JOYFUL PIECE #5
The magic of fireflies is at hand...
Image courtesy of Janezdrilc Wikipedia Commons
Have you ever experienced the magic of hundreds of fireflies?
When I was a child, the floating blinking lights would appear at dusk, and we would rush to grab jars and capture these lovely creatures. But this is not happening today at many locations. It appears that our environment is too ladened with pesticides and we tend to mow the grasses in which these creatures make their homes.
Our ecosystems are stressed out. The population of pollinators such as bees, wasps, hornets, butterflies, and moths have severely plummeted. It is common nowadays for farmers to hire itinerant bees (via humans, of course) to come and pollinate their crops, because the bee population has been decimated.
I think that many of us had accepted that childhood and fireflies were a dim memory of the past never to return. But there is hope in bringing back this joyful experience of our childhood. All we need to do is to think outside the box, or jar, if you will!
Influenced by the lovely story provided in the link further down, we have decided to eliminate insecticides from our lot. The lot is large, and we had left it purposefully as native as possible for the past twenty years. The lot is visited throughout the year by birds, squirrels, deer, foxes, coyotes, and many other creatures.
Yet the reality of bugs squirming into our home had long hooked us on exterminator services. The creepy crawlers that we did not want in our home kept sneaking in despite the poisons we were spreading. At the same time, pollinators began to decline. Bees no longer buzzed about; butterflies were few, even after our yearly spreading of wildflower seeds.
A couple of years ago I began to go room by room at our house, inspecting walls for holes where critters could crawl in. I noticed that where the pipes came into the house, or where cables came in to feed lighting fixtures the builder of the house had not fully sealed the openings. I paid special attention to closets and the joints between dry wall and wood finishing. Armed with caulking materials and duct tape I meticulously sealed the openings that I found. The number of unwelcome critters plunged!
We failed to discontinue the use of exterminators, but now, after reading the article below we are headed into a new insecticide-free reality. And we will be adjusting our living spaces in other ways as well. We will examine how outside lights may be disrupting insect mating rituals. Maybe someday soon the magic of fireflies will return!
Insecticides are “practical”, yet they deprive us of fascinating insects and other wildlife up the food chain, from birds to fish, and on to humans! Do you remember Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring that we read in Junior High School? Well, it is up to us now to pick up where she left off and preserve the beauty of nature. Let’s try a different way of co-existing with other species. You can learn more about this topic here: A Summer Spectacle Where Fireflies Are the Guiding Light.
My grandfather lived on a farm in Lost Creek, W.VA Summer visits included the magical fireflies, caught and placed in glass jars in hopes they'd survive the trip north, back across the Ohio and on to the Detroit area. Sweet memory. thank you.
My enslaved fireflies were rings and bracelets and turned my shirt into a bejeweled masterpiece! Thanks for bringing that back.