The grass glows like a carpet of emerald here, with the sun shining after all that rain. (Especially since I could finally get at least the part around the pond mowed. In other sections the grass is so tall that Nick went in through the open garden gate this morning and then couldn’t find the gate again to get out. I could have used side commands to talk either of the other two dogs out, but he doesn’t know his “sides”- "come bye" and "away to me" that is. He had to find his own way out. Pretty tall grass when you can lose a full-sized border collie in it!)
The trees echo the same bright summer color, but you only have to drive a few miles either north or south to find all the branches bare and black and ugly. It doesn’t smell too good either. There are no birds, no leaves, no color, nothing but a twisted desert of disaster. The gypsy moth is having a high point in its cycle and the caterpillars are devastating the woods both in Fulton and Schoharie Counties. It is the worst I have ever seen. I think I will do some research today and write the Farm Side about the mess. I haven't seen any mention in the paper anywhere else and it needs to be noticed. I heard that the state cut funding to control the critters and I am wondering what the story is there.
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Going Forward—Monday, December 23, 2024
1 hour ago
6 comments:
I had no idea Gypsy Moths could be that destructive, I read the link. Wow.
I'm teaching my dogs left and right turns, they're learning it suprisingly quickly on leash! Not nearly as impressive as teaching herding skills, mind you.
Hi Carina, I just spent a couple of hours researching them for the Farm Side and they are downright evil! They destroyed 800,000 acres in NJ during the eighties and are right on target to do it again this year. Ugh...
The hardest part for me with side commands with the dogs is that you have to think about their left and right, not your own. It is a real mind boggler.
We were in MA during that outbreak of gypsy moths in the 80s. There actually were car accidents due to the roads being slippery from a carpet of the caterpillars!
Hi Nancy, I am dreading the thought that they may come here. Besides how depressing it is to see the devastation they wreak, I am SO allergic to them. I don't get poison ivy, but I sure do get gypsy moth caterpillar rash. I found a mess of their nasty eggs on my porch yesterday. Damn!
These things are sounding worse and worse. Allergic reactions? Caterpillar-slick roads? And the potential for such destruction. Sounds like one of the biblical plagues; locusts or something....
They have cost literally billions of dollars since they escaped captivity in 1869, between the actual harm they do to forests and the money that has been spent controlling them. One of our apple trees is looking pretty bare and we went out to check it today, but it is okay so far.
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