The Ladybug Strategy
Chloe stood at the entrance of the orchard, wearing faded blue jeans and a loose button-down shirt. She took a deep breath, letting the breeze that filtered through the leaves wash over her. The white latex gloves she wore looked strangely out of place.
“Are you guys ready?”
Armando and Jacob stood awkwardly behind her, glancing at each other. Jacob grumbled, “Ready? What kind of preparation do you need to catch ladybugs?”
“Well, *I* need a little preparation.”
Armando took a deep breath just like Chloe had, and Jacob looked at him with an expression of utter disbelief.
“I hate bugs too, but you’re taking this a bit far, aren’t you?”
“Look... everything else is fine, but I’m terrified of spiders. As long as I don’t run into any spiders, I’m good.”
“That... I can respect.”
Chloe shot them a light glare and gave her orders. “Stop complaining and follow me. The staff said there are plenty of ladybugs near the cedar bushes over there. Let’s move.”
The trio arrived at the cedar bushes behind the farm. Beneath the tall trees, thick, dense brush had taken root. Chloe put on her gloves and reached into the bushes cautiously, only to recoil in horror a second later.
“Eek! A praying mantis!”
As Chloe screamed, her two friends jumped back in surprise. Armando looked at Chloe with wide, panicked eyes.
“A mantis? Was it huge?”
“It was insane! Something this big crawled onto the back of my hand!”
“...So, what about the ladybugs?”
“I didn’t see any!”
“......”
The two boys stared at her with bewildered expressions. Chloe shook her head for a moment, then gritted her teeth.
“Right, get it together, Chloe! It’s my farm, so I have to do this.”
“...”
“What is this? Is she acting?”
Ignoring the boys’ muttering, she began to push through the forest. Suddenly, she spotted a small, red ladybug. She bent down slowly and approached it.
“Come here...”
She reached out, and at the last second, cupped her hands together. She hated the feeling of the tiny bug moving around in the hollow of her palms, but she didn’t shake it off.
“Oh... nice.”
“You’re pretty good at this, huh?” Armando asked from behind, and Chloe winced.
“Ladybugs are fine. And one at a time is even better.”
Chloe steeled herself and carefully placed the ladybug into the plastic container she had brought. Watching her, Jacob bent his large frame and picked up a ladybug with his fingertips.
“They’re actually kind of cute. Some have lots of spots, and some only have one.”
Even though Jacob hated bugs, he turned out to be quite good at catching them once he started. Armando also joined in, constantly checking for spiders as he collected them.
“Armando, if you want to have dinner with Christina, you’d better pick up the pace!”
“A-alright, I get it!”
With a pained expression, Armando began to speed up, but before long, the sun dipped toward the west, and the surroundings grew dark. Chloe sighed, looking at the container with a regretful expression; she had caught fewer than she’d hoped.
“The time was too short. We have to come out early tomorrow. Got it?”
When Chloe spoke with such seriousness, her two friends nodded simultaneously, looking as if they had no other choice.
The next dawn, just as the morning sun began to illuminate the farm, Chloe was already near the cedar bushes. Unlike the day before, she was catching bugs rapidly with a look of iron determination.
“Chloe! You were already here?” Jacob asked in admiration as he arrived late. Chloe gave a complicated smile and nodded.
“It’s my farm and my trees, so I have to work harder. But while ladybugs are easy, lacewings are difficult.”
Seeing Chloe work so hard, the two boys couldn’t slack off. Naturally, the three of them caught an incomparable amount of ladybugs compared to the day before.
By the afternoon, Chloe finally walked into the cherry orchard carrying a container full of ladybugs. Standing before the trees suffering from aphids, she spoke with a serious expression.
“You guys have to save our trees. I’m counting on you, little ones.”
She gently opened the container and carefully placed the ladybugs onto the trees with her fingertips. Armando and Jacob followed suit, scattering the ladybugs onto the branches.
Before long, the ladybugs began moving among the aphids, searching for food. The sight of the natural predators dealing with the aphids felt as tense as a battlefield, and Chloe watched the trees with a quiet smile.
“Ah...”
How should she describe it? The sight of the small, red ladybugs eating away at the aphids that were tormenting her cherry trees was both mysterious and impressive. Until now, all bugs had just seemed gross to her, but the ladybugs didn’t look that way anymore.
“Did you catch a lot?”
Chloe turned around, startled by the voice behind her.
“Brian! When did you get here?”
“Just now. I came to see how things were progressing.”
I answered vaguely, taking a quick look at the ladybugs Chloe had released before continuing. “You caught them well without hurting them. But this isn’t nearly enough.”
“I know.”
I spoke to Chloe, who was looking dejected again.
“Don’t worry too much. It’s not like you’re only catching them today. You know you’ll be catching them all week, right?”
“I know that!”
Chloe scowled, and I smiled faintly.
“Plus, the ladybug packs Armando brought will add up to quite a bit, and the bureau will help out too. If we secure more from the bureau the day after tomorrow, the pest control will speed up. Oh, what did the Cherry Association say?”
“It seems we aren’t the only ones with an aphid outbreak. They said it won’t be easy.”
“I guess there are quite a few places using organic farming methods after all.”
I thought of Pierce Morgan, whom I had met the day before. If such an incident occurred, he would surely have recommended natural predator pest control to the farm owners.
“What if we miss the harvest season because of this?”
“Then that’s just how it is. You made a choice—a method that might be tough this year but will lead to long-term health. If you feel bitter about losing, then spraying pesticides is the right answer.”
After a moment of contemplation, Chloe shook her head.
“No. I’ll stick with this method.”
I looked at Chloe, who was staring at the ladybugs with her lips pressed tight and a resolute expression, with a renewed sense of respect.
“You’re starting to look like a real farmer now.”
She tossed her hair with a haughty expression, as if nothing had happened.
“Well, wasn’t I always?”
Just then, the sound of a vehicle approached from afar. I turned my head to see Chloe’s brother, Brandon, and the farm manager, Raymond, approaching from a parked pickup truck.
“Why are they coming here?”
“I don’t know.”
To my question, Chloe shrugged and shouted at her approaching brother.
“You should be sleeping! Why are you here again!”
Brandon stomped over with his broad frame and yelled, “I didn’t come because I wanted to! Dad said to stop this nonsense and use pesticides immediately!”
“What?”
“He said not to ruin things with useless stunts!”
“I’ll tell Dad myself! So don’t you dare touch my trees! And Mr. Raymond, don’t you touch them without my permission either!”
Pointing her index finger at Raymond, Chloe issued a firm warning before stomping away, just like her brother. They looked nothing alike, but I guess that’s what makes them siblings.
However, Brandon, who hadn’t followed Chloe, suddenly looked at me and scoffed.
“Hmph! So you’re Chloe’s friend?”
How was I supposed to react to that?
“Why? What’s the matter?”
Jacob rushed over, blocking my path as if he were worried I might get hit. *Kid’s cute, isn’t he?*
“What do you want?” I asked, pushing Jacob aside as he blocked my view like a dump truck. Brandon sneered with his thick lips.
“Stop ruining the farm with your weird farming methods and get lost.”
“Huh? But I thought this place belonged to Chloe... We’re friends who were invited by Chloe.”
“Don’t make me laugh! This is my farm!”
At that, I looked at Raymond.
“Is that so?”
“Uh? Well... that is...”
“If Mr. Raymond confirms that this place belongs to Mr. Brandon, we will leave. We can’t stay on someone else’s land for long.”
At my words, Raymond was visibly flustered. If he said it was the land of the glaring Brandon, he knew he couldn’t predict the consequences from Chloe when she returned.
Moreover, since Chloe’s father hadn’t officially passed down the inheritance yet, the claim that it was Brandon’s was absurd.
“It’s my land!”
“Mr. Raymond?”
Raymond swallowed hard and finally had to say this:
“It is land that is expected to become Mr. Brandon’s.”
“Ah. So it’s not his yet, then?”
At my words, Brandon’s face turned red again, and he shouted, “I’ll show you that it’ll be my land soon!”
He turned around and stomped away, followed by an embarrassed Raymond.
“What’s wrong with him?”
Jacob, who had appeared out of nowhere, answered Armando, “I don’t know. He’s furious, though. But where are we going to eat lunch?”
“Let’s just eat pizza.”
Armando and Jacob looked at me.
“I don’t like pizza. I’m sick of it. I’m going home to eat. If you guys want, you can come over and eat at my place.”
The two looked at each other as if I’d offered them something inedible.
“Can’t be helped. Let’s just eat by ourselves.”
“Yeah.”
“Hmph! Americans who don’t even know the taste of good food...”
I glared at my friends who didn’t respect Korean food, then watched Brandon’s vehicle disappear into the distance.
The place Chloe went to in her anger was the Crockett mansion, about 30 minutes away from the cherry orchard.
“Dad!”
Frederick frowned at his daughter, who was shouting.
“I told you not to shout in the house.”
“Why did you say that to my brother? You promised to leave it to me!”
The elderly Frederick looked at his daughter with a pitiful expression.
“I got a call from the Cherry Association earlier. You requested bugs? They’re already worried, asking if there’s a problem with this year’s harvest. The rumors are already spreading.”
“Just for that reason...”
“Do you even know the size of the farm I entrusted to you? Do you know how much fruit is produced there?”
“That’s...”
“We have contracts to sell a fixed amount every year. We have to meet them. If we don’t, we suffer a huge loss. I don’t care how smart your friend is; dealing with the immediate situation is more important. Farming isn’t a game of house.”
“I don’t think of it as a game.”
At his daughter’s stubbornness, Frederick Harrison ruffled his hair in distress before speaking with difficulty.
“It can’t be helped. The aphids appearing was bad luck, but that’s part of farming too.”
“What do you mean it can’t be helped! And while we’re on the subject, it was because Mr. Raymond used too much nitrogen fertilizer, unlike usual, that the aphids appeared in the first place!”
“What? He used too much nitrogen fertilizer?”
“Yes. The only reason I didn’t say anything was because I hadn’t checked the excess nitrogen myself. So I’m going to fix this myself!”
“Chloe!”
“Competition or not, the trees are getting damaged!”
For a moment, Frederick just stared blankly at his daughter’s face.
“If we use chemicals, we can treat it immediately, but the trees will be damaged. Ladybugs and lacewings are natural predators of aphids, so we can clear them out in a month.”
“And if you fail?”
“I won’t hold it against you if you give the cherry orchard to my brother.”
“......”
At this moment, Brandon burst through the door and chimed in with a sneer.
“Dad, if you listen to Chloe’s words...”
“Enough.”
At Frederick’s hardened expression, Brandon sensed the atmosphere and shut his mouth as meekly as a lamb. Then, Frederick looked his daughter straight in the eye and said:
“Fine. I’ll let you have your way.”
“Thank you. I love you, Dad.”
Frederick watched with a strange expression as his daughter hugged him tightly and then turned and rushed back out.