The Night Bugs

              I love summer on our farm, nearly as much as I love winter. We have entered the days of thunderstorms and humidity, which I adore. The garden is absolutely flourishing and I can almost taste the cucumbers and tomatoes as I vainly check through the leaves each evening. The blueberries are starting to put on hints of powdery blue. The rhubarb is amazing this year. (As I am typing, a rhubarb crisp is bubbling in the oven). The potatoes are blooming and the sweet potatoes are vining like crazy. The watermelon vines are growing at least a foot every day. The corn will be over knee high by the Fourth of July. The pole beans are over my head and baby squash are forming too. The gooseberries are ever so plump this year with so much rain. The lambs and goats sides are bulging from grazing on lush pasture as they head to the barn each evening. The meat birds days are getting shorter and shorter as they will be heading to freezer camp soon. 

              In the evening we sit out on the deck and listen to the whippoorwills call and the frogs croak in the pond. Then one by one our pasture begins to light up with tiny lanterns until the whole pasture is sparkling like a starry sky. How does one live without lightening bugs? As the birds sing themselves to sleep, things get quieter and quieter. Except for the whippoorwill, the frogs in the pond and the occasional hoot owl, all is pretty quiet. This will all change in the days to come. May and June are quiet nights but that’s because the night bugs are still sleeping. Soon they will begin to sing. And sing they will! Crickets and katydids and all the other little fiddlers will start to tune up, until there is quite the chorus performing. Last night, as I quietly went to the barn and the chicken coop for the last check and to close doors, a familiar buzz greeted me as I stepped up on the coop steps. Aha! The last day of June and he was already getting started. “Hello, little night bug!” I’ve missed you!