Grasshopper Season

Can you count how many there are?

As the rainy season ends, the grasshoppers begin to appear in great numbers, eagerly chomping holes in leafy weeds.  It is the season for hunting the protein-packed critters.  Out where we haved moved, there are probably thousands hopping from bush to bush.

holding the soda bottle - a great container for collecting

In the morning when the air is still chilly and the grasshoppers sluggish is the best time to catch them.  Alternately, late afternoon serves the same purpose as the temperature drops again.  Abish and Lani love to accompany me or their Grandmother Six on the hunt, although Abish prefers to collect the critters as friends.  I catch them for the geese who simply love to suction up the insects, and Six hunts to fry them for snacks.  Lani likes to eat them, and Abish used to, although recently he has decided he doesn´t like them.

just a start

What is interesting is that grasshopper hunting can be quite lucrative while the season lasts.  Don Ezequiel, the project manager of our construction project, told Six that some construction workers take the season off construction work because the pay is better selling grasshoppers.  A friend at church told us that in one area the people decided to grow corn, not for the crop, but for the grasshoppers it attracts.  The income was better selling the insects for food.

Abish feeding the eager geese

I have eaten grasshoppers, but I can´t quite get past their grasshopper-y appearance after they are cooked.  It isn´t that I´m squeamish exactly, but they don´t appeal to the sight.  And if one of my hard-to-feed kids enjoys them, who am I to take food out of her mouth?  However, catching the critters is kind of addicting when it is just for fun and to feed the geese.  There is always one more grasshopper just on the next leaf.  Freezing and staring at the bushes to spot their camouflaged shapes and then pouncing to catch just one more - and then finally deciding I have enough, only to see ten more teasing me from their bush.  They have this trick of dropping suddenly off their leaves and vanishing in the underbrush, and it is tempting to stay out looking for that one that got away.

Those who hunt for serious income use a hoop with a net on it instead of only using their hands.  They swoop the hoop above the ladened bushes, and the grasshoppers, trying to escape, jump straight into the net.  Six sometimes hunts that way, and she collects quite a bunch.  Free food!

Thank you for your continued prayers for us. Keep them coming!  The area where we are is pretty rural and not entirely secure.  We have lots of lights on at night around the two houses and our dog is on full alert (she is in fact rather hoarse from barking so much), but we have been told by several people that we should be careful with patterns - that thieves observe movements and take note of when the house is empty or when only one person is home.  So pray for protection, especially since the police are not dependable.