I am happy to report that this year, several years after taking some of our land out of row crop to restore a native pasture, the resident ragweed population has shrunk from a couple acres, to a couple hundred total plants, hiding in a scraggily corner.
Yes, unfortunately I did not have my camera on me at the time, and I haven't quite developed my butterfly photography skills... They're faster than they seem!
We are all "soft and foolish" when we begin homesteading/farming, when all is said and done it is sheer determination that gets the job at hand done. Sending all the hay fever sympathies I can, for I am allergic to grass pollen (even though much of my life is lived outside by tall grass from June to September), and my husband suffers greatly from a ragweed allergy. It's not so bad here in the mountainside grasslands where the soil is covered perpetually in green, but when we lived in Hungary, the ragweed would take over entire wheat fields after an early harvest and persist for several months, being a non-native that took to the hot and sweaty climate of the puszta. Glad you can enjoy the butterflies through all the nonsense!
I am happy to report that this year, several years after taking some of our land out of row crop to restore a native pasture, the resident ragweed population has shrunk from a couple acres, to a couple hundred total plants, hiding in a scraggily corner.
Eighty monarchs!? That must be an amazing sight.
Yes, unfortunately I did not have my camera on me at the time, and I haven't quite developed my butterfly photography skills... They're faster than they seem!
We are all "soft and foolish" when we begin homesteading/farming, when all is said and done it is sheer determination that gets the job at hand done. Sending all the hay fever sympathies I can, for I am allergic to grass pollen (even though much of my life is lived outside by tall grass from June to September), and my husband suffers greatly from a ragweed allergy. It's not so bad here in the mountainside grasslands where the soil is covered perpetually in green, but when we lived in Hungary, the ragweed would take over entire wheat fields after an early harvest and persist for several months, being a non-native that took to the hot and sweaty climate of the puszta. Glad you can enjoy the butterflies through all the nonsense!
Beautiful bow tie analogy at the end, sir.