Your comment brings back a memory of seeing a large horned tomato worm crawling across a woman’s back collar during Mass.  People directly behind her scooted over on the pew.  I was behind her but at a diagonal.  I could see the worm was going to have no choice but to crawl into her neck, so I reached over two people, pulled it off her collar which sent the people to the left of me sliding over into the aisle on the Gospel side. The woman felt it when the worm was removed and had no idea what was going on or why someone in the pew behind her had touched her collar, or were sliding over on one side and getting up on the other.  She scowled briefly and went back to her prayers.  Everyone moved out of my way as I slid over myself and exited the church via the door to hall and cry room.  The window was slightly opened in the cry room, so I tossed the worm outside.  It felt kind of cool and plump, squishy if I’d killed it.  It would have been disgusting to mush it on the floor, so I returned it to nature. 
When I returned to Mass, I saw my missal and Rosary on the end of the pew against the armrest and the space I’d occupied filled up.  The woman seated on the end shook her head when I indicated I’d like to kneel down.  I could see her staring at my hands, to her, obviously defiled.  I took the hint, my belongings, and moved myself to a folding chair in the back.

When I went to Communion, I thought how if it were the novus ordo, I’d be placing Our Lord in hands that had handled a tomato worm!  🍅 🐛  Thank God for reverent Communion kneeling and on the tongue!

Hahaha!  Sounds like something I would do...  

Thanks for sharing! 

Yes! Well, our surprises usually comes in our front yard. When we first moved here we put many different types of pumpkins on our porch for fall. We aren’t always the best at hauling our pumpkins off. Well, that year when they got old we just kicked them off the porch.   Behold! The next year we had a nice stand of volunteer pumpkins. We couldn’t bring ourselves to kill them so we put some mulch around them and nurtured them. We got some really neat pumpkins! We’ve done the same every year since and the pumpkins get weirder and weirder looking. Each year one of our children has proclaimed the pumpkin patch “their garden” which has worked out very well. It’s a gateway into their own little garden patch that they will plant next year. All of our girls (besides the baby) are avid little gardeners and they all began in a volunteer pumpkin patch.

I should do this for my boys...  They would love it. 😅

Yes, it's any kind of ultraviolet light ("black light"). You can get them for pretty cheap on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01A5KLUG2/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B01A5KLUG2&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />

You can get smaller ones than that too -- they just don't light up as much area, or as bright. That $13 one is a pretty good middle of the road option.

Our area has lots of scorpions -- they really glow in the dark with a light like this. We actually bought the flashlight for scorpions. Its use in the garden was an added bonus.

My oldest daughter has a pretty large garden (she does most of the gardening around here) and we were just out there a couple weeks ago picking off the tomato hornworms (wearing nice thick leather gloves so I don't have to feel the "squish" of the worms) and dropping each one into a bucket of water with a couple drops of soap in it (to facilitate drowning).

It's best to catch the critters before your plant is half gone. They are masters of camouflage though. Without the "blacklight at night" technique, it's hard to get them all.

Thank you for sharing!  I will have to look into that!

I think they are actually weeds but the roots are edible - dense and high caloric . When the bolsheviks were starving the Ukrainians back in the 1930’s , they stole all of their harvests , especially all of the potatoes . Apparently the Jerusalem artichokes were wild so the bolsheviks didn’t steal them or dig them up and many Ukrainians survived on them . There is a problem with storage however - I leave them in the ground until just  before the first frost and put them in buckets and cover them with sand - weird , I know but it’s the only way to keep them.the plants also have pretty yellow flowers at the end of August . Mine are about 6 feet tall.
Actually they taste good , but are pretty gassy! I think it’s a common complaint . I look at them as survival plants . They just grow and grow like weeds

Very interesting. Thankyou for the info! We have a lot of them growing wild around here. I’m beginning to think it’s time to try them. 

I have seen some before but it is SO hard just finding time with the 3 little boys.  I still haven't caught up on weeding since the last baby was born. 🤣

It is a real struggle, I empathize with you! I really struggled in the garden when my oldest 3 who are very close in age were very little. 

With the baby this year, I have learned never to discount what can be done in 5 to 10 minutes. Recently I canned some pickles. It was an all day ordeal. Pick in the morning when her and I are the only ones up. Nap. Wash cucuмbers while she naps. Stop to cook everyone breakfast. Eat breakfast, feed and play with baby. Nap. Cut the ends of the cucuмbers while she naps. She wakes up early, so I have to hold her for the rest of the nap, then pack cucuмbers into jars for a few minutes until she starts fussing. Etc etc until the pickles come out of the canner at 7 pm.   The ONLY way that I can get any garden work/preserving done is to take the short amounts of time and do the best I can. 

Freezing and freeze drying is far less time consuming, but freeze drying is not the best option for everything that comes out of the garden.

Today I threw together a gallon jar of cucuмbers and herbs/spices to make fermented pickles. That is perhaps the fastest (and healthiest) way to preserve the garden bounty. 

What are your favorite types of tomatoes to grow?

My most recent favorite is “German Johnson.” They are pinkish in color, large, but they don’t have a pithy middle. You can use the whole tomato. Very tasty!
Another one of my favorites is “Green Sausage.” They are a sauce tomatoe. Long and slender, not many seeds and the seeds are small. They make for some amazing salsa and are excellent when dried. We are saving seeds from those this year.

I’ve grown those long beans a few times and they are so fun. Our favorite way to cook them is in stir fries. Our favorite variety is called “Chinese Noodle.”

Cheroke Purple and Brandwine (Heirlooms) for slicing.
Roma's for sauce.
Different colors of cherry tomatoes (many volunteers) for snacking.