Dead, they were all dead.

Spring 2006 was marked in New Orleans by the appearance, in patios and yards everywhere, of thick carpets composed of unmoving migratory butterflies, jeweled dragonflies, moths and honeybees.

In its zeal to stifle the clouds of aggressive disease-riddled carrion flies and mosquitoes, the government (which government, we don’t know, as they all seem to have dominion over New Orleans these days) had adopted wholesale nighttime aerosol bombing from crop-dusting planes and daytime fogging from truck-mounted fumigators. Residents appreciated the reduction of biting insects, but simultaneously mourned the quick loss of the first gay fluttering colors seen in the City in months. More seriously, for those of us who grow things, was the sudden removal of pollinators for flowering trees and plants.

Backyard fruit and vegetable crops never had a chance that spring…

Read more of Jim’s notes on December 2007 New Orleans here.