With my last seed order I ordered a book (yeah...that book buying moratorium is a lot like my fabric buying moratorium...only the ones I absolutely NEED/WANT) that deals with saving the seeds from plants. For many plants, it's not that big a deal, but there are some heirloom plants that if you don't save the seeds from year to year you run the risk of not being able to find those seeds. So I thought it would help if I actually read HOW to do it instead of throwing away moldy seeds or planting seeds and having nothing come up, which has happened a few years.
So the last few mornings, when my students have a 30 minute test stretch, I've been trying to read a few paragraphs. And I've learned that wasps, which I hate and make me swell like nobody's business, do NOT pollinate the flowers, but bees do. What really and truly shocked me is that FLIES are good pollinators as well. Yes, nasty flies, that crawl all over animal poop like it's a pot luck and carry diseases and germs and make annoying noises actually have a beneficial purpose (other than helping dead things decay). I'll still pull out the fly flap (aka fly swatter to some people) if I find them in my house. But the next time I find them buzzing around me outside, especially around my garden, I'll try to swat them away with much less irritation. After all, they are doing me a huge favor!
So the last few mornings, when my students have a 30 minute test stretch, I've been trying to read a few paragraphs. And I've learned that wasps, which I hate and make me swell like nobody's business, do NOT pollinate the flowers, but bees do. What really and truly shocked me is that FLIES are good pollinators as well. Yes, nasty flies, that crawl all over animal poop like it's a pot luck and carry diseases and germs and make annoying noises actually have a beneficial purpose (other than helping dead things decay). I'll still pull out the fly flap (aka fly swatter to some people) if I find them in my house. But the next time I find them buzzing around me outside, especially around my garden, I'll try to swat them away with much less irritation. After all, they are doing me a huge favor!
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