This could apply to anywhere, not just North Haven      Sally

Speaking of Bees  Becky Bartovics

it is refreshing to have some good news. Apparently there was a large upswing in the numbers of monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico this year to about 1/5 the normal count and about twice as many as overwintered last year. Kudos to everyone on island who has planted butterfly magnets. Native species are especially important such as echinacea, liatris, comfrey, buckwheat for starters. There are numerous beneficial insect plants that rival hybridized and specialty plants for color the are much more productive of nectar.   While the monarchs news is good for this year, there is some other news about insects world wide— between a 60 and 80% loss in populations world wide.  


Why should we care? Well, every species on up the food chain depends upon insects to fertilize plants and to serve as nutrients for the bottom of the chain on up to the very top on land and in the ocean.


With the past four years of summer drought and until this year paltry sums of other season moisture, I have noticed a marked drop in insects on my farm. I used to have huge numbers of fireflies, moths, grasshoppers and crickets in fall, mosquitos and gnats. Paltry few where present last year. We even have fewer spiders.  The insects provide food for frogs, salamanders, birds, spiders, rodents, my chickens! While some people have a real insect aversions we ought to begin to admire them for their place in the interconnectedness of all things. Taking the time to watch a bee reach into the throat of a flower for nectar, or watch a solitary wasp dig a hole, drag a stunned caterpillar across grass or gravel impediments to the hole, draw it down out of sight, and then come out to roll a plug across the opening, those are magic moments worth every second.  Try it with a child!


Learning that pesticides are included in all wines whether or not organic from California, that their presence is in most non organic food, that they are implicated in auto immune and cancer diseases means we need to pay attention and avoid using them at all.  Find another way. Garlic sprays, Neem oil and including leguminous plants in gardens and lawns goes a long way. Or how about reducing lawn size to give over to the magic of insects all together- that would reduce carbon emissions, save money and provide added habitat for the beautiful  array of insects in our natural environment.  North Haven could become an oasis for all of the denizens of our island if we treat it as such.