It’s Sunday night and I’m really glad to finally be sitting down! Originally I was going to have the entire weekend off from work. However, my boss needed another person to work our table at CoffeeCon and I said I’d work. That was Saturday 8-4 (almost the entire time on my feet). Then today after church, I whipped out, ate lunch on the drive over, arrived at noon, headed back to church at 4:40 for our Spook-ghetti Dinner (which I was helping with) and arrived back home about 8 pm. Phew!
CoffeeCon was fun. Although I don’t really drink coffee except as a mocha or cappuccino, I flogged a lot of chocolate for our shop. I’ll also tell you that Grey Goose vodka mixed with cold brew coffee makes an awesome drink that’s not a bad way to start the morning!! (Table across from us.) 🙂
What does this have to do with insect houses? Nothing other than the fact that I need a blog post and the insect house is it. I’ve never seen one of these in the US, but I’ve seen a number while in France and I find them fascinating. Here’s what one looks like.
Insect house in Fourgerolles, France
Why on earth would you want to attract and house insects? Greenthumb has an answer here. One fact that stands out to me is that, according to this article, 97 to 99 percent or all insects perform crucial services for the ecosystem. So providing a home for them gets more critical every day. Here are the reasons the article gives:
#1 Increasing local biodiversity
#2 Safe place for solitary pollinators
#3 Biological pest control
#4 Improving soil fertility
#5 Connection to the nature and ecology
#6 Your garden will look prettier and will buzz with life
Head over the article to read more. I think an insect house, a bat house, and a little free library are things every house should have! 🙂 That’s all for tonight, folks. I hope you had a wonderful weekend and that your Monday goes beautifully.
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I love that insect house!
I was immediately enthralled by them after seeing the first one. 🙂
janet
I think I might make one next summer
That Insect House, AKA a Bug Hotel, certainly has some interesting features I’ve never seen in one before.
So you’d seen them before? I’ve only seen them in France and they all look more or less like this one. But I find them quite interesting.
janet
They’re promoted on the gardening shows here and I’ve seen some excellent examples but not with the variety of materials that were in the French one you posted. I have several in my garden but nowhere near as fancy .
Now you can always upscale. 🙂 Might attract a higher class of insect that way?
That is pretty amazing. I’ve never seen one before either, but now I want to see one in my garden. In Germany we also saw the very high perches on the perimeters of fields and gardens. Those were for the hawks to come and watch for mice, and I liked that too.
Those would be cool as well…unless you’re a mouse! 🙂
I love that insect house, xcept I see one section at the bottom that might be suitable for rats. I’da put it nearer the top.
You definitely don’t want rats, so that sounds like a good idea to me.
janet
That’s really neat. I love the textures and different materials that were used. I’ve never seen one before.
I hadn’t either before going to France. They’re really attractive, aren’t they?
janet
I have a small insect house that I used an experiment this summer. I’ll have to put it up again next spring, because there were no occupants. Hope that it will work.
Let me know if you get any insects. I wonder whether there are ways to try to attract them to the house.
janet
Before I put it up next spring, I’ll find out.
What an informative post, Janet! Hope you are having a good Monday 😊
Glad you enjoyed it, Sue. I’ve had better Monday’s but I’ve gotten a lot accomplished and overall it’s been good. I hope yours has been good.
I had a very fulfilling Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so today was a bit of a ‘non’ day in comparison!
I understand completely. 🙂
An insect house is a new concept for me, Janet. Thanks for broadening my horizon.
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You’re welcome, Allan. All I knew before reading about them online was that they were insect houses. Kind of a neat idea, although I wonder what happens if you get an insect from the “bad” 3%. 🙂
It would be a one-stop place for a Terminix man, but tough on the 97%.
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Lots of insect houses up in this neck of the country, and they come in all shapes and sizes. There is one over at UNH that is huge, larger than a couple of pallets put together. A little creativity, some time, and if lucky a ‘little person’ and it can be a fun activity. We usually ‘show’ one at our annual plant sale. 🙂 I checked the website – no coffee con near near. 😦
Sorry about the lack of CoffeeCons near you. That’s too bad. I’m interested to read that insect houses are common in your part of the northeast.
I never heard of an insect house! I guess we have one, though; we call it the woods. lol!
🙂 The area where I’ve seen these in France are sometimes in wooded areas, but often they’re near a garden, which makes sense.
I’ve never seen an insect house, but it’s very interesting. It sounds like you had a busy weekend. I hope you got a chance to relax.
They are really interesting, Dan. The weekend, although fun, was very busy and today was quite busy, too. I have tomorrow off as well and hopefully I’ll get a chance to relax a bit (and read some blogs!)
Love the idea of the insect house, Janet!
Vodka for breakfast? Not so much…
It wasn’t exactly for breakfast. 🙂 But it was a tasty tidbit. The insect house is very cool.
Insect houses are charming as all get out, like life-size shadowboxes. Nice one you’ve shown here.
I am glad you had a good, busy day at work and got to enjoy the Spook-ghetti dinner on Sunday — how cute is that? Haha!
Glad you like the insect house, Joey. Tonight we had a table out on the church lawn, giving out candy, hot chocolate, hot cider, s’more makings, etc. It was a nice night and we got to talk to lots of people, but I was on my feet from 10:30 am until after 8 pm. Feels pretty good to sit down! 🙂 See you and yours doors tomorrow.
What a great idea
I thought so, too. I don’t know if I’ll ever have one, but I love them.
janet