On Saturday, this past weekend, when I was at the farmers market, we were inundated with cicadas. Near where we always set up our canopies on the ground around the tree, the dead cicada insect frass piled up. In addition, to the frass, the cicadas with their transparent wings and red eyes seemed to be everywhere. They hung around us and didn’t seem to be afraid of us. It almost seemed to enjoy human company.
The insects are loud, sounding a lot like the phasers used on Star Trek. Fortunately for us, they are harmless.
Conversation At the Farmers Market
One man who came to my booth had a cicada perched on his finger as if it were a trained bird.
After the man left, the woman next to me and I talked about these insects. She said that one morning, a couple of weeks ago, she woke up and heard a loud sound that she thought were frogs.
She told her husband. “Boy, the frogs sure are energetic today.’
“They aren’t frogs. They are cicadas.”
She then told me about how she had always associated the sound of cicadas with the fall when the annual cicada hatching occurs here in this region.
These were a special hatching of not just one type of cicada but two kinds. One type came out every thirteen years and the other every seventeen years. They only come out during the same year once every 221 years and this year is that year. The last time these hatchings occurred simultaneously was in 1803 when the Lewis and Clark expedition began. This particular event is particularly important to me because my next book Two Rivers is a fictionalized account of this expedition.
Deep-fried Cicadas anyone?
Another friend told me that she noticed more moths, butterflies, and bees where she lived since the cicadas started coming out. She wondered if the cicadas had anything to do with it.
If I were to guess why that might be, I believe that the trillions of cicadas invading our landscape might have something to do with this, because all kinds of birds and animals love eating cicadas which are high in protein. Even my chickens will eat cicadas before they will eat the chicken feed I give them.
The moths, butterflies, and bees are probably usually on the menu for the animals eating the cicadas, but this rare dish is preferred so they are leaving these other flying insects alone.
I have heard that there are people who also enjoy eating cicadas. For instance, some people like them deep-fried or in stir fry.
As for me? As one of my friends says, “It’s a hard, no. I’ll pass.”
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Simply Vegetable Gardening
The Survival Garden
The Four Seasons Vegetable Garden
Help From Kelp
Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard
The Perpetual Homesteader 