BugBusterz

10/17/2026

The House Wren is a hyperactive, unassuming brown bird with an oversized personality and a song that bursts with bubbling, mechanical energy. Found across much of North and South America, they readily adapt to human-subdued landscapes.
Despite weighing less than a half-ounce, house wrens are fiercely territorial. Males will arrive on breeding grounds early and fill multiple cavities with "dummy nests" made entirely of sticks to entice females, while aggressively driving away larger bird species from potential nesting territory.
Other things worth knowing about this feisty singer:
Their diet consists almost entirely of insects and spiders, making them exceptional natural pest controllers in vegetable gardens and flower beds.
They readily use man-made nest boxes, provided the entrance hole is small enough to keep out larger competitors.
Males are notorious for sometimes puncturing the eggs of other neighboring birds that share their territory to eliminate competition.
Despite their fierce defense strategies, they face high predation pressure from cats, snakes, and larger birds, balancing this out by often raising two broods per season.
How to help them: Put up small wooden nest boxes with 1-inch entrance holes in open or semi-sharded yard areas. Avoid chemical insecticides to maintain an abundant bug supply for their hungry nestlings.
The spunky little house wren is a tireless gardener's helper and a fountain of song.

09/29/2026

It’s not just about a slogan; it’s about action. Bees need a safe place to live, flowers to pollinate, and protection from harmful chemicals. By creating a bee-friendly garden, we can support these crucial pollinators and ens

09/26/2026

Happy fall y'all 🍂

09/20/2026

Thank you for a heartwarming day🥹The hugs, well wishes, donations, and conversations mean the world to us. You certainly helped us feel the love and feel your appreciation.

We will see you again on Monday morning at our Waverly farm market located across from Wendy’s at 10 a.m.!

09/17/2026

09/17/2026

Good morning, farm family!

Our Waverly farm market located at 403 E. Emmitt Avenue is open today until 5:30 p.m.

We have:
- zucchini (limited)
- yellow squash (limited)
- bell peppers
- cabbage (limited)
- sweet onions
- jalapeños
- sweet banana peppers
- lunchbox peppers
- stringless green beans (limited)
- potatoes
- fall squash
- apples
- pears
- concord grapes
- pumpkins
- straw
- cornstalks
- mums

We also have a variety of locally raised beef, chicken, pork, quail eggs, duck eggs, breads, coffee, jams, jellies, honey, hot sauce, maple syrup, BBQ sauce, mustard, salsa, milk, cheese, yogurt, and MORE!

09/14/2026

This is the one I actually want you to act on.

WHAT'S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW, ALL AT ONCE:
The insect chorus — crickets, katydids, tree frogs — at its last peak. Every one of them dies at the first hard frost.
The last hummingbirds moving through, many of them from hundreds of miles north of you.
Monarchs passing through, headed to Mexico.
Songbird migration overhead at night — you can hear them if you stand outside at 11 p.m. in a dark spot and listen upward.
Bats still hunting over the driveway before they leave or hibernate.
Golden hour arriving at a civilized time instead of 9 p.m.
Warm evenings that you can actually sit in.

In about three weeks, most of that is gone until spring.

HOW TO ACTUALLY DO IT — IT'S NOT COMPLICATED:
Turn off the porch light.
Sit down outside. Put the phone in your pocket.
Stay there for fifteen minutes without doing anything else.
Listen more than you look.

THINGS THAT MAKE IT BETTER:
Do it at DUSK for bats, dusk chorus and the last activity of the day.
Do it at DAWN with coffee for the biggest show — everything comes out at once after a hot night.
Do it at 11 p.m. once, in a dark spot, and listen for the thin high calls of migrating birds passing overhead. Once you hear it you'll never stop hearing it.
Bring a kid. Don't teach them anything. Just sit there with them.

WHY I'M ASKING: Because everything else in this series has been about what they need from you. This one's about what you're missing.

You're not going to protect what you never noticed.

Three weeks. Go outside tonight.


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09/12/2026

Bats are a critical part of natural pest control. In fact, they save over $1 billion annually by hunting corn earworm moths.

And that’s just one insect they eat.

Every night across agricultural landscapes, a silent aerial battle takes place that directly impacts global food security. Bats act as nature's most efficient insecticides, swooping through fields to consume destructive crop pests like the corn earworm moth. The larvae of these moths are notorious for devastating major crops, including corn, cotton, and tomatoes.

By feeding on the adult moths, bats do more than just protect crop yields; they also dramatically reduce the transmission of toxic fungal infections that can ruin harvests and threaten livestock health. This natural defense system highlights why maintaining healthy bat populations is vital for both sustainable farming and public safety.

The economic value of this ecological service is staggering. Groundbreaking field experiments reveal that when bats are excluded from cornfields, pest populations surge by nearly 60%, resulting in 50% more crop damage.

Some estimates placing their total value to U.S. agriculture at up to $3.7 billion a year in pest control and reduced chemical pesticide costs. As bat populations face threats from habitat loss and disease, investing in their conservation is no longer just an environmental goal — it is a critical strategy to safeguard the agricultural economy.

source: Maine, J. J., & Boyles, J. G. (2015). Bats initiate vital agroecological interactions in corn. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

09/09/2026

Honey is supposed to be golden, yet beekeepers in North Carolina’s Sandhills sometimes open hives and find naturally violet honey instead.

The strangest part is that science still cannot fully explain why.

Purple honey appears unpredictably, and even experienced beekeepers may go years without seeing it.

Researchers have investigated suspected causes including kudzu, berries, soil minerals, drought, and particular nectar sources.

A 2024 palynology study analyzed a purple-honey sample against data from 302 honey samples collected by 19 beekeepers.

It found no kudzu pollen, weakening one of the phenomenon’s most repeated explanations.

Pollen associated with blueberries and blackberries was also absent, while a possible interaction involving sourwood and aluminum-rich conditions remained plausible but unproven.

That leaves the Sandhills holding a genuine natural food mystery that researchers have narrowed without solving.

The honey is naturally purple, remarkably rare, and still produced by a recipe only the bees seem to know.

09/08/2026

Reminder to always check for ticks after spending time outdoors!

Learn more about ticks and Lyme disease prevention: https://bit.ly/4gIBuju