Being that this is my first year having a near full-fledged
farm, I am experiencing many new “challenges.” I like to think of them as
growth opportunities… you know, to keep myself from getting overwhelmed.
This month’s growth opportunity comes in the form of buzzing
biting modern day pterodactyls that go by the name of “flies.” Nasty little
jerks. I will say, I hate them, and I don’t hate many things, but flies? With
every fiber of my being I can say they are my arch nemeses.
I wish there were a “how to” book on every aspect of running
an animal sanctuary that would adequately prepare me for every… “Growth Opportunity.”
If there is one, I have not located it just yet.
In the interim I’m doing what
I do best, winging it.
So I trolled the internet, reading blogs, articles, and
product reviews to wrap my head around just which tactics I would use to wage
my war against these winged beasts that are invading. My head was spinning after my research because like most things, each thing I read
contradicted the next, and all of the side effects of each method or product
were projected to put my little farm at risk of everything from scurvy to dysentery.
What did I do next?
I.
Bought. Everything.
I now am the proud owner of fly powder, 4 different brands
of fly spray, fly traps, a mineral block that promises to make the animal
poop-piles uninhabitable to these fly hatchlings, (I know the word is larvae,
but I don’t like that word, hatchlings sounds more menacing…) and I am
currently anxiously awaiting the arrival of “non-stinging” parasitic wasps that
are supposed to be my little buzzing white knights that will strike down my
adversaries.
What a day in age that I can order parasitic wasps on the
internet.
So far, I have tried the fly powder and one of the fly
sprays….
They are both junk. JUNK I TELL YOU. Citronella perfumed
CRAP. Why didn’t I just light some money on fire and hope that the smoke from
my 20 dollar bills kept the modern day pterodactyls away? It probably would
have been more effective.
The horses smell like camping in the summer time and the
flies are eating from the traps and leaving at their leisure. So now I have opened up a fly buffet.
They may have won
the battle but they will not win the war.
Life is good. ;)
