Every year around this time, a black beetle shows up on some weeds in our yard.  This portends the arrival of many more of its kind.  Our garden seems to be a favorite place to fill up their little stomachs and they don’t waste any time but get right to work – decimating an entire tomato plant in just a few days. This year I am determined that they will not get my 4 beautiful tomato plants so as soon as I saw the beetles had arrived I became proactive and covered my tomato plants with row cover.  Going out to the garden yesterday I found the little pests on my bean plants.  Not good.  Not good at all.  I then started catching them in a cup and feeding them to my chickens. …

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