infestation blues

it would appear that the whole ecosystem of
central stearns county is infested with
what are referred to as
"cutter worms" or
"army worms"

these are in fact caterpillars with
highly developed social tendencies
they find it easy to live with one another
in large numbers
hundreds will congregate and cuddle on a tree
they will eventually create a large cacoon
where mating and birthing figure in heavily

these creatures find easy sustenance with
leaves of just about any tree it would appear
given the time they will devour a tree

what was i to do
seeing these furry little blue worms
going about surviving in the way they are inclined
but literally taking over the life
of the apple trees

once i perceived the problem i decided
almost immediately to go around flicking and brushing
these innocent caterpillars off of the trees

i was given to looking under every limb
in every crotch
and i shook the branches that could be shook
and i watched as the little crawly things
fell to the grass

my method of confronting these critters
carried with it a sort of agreement
i agreed not to kill the caterpillars
yet i was going to force them to survive
out of the trees
i did not take measures to capture or eradicate
i simply went from tree to tree and
lightly flicked the blue multilegged worms
from the places where they congregate

at some level i assumed the role of tyrant
reserving the right to control
the life of the trees according to
my vision of a successful and healthy orchard

i would guess that the whole time has taken
about 5-6 hours of work
having gone thoroughly from tree to tree about
4 times now

after yesterdays purge
i had the feeling that the worst is over
and the trees are in tact
and the apples are on their way to
healthy maturity

this operation also afforded me the opportunity
to check on the damaged apples
apples which have fallen victim
to the "maggotfly" a little bug which
lays it's eggs in the bloom and these
mature with the developing apple and bore
into the core of the apple and reside there
eating and growing into the adult phase of
a normal insect life

by means of a general perusal of the apple clusters
it is possible to detect the sight where the
bug has entered the apple

so in my thinning of the apples i was able to
be quite accurate in ridding the tree of
the apples which were doomed to be wormy
i suppose this will be an ongoing process
but
by and large
i am taking the attitude of gratitude even for
the blue caterpillars
they forced me to take a very close look
at every tree

this kind of knowing will be the basis
of any orchard success i experience this year
for it is a year where i used no
pest control whatsoever

it will be interesting to see how
the crop turns out
given my natural dance
with the natural girl known far and wide as
mother nature