AND PILES AND PILES OF SPINACH

So when I arrived at Riverview today, Oren and Liam were still expecting their order of a forest. Another busy task was at hand though because a local farmer, Steve, needed to collect around thirteen pounds of spinach and had only been able to gather about nine. There are two beds in a hoop house dedicated to spinach and, to help out Steve, Oren ordered Nate (the college-kid wannabe farmer) and me to exhaust the rows of any viable, green leaves. We managed to fill two large bags about halfway with spinach and although I'm not sure if we collected four pounds, they were quite heavy considering a single leaf is seemingly weightless in your hand. I would describe our collection as "a good amount."

While we were rooting through the yellowing leaves of spinach, Liam came across a leaf that was hosting a small colony of aphids. Aphids are these tiny yellowish bugs that almost resemble the dots of butterfly eggs except for their pair of antennae. Aphids are sometimes referred to as plant lice because they can be pretty destructive to the plants they inhabit. They feed on the sap of plants that travels up the phloem in their stems. The phloem is what carries sugar manufactured from the plant's leaves to other parts of the plant that do not conduct photosynthesis, like the roots. So when that sugar is being redirected into the stomachs of aphids, it doesn't bode well for the plant. Here's kind of what the aphids on the spinach leaves looked like

I would also like to mention that I would have not been half as interested about aphids had I not spent the summer at Riverview, in the company of a various assortment of eclectic and populous bugs. I've definitely become quite desensitized to their presence. Anyway, Oren and Liam will probably want to get rid of these bugs- I think Lam mentioned planting some herbs by the spinach would help.

I guess I should mention the trees now. I happen to know the exact figures- 2000 saplings! And each of them needs their own separate hole to call home. Is a certain Louis Sachar book coming to mind to you too?

Oh and lastly, about two days ago, Oren saw a mouse just minding it's own business and probably contributing to the ecosystem in a positive way and wanted to kill it. Mice are an integral part of the food chain in many habitats because they reproduce so quickly and in large quantities and they also control grain distribution by consuming them. I'm not saying you should make any sort of character judgment because of this but...