I've been attacked!!!!

Went to visit the garden this morning.  Hadn't been there in two days with the rain.  As I approached, I was horrified to see this:

And This!!!!:

There used to be leaves there!

All three of my sweet pepper plants were eaten .  My head started spinning.  "What's going on???" I say to myself. "What could have done this??"  "WHYYYYYYY?" I scream looking up at the sky.
And then I spot THIS:

A Horn Worm!!! Garden enemy Number One!! (Maybe number two after Aphids.)

I was devasted.  I must get rid of him.

What is a Hornworm you may ask?

According to The University of Minnesota:
"The tomato hornworm, Manduca quinquemaculata (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae), is native to the United states, and is commonly found throughout the northern states."  Well it's here in The Bahamas too! "...large numbers of larvae can sporadically occur in home gardens. Tomato hornworms feed only on solanaceous plants, most often on tomato. However, larvae will also attack eggplant, pepper, and potato......The larva is the damaging stage and feeds initially on the upper portions of leaves, leaving behind dark green or black droppings. The larvae blend in with the plant canopy, and therefore go unnoticed until most of the damage is done"

I had to get rid of him.  My daughter begged me not to kill him.  "He can be a Science Project for Damon."  She suggests.  That would be an alternative for other kids, but not Damon.  His interest in such things last a little longer than a minute.  So what do I do with it?

He's being held prisoner in an empty Parmesan Cheese container.  His fate has yet to be determined. Those black balls are his poop btw. 

Mulberries and Cherries

We picked Mulberries and Cherries after school today........

We saw the trees in a yard we were passing.  Knocked on the door and asked permission to pick some.

I just found out these purple berries were Mulberries.  My fingers are stained purple from picking them.  They sure are sweet!

I remember these cherries as a child in my grandmother's yard. They range from tart to very sweet.

I think I ate too many :-( .

Starting New Friendships

A few weeks ago I joined a Small Group at my church. The group would get together once a week to discuss our 40 day corporate journey.  We started out as 11 strangers, many of us new to the congregation and not knowing anyone at church.  However, by the end of the 8 weeks, we can now call ourselves friends.

We celebrated our journey and new friendships by having a wonderful dinner last night.  We had great food and drinks, played games and talked and laughed for hours.  It was great.

Damon-ism #4

"Mummy, I got the New York Times on my Ipod Touch so that I can read digitally." (He's 6)

The Breakfast of Champions......

Carrot Cake and Soy Chai-tea Latte

Not really, I'm actually a bit embarrassed.  It sure was good though!

How Does Your Garden Grow? part4

Well, it's been a while since the last update.  My garden has seen some ups and downs lately.  The ups, you'll see in a bit.  The downs resulted in a full-on assault of pulling up unruly tomato plants! I've learn alot about gardening and alot about myself during this process.

I realise that I am impatient and I give up too easily. NOT GOOD!  But, there will be a Round Two to my garden, so I hope that the lessons learned will produce a bountiful harvest.

So, back to the ups:

Tomatoes

Tomatoes too

Broccoli

Cabbage

Carrots

Carrots too

  If you don't garden, try it.  You don't even need a yard.  Container Gardening is very popular these days.  I want to encourage everyone to grow your own food if possible.  It's good for the environment and more importantly, it's good for your health.  Gardening allows you to know where your food comes from and how it's been produced. It feels really good to allow my son to pull up a carrot, wash it off, and eat it right away.

Damon-ism #3

Sitting at the table doing his grammar:

"Mummy I saw on a television show that too much schoolwork can cause belly-hurting syndrome and head-hurting syndrome."