It is the time of year you start looking for the ladybugs. Looking at the fava plants we can see the aphids have arrived, now we need a good health colony of ladybugs to keep the aphids under control. The weather the last couple of months has been so up and down, I have no idea what will happen. Last year, even with all the rain, I saw a good amount of ladybugs fairly early. Out in the fields this year, I haven’t seen any yet. Nigel felt that if you start spraying (even the organically approved products) you run the risk of eliminating the good bugs along with the bad ones. He chose to rely on the natural predators, in this case ladybugs, hoping we could achieve a natural balance on the farm. That doesn’t always work, so it is a gamble. But in a world where we are daily throwing off ecosystems, perhaps the risk is worth it. In the meantime, the rows of favas and peas are looking quite nice. Now that everything has been well watered by Mother Nature, we can add in warm sunshine and get a crop soon.