Hot, still and smoky

The grasshoppers have arrived. or better said, the grasshoppers have awakened. Here and there the pop of the hop. It's a festive springtime rhythm. But I worry. With the drought that we have been experiencing they could proliferate and desimate the garden.

Neighbor Emily raises Guinea hens to eat the grasshoppers, but we don't yet have the bunkspace for fowl.

More peas have sprouted today. And a few beets and chard peaking through. I scattered and raked in the oats, which we are using as cover crop. Tomorrow or the next day I'll plant soybeans, also as cover crop to keep weeds from invading the beds we are not planting this year, while at the same time fixing nitrogen and adding organic matter to the soil.