Afternoon flashback: It is summer. The fields are alive with chirping and any move through the grass scares up hundreds of grasshoppers. Or are they crickets? Or katydids?The photo here is of a katydid. I love its long, graceful antennae, and that’s how we can tell it is not a grasshopper, despite the fact that it lives in the grass and hops wildly when disturbed.

Katydid - Summer 2011

The chickens don’t care whether the hoppers are crickets, grasshoppers or katydids, they just love chasing them across the lawn and into the pastures. The best part for them is catching and eating these apparently delicious insects!