Fresh and organic

I thought that I might be posting less and less as fall turned into winter, spending more time as an armchair naturalist than as a field naturalist. But the inside of my apartment remains fecund and full of surprises. For instance:
This lady beetle — I believe it’s a Multicolored Asian ladybug, Harmonia axyridis — was in this week’s head of CSA lettuce. “My” farm is Green Thumb Farm, in Water Mill, NY, out on the South Fork of Long Island.
It was only after I looked at the series of macro picture I took that I notice the lady beetle had company. Some aphids. Aphids, the gentle vegetarians, eat lettuce, while lady beetles, the genteelly-named insectivores, eat aphids. Indeed, that’s why this species of lady beetle was introduced in the U.S., to combat pest bugs. (A whole can of worms here, to be sure: MALB may be crowding out some native ladybug species, and who gets to define pest, anyway?) There are over a 100 color forms of this beetle, which makes them a challenge; this is one form I’ve never noticed before. Or have I simply mis-identified the species?

Anyway, I dressed the well-rinsed lettuce (the lady beetle stirred with all the paparazzo attention and was released into the hopefully not too cold Back 40) with a vinaigrette of white wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, mustard, capers, and garlic. It was delicious.