Soothing cricket sounds

And green gardening in the midst of suburbia

We’ve been enjoying the melody of happy sounding crickets in the evening lately. They have evidently taken a liking to Sue’s natural gardening in our little yard. This year she’s been doing a lot of mulching in order to help retain moisture in the ground because of the drought. But this type of mulching is also very beneficial for the plants. She is also using worms this year to help condition the soil. She did some research and brought in some Alabama Jumpers. They are a very active breed or worm that is great for this type of clay-like soil. She’s been cultivating another kind of worm in the garage called Red Wigglers which are good for making mulch. The plants and flowers have responded, and are thriving even though we are actually using less water. And about 1/3 of it is reclaimed from inside the house. But one unintended benefit is the crickets and hummingbirds. I like the sound of crickets outside the window. Their songs help me sleep at night like a lullaby. Natural sounds can be very therapeutic. It’s actually kind of funny to walk around the complex of townhouses we live in, and everywhere else it’s silent, but we have cricket sounds both in front and in back of our unit. We often laugh when we think about what our neighbors must think. The rest of the property has been anesthetized with blowers and chemicals, but we lock them out. Our little space is a natural oasis complete with blissfully singing insects, contented worms, and buzzing humming birds. This spring there was only one cricket out back which I jokingly named Erving. Then there were more, so Sue named another one Ervina. We can’t really tell them apart, nor do we have a clue of their sex for that matter. It’s just in fun. We’ve also been noticing a lot more humming birds coming around than previous years. They have always liked the pepper tree just outside our fence, but this year they come in to investigate the flowers and foliage. Even though it isn’t practical for us to live in the mountains, at least we can create our own little green environment like an island right here in the midst of silly-con valley.

Click the play button below for urban cricket sounds