Family Farm Field Day

Last Saturday, Loren Rivera (middle), Lucia Orantes (right) and I set up a table called the "Farm Bug Blast!" in Fredericksburg for the annual Family Farm Field Day. The field day was aimed at pastoral producers, with workshops and booths like tincture-making, rug-weaving, sheepdog-running, dung beetle conservation and traditional cooking. As a result, there was heavy buggy and bicycle traffic, and profuse usage of Pennsylvania Dutch!
The highlight of the day was when the kids pictured above taught Lucia and I how to name insects in Pennsylvania Dutch. It started as a good give and take of information: we quizzed them bugs on different types, and then they taught us the words. But, for some reason they had yard sticks, and eventually they weren't afraid to give us a good poke or a wack until our pronunciation was right. Though their vocabulary was extensive, most of them were too young to know how to spell. So, here is my best attempt...If all else fails, "kafer" (pronounced KAH-feh) is used to describe just about anything that has a shiny shell and wings.

Schpin = spider
Schmetterling = butterfly
Millogh = moth
Humel = large hairy bee
Eam = small bee
Vaschp = wasp
Blitz kafer = lighting bug
Moch = fly