There are many of us who take for granted the abundance of clothes we wear, the beautiful homes where we live and the warm meals we eat every day. For the majority of us, we all desire to have nice things. But there is a forgotten discrepancy between wanting things and really needing things.

Part of my job as a designer is sourcing new products and shopping for clients. A day not long ago, I was out browsing the market and overheard a conversation between a salesperson and a woman expressing her “need” for a new pair of earrings for herself. I am not sure if it was the tone of her voice or how she stated her “need,” but it struck a nerve.

Before we enter the hustle and bustle in the weeks ahead, try taking a few minutes to reflect on these last couple of years. Think twice while you make your lists of things you may “want” to prepare your home for this upcoming holiday season.

I have always been a huge fan of repurposing and reusing. Gather your older decorations and that wreath you have collecting dust in the attic. Pull them all apart and look at new ways of using them before running to the store to purchase all new, or simply replace your old bow for a new one. Setting a beautiful table for guests to appreciate does not always mean breaking out your fine China and heirloom pieces. Pair your everyday simple white plates, white linens, and lots of white candles together. Hand written appreciation notes to each place card will add an unexpected special touch. Have each guest read aloud their own card during dinner and ask them what they are most thankful for. Look to nature for inspiration to complete your table. Place vases filled with apples, pears, and tree branches alongside the candles already spread on the table. Lastly, spread scented pine cones all around the table for aesthetics and aroma.

Be mindful in preserving old family traditions; they are sacred and need to be passed on from generation to generation. Making new traditions are just as important…my family enjoys relaxing by the fire, listening to vinyl records on our repurposed victrola.

Another recommendation, have guests make an effort to get unplugged for the day. Place a basket in your foyer with a sign reading welcome to our unplugged thanksgiving! We kindly request that you leave your cell phones at the door and enjoy each other’s company. Lastly, decorate from your heart. Remembering the importance of being thankful and blessed for family, friends, and ourselves, not only this season but each and every day.

In November, daylight diminishes. Lamps, blinking bulb strings, and candles begin to glow after our early sunsets and into the night as we move meals and other social activities indoors. With that shift from fall to winter come the holidays and their myriad meanings, meanings that invariably and deliciously center on food.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market marks the season with its annual migration indoors, beginning this year on Saturday, November 6, into the Wilton Mall. For us – the farmers and vendors – the market gives us the means to give you – our community of customers – the gift of food. Food offers warmth amid chill, light amid darkness. What we give to you also creates something for us: A chance to rekindle traditions that have been a part of our individual families while – like the craftspeople we are – innovating to remake those traditions anew. Here’s how some of our vendors celebrate:

Spinning the dreidel

For NightWork Bread owners Leigh Rathner and Cindy Rosenberg, Hannukkah is all about food and games: Platters of latkes, homemade applesauce, and jellybeans. The latter are used as game pieces when it comes time to play with the dreidel.

Rosenberg recalls the “epic dreidel battle” that took place one year. Teens, grandparents, friends, and relatives gathered around the dinner table to take a spin. The cheers mounted as players were eliminated, winnowing the field to two who played round after round, trying to best the other.

In the end, everyone wins because their bellies are full of good food and good fun.

Making the ordinary special 

Ariel Garland, of Hebron Valley Veal, recalls her years as an “apprentice” in her mother’s kitchen, learning to make her family’s staple holiday dishes. One among many is mashed potatoes – which, Garland says, “I can assure you aren’t your ordinary mashed potatoes, as these are made with plenty of butter, garlic, and love.” 

Garland now cooks not only her mother’s specialties but also a family post-holiday favorite – shepherd’s pie – that features her farm’s ground rose veal. 

She counts an appreciation for being able to spend time with family and delicious food as constants. “My parents are both phenomenal cooks and our family’s favorite way to show they love you is to fill your belly.”

 Sharing the harvest

After Elise Olsen and Jacob Howard became a couple, they started spending Christmas with Olson’s family in southwest Connecticut. Olsen would bring fresh produce from a vegetable farm where she worked, and the family would spend the day cooking, eating, and watching movies.

This year, with the start of their business The Mushroom Shop, they are planning to add mushrooms to the holiday mix, along with this recipe for a Lion’s Mane Bisque:

Taking the edge off the cold

For Daily Fresh prepared food vendors Sneha Narayanan and Sathya Raghavan, fall is all about festivals including Diwali, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and more. Narayanan prepares a variety of Indian dishes, including one of her favorite sweet drinks: an almond kheer. 

The drink consists of ground almonds, saffron, and cardamom blended into warm milk. It is refreshing and light when served cold in the summer, and comforting and flavorful as a warm drink in winter.

“It is a favorite family drink during the holiday season,” Narayanan says. 

Nourishing body and soul

Lovin’ Mama Farm owners Corinne Hansch and Matthew Leon spend long hours working outdoors from early spring through fall. By November, they say, “our bodies and souls are in major need of rest and nourishment.” 

They earn that well-deserved rest by piling their holiday tables with roasted, baked, sauced, steamed, and raw veggies from their fields, and adding to this mix cheeses, meats, wines, and ciders from other farmers. They place the foods in locally made pottery and, with family and friends, eat. 

“Holidays for us are spending time feasting on the fruits of our labor, resting for the coming season, and rejuvenating mind, body, and soul with nourishing local products from our community.”

Holiday Meats at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

Elihu Farm: For Christmas and New Year’s, whole bone-in legs, boneless sirloin half legs, leg steaks, loin chops, racks, boneless whole and half shoulder roasts, shoulder chops, whole shanks, and osso bucco – shanks cut into slices, and ground lamb. Orders are being taken from now until December 6

Hebron Valley Veal: Veal roast chops, veal steak, and varieties of veal sausages

Longlesson Angus: Customers can preorder prime rib for the holidays, and we will have pork on the 2nd week of November

Ramble Creek Farm: Pasture-raised turkey (preorders are being taken now), chicken, and pork

Squash Villa Farm: Goat leg roast, fresh heritage breed chicken (small whole chickens, around 3-4 lbs, we will begin to have these available around Thanksgiving)

*For 6 recipes, please visit our eNewspaper on pages 24 and 25: https://saratogatodaynewspaper.com/our-publications/saratoga-today/item/14972-november-5-november-11-2021 

Thanksgiving dinner is the most illustrious of all family meals. Its reputation precedes it, and by adding bakery favorites to your menu this year, you’ll have a scrumptious prelude, a lovingly-made main course, and a sweet ending to your delicious day. 

Just the Right Size

While many people will be having larger family gatherings this year than last, there are still plenty who will be going smaller this Thanksgiving. 

“There’s a lot of people out there who don’t need a huge package. Everyone should be able to eat and make their tummy happy and not have their pocketbook be broke,” said Maura Pulver, owner of Simply Food by Maura, at 666 Route 9, in Wilton. 

For the first time, Simply Food by Maura will be offering their famous Take 5 Turkey Dinners for preorder in single-serving for Thanksgiving at a price of just $12/person (family size $75, serves 4-6) . 

The dinner includes oven-roasted turkey with mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, and biscuits. 

“The turkey dinners we’ve really gotten down to a science, now,” she said, which is why they can keep the quality high and the price low.

From Five Points to a Tipping Point

Until it closed in August 2020, Pulver was the owner of Saratoga’s Five Points Market & Deli for more than eight years. 

Since opening Simply Food by Maura 10 months ago, there’s more flexibility to do things a bit differently. 

“We’re a very small operation and what we do is pretty amazing,” she said. 

“Now we’re just simply food, so we’re putting out a good product and people can tell. The word is out now, so we’re at a tipping point.”

Maura wants to balance the growth of Simply Food with their ability to easily experiment with traditional foods given a special twist by using local suppliers including Driscoll Foods, Thomas Poultry, and Battenkill Valley Creamery. 

“We’re both a little quirky and like doing things a little differently,” she said of herself and Kitchen Coordinator and Catering Consultant Lucia Valentine. 

Time to be Together

This Thanksgiving, Simply Food by Maura will be taking preorders for Chocolate Stout, Pumpkin, and Apple Pie cupcakes, a selection of pies, and for a Brunch menu that includes a choice of quiche served with a curry butternut squash soup, their signature apple salad, and pumpkin muffins.

Excited by the opportunity to see her first grandson, Eli, and two of her four children at Thanksgiving this year, Maura is putting family first and closing Simply Food by Maura to the public that week, so preorders must be in by November 15 to be picked up on November 24 between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.

“We’ve all had our own challenges in this last year and a half, so we celebrate when we can. At Simply Food by Maura, we’re happy to do some of the work so people can take some time to reset, step back, and enjoy the holiday,” she said.

Early Birds Welcome

If you are too busy to pull-off a traditional holiday spread this year, just stop into Kelly’s Kitchen, 4300 NY-50, in Wilton.

In addition to their regular menu of breakfast and lunch items from local producers including Saratoga Tea & Honey, King Brothers Dairy, and Kru Coffee, they’ll also be offering all the best things about Thanksgiving together in one sandwich; with turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry mayo, and a signature seasoning blend on their own house-made hard roll with a side of Saratoga Chips.

“It’s the feel of the season in a sandwich,” said Head Cook Katie Gall. 

We’ll Do Dessert 

For those who want to wait for turkey until the big day, Kelly’s Kitchen owner Kelly Groff suggests doing what she does for her own family dinners – bring dessert. 

“Let us take dessert off your plate,” she said. 

Kelly’s Kitchen is accepting preorders for a variety of dessert items including a harvest platter of chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, cheesecakes in sizes from mini (which serves 2 to 4 people) up to 10” (serving 12 to 15), and pies with a rich, buttery, flakey crust that’s got the love cooked right in by Head Baker Felicia Garrison. 

“We’re here to supply you with your favorite treats for the holidays,” said Kelly. You can preorder pastries including scones, Danish, turnovers, mini-muffins, and cinnamon rolls, as well as quiche, dinner rolls and cake pops. 

Pick-up preorders on November 24 from 12 p.m. until 4 p.m. and grab a Chicken Pot Pie dinner-to-go (that serves four), as well as a selection of other bakery items that will be ready for last-minute shoppers. 

Eye on the Pie

Thanksgiving at Carolyn LeClair-Zinn’s house is all about family, hanging out all day, and eating food baked just like the way her mom used to do it. Everything is made by hand, from scratch, which is the same way she makes it for her customers at Sweet Caroline’s Bakery, at 20 Gordon Lane, in Wilton. 

“I have the best, nicest customers in the world. This is fun because of my customers,” said Caroline.

She creates a staggering number of different pies and other bakery items using fresh ingredients from local producers including Saratoga Apple; the Vincek, Maple Valley, Buhrmaster, and Arial’s Farms; Sundae’s Best; Spoonful of Sugar; Upper Hudson Coffee Company; and local distributor Hillcrest Foods. 

In addition to the traditional favorites, Sweet Caroline’s makes harvest berry, apple cranberry hazelnut, maple walnut, chocolate, coconut, and banana cream, as well as tempting chocolate bourbon pecan pies. Each pie serves 8.

The Feeling of Home

This Thanksgiving, Sweet Caroline’s Pies is also baking up more than the pies they’re famous for. 

They are also accepting preorders for quiche in your choice of bacon scallion, garden vegetable, and several cheese and vegetable blends. Pastry platters are available in small (which serves 8) or large (which serves 12 to 16) and come with your choice of scones, cinnamon buns, Danish, and eclairs. Soft dinner rolls and Sweet Caroline’s award-winning carrot cake with cream cheese frosting will also be available. 

Preorders can be picked up on November 24 from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. A selection of hand-baked items will also be available to grab-and-go so you can make this Thanksgiving feel like the ones you remember.

“It’s tradition, it’s comfort. To me, food is about family, and it gives you that feeling of home,” said Carolyn.

Photos by Randall Perry Photography

Summer was a soggy mess but autumn weather has been making up for it so far.

It is fall flowering mum season and they are on full display in yards all across the region.

Mums have been cultivated for their beauty for over 3,000 years. Thousands of years of breeding give us mums of nearly every size and color.

History traces the origin of chrysanthemum culture to Imperial China over 3,000 years ago. Chrysanthemums were highly prized by the emperors of China who considered them to be more valuable than gold. The Japanese also revere the chrysanthemum. In fact, the origin of Japanese culture is wrapped in chrysanthemum legend. It seems that one of the early emperors of China became quite ill. In his quest for a remedy he learned of the “herb of youth” that would restore his health. The search for the “herb of youth” was entrusted to twelve male and twelve female virgins. They sailed out onto the Pacific Ocean with a bamboo basket filled with the Emperor’s beloved “golden daisies” to trade for the “herb of youth.”. They didn’t make it far before the quest was ended by a typhoon that left them shipwrecked on a rocky archipelago. With their journey at an end, the survivors planted the revered mums and set about exploring their new home. 

Over the years, the survivor’s descendants populated the islands we now know as Japan. Their reverence for chrysanthemums continued, and they were eventually considered the exclusive property of their Emperor. In 910 AD, the Japanese Emperor displayed his prized plants at the first Imperial Chrysanthemum Show and declared them to be the national flower of Japan. In 1876, another Japanese emperor created the Order of the Chrysanthemum as the highest honor he could bestow on an individual. The Japanese word “kiku” represents both the chrysanthemum and the office of the Emperor. The royal crest is a traditional sixteen-petal chrysanthemum design. European interest in Chrysanthemums budded with the arrival of plants brought back from the orient by Dutch traders in the early eighteenth century. The Dutch are known to have produced several new varieties from the original plants. Chrysanthemums came to North America in 1798 in the hands of John Stevens, a nurseryman from Hoboken. By 1850, the Chrysanthemum Society of America had been founded, and they held their first show in 1902.

The first step to success with hardy mums is to make sure that you’re buying winter hardy mums. Unless they are labeled as winter hardy mums, you should assume they are not. 

Many folks display their potted mums, waiting until right before frost to plant them. This really doesn’t give the plant much of a chance to get some roots down into their new home. It is best to plant them as soon as you can. 

After the flowers are finished, snip them off but leave the leaves. They’ll provide food to help the roots grow until frost claims them. There’s no need to cut your mums back until spring when new growth appears. In very windy locations, you might cover them with evergreen boughs after several hard freezes. This will protect them in case we have a snowless winter. Snow is the best winter protection for mums and all of our perennial garden plants.

Lately, North Americans asters have become a popular contender for champion of fall color in the flowerbed. Compared to mums, asters are a relatively recent upstart. English gardeners, visiting their colonial cousins found asters to be quite lovely and brought seeds back to the British Isles with them. So even though asters are a native North American plant, they became a popular fall-blooming plant in the gardens of England long before Americans learned to appreciate them. It’s a classic case of one man’s trash becoming another’s treasure. Whichever you choose you’ll enjoy great fall color for many years to come. Heck, why choose! Grow them both. 

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The uncertainty of the strained supply chains that resulted in last winter’s shortages left many feeling vulnerable and scrambling for supplies. Now, some are rethinking how they will prepare for the next wave of the pandemic. 

Having an extra cache of the foods your household uses most eases the emotional and economic stresses that unforeseen disruptions can bring. 

But don’t pull out an old family canning recipe and that hand-me-down pressure canner just yet. 

Before preserving your garden’s harvest or buying locally-grown fruits and vegetables in bulk while they’re available, you need to put time into learning how to do it safely, cautions Saratoga County Cooperative Extension Food and Nutrition Educator Diane Whitten.

“Many cases of botulism are from home canning, so if you’re going to get into canning, there are some real serious food safety issues you need to be aware of,” she said. 

Can-Do & Can Don’ts

Botulism is a rare but serious illness caused by improperly canned food. You can’t see it or taste it. 

Low-acid foods such as green beans and corn are common sources for cases of foodborne botulism. Low-acid foods, which includes all vegetables, meats, poultry and seafood, must be canned using a pressure canner (not a boiling water bath canner) to reach a temperature hot enough to kill the heat-resistant botulism spores. Botulism will not survive in high-acid foods, including fruit and acidified vegetables, such as salsa and pickles which can be safely canned in a boiling water canner. 

Using a safe research-based recipe is also important for food preservation. Many examples you’ll find online are not USDA approved. Instead, for up-to-date recipes and information, go to the National Center for Home Food Preservation website at nchfp.uga.edu

Freezing Facts

There are three things to keep in mind even if you think you already know how to freeze foods:

1. To get the best quality vegetables from your freezer, blanch them in boiling water beforehand. This inactivates the enzymes that cause them to degrade, so they’ll last longer. Blanching times vary for each vegetable, so follow time recommendations from the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

2. To prevent freezer burn and preserve the plumpness of fruits like apples and peaches, freeze them in a sugar syrup or water.

3. Get a low-cost sensor for your freezer unit to alert you if it turns off, otherwise you could be losing thousands of dollars worth of food when the power goes out. 

Coming Up Dry

No matter how hot it might seem when you’re out in the sun, the Northeast is just too humid to dry most foods without a dehydrator (with the exception of herbs -which can be hung to dry in a warm spot that gets good circulation). 

To avoid mold, foods need to be dried at a consistent warm temperature (ovens get too hot) so look for a quality dehydrator that has varying temperature controls and includes a fan. 

Fermentation is a short-term food preservation method that will last four to six months in the refrigerator. Examples include flavorful sauerkraut, kimchi, and fermented dill pickles.

Master Food Preserver Diane Whitten will be hosting FREE Food Preservation Zoom Classes on Sept. 9 and Oct. 7, 6-8:30 p.m. For more information, go to ccesaratoga.org/nutrition-food/food-preservation

I’m always impressed at how quickly the days get shorter this time of year.  We’re losing daylight at a rate of almost 3 minutes a day!  It adds up day after day. There are signs of fall everywhere.  The asters are beginning to flower in the meadows.  The hummingbirds will be gone soon.  All these are indications that our glorious growing season will be coming to a frosty end.  You would think that this would be a quiet time for gardeners. Not at all!

There are bulbs to plant and it’s a great time to plant trees and shrubs that are on season end clearance at the garden centers.  Cool weather makes it a great time to catch up on any lingering landscaping projects.  Most of us have more time to devote to garden tasks in September.  In spring, with all the preparation for the vegetable garden, raking the lawn and other pressing chores, it can be hard to find time to keep up.  Rainy spring weather can also make it difficult to accomplish all you wish to.  Many of the gardening chores that you’d normally think of doing in spring can actually be taken care of now. 

One task that I like to tackle in fall is the dividing and transplanting of perennials.  Most of our perennial flowers are just about finished for the season.  They go dormant as frost approaches.  This is a great time to make improvements and adjustments to our flowerbeds and borders.  You may have underestimated how large a plant would get and need to move it.  You may have some perennials that have become mature and need to be divided.  This is a great time to take advantage of cool, crisp “work weather” to get a jump on next spring. 

For instance, I’ve got some daylilies and hosta that are in need of dividing.  It is a good idea to have the new location ready to receive your transplants before you lift them from their present spot.  Dig your holes and add your soil amendments.  I add Bio-Tone since it contains all the nutrients as well as soil organisms to get the new plants off to a great start.  If you have sandy soil, the addition of compost will improve the soil’s ability to retain moisture. 

Next, slice all the way around the plant you wish to divide with a sharp spade and lift it from the soil.  If you’re moving it to a new location, simply plant it and water it in well.  If you need to divide the plant, simply slice the clump apart (as with hosta) or gently pull the clump apart (as with daylilies).  Sometimes this seems a bit brutal but remember most perennial plants NEED to be divided every few years to remain healthy and vigorous. 

Remember your gardening friends when you’re dividing your perennials.  I always set a few small divisions aside to share.  My friends share with me so, there’s always something new for all of us to enjoy. 

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Summer of 2021 will not be remembered fondly by farmers and gardeners. 

July was one of the top 5 wettest on record. It hasn’t been very sunny or warm either. This has slowed the ripening of tomatoes and other vegetable crops. Even the annual flowers have been slow to put on their show this year.

There are a couple of critters that love “the wet” though: slugs and garden snails. They both like to munch on many of our favorite ornamental and vegetable plants. In the past, slugs and snails have been difficult garden pests to control. 

In the past, there was only one bait made and the active ingredient was metaldehyde. Metaldehyde was nasty stuff and was for use around ornamental crops but never vegetables, fruits or berries. It is also toxic to animals so I would never even consider using it. Metaldehyde has now been removed from the market…thank goodness!

There were also a variety of “old school” slug and snail control techniques. One option was plucking and drowning the slugs in soapy water. You’d need to wear gloves since slug slime isn’t something that you can wash off easily. 

There was also the dish sunk into the ground and filled with beer. The idea was that the slugs and snails are attracted to the beer (true) and would drop into it and drown. This method never worked well for me. I’d catch a few but it seemed like a terrible waste of beer. 

Another method was placing grapefruit rinds upside down in the infested area. The slugs and snails are attracted to the grapefruit rind and you’d find them under there in the morning and then drown them. It worked but you’d need dozens of grapefruit rinds if you wanted to catch enough slugs to make a difference. 

I never had much success with any of these methods in a year like the one we’re having this year. The demand for something safe and effective safe slug control finally led to a natural mineral-based slug control that is not only very effective but is totally safe to use in the berry patch and vegetable garden. It is iron phosphate. 

I’m most familiar with the iron phosphate slug and snail bait called “Slug Magic” but there are others available. Just make sure that the active ingredient is iron phosphate.

This stuff works great and is harmless to dogs, cats and all the wildlife except slugs and garden snails. You just sprinkle it around (according to the instructions on the package of course) and the slugs actually prefer it to the plants. It works fast too. Sprinkle it on in the evening (slugs feed at night) and by the next night you won’t see slugs around. Once they nibble a little Slug Magic, they stop feeding and crawl away to die. It really is almost like magic!

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Now is a good time to build or remodel as interest rates are at historic lows hovering around 3% depending on your credit score. Building and remodeling inquiries are also on the rise as the housing shortage continues. The pandemic has affected the supply chain of goods and services in virtually every sector of commerce. Building goods and materials are no exception. But the good news is that it’s still very doable whether you are considering building a new home or a remodeling project. There are many scenarios playing out in a seller’s market as well. Building new and remodeling are trending because many people find themselves dissatisfied with the current real estate inventory. When people buy a home that is not exactly what they want they will most likely want to remodel it. For others this is the best time to take the leap and build from scratch. This ensures that you will get most, if not everything, on your wish list. Chances are that regardless of your preference, you may need to work with a builder. 

Building and remodeling are still thriving post pandemic but just know that the lead times are growing. As a society we’ve all had to make various adjustments throughout this pandemic. But the silver linings continue to show through. We’ve reimagined what a classroom, workplace and community all look like. We have learned to change our habits and expectations in almost all facets of life. We along with our clients have also had to make some adjustments in building and remodeling homes regarding client selections and lead times. Cabinets, counter tops, appliances, flooring, and plumbing fixtures are all taking extended times for delivery. Simply put it takes a bit longer now to build or remodel a home now. Our industry has reset pre-pandemic build times on a typical house from 150-180 days to now needing 60–90-day extensions in many cases due to supply chain lag times. For example: Most Cabinet brands made in the USA were arriving in a five-week timeframe. Now we’re looking at approximately 15 weeks for delivery. Appliances that were once delivered in five to six weeks are now requiring 12–16-week lead times.  We’re working closely with clients to reset expectations and ensure that materials are ordered immediately to make those extensions as short as possible. 

Another challenge we worked through was the increased price of lumber at the height of the pandemic.  Thankfully lumber prices are coming down slightly now. Although they may not come down to pre-pandemic levels it’s reassuring to see the prices trending downward. We will continue to work with our clients to plan for the increase or redesign and/or adjust selections to stay within budget.

The pandemic has undoubtedly created challenges in all sectors of life with few exceptions. The silver lining is that we have all established a “new normal” in our lives. The building and remodeling industry is still thriving and ever evolving with newly established expectations. Don’t be afraid to build your dream home. Now is truly the time!

– Lou Galarneau, President Galarneau Builders

There’s so much confusion about grub control

that garden centers will sell a lot more grub control in the spring than in summer when, logically, it should be the other way around. I’m sure much of this has to do with the fact that the damage grubs do in late summer and fall isn’t visible until the following spring.

The first step is to understand the life cycle of the Japanese Beetle. Let’s start at the beginning. After feasting on your beans and rose bushes, the female Japanese Beetle lays her eggs in the warm sunny areas of your lawn starting in mid-August. The healthiest grass is growing in the sunny areas of your beautiful lawn that you’ve worked on all spring. Each female is capable of laying a couple of hundred eggs. These eggs will all hatch within four days after they’re laid. There are no grubs hatching in the spring. None. They ALL hatch from mid-August through September.

After the tiny grubs hatch in mid-August and September, they start eating. What they eat are the roots of your lawn. As the soil temperature drops in the fall, the grubs burrow down below the frost line to avoid being frozen over winter. 

In spring, the soil temperature begins to rise and the grubs burrow their way back to the root zone of your lawn. Now the feast begins all over again. After putting on another round of body fat, they pause and pupate; that is, they form a hard shell and begin the transformation into the adult or beetle stage of their life. They enter this pupae stage during early to mid-June. In mid-July, the beetles emerge from the soil and the cycle begins again.

The best time to wipe them out is during the hatching period in late August or early September. Remember this: “Apply in July when the beetles fly” Let’s start with Bonide Annual Grub Beater: Ideally, you’ll want to apply Bonide Annual Grub Beater in July and WATER IT IN. By now you must think I’m totally nuts. I just explained how there aren’t any grubs in July because they are all in the beetle form. The reason Annual Grub Beater needs to be applied so early is that it needs a month of lead time to get absorbed into the roots of the grass where it remains waiting for the grubs. As soon as the grubs hatch, they begin to eat the roots of the grass. POW! They die. Properly applied and watered-in, Bonide Annual Grub Beater will kill 98% of the grubs that hatch. No need to lose your lawn…no need to treat again in spring either. 

The there’s Milky Spore, a non-chemical grub control. Milky Spore is a disease that only affects Japanese Beetle grubs. It won’t hurt earthworms or even a bird that eats a grub that has the disease. Milky Spore needs to be applied two times a year for three years to reach “epidemic” proportions in the soil. Milky Spore is best applied in spring and late summer/early fall and must get watered in heavily right after application, just like the other grub controls. After that, grubs hatch into your lawn, contract the disease then die, reproducing the disease and spreading it throughout the soil. Milky Spore is more expensive up front but will last at least 20 years once it takes hold. 

Water your grubs!! It is imperative that all grub control products get watered-in thoroughly IMMEDIATELY after application. DON’T COUNT ON RAIN TO DO THE JOB. Rainfall is never hard enough to get the chemical off the surface of the soil quickly enough and down to the roots where the grubs are. All grub controls (including Milky Spore) begin to break down as soon as they are out of the bag. As soon as you put your spreader away, get the sprinkler out and soak the area with an inch of water. Use an empty tuna fish or cat food can to measure the inch of water. When your sprinkler has filled the can, you’ve applied the correct amount of water. 

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