I have some photos from the farm to share, but I have to warn you, they are not for the faint of heart.

When I lifted up the row cover to take a look at some of our plants yesterday, this is what I saw.

Brassicas like kale and broccoli plants were chewed up, full of holes, and some were even totally decimated. But then again some plants looked totally fine, making it hard at first to find the culprit.

Do you see it?

Look closer…

Cabbage worms! They do such a good job of blending in when the plant is still big and healthy like the Red Russian kale above. They’re easier to spot when the plant is near death like this lacinato kale.

My first reaction: Ask Farmer Steve what to do.

One of the amazing things about where we are right now is that we have farm mentors to turn to for any of our questions that arise during the season. Sure, we can (and do!) read books and use online resources, but there’s nothing like having an experienced and helpful person on-site to turn to immediately when something comes up, especially something that feels like semi-emergency status like the chewed up kale plants. (Not my beloved kale!)

Farmer Steve identified the critters. Technically they are the larvae stage of cabbage worms. (Yuck. I still shudder every time someone says the word larvae.) He offered some insecticidal soap and advice on how to apply it.

And thus begins our education in organic pest management.

Pests weren’t a huge problem in Vermont. By that I mean insect pests. We had more than our fair share of these guys wreaking havoc in the garden.

Before turning to the pesticide sprayer, I hand-picked the cabbage worms off the plants and put them in a mason jar. I now understand why some gardeners recommend dropping pests like this in a bucket of soapy water when you pluck them off the plant: they liked to crawl their way out of the jar. They don’t move fast, but after a half-hour of hand-picking an entire (100′) row, the little buggers had wormed their way to the top of the jar.

At Mark’s suggestion I fed the cabbage worms to the chickens. The truth is, I’m still struggling a little with being a killer in the name of farming. But asking them nicely to leave hasn’t worked very well thus far. If the worms are going to die so that my brassicas can live, at least they can be part of the food chain and provide nourishment to other living things.

I did end up spraying some of the recommended insecticidal soap as well on some of the plants because I’m sure I didn’t find all of these well camouflaged critters. I am confident that the kale plants will rebound after manual removal of the pests, close monitoring, continued manual removal as needed, and discarding holey leaves so the plant can put its energy into new growth. The broccoli and cauliflower I’m not so sure about. They seem to be more vulnerable to pest damage, especially as young as the plants are. And while we may want to throw up our hands and say oh well, let the little buggers eat what they want, we have to remember that our decisions impact more than just our little farm. We’re smack dab in the middle of a 60+ acre farm. If we have uncontrolled pest issues, pretty soon the whole farm will have pest issues and our friendly farm mentors may not be so friendly anymore.

The lesson continues to be that farming is about selectively encouraging some life over others. We support the growth of some plants (“crops”), others we kill (“weeds”). Same goes for other life forms. The cabbage worms we pick off and feed to the chickens. The ladybugs we befriend because they control aphid populations.

When we have our own farm one day maybe we’ll do it differently. Instead of long rows of brassicas, all lined up like an all-you-can-eat buffet for the cabbage worms, maybe we’ll intersperse them with other plants known to deter pests. Maybe we’ll be able to trick them by putting the row cover on earlier in the season. Or maybe we’ll give up and let them eat broccoli. Mark doesn’t like it anyway.