers are having to sell a good majority of their herds because there is no longer enough feed to sustain all the cattle. Apparently grasshoppers are very abundant this year...hopefully that doesn't mean starlings are even more abundant next year :)