Wednesday, August 1, 2012

The Bountiful Bug Basket Giveaway

Enter to win this well-stocked basket — $180 worth of buggy goodness!
















The prize includes:
How to Enter:
  • Comment below and tell us about something buggy. It could be your favorite bug, the worst bug experience you’ve ever had, the most delicious bug you have ever eaten, or the unidentified flying insect you found in your garden.
  • The prize will be awarded to our judging panel’s favorite entry.
  • The winner will be announced on InsideStorey, Storey’s Facebook Page, and Storey’s Twitter Feed on August 15, 2012.
  • No purchase necessary.
  • A mailing address will be required for delivery. We will not save, sell, or use this address for any other purpose.

87 comments:

Gretchen said...

I had almost forgotten about how beautiful lightning bugs are until my husband I recently moved to our house out in the country woods. One evening we were sitting on our deck when suddenly, we were treated to most beautiful light show! Little golden lights popping on and off among the darkening greens of the woods. Absolutely breathtaking! I think that that was when I officially fell in love with country life.

Unknown said...

I have a "Buggy Tip":

Living in South Texas we get the biggest most persistent mosquitoes, the only thing we have found that works is this patch: Don't Bite Me!

Seriously, works for 36hrs (great for camping), natural ingredients, safe for children, no grease or smell. You just stick on the patch & forget about it ;)

http://www.dontbitemepatch.com/

**I am NOT affiliated with this company in ANY WAY. I am just a fan & I use this product.**

Thanks for the contest. You guys are awesome.
-XOXO

Carmen Sosa said...

I woke up one morning to find the most beautiful (and HUGE) Luna Moth on my window screen. He stayed for the day and I watched his beauty in amazement. They live only a few days with the sole purpose to mate. They don't eat during those few days so they don't have mouths. I will never forget that morning. (I snapped a couple of photos too).

Grace said...

My favorite is the ladybug.

graceongkx[at]gmail[dot]com

stacy said...

My favorite insects are ladybugs and praying mantises. I love having them in my garden!
Gingeroo616 at aol dotcom

Angela said...

Last summer, I found a dragonfly (my favorite!) stuck in the filter in our pool. He was still alive, but couldn't fly. I let him hang out on my finger for a while until he could make it. I only tortured him a little by taking about 20 pictures! It was a treat for the kids and me to get suck a close up look at him while helping him move on his way.

Jesi Passepartout said...

It was during the Winter, January, of 2010. I was visiting my father in Florida on the organic farm he works at. It was a very cold winter, and frost had damaged many of the plants and as a result he was working more hours, so I came down and offered to help out around the house and with paperwork for the farm. One night, as I slept in my comfy quilt bed, I awoke with a strange sensation. My head felt a bit light, and my right ear was ringing. It was then that I heard a loud 'CLICK' that was so loud it sounded as if it were coming from inside my head. I lay still and wondered what could be happening. Then, after a moment, I heard (and felt) a 'skritch skritch skritch' in my right ear. There was a bug in my ear! And not any bug, but a clicker bug, as we like to call them in South Florida! Again, the loud 'CLICK' happened, and I calmly got up and walked to my dad's room and knocked on the door. 'Yes?', I heard him reply in a sleepy voice. 'Hey dad, um, I need some help, you see, I've got a bug in my ear...' 'WHAT!?' he loudly asked as he came out into the hallway. 'Are you ok!?'. 'Yes, I am fine, I would just like it out is all.' He then went to the bathroom, and grabbed a small bottle of a type of peroxide in an oil base, something that is used for ear infections. I lay my head down, and he added the liquid, and the bug floated right out. Sadly, it was dead of course. I felt a bit sad, as the poor little bug didn't hurt me and didn't know what he was getting into. He was probably just trying to get away from the cold! My dad later commemorated me on my bravery through the ordeal, as I never once panicked or flinched. I knew of course, that the poor little clicker bug was not wanting to do me harm it just happened to get lost!

jesilangdaleanderson@gmail.com

Unknown said...

I have a fear of worms, but I love to garden...to help me get over it, I got a worm bin and ordered a bunch of little red wrigglers....

They came in the mail at my office...So at the end of the day I drove home with them....they spilled all over the floor of the car....

That was one way to workout my fears....worms crawling at my feet while doing 70mph down the highway!

YIKES!

Fernleaf said...

There are so many bugs at the house we moved into last year! We rub shoulders with spiders of several varieties inside (the jumping ones are my favorite) and attempt to keep legions of moths out of our house in the evenings. The garden attracts a fair few cabbage moths being among the less desirable while others like crab spiders are muchly appreciated. Our flower patch attracts lots of bees and butterflies, and I just found out the ants love borage. I've even found crickets lurking in the feed bin, so many great bugs live with us here!

Kristy said...

This is such a fun giveaway! I know my kiddos and I would enjoy the amazing buggy bundle!

We recently had our first encounter with an Eastern Hercules beetle and she was incredible....not to mention HUGE! We were all a bit too timid to hold her, but we did snap a few great pics to remember her by. (We learned she was a "her" after a bit of research to determine what type of beetle she was.)

Thanks for the fabulous giveaway!

christine.zigler@yahoo.com said...

My kids love animals, bugs included. When they find one they always call for me, and a jar, so we can look at it. Doesn't matter where we are, be it a grub in our yard, or a caterpillar on the floor of the county water department (we turned him loose outside) they love all things bugs. And I love that they are always excited to share it with me.

Brooke said...

I love bugs! Well most of them! My love for bugs began to grow when my children were at that age, where their ability to ask questions becomes a super power! There is no fear or gross factor just unrelenting curiosity. Can I squish this one? Why do lady bugs have spots? Why does this bug have so many legs? My all time favorite.. Mom is this bug good for your garden? All the questions and the hunt for the answers paid off, now we know some of our local caterpillars by name (woolly bear) and which ones will become moths and which will become butterfly's. Which bugs we are happy to see working in the garden and which ones we hope to never see on our healthy plants.

Mom Of Twins said...

I love trichogramma wasps.... yes, wasps. My sons' are allergic to spider bites... any spider and these seem to keep down the spider population.

Gail said...

When I was a kid, "swimming in the backyard pool" meant the great, dinky little plastic wading pool we could afford back then. Inevitably like any pool, it would fill up with bugs. Some would be long gone by the time I found them, others struggling for their last buggy breaths. Those I would fish out with a stick and set free. But I felt so badly for the others, for whom nothing more could be done, that I would gather them up and bury then en masse in the corner patch of the yard we dubbed the animal graveyard. (This is also where gerbils and goldfish went upon their demise.) May those poor little arthropods rest in peace.

Leigh Dudenhoeffer said...

My favorite bug is an odd little creature called the boxelder beetle. I like them because they're very colorful thoughout their lifespan. When they hatch, they're a brilliant shade of ochre. They then turn 3 different shades of orange while they're small beetles. They're a deep chalcedony red during the summer and just before the first freeze, they've turned a luscious coffee brown!! They're they only bug that has all of my favorite colors!

Sue F. said...

We have these large banana spiders with amazing webs hanging from our assorted chicken coops. The webs make a spectacular chandelier of glistening colors and hues...They hang high above the coops from the linked fences. Above one coop there is a colony of 7, complete with babies. Not fond of spiders per se, but considering the amount of time and effort building these 2 foot long webs...I smile and allow nature to thrive in all its beauty.

bless their hearts mom said...

I have a 5 yr old tmboy who thinks the coolest thing is to trap a bug, and wait til I get home and spring it on me! Not sure who is more startled, me or the grasshopper/cricket/bug!

thanks for the cool giveaway!

Amyable said...

My five-yr-old son is fascinated with creepy crawlies. Sometimes they get the better of him, though. One evening earlier this summer, I was working in the garden when suddenly he sets to screaming bloody murder at the top of his lungs. Fearing he had stumbled on some bees, I rushed over to his side as he bellowed, 'There's a bug on meeeee!!!' I found the offending critter on his leg - a single slug. After rescuing him, I had a good laugh and explained slugs can't hurt people. Poor kid!

Beth, said...

"My Favorite" bug story. (A Proud Mom Moment.)
My son loves bugs and now all things outdoors.
One spring day my son was out back enjoying the day, in his usual way. His usual way is to try and notice as many living things as he could. We started doing this when he was very young. He would sit on my lap and we would point out to each other the bug, the bird, the gecko or anole, etc... That day he came back in the house with something on a card. "Mom what is this?" "It is very scary looking?" So I took the card with the (Very Scary) looking bug and told him I would put it back outside so he could look it up in one of his big bug books. He sat and poured though the pages until he found what he was looking for. Then came to show me the baby ladybug. It was in a "Very Scary" looking stage of it's life with spikes all over it's black body. My son showed me where lots of these things where all over the chair he had been sitting in on the porch. I was so proud that he did not start swatting and killing them and that he took the time to go learn something about them from a book. For me this was one of those "Great Mom Moments" and "My Favorite Bug Story." B

Unknown said...

This is a funny and very short story.
We were all sitting in the car on the way to the store when my sister said "I smell lady bugs". She turned and looked at me and there right on the tip of her nose was a big red lady bug!

A few months later she made a comment about how she smells lady bugs! And down on her shirt was a lady bug.

Now every time she smells lady bugs she checks to see if one's on her.

Kelsey said...

I just saw the BIGGEST spider going in my craft room under some fabric. I thought it was revolting, my boys thought it was awesome. I'd much rather looks at bugs in books than for real!

Anonymous said...

My worst but experience was when we had a huge horn worm infestation in our garden one year. We'd go out everyday with coffee cans and collect them. We lost almost all our plants that year to them big buggers.

DeboraWillow said...

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs.....Love most of them. Bees, butterflies, dragonflies, praying matis, ladybugs, jumping spiders all make me happy while on the flipside tomato worms make me squirm!!

Katrina McClellan said...

Okay so here is just about one of the most exciting thing that's happened to me recently. (By exciting I mean it got my heart pumping) I work at a pet store and pretty regularly we have customers who come in and bring animals or insects that they want to sell or just get rid of. Several months ago a customer brought in an Arizona Desert Centipede. If you are unfamiliar, look it up, they are pretty heavy duty. This one happens to be the full length of eight inches and if you know about centipedes you know they have a pretty nasty bite. :) Well anyway I have a fancy for arthropods so with no consideration needed I decided to take this guy home. Normally he is pretty well tempered, not that I handle him, but he had never acted overly aggressive when I moved things about in his cage. The only times I'm really ever in his business is when I'm cleaning/misting the cage or feeding him. (Feeding by the way is an exciting ordeal all in its own; he eats pinkie mice brain first!) Okay so on to my story; several weeks ago I had a friend over and of course everyone wants to see him when they have the opportunity to do so. I had my hand in the cage and was pointing to one of his segments where a portion of his attached leg had gone missing, and everything appeared to be fine but apparently he didn't like all the attention I was drawing to his recent deformity because with absolutely no warning he whipped around so fast and grabbed my index finger on my right hand and gave me a little warning jab from his front legs, but luckily for me, no bite. Not that I left my hand there long enough for him to consider it. Needless to say, my friend who was a bit scared to begin with ended up on the other side of the room lecturing me with every bit of angst he had. The lesson I learned from this is, Centipedes are self conscious too and you shouldn't point out their flaws or they may just gave you a little nibble. ;)

Elizabeth said...

My favorite bug (insect) is the honey bee! My father raised them in our backyard when I was growing up in West Texas, and we had supers (bee hives) in various locations around the county. I could differentiate between cotton blossom honey, or alfalfa honey or clover honey! We would harvest the honey, put it into Mason jars, load a little red wagon with our honey, and sell it, door to door, to everyone in our neighborhood! I love honey to this day!

Penniless Teacher said...

I forgot how fun lightning bugs were until I realized we don't have them in Florida for children to enjoy the natural lightning bug night light in the summer!

Anonymous said...

I think Ladybugs are the best.

Martha Waugh said...

I love everything about summer, especially homegrown tomatoes. One thing I'm not a fan of is those pesky tomato hornworms. Every evening at the start of summer, I "hunt" for them, listening for their high pitched cries to pick them all off my precious tomatoes. One evening, I was really into the hunt, at the point of putting most of my body into the plants that were about at tall as I am. Feeling good about winning the battle that evening, I went inside to scrub up and relax. My husband calmly says, "you have something in your hair", all the while knowing I would freak out if I knew what it was. One of those darn worms had attached itself to my hair. Yes, I did freak out! And yes, I screamed just as he thought I would.

Jesse McAvoy said...

For a while we had issues with Japanese beetles eating our garden/fruit trees. We found this awesome live trap that just uses pheromones to attract them. Now our garden is safe, and every day we have delicious treats for our chickens!

D. Keller said...

We study bugs in my classroom - my students are fascinated by them. Our favorite but is the lady bug - we make wishes when we find them!

Delighted said...

Years ago, when I was in high school, I purchased a drink at a fast food drive through. I always order extra ice because I love to chew on the soft pellet ice. As I was chewing my ice, I notice that the ice I was crunching on was a bit strange. I spit it out and realized it was a June bug! That wasn't an experience that I can ever forget
(no matter how much I have tried).

imgoingfirst@gmail.com

Jenifer Phillips said...

My Freshman year of college, my roommate and I were coming back to our dorm building, when we noticed that almost an entire side of the building was covered in lady bugs!! There were so many of those beautiful insects it was almost icky. Turns out our college was in the migratory path of those insects.
For a good week, no one could enter or exit the building without letting at least a dozen lady bugs in. :-)

getupmom said...

On June 22nd my young adult son was riding his motorcycle here in the Chicago area. At some point what he originally thought was a fly entered his ear canal. It began to affect his equilibrium right away. He pulled over and had a friend pick him up.They attempted to remove the bug to no success. He ended up heading to Urgent Care facility. During the wait for treatment, his body started to try to eject the bug by creating mucus, his eyes were watering etc. The insect remained alive, making a buzzing noise that just about drove him crazy. An MD was able to remove the bug, which proved to be a small sweat bee, still alive. Fortunately my son was not stung, he is allergic to bees and had many trips to the ER for reactions as a child.

Mindie said...

Here is a bug story that went so wrong, but the memory will last forever!

My son, who is now six, has always loved bugs. We search for them, watch them and take along our ID books to identify them. My mother, knowing how much David loves bugs, gave him a McDonalds cup with a cocoon inside a few years back. He was beyond thrilled with this gift as he was going to hatch his first butterfly. (I didn’t have the heart to tell him it would really be a moth.)

I put the cup (with lid) up on a shelf and time passed. I had completely forgot about it till I hear rustling coming from the cup one day. I yelled for my son to come quick and we headed outside with the cup to see and release his “butterfly.”

I carefully lifted up the lid for a peek only to be horrified by what was in the cup. It was not a butterfly. It was not a moth. It was a wasp looking thing I had NEVER seen before! We quickly pulled out our bug book and started to search. What had hatched was an ichneumon wasp!!! As we read we learned the wasp lays her eyes in caterpillars some times and this caterpillar had lived long enough to cocoon before the wasp ate it from the inside out.

I was grossed out and my son was THRILLED. Since we also learned that this wasp doesn’t sting we opened the lid all the way and let it go. He followed it around for most of the day. That night he told me “mom, nana gives the best gifts ever.” I laughed and though, if you say so buddy.

wagnerslp said...

I am a teacher and my third floor room is leaking ladybugs!!! They come in around the window sills and air conditioner units no matter WHAT I do! They are not harmful..just sometimes we got loads of them, especially in the spring. So my students have just decided to adopt them and we have added them to the class roll. When I call names now, all the kids wait for me to say "ladies?" and the whole class answers in unison! We love bugs in my room and we would adore this buggielicious prize!

Kira said...

As a child, I loved lightning bugs (as we called them). My sister and I would spend hours in the summer catching them in jars. We would see how many we could collect and then let them go to catch another night.

My family moved when I was 11 to a state where there were no lightning bugs. I missed them.

A couple years ago, when I was 28, my sister and I went to visit some family (where we grew up) for the first time in 17 years. The first night, after dinner, we ran around the backyard of our aunt's house catching lightning bugs. Just like we did when we were kids! It is one of my favorite memories.

Pacificbug said...

I LOVE ladybugs! :) I've started a little collection of everything ladybugs. I also miss lightning bugs. I visited KY 11 years ago. I remember sitting outside in the evening and watching the lightning bugs. It was relaxing and I really miss it!

Unknown said...

I have a budding entomologist at home. He's decided that he wants to go into forensic entomology so we have a very good relationship with bugs. We've played with large spiders and praying mantis. We have a worm bin on our porch and have talked about getting a bee hive in support of his future career. It's lots of fun because we have learned to appreciate the bugs. Just earlier this week he was talking about how Americans should eat more bugs.

the piemaker said...

My kids love collecting butterflies and grasshoppers. This year we put them to work in the garden catching cucumber beetles and putting them in the "bubble pool" (bucket of soapy water)!

Jelz said...

My daughter and I just learned all about lightning bugs at our local state park. My daughter was even able to "make" a lightning bug with a clear bottle and a glow stick! It was really cute.

rika said...

I've been wanting to find a piece of land for myself--I'm a knitter and a spinner, so I want sheep, and I want a few laying hens and a big garden--and of course, some bees:) But I grew up on Guam and in cities on either US coast, so I started out my desire with books.

It made me happy to be on the side of the farm-dwellers in my extended family when at one of our family reunions one of the city kids was seriously startled by the sound of a nearby cicada.

"Is that bugs?!" he asked, eyes wide.

Deborah J. Benoit said...

Is it wrong that I take pleasure in the demise of Japanese beetles? When they make an appearance in my garden, I take a bucket of soapy water and take a stroll among the plants, enjoying the garden and knocking the Japanese beetles off the greenery and into the bucket. The plants are happy (no pesticides) and I'm happy. The Japanese beetles, not so much.

Kelly Adkins said...

When I was a kid we had June Bug races. We would catch June Bugs and tie some sewing thread to the back leg of the June Bugs. We would cover the June Bugs in our hands and then my Grandma would say go and we would uncover the June Bugs. The June Bugs would fly off and you would hold the strings. The first one to make it across the yard with their June Bug would win. Then we would set the June Bugs free on the Rose bushes in the front yard. I miss having simple games that that included nature.

Anonymous said...

My older daughter is now 24, and ever since she was a young child, she has loved everything that lives outside, including bugs, snakes, etc. She has collected and frozen or otherwise preserved numerous types of bugs. I found another forgotten frozen "bug jar" in my freezer just a few months ago. I wonder how many are still hidden in the depths of my freezer.

Parker Wright said...

Hi my name Parker & I'm 5 years old! I like bugs cuz I love em & I like to see em a lot. I found a poison ivy caterpillar today on our porch. I love bees but they sting a lot. I wanna go see a bunch of bees today but there wasn't enough. We saw some moths in the garden & we ate .... and we found a grasshopper & a dead fly in the water when I was swimming! and thats it.. Oh and we found beehives! Love Parker I hope I win a lot of bug books!

Luc and Leeland said...

I love BUGS and my 9 year old son does too....Are favorite bugs are the jumping spiders and the tiger beatles.

Luc and Leeland Duchesne
Moncton NB :-)

Luc and Leeland said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

My 20 month old calls flies "crabs" and is thrilled whenever we see one. He'll run around and buzz for hours afterward. It makes seeing the flying buggies a little more amusing and a little less ick.

Jaia said...

My 20 month old calls flies "crabs" and is thrilled whenever we see one. He'll run around and buzz for hours afterward. It makes seeing the flying buggies a little more amusing and a little less ick.

Crystal Renee said...

I love this giveaway!
Ok I will go with the most recent. My husband and I recently helped support a company who makes protein bars out of crickets. They were able to raise enough money to distribute some bars and we were able to get a box. They are actually really good. You wouldn't know they were made out of crickets unless someone told you!
sellcrystal2[at]gmail[dot]com

Cynthia said...

We make a special effort to recognize good bugs. Some are just scarey looking, but benefit your garden. We get horned tomato worms, but found there is a specific wasp, that lays their eggs on that worm, and the larvae eat it. So not every bug is bad. As a matter of fact we like to play "what is THAT", and then try to find it on the internet.

Anonymous said...

Every time my great uncle visits from North Carolina he brings chocolate covered crickets (not sure why because no one every takes him up on the offer to try some)so every time I hear someone mention or see chocolate covered crickets I think of his visits to Missouri.

Unknown said...

I used to be deathly afraid of spiders and had nightmares after seeing a big one. But, after taking the Master Gardener course, then volunteering in the Plant Clinic, I finally overcame my fears. This is because the most common "bug" people bring in for identification is a huge spider, usually alive in a jar. Even though they are almost always the Tegenaria gigantea or occasionally the Tegenaria domestica, we always have to verify under the microscope that it is not the Tegenaria agrestis.

Unknown said...

I used to be deathly afraid of spiders and had nightmares after seeing a big one. But, after taking the Master Gardener course, then volunteering in the Plant Clinic, I finally overcame my fears. This is because the most common "bug" people bring in for identification is a huge spider, usually alive in a jar. Even though they are almost always the Tegenaria gigantea or occasionally the Tegenaria domestica, we always have to verify under the microscope that it is not the Tegenaria agrestis.

Gaia Garden Girl said...

My five year old, at the time, went with me and my mother to an Insectapalooza event at a local university one fall. They had Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches for sale for $5. While I wasn't looking, my mom bought my daughter the cockroach. My daughter is seven now and the cockroach is still alive. Hands down, it is our weirdest pet ever. I pray nothing else can top it! My daughter wants to be an entomologist some day, so I will overlook this "ick" factor the cockroach induces in me.

iowacowgirl said...

I am extremely tired of the Japanese beetles eating every leaf in Iowa.

Unknown said...

I love caterpillars! I raise them and let them go into the great outdoors when they emerge from their chrysalis or cocoon. To date Ive raised 17 different butterfly species native to florida and dozens of different moth species. This is my biggest passion and I am always learning something new. I have a wonderful mentor who owns Shady Oak Butterfly Farm and her knowledge of butterflies and moths is mind blowing. I hope to one day have a butterfly exhibit to share with others.

Carole Sevilla Brown said...

I have been fascinated by the spider who has built its web from the sideview mirror of my truck to the roof. Every day when I get in the truck to go somewhere I watch that spider spinning around in the wind. But he never gives up. He (she?) calmly eats the web until there's just a few strands left, and then he hides behind the mirror out of the wind.

Amazingly enough he is right back there the next day, getting buffeted around in the wind while I drive, taking apart his web, and hiding behind the mirror. It's been there for almost a month now. You've got to admire his persistence!

mj said...

While vacationing in Fl and visiting the Brevard Co Zoo, I saw a sign that said "Florida is home to over 180 species of mosquitoes." My reply was "And I've been bitten by everyone of them!"

rebornajew.blogspot.com said...

I've been obsessed with all things buggy since I was a tyke. On a recent shopping excursion, I made several purchases, realizing later that all had to do with insects: a net for my Luna Moths, a large butterfly print to hang, and a caterpillar cage. Best shopping day ever!
As my friend Vaughn used to say, "A butterfly is a flower set free."

Kelly A (Giddens) Storey said...

Our favorite bug this year was the Cicada. It was so beautiful with it's shiny blue and green coloring all over with large black eyes. I wish we had kept it longer and researched it for our homeschooling. The kids were not scared and it made my heart happy to take joy in this beautiful creation God made. I used to be scared of Cicada's, but now I look forward to seeing them again! Blessings!

Heather said...

I grew up catching lightning bugs every summer. When I was about 10 or 12, my dad asked me if I had gotten my license, as after a certain age licenses were required to catch lightning bugs. I was nearly in tears before he told me he was teasing. It's been a family joke ever since.

Anonymous said...

9 year old boy's favorite bug- Tarantula. Why? "Because it's the biggest! I only have seen pictures, and have read about them". Bad mom, I'll need to get on that. (This mom learned something about her boy today, I thought his favorite bug would have been a hissing cockroach, since he got to cuddle one on his face a couple weeks ago.)

Michelle in Oklahoma said...

I recently asked my husband if he thought i am the only person on the planet who waters/feeds the wasps... I used to be very afraid of wasps, as back home in Louisiana they can be very aggressive, especially the mahogany ones. But the past few summers, it is SO hot here in oklahoma and i have noticed the wasps start showing up when i come out and start up the water hose, just like the birds do! they all fly up and wait for the water i put in the birdbath and watering my flowerbeds. and the wasps fly all around me, sometimes even landing on me and never sting me or anything, they just want water. I feel like theyre my "pets" kind of :) I love all "bugs" and now wish(im 43) that i had gone to college to be an entomologist or something similar, as i realise i cant go even an hour without thinking of bugs, watching them, learning about them. -I also spent every day as a child, behind my great grandmothers house in louisiana down at the creek, playing with the crawfish and other critters..well one day i got the bright idea to catch a LOT of crawfish and i toted them all up to the garage where we had one of those really large metal troughs i guess they are? anyhow, theyre about almost 2 ft deep and oval shaped and about 4-5 ft long..i ended up filling the whole trough up with crawfish(i could sell those for probably $9 a lb now haha!) and in my childs mind, i never dreamed they might die..well they did and they stunk up the garage and my 80 something yr old great grandma was SO upset with me LOL :) ...i spoke to our state biologist last week and told him i knew this would sound wierd, but that i went around and collected the cicada shells off the trees etc when i was little and filled up shoeboxes full of them and then i said, well maybe *YOU* wont think its wierd haha and he goes "yeah im probably the one person who *WONT* think thats wierd :) anyhow, ty for the opportunity for such a GREAT giveaway!! its SO up my alley, all the "BUG" stuffs!! :)

Michelle in Oklahoma said...

I just want to say to all of you, I am surprised and so happy to see so many other fellow "bug" lovers and people who care about them like i do , it warms my heart.. i am always trying to save them too and my 3 yr old is taking after her mom.. we are having a very bad summer for black widows and unfortunately they have to go, as i cant risk her getting bitten or any of us, including my son ...anyhow, my daughter is at the stage where *EVERYTHING* HAS TO have a name... and she wants to name every single bug(i am NOT kidding LOL) and she wanted to name the HUGE black widow i found on the back patio and then she cried and begged me not to kill the spider or make the spider go bye bye... it broke my heart, because i truly hate having to kill them and try to do it as quickly and humanely as possible( i know i probly sound nuts lol) and i also say a little prayer for them and ask their forgiveness.. do any of you do this too? just curious

DeboraWillow said...

Your basket has a magical elixer, Herbal Armor. My son loves it outside yet is a mosquito magnet. Herbal Armor is the best repellant we have found!!! Now he can hang out with the dragonflies without being eaten alive :-)

mama appleseed said...

We love insects! My little one is always catching them! I especially love praying mantis as they are so good for keeping the bad bugs out of our vegie patch! Thanks x

Unknown said...

I love ladybugs! In addition to them looking rather cute, they are beneficial insects.

I am hoping to win the basket filled with so much awesome stuff!

cilla4@att.net

Sandra Petty said...

For the last five years I've been trying to learn how to garden organically, which means no insecticides or pesticides. The idea being to welcome in beneficial critters and insects to help with the plant eating and plant damaging insects. I remember the first time I saw a full grown 'Wheel Bug' in our garden. It was so otherworldly! In all of my life I've never seen another insect like this one! Whenever I am able to, I take photo's of the insects and animals and plant life that inhabit my yard and garden, as a tool to identify them and to learn whether they're a 'pest' or a 'beneficial'. It would be wonderful to win your contest, so to have my tools at my disposal. Thanks so much!

Homestead Tessie said...

I am a Urban Homesteader and would Love to win this ! I would use the tools you provide to teach other women in our area the Benefits of bugs ect.and how to make Organic things :)

Chris turn said...

when I was in college 40 yrs ago my roommate and I-we were bio majors brought a praying mantis case into our dorm room and overnight they hatched. hysterical and no problem for us but did we get a talking to from the resident advisor. memory still brings a smile

Crystalwoman57 said...

When I started to get the garden ready this spring, it was still cool and I moved a shovel handle where a red wasp was trying to stay warm and before I knew it, I had been stung on the thumb. Now I'm not allergic to these guys but my arm swelled up to my elbow...and it hurt like the dickens!!! Well, as spring turned into summer and the drought hit us really bad, I was determined to keep my container garden thriving. I would water morning and evening. I noticed that the wasps were the prevailing pollinator in my garden so I would give them their space. As the drought worsened I would see the wasps start to congregate around me and the garden hose everytime I watered.... it got so dry that I had wasps crawling on my legs drinking the water that splattered there. it was a really weird feeling letting these potentially painful critters crawl on me but they only wanted water and they were very polite. I have since welcomed them and I try to respect their nests since it seems they like me and my garden!

SnowCity said...

We named him Igor. Walking down 4 steps from the kitchen you could open the door on the landing and step outside to the narrow path leading to our backyard and garage, or you could turn right and descend further to the basement. Because the stair tread obscured one’s view when going downstairs, no one noticed Igor on the way to the basement. It was on the return trip up to the kitchen that seeing him was unavoidable.
Igor was the biggest darkest spider I had ever seen. About the size of a lima bean he was dark gray with black lengthwise stripes. His legs were thick and dark. He made his home, a deeply funneled web, on the third step down from the landing. His web was down in the crack, attached to both the yellow wall and the painted gray wooden steps. Our 3 year old daughter was interested in him. We would stop and watch. Sometimes he would immediately disappear or retreat a bit into his funnel home. As time went by though, he was bold, assured, and stayed at the entrance of his home. I was careful not to disturb his web figuring he would earn his keep consuming other basement bugs. Occasionally the web would appear partly torn or less in size, then looking a day later I would see the funnel deeper and sturdier than ever. One time Igor and his web appeared on the second step below the landing. I am not sure how many days or weeks that he stayed there, but that web disappeared and he resumed tenancy on the third step.
Igor seemed to be friendly, shy, protective, and sturdy. Igor lived with us three years. Then one day our wolf spider was gone.

Viv said...

My all time favorite bug story: my daughter was about two and playing in our backyard. I was inside folding laundry and watching from the den. She had been playing tea party with her older brother and had even offered me a delicious mud pie. She had her back to me and I was pretty sure she was tasting her mud pie. I went into the backyard to stop her to discover that she was actually eating pill bugs. She had turned over a rock in the garden and was popping the unsuspecting bugs into her mouth like popcorn. I brought her inside and quickly called the doctor. I was really relieved to her that there would be no permanent damage. She is now twenty-two and has two beautiful boys, the youngest of whom has already tasted a bug....must be a genetic thing.

Bullwinkle said...

I was just out cutting down the giant sunflowers. Some had gone to seed and I was saving the seed from the gluttonous squirrel. Some were gorgeous and I gave most away to neighbors walking down the street. (Lovely site - small children each carrying a giant sunflower.) And one was left. My husband asked why and I told him "the bees weren't done eating that one."

Ladybug143 said...

One of my most favorite places in the butterfly house at the zoo. I grew up with orchards around my house and I caught a lot of bugs, especially butterflies. I want those experiences for my children too. This set would be an amazing addition to their exploration!

ashley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ashley english said...

'd been keeping bees for about 2 years when I first heard about the mythology of "telling the bees." Lore holds that, should the composition of a household change due to death, marriage, birth, extended houseguests or otherwise, the bees, active members of the immediate community, should be told.

I loved that idea, then completely forgot about it. One day, after learning I was newly pregnant, both of my hives swarmed. I was stumped as to why they'd do so, given they'd been topped with plenty of supers and other provisions to ensure their comfort had been made. Then it dawned on me that I'd neglected to tell them about the forthcoming addition to our household.

The next time I worked the hives, I told them about my own "little bee" and when he'd be arriving. Neither hive swarmed again that year! Telling the bees is the way to go, it would seem!

Sophia, age 7 said...

Once I was at the beach and I saw a dragonfly. It was all red and it had red polka dots on its wings. It was flying around. I could not get my eye off it. I thought it was so pretty and my dad told me a fun story he heard on the radio. It was about a guy who knew a lot about dragonflies. Once he went to his garden and saw fat dragonflies. Then I started looking at the polka dot winged dragonfly. It was a beautiful sight. The End.

TPotts70 said...

I’m entering for my kids! They love bugs. They often try and bring them indoors but my husband hates them. My son (7) is so very interested in anything buggish we find. Recently he discovered the skin of what I called a June Bug (I live in NC and my mom has always told me these are June Bug skins). He insisted we come in to look it up online and see what the bug that left the skin looks like. Oh my gosh!, can I just tell you I was more confused than before. I was always told these shells/skins were from June bugs. Now I have no idea what they are. Online we learned June Bugs do not shed their skin. Surprised we found that these skins might belong to what is called a Cicada. These bugs are very different than June Bugs. The point of this story is our family could way use all the items in The Bountiful Bug Basket Giveaway especially the books.
Thank You for the chance to win such and awesome gift!!!
TPotts

Janna said...

This year we are noticing "cicada killing wasps" around our yard. We were fascinated watching one of these huge wasps try to tote a cicada to its whole in the ground. It is the first time we've every noticed them (but also our first time living in a different part of the state than before). Your give-away looks fabulous!!

bn100 said...

We have a lot of bugs in the backyard that eat all the fruit.

bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com

Unknown said...

My husband and I went on a hike in North Dakota, when we were stationed there. I am originally from NYC and I had not experienced ticks during my youth. After the hike I was told by a dozen of our friends to run home and check our bodies because the area is infested with them! I was horrified because like I said I not happen to worry about them when I camped or went hiking. I got all freaked out and when we got home and undressed in our tiny bathroom I finally had an encounter!!!! My husband started to laugh and tells me that I have not ONE but FOUR on my Lower thighs!!!! HOWEVER, before he could tell me how many I JUMPED Up and down as if it were going to shack them off, leaped onto the toilet and ripped out the towel rack. It took a few minutes for my husband to calm me down so I would relax my legs and let him remove the ticks!

I was so embarrassed! My husband makes fun of me every time we see a dear or when we go out into the woods! He will whisper in my ears, "Remember the time we went hiking and..." I never not laugh at this moment in my life. I thought I was so grown and tough being in the military - when a tick finally broke my pride!

Even if don't win, I thank you for this blog and a chance to laugh again while sharing!!!

Nicole B said...

This summer has been a fun Cicada summer for our family (9 year old daughter & 6 year old boy/girl twins). In our experience, Cicadas are often heard but seldom seen. Until this summer, that is. My family was sitting in our lawn chairs and my 9 year old asked me what the big bug was that was sitting on top of our lawn chair cover that we'd dropped on the ground. It was a Cicada! We have seen the shed skins before, but never the "live" Cicadas, so we were very interested in obsesrving it. After a few minutes my daughter told me she thought it was shedding it's skin because it was getting bigger. Sure enough, it was! So over the course of about an hour, my family was able to witness (& take several photos of) the fascinating experience of the Cicada nymph as it molted & morphed into an adult! After it's bright green wings uncurled, we gently relocated it to a tree so it wouldn't get stepped on. Then just a few days later we were walking out of a building and there lying on the sidewalk in front of us was an adult Cicada stuck on it's back. We bent down to see if it was still alive & after determining it was, I decided to help flip it over so it could fly away & not get stepped on. With my children crowded around I gave the bug a little nudge. The Cicada responded by producing the loud sound that they're known for & as it was getting itself righted it took off flying in a circle nearly hitting all of us. My children screamed, jumped, and ran away from this huge, loud insect flying towards their heads! It was startling for all of us (Cicada included, I'm sure) but also so comical that I couldn't help but burst out laughing! My 9 year old then started laughing too, but it took a few minutes for my twins to decide that the situation was humorous as well. Needless to say, after these close encounters with Cicadas this summer, I can definitely say that we have a newly found appreciation for them!

mnbell93 (at) yahoo (dot) com

Lothlorien said...

Well I don't have just one story... we love bugs they fascinate both my husband and I as well as out 3 children. I often wake up to a large jar with a temporary bug habitat next to the coffee pot in the morning where my husband has collected some neat creature for us all to observe before releasing it. I would love to win this giveaway as my middle son will be studying bugs this year in our homeschooling lessons. A topic I know we will all enjoy!

nicoleconzo@yahoo.com said...

I asked my 5year old what he had to say about bugs....

"Bugs are real special, because they can do so many really special things. They can freeze really still and look like a stick, they can actually like blend into their surroundings, they can be really fast hoppers, they can metamorphis into new looking creatures, some goods bugs eat the bad bugs in our garden, and they can even eat poop and our compost and make it into new soil. Pretty awesome huh Mom?"

He had a lot to say!!!
He asked that I write his name on here as well!
Mekhi Conzo-Howell 5yrs

Anonymous said...

Mindie is the Grand Prize Winner!

First, I want to thank all the contest entrants — I loved all of your stories. They were enjoyable and so fun to read. I wish I could give all 80 of you the prize. However, I tallied up the votes from our eight Storey judges, and Minide’s bug story received the most points.

While I can't give a prize to all contest entrants, I would like to award a smaller prize for our 2nd and 3rd place winners. Crystalwoman57, the 2nd place winner, will receive one copy each of Attracting Native Pollinators and The Secret Lives of Backyard Bugs. Wagnerslp, the 3rd place winner, will receive one copy each of The Nature Connection and The Secret Lives of Backyard Bugs.

Winners, please email your mailing address (not a PO Box, prize will not fit!) to kristy.rustay@storey.com. We will not save, sell, or use this address for any other purpose.

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