Chiggers sometimes known as Kansas kisses -

Last summer, I had several extremely itchy bites on my ankles and lower legs. I was told about chiggers that they are usually in remote areas not in a back yards. After several weeks of being extremely itchy, with raised welts on my legs and ankles; I decided to avoid the back yard for the rest of the summer. Chris told me that those were just 'Kansas kisses.'

This year as soon as the fireflies came out I had began sitting on the back deck watching them. Occasionally a mosquito would try to land on my arm, but I gently swatted them away.

I thought to myself 'this is great not getting bit!' Last weekend I wanted to wash out our bird bath, I trudged into the back yard with just slip-on tennis shoes and no socks. I cleaned out the bird bath, then took a walk around the yard and watered some of the trees and shrubs, as we had not had much rain fall.

Saturday night and into Sunday morning I started itching, so I put some caladryl on and also cortizone- 10- It did not stop the intense itching. I then took some benadryl antihistamine and that seemed to get me through Sunday morning and mid afternoon. The benadryl wore off, before we went to Chris's mom's house for dinner, so I took some more Benadryl and slathered on the anti-itch lotions.  Once again Chris said it was just Kansas kisses. 

 

I was pretty grumpy for the first hour at dinner and then the itchiness got a bit better once my old standby benadryl kicked in. 

Before we left for dinner I had googled chiggers to understand my newest enemy. 

They are also called berry bugs and you cannot see them when they jump on for a ride and  look for a tender piece of skin to feed on. They only latch on to skin in the larva stage. 

There is so much information online about these microscopic mites. I wonder how I had not gotten bit by them before.The answer was simple KANSAS. Out West we do not have chiggers, we have mosquito and spiders but their bite is not the extreme itchiness of a chigger bite. 

 

 

"The body’s reaction to digestive enzymes that chiggers use to liquefy skin cells causes the rash, intense itching, and misery that begins a few hours after they have fed. Chiggers tend to attach where the skin is thin, tender, or wrinkled, or where clothing is tight. They do not burrow into the skin, do not feed on blood, and do not carry diseases. If undisturbed, these mites may stay attached and feed for three or four days."  https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef630

I am not a big fan of pesticides as usually outdoor bugs have a purpose, they either eat nuisance pests or they are food for  beneficial pests. Chiggers as adults are a predator that feed on small arthropods and also found to eat plant material.   

They do not bring any benefit to the planet besides eating small anthropods.  But any pesticide I might put down could harm beneficial insects in the yard. So I am screwed!

So what is a girl to do when she want to enjoy her back yard and how to I safely get rid of these skin eating hitchhikers. I mean what baby on this planet jumps on a unsuspecting rabbits, toad, box turtles, rodents, quails and humans and eats their fill of skin cells and then jumps off and is full grown? 

Hide in her home all summer!

Or 

1. Cover up head to toe and wash all my clothes in hot water, scrub my skin with soap and hot water. Use gritty soap to dislodge any hitchhikers. 
2. Spray OFF or CHIGG AWAY. And pretty much smell horrible while outdoors and again wash all my clothes in hot water and scrub my skin with soap and hot water. 
3. Use natural insect repellent with Lemon or Eucalyptus oils. I will smell better, but will it work?

I will probably will try all three. I am not going to let the dang mites win! 

Kansas garden warfare

Coming from the Pacific Northwest I never dreamed that growing food in Kansas would be a war.
Every year I would plant peppers - Anaheim, Jalapeño and Cayenne. I would have a bumper crop of peppers and end up drying them in the garage over the winter and give way to friends.

Last year I planted the same peppers and I got 1 Anaheim, 3 Jalapeño and around 10 Cayenne, This year my husband planted them in a seasoned bale of hay to keep them a bit higher off the ground so the bunnies 🐇and squirrels might leave them alone.Two of the three plants were chewed to nubs and the third plant has one Anaheim pepper that is hanging on for dear life.

Sad and lonely pepper. 

My husband and I have drawn up a battle plan for 2021. We will strategically build raised beds in the fall, we will use hay bales for our soil, by spring the hay will have broken down and we will add a bit of topsoil and other natural soil additives.  Once we have planted our spring garden out will come the heavy fortification of netting and fencing. I suggested a moat around the raised beds, my husband suggested claymores. I vetoed the claymores as they are noisy, but I am secretly still planning a kick butt moat around the beds. Oh, I could call it a water feature, but I don't think they allow water beasts 👾to be kept in back yard moats. Kansas is like that. 🌻

We miss our wonderful back yard in Washington, but the battle wages on and what ground Kansas critters have gained, we will witness it retreating next year. I will be planting lettuce as a diversion for the bunnies and plenty of nuts  in a bowl for the squirrels.  

Our former glory days in Washington State. 

Fireflies July 10th 2020

I had never seen a firefly before I moved to Kansas.

 Last year mid June I saw and held a firefly in my hand.  Every evening I would go out at dusk to watch the fire flies dance around the trees, it was the most beautiful and fascinating sight I had seen.

Firefly season is once again here and I watch out my window until I see the sun slowly setting, My attic room window faces the east and I watch the suns reflection slowly disappear from my neighbors upstairs window. The squirrels have returned to their nests in the trees and the last of the birds chirp their finally call to their family to return to the nest. The fire flies are low to the ground and slowly light up the grass and shrubs. As the darkness falls they rise into the trees and light up each tree with sparkling light. The last birds I see each night are the starlings as they quietly circle  in the sky above me. I wonder why they are so silent and yet I feel like they are making sure all birds tucked safely into their nests.

As darkness falls I sense mother earth sighing and imagine she whispers to the wind "Bring your cool refreshing wind to my children as they rest" The earth each day works hard for all creation, she warms her soils to grow the food we eat. Her trees clean our air and protect us from the suns blazing heat in mid July.  She holds steady during the storms, her earth drinks the rain to protect us from floods. The trees are deeply rooted in to her soil, my house stands and does not float away as she uses her  magic of gravity to hold all to her tenderly.
Its July 10th and the fire flies have thinned. The cicadas are starting their summer song. Mosquito's are starting to look for a tasty meal, the spider's webs are ready to catch their prey. The sky is clear, but only two stars visible in the evening sky. I wish for a time in my past when the city lights were low and we could see and identify all the constellations in the night sky. 

South Star