The Ladybug Aphid Farm

I went through the peas one last time Tuesday morning, then pulled out the plants and made some repairs to the trellis for next year. I gave the pea vines to the chickens. When I checked on them an hour or so later, there was nothing left but a bunch of stems. Sometimes the chicken yard very much resembles a piranha tank.

I have this faint hope that I’ll be able to keep the lettuce from bolting during this heat wave by cutting it back, so that all went to the pigs. We’ve moved on from lettuce salads to cucumber salads—I made instant pickles (cucumbers in vinegar) the other night for the husband because the cucumber vines are taking over the world. Likewise the watermelon and cantaloupe vines, which have little golf ball-sized fruits on them.

Weeding continues. I had a terrible problem last year with a weed that looks like clover with yellow flowers. I believe it is some kind of woodsorrel. It has tenacious roots and lots of foliage that chokes out other plants. I managed to beat that one back this year with lots of cardboard and weed barrier, but of course, other weeds took its place. I have a bumper crop of chamomile, which would be a bonus were I not allergic to it. A sip of chamomile tea will make my sinuses swell almost instantly. Chamomile is a pretty plant, though, so mostly I leave it alone unless it’s in my way.

The thistles and nettles are neverending. I find them easiest to pull up when they are just about to flower. There is a large patch over by the grapes that I intended to eradicate yesterday morning, but after a couple of minutes, I started noticing lots of these little guys:

And when I say lots, I mean like dozens and dozens and dozens. Two of them were even having a romantic interlude. I looked around and they were on everything in that patch of weeds. Then I saw the aphids, and it dawned on me that I had stumbled into the ladybug aphid farm—although perhaps “lunch counter” would be a better term. I don’t know if ladybugs farm aphids like ants do.

I stopped pulling weeds. I want ladybugs in my garden. The last thing I am going to do is make it inhospitable for them. Chemical management of weeds and insects is forbidden (by me), so I have come to accept a baseline level of chaotic biodiversity. Sometimes that includes weeds. My garden will never grace the pages of a magazine. I do try to keep the noxious weeds under control, but I am not as picky about mullein, plantain, or lamb’s quarters, all of which have practical uses. (Yes, nettles have practical uses, too, but they hurt.)

My garden produces food—for us as well as the ladybugs, apparently. And the garter snakes, whose favorite place to hang out is underneath the leaves of the zucchini plant. I have to announce myself before reaching in.

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Work on the Noon and Night pattern layout continues here and there, as does sewing up more test blocks. I can make this block in my sleep at this point. It may be time to start an actual quilt.

I’ve had to impose some design restrictions, informal ones, because there is such a thing as too many choices. A few years ago, I joined the “Bag of the Month Club,” but I let my membership lapse. It really should have been called the “Purse of the Month Club,” because it was mostly fancy purse designs. When I commented in the Facebook group that I had been hoping for a wider variety of bags—wallets, backpacks, totes, duffels, etc.—I was told that we shouldn’t put restrictions on the designers regarding the style of bags because that would squelch their creativity. I respectfully disagree. Sometimes the most creative solutions come out of situations where the choices are limited, intentionally or otherwise.

But hey, what do I know?

I want to make a few more test blocks this afternoon before I commit to anything. Sewing is about the only thing I have energy for when it’s 90+ degrees in the afternoon. (We don’t have air conditioning.) The chickens hate this weather, too—they are cranky and snappish and pecking at each other. The pigs are happy as long as they have shade and cool dirt, although I go out to the pasture once or twice during the day and spray them with the hose. This is supposed to last until the middle of next week. Ugh.

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One of my jobs as bookkeeper for the construction company is to act as a collections agency. I don’t have to do that often, thankfully. The husband’s reputation is solid enough that he can be particular about the jobs he takes and the general contractors he works for. We have what we call the “A List” of contractors, which are the GC’s who are solvent and pay their invoices on time. Every so often, though, the husband will take a small job with a new contractor. We’ve got one at the moment who is causing me no end of headaches. He asked for the invoices to be e-mailed to him, but then claims he never got them. As soon as I hear, “I can’t find your invoice,” I know that’s code for “I don’t have enough money to pay you, so I am going to stall as long as I can.” This guy did that with the first invoice we sent him. The husband refused to do any further work until we got paid. Miraculously, the contractor “found” the invoice in his spam folder almost immediately. Huh.

I sent a second invoice for the second installment and eventually received a check in the mail—made out to our construction company but for the wrong amount because it was for an invoice from another contractor. I called and spoke to the woman in the office and she said she would mail the correct check, but it’s been two weeks and nothing. The husband texted the GC and told him no more work would be done until the outstanding invoice was paid. The GC texted him back and told him he couldn’t find the invoice. I forwarded a copy of the e-mail containing the invoice—which I had sent to both the office e-mail and the contractor’s e-mail—and within an hour I got an e-mail back from the woman in the office. “Ooops,” she said, “this was in the spam folder.” Uh-huh, okay. Whatever.

The husband always tells me not to attribute to malice that which can be attributed to stupidity. We’ve been doing this long enough that I can tell when a contractor is trying to dodge payment, although the fact that the person doing the bookkeeping is sending checks for the wrong invoices to the wrong contractors does indicate some level of incompetence. I doubt this guy is going to be in business much longer.