Hi, I’m Blake. This is the first post in a new series I’m starting called the Backyard Bug Study. Guess what I will be writing about? Yep… Bugs! And Insects.
First let me introduce myself to you! I’m Blake and I’m eleven years old. I have two brothers who also write on this blog. We are all homeschoolers. We live in a small town in Tennessee called La Grange.
It is a very rural area where we have around 40 acres of land with a huge house! So large we can’t manage all of it! We are trying to sell it to buy a smaller house and less land. So I thought I would create something to help me record the great memories of my first home!
Our backyard has tons of clover and dandelions (there are weeds growing in it too)! We have a wide variety of trees, and some of them are very fun to climb! 🙂 And bugs. Lots of bugs. We have stinging bugs, flying bugs, digging bugs, biting bugs, swimming bugs, hopping bugs, boring bugs… you get the idea. We have bugs! So this should be an easy series to write because we have LOTS of insects and bugs here!
And while we are on the subject of bugs, let me tell you about the word “bug”. Many people use the word “bug” when really they are looking at an insect. Bug only accurately describes a few! And even the ones that have the word “bug” in their name, most aren’t even bugs at all! We will learn all about that in this backyard bug study! Which ones are “true” bugs and which ones are insects, where they live, what their natural predators are, are they harmful or helpful to your plants and garden, and lots of other fun and interesting facts.
I hope you will follow along with my new series and that you will find it helpful! Maybe it will give you some ideas on what to study in your own backyard! If you do choose to join us, please leave a comment each week to let us know what you found!
Have a great week!
Can’t wait to learn more of your findings.
Thanks! I look forward to hearing your input about them. Thanks for leaving a comment! 🙂
How’s it going so far? I’ve observed a lot of little black bugs (American Oil Beetles, I think) at the bottom of my plants/fruits pots. Should I be concerned?
I researched about the beetle, it probably is the american oil beetle, it says they eat flowers, so they may be harmful to your garden, I’m still trying to figure out some natural deterrents.
I figured out that they are not actually harmful to your garden, but might be able to cause blisters or rashes on you if their oil gets on your skin. But they also keep away other garden pests…what an interesting insect, thanks for telling me about this so I could research it! 🙂
Thanks Blake. Did you know that garlic might be a natural way to get rid (or rather shoo away 🙂 ) of unwanted bugs/insects? I need to investigate further to see which creatures do not like garlic. 😀
Your introduction sparked the question “and insects…what’s the difference between a bug and an insect”? Patiently waiting for the answer so that I can better educate the bug loving preschoolers in my home daycare 🙂
You’ll be able to hear all about it in my next post “What IS the difference between a bug and an insect?” Thanks for commenting! 🙂
This is awesome! We are always studying bugs outside too! This looks like fun 🙂
I’m looking forward to hearing some of your input about the facts on insects! Thanks for leaving a comment! 🙂