Our latest Farm Newsletter will be written soon. Below are some
highlights, I may get a chance to write about one, two or all; as usual,
we have a lot going on. We are still happily harvesting late summer
crops as well as cooler season fun. We're thankful for the cooler
weather, I feel more productive when I don't worry about overheating
while working in the sun. We have been busy planting thousands of
seeds, harvesting, weeding, and making chicken tunnels.
Photographs
pertaining to this will soon be found when I post this Newsletter at
our blog and Facebook websites, addresses are noted below.
~~~~~~A Tidbit of Farm Happenings~~~~~~
Permaculture. Edible Food Forest. Sustainable Living.
One Photograph Per Day Approach.
Sprouts and Microgreens - the health benefits may surprise you.
Chicken Tunnels - Putting prototypes to work.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to do what we love.
Ron and Annette Layton
Little Eden Heirloom Farm
850/274-7690
Website: http://www.littleedenheirloomfarm.com/
Online Store: https://squareup.com/store/littleedenheirloomfarm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/littleedenheirloomfarm/
https://www.facebook.com/littleedenheirloomfarm
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littleedenheirloomfarm/
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYIMo8C6h6SE52DbiUyMoWw
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Farm Happenings - Butterflies, Moths and Bidens Alba
Monarch. Zebra Longwing. Gulf Fritillary. Longtail Skipper. and so many more.
Recognize any names?
How about Bidens Alba?
Love the first ones listed ... hate the last one...
We have rescued, hatched, fed, sheltered, watched, photographed and enjoyed so many wonderful butterflies and moths this year and every year. We plant numerous food sources just for them but there is one, one we do not plant but do tolerate.... yeah, it's the white flowers growing alongside most area roads this time of year.
Bidens Alba - most commonly known as shepherd's needles, beggarticks, Spanish needles or butterfly needles. It's one nasty plant but it is a wonderful pollinator attracting every butterfly and honey bee for it's nectar. It's a pretty little flower belonging to the aster, daisy and sunflower family that smells nice, has no cut flower worthiness and best of all it does most certainly have the most awful pokey pronged devils that cling to your clothing and gets into your pet's hair. All that being said, if you can tolerate it or have a spot to grow it that you will not need to walk near it .... let it grow, the honeybees and butterflies will love you for it.
Beloved Monarchs. We may have lost almost all the leaves on our milkweed but it's worth it when you see and are able to photograph and video monarchs (and many other butterflies) who have freshly emerged from her chrysalises. This was just a trickle of happenings the last few days here at Little Eden. These may soon be on their way with many thousands of other Monarch butterflies to the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico where they will overwinter and migrate back to us in spring.
Skippers. Such dainty butterfly beauties. It's so hard to choose a favorite, I mean, there's only more than 3500 different species of skippers and this area has a large variety. They are all my favorite, I just wish they weren't so jumpy, flitting from flower to flower, not staying long enough to have their photograph taken. They do have a bad side to them though ... pea and bean leaves gets 2 little 1/4" rips and folded over...this denotes that it's hatch time for these beautiful creatures. They, like all caterpillars start small but this species stay small so we let them rip and fold until just before it starts hindering the health of the plants and then we have to stop the cycle with organic spray, removing the eggs when we see them. Yes, we choose to share with the bugs but since we can't eat the bugs, and they themselves won't learn to share, ... awe, it is a never ending battle.
A few photographs I took, click on the photograph for a larger view.
Happy fall and Happy October, thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to do what we love.
Ron and Annette Layton
Little Eden Heirloom Farm
Crawfordville, Florida
850/274-7690
Website: http://www.littleedenheirloomfarm.com/
Online Store: https://squareup.com/store/littleedenheirloomfarm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/littleedenheirloomfarm/
https://www.facebook.com/littleedenheirloomfarm
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littleedenheirloomfarm/
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYIMo8C6h6SE52DbiUyMoWw
Recognize any names?
How about Bidens Alba?
Love the first ones listed ... hate the last one...
We have rescued, hatched, fed, sheltered, watched, photographed and enjoyed so many wonderful butterflies and moths this year and every year. We plant numerous food sources just for them but there is one, one we do not plant but do tolerate.... yeah, it's the white flowers growing alongside most area roads this time of year.
Bidens Alba - most commonly known as shepherd's needles, beggarticks, Spanish needles or butterfly needles. It's one nasty plant but it is a wonderful pollinator attracting every butterfly and honey bee for it's nectar. It's a pretty little flower belonging to the aster, daisy and sunflower family that smells nice, has no cut flower worthiness and best of all it does most certainly have the most awful pokey pronged devils that cling to your clothing and gets into your pet's hair. All that being said, if you can tolerate it or have a spot to grow it that you will not need to walk near it .... let it grow, the honeybees and butterflies will love you for it.
Beloved Monarchs. We may have lost almost all the leaves on our milkweed but it's worth it when you see and are able to photograph and video monarchs (and many other butterflies) who have freshly emerged from her chrysalises. This was just a trickle of happenings the last few days here at Little Eden. These may soon be on their way with many thousands of other Monarch butterflies to the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico where they will overwinter and migrate back to us in spring.
Skippers. Such dainty butterfly beauties. It's so hard to choose a favorite, I mean, there's only more than 3500 different species of skippers and this area has a large variety. They are all my favorite, I just wish they weren't so jumpy, flitting from flower to flower, not staying long enough to have their photograph taken. They do have a bad side to them though ... pea and bean leaves gets 2 little 1/4" rips and folded over...this denotes that it's hatch time for these beautiful creatures. They, like all caterpillars start small but this species stay small so we let them rip and fold until just before it starts hindering the health of the plants and then we have to stop the cycle with organic spray, removing the eggs when we see them. Yes, we choose to share with the bugs but since we can't eat the bugs, and they themselves won't learn to share, ... awe, it is a never ending battle.
A few photographs I took, click on the photograph for a larger view.
 |
| Skipper on Bidens Alba flower |
 |
| Monarch and empty chysalis |
 |
| Monarch - not quite ready to fly. |
 |
| Gulf Fritillary on Marigold flower |
 |
| Skipper on Confederate Rose flower |
 |
| Skipper on Bidens Alba flower |
Happy fall and Happy October, thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to do what we love.
Ron and Annette Layton
Little Eden Heirloom Farm
Crawfordville, Florida
850/274-7690
Website: http://www.littleedenheirloomfarm.com/
Online Store: https://squareup.com/store/littleedenheirloomfarm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/littleedenheirloomfarm/
https://www.facebook.com/littleedenheirloomfarm
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littleedenheirloomfarm/
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYIMo8C6h6SE52DbiUyMoWw
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