Potato Bugs

Part of what makes living in a different country with a host so cool is that you get to do things we never get the chance to encounter in the USA. Something really interesting that I learned about today was potato bugs. I feel like this needs mentioned since IFYE is all about agriculture. Christine is trying to grow her garden all natural and pesticide free. This is actually a very common thing in Switzerland. Not too long ago there was actually a vote to decide if Switzerland would become completely pesticide free on all farms. It did not pass, as this would be detrimental to big production farmers, but most small personal farms or crops are pesticide free. Anyways, Christine and her family grow potato's on a small plot of the land. These have been invaded by an infectious species of potato bug. They are red and look quite similar to a ladybug. In order to keep these bugs from destroying the crop completely like they did last year, they must be picked off by hand then smashed. It took us a solid few hours this afternoon, and we still found more. We will probably be doing this a few times during my time here. Normally I'm not super into the whole bug thing, but in true IFYE spirit, I jumped right in to help.