The Lady of the House got a picture of the studio as it gets into being operational! As you can see we are still transitioning in to the studio. However, the lights are up, the fans are up, and we are getting the art supplies moved in piece by piece.
Right now the carpet isn't in yet, and I am looking up and watching videos on how to stretch and install carpet with one person because that is going to be a bit of a challenge I suspect! That said, I am learning a lot as I install various bits and pieces of the studio, and the carpet isn't needed for the art studio to function as you can see. Eventually we will be installing some kind of impermeable flooring for the artists section, but for now, plywood is cheap and can be sanded down if it gets paints and resin on it.
In other news, one of our tomato plants has been demolished. Reduced nearly to a stick with a few poor leaves holding on and not a single green tomato left on it. At first we thought it was due to the depredations of a deer or some kind of browser because everything on the upper part had been removed fairly efficiently, and even parts of the main stalk had been eaten.
Left is the picture of the poor thing. The Lady of the House was very upset because that was a type of tomato she was very interested in trying.
We found out yesterday evening what has actually been laying waste to that plant, and found it rapidly chomping away on what is left. A
Tobacco Horn Worm. Just one of these monsters has demolished one of our tomato plants literally overnight. The lady of the House is going to be taking this one and keeping it alive in a tank to observe its life cycle, and bringing it out deep into the woods to release it. I was confused that she'd be willing to leave it alive due to the damage just one caused. She explained that she is going to do so because of the benefits it can have to the local environment. The Hawk Moth that it grows in to is a major local pollinator. She also pointed out that if we want to graze our goats in the woods that these very creatures actually consume and destroy most of the plants that make goats sick if they eat them. So we will see, and any little ones we encounter next year are dead.
Ah, the vicious and evil Tomato Horn Worm!(Tomatoes and tobacco are in the same family, so it's probably the same critter.) When I lived in Maryland we used to pick them off the tomato plants and either chop them up with shears for the birds, or let my dad stomp on them with golf cleats. Though, now that I think about it, they're probably quite poisionus given their diet.
ReplyDeleteWhat always got me about those buggers is that they're big, they're not a tomato-plant shade of green, but you practically have to have your nose on them before you see them. And of course, there's no spray or anything for them, just checking every day, and planting enough plants that you can afford to loose a few.