Bug Hike Recap, Flea Market times, and what is coming up for October!
Bug Hike Recap, Flea Market times, and what is coming up for October!
Hello Fellow Ecosystem Engineers!
September has been busy for me! I’ve been doing a lot of organizing, sorting, and writing, and I’m tired. However, I wanted to give you all an update on what’s going on in the background, and I also owe y’all a Bug Hike recap. This is a lengthy email, so here is the breakdown, and feel free to hop around as you see fit:
First the Bug Hike recap
Next the Flea Market
Other things I did
What’s planned for October
First the Bug Hike Recap!
I have been…holding off on this one. I was so excited we had a larger group than usual, and I was doing a lot of talking and guiding, and it was a great time, but my photos were not what I wanted them to be… I have this new camera. I keep fucking with settings and testing focus, but often a large portion of my photos look blurry and either too bright or too dark. The responsible thing to do would have been triple-checking the images before an insect release, but I didn’t do that. So most of my photos don’t capture the organisms we spotted very well. This is no one’s fault but mine. I got overly excited and wanted to keep on moving, which was great for the hike, but bad for you guys online.
It’s not all bad, though; I did get some decent ones. I’m just a little disappointed that a majority of the photos weren’t super clear. You guys let me know what you think.
So we met at Eagle Rock, and it was a great turnout. Five of us in total hit the trail heading in a different direction than the last time we were here. We went up a trail, thinking about climbing the mountain. The heat got to us fast, and we turned tail towards the shady woods to look for a creek. Good thing, too, because during that short amount of time we were on the trail heading up, we didn’t spot any insects, but we did hear some birds.
When we got down to the creek, we hit a gold mine!
We split up, handing out jars to multiple people, which meant we caught a lot at once. We got a stick insect, a fish fly, a rove beetle, and a giant water bug. Everyone had keen eyes, especially one of my comrades who came on the trail for the first time! He was the one who captured the Water Bug.
Stick insect or Walking Stick
I have no idea what this guy is. Stick insect for sure, but I couldn’t narrow it down further than that definitively. My best guess is the Gray Walkingstick, but that’s based on online photos and is not very reliable. What is really cool is I had no idea California even had walking sticks. Turns out there are 23 species in the group that live in the state. Did you know that?
Dinothenarus saphyrinus - the rove beetle
Neohermes filicornis - the fish fly
We thought this might have been a type of centipede at first, but I noticed that those back appendages were not moving like its front six legs. Although I didn’t know exactly what it was, I knew it had to be an insect. Some insect larvae have what are called pseudopods, or false legs. They don’t have the true dexterity of their primary legs and can help with balance and stability. Caterpillars have them too! Turns out I was right, and this is a type of fishfly!
Giant Water bug
Further down the trail, we caught a Carpenter Ant with wings and a wasp I hadn’t seen before. We also did some net-catching practice on some bold Grey Buckeyes.
Best guess is Seniolia longriostra, but I don’t know for sure.
We also saw some interesting birds, including a Bushtit, Steller’s Jays, Turkey Vultures, A Song Sparrow, California Quails, and an Acorn Woodpecker. I only got a decent photo of a Steller’s Jay.
On top of this few I have a thousand ugly photos, so if anything wasn’t super clear, come out and join us next time! Trust me when I say that even when all my pictures are as nice as I want them to be, the photos don’t do the creatures justice.
Next the Flea Market
This month I went to the Barryessa flea market twice to try my hand at selling my artwork. I’m trying to get you guys outside a lot of times with the bug hikes, and I myself am trying to be less terminally online. Since I’ve been leaning more into selling my art to help me with the writing and research I do on here, I figured it would be fun and valuable to try a market in person.
The first day was on Saturday, September 19th. I rented a space ahead of time, super nervous there wouldn’t be a good space for me. Even then, the space I chose wasn’t the best. I was situated near the back entrance by the BART, which would be great if people entered on that side, which they often didn’t. We were also in an aisle that didn’t get much foot traffic. However, it was a great learning experience! I made 11$! I learned so much about how to improve too! Here’s a picture of what my booth looked like (ignore the knocked-over things; it was kinda windy and the end of the day):
I did not make my rental space cost back, but that’s ok. I learned a lot, and I wasn’t sure anyone would buy anything at all, so for me it was a win.
I was excited, and I had things to prepare for next week when I planned to do it all again.
The next market day I tabled at was on Sunday, September 28th. I made a lot of changes; here are a few:
I tried to iron my tablecloth (something I wasn’t fully successful at)
I moved the Zelle QR code behind the table and just saved it for if anyone asked
I covered the science books I had displayed with a sign (one lady thought I was selling Bibles)
I was more open and talkative
I created a sign displaying my art name, and that attracted a lot more eyes.
Here is what my second booth setup looked like:
This time I made about 82 dollars in sales! I made back my booth cost and had some extra. Of course, considering the loss from the week before and the cost of materials, I’m not near anything called a profit, but that is ok. It’s crazy to me that people are sticking my prints and stickers in places outside of my house and on my water bottle. So thank you to all who connected with my art enough to put it on something of yours.
Other things I did this month
I went and checked out SJMade and met some amazing artists! If, by happenstance, one of you is reading this, I apologize for being so awkward. I’m socially anxious and struggle to socialize outside of very specific circumstances or when I’m talking about my special interests, lol. I will get better and appreciate the advice and just the general connection we had! On top of that, I got so much art and spent so much money. My art wall is lookin’ pretty souped up though, so worth it.
Another benefit was that some of the booth changes I did were inspired by some of the booths I saw at SJMade, like propping up my sticker grid.
What’s planned for October
October is coming up tomorrow, and I have a million ideas. As the season winds down and the weather gets cooler, the insects will also be slowing their movement. So It’s about that time to phase out the Bug Hikes for the rest of the year. However, I am looking forward to one more hike in October. The tarantulas are moving and I want to go see them! So, Saturday, October 17th, or Sunday the 18th, we will hit the trail —likely for the final time this year, but we shall see— and go spider watching! The plan is to go to Almaden Quicksilver Park, where we’ve been 2 other times. I’ll send out an email with all the details, closer to the hike date.
October also offers another opportunity. It’s Inktober season, which means I can try to commit myself to another challenge I may never finish! Woo! Why do I do this to myself? I don’t know! Anyway… I’m trying to half plan it out and lumped on another challenge: Can I do all 31 days with Cal Natives? All I’m going to say is that on certain days I’m not so confident about the results.
Check out the full list of the Inktober prompts here: https://inktober.com/rules
And if you guys want to follow along on the day-to-day posts, check out my Bluesky here: https://bsky.app/profile/theecostudio.bsky.social
I also have some new gouache paints, so I may or may not add that where I can.
Don’t worry though, I’ll still send behind-the-scenes updates here in the newsletter—but not as frequently, because I don’t want to flood your inboxes— and you guys will get more of the gritty details.
Also I want to have one market day this month. I’ll be busy for most of it and I want to catch up on a backlog of designs and writing projects. When I figure out when I’m heading back to market, I’ll let you all know.
Finally, over 70 of you want to receive my emails willingly, which is insane! I should do something special, but I don’t know what that might be. Let me know if you have any ideas.
Thank you to Piper McNulty and @perplexedprimate for your support and helping to keep the newsletter and Bug Hikes running!
If you want to support me, please subscribe so you can hear about future Bug Hikes, get recaps, learn about Cal Natives, and learn more about my art and writing behind the scenes. You can also check out my website to buy some art to support my work and look at a photo gallery of past Bug Hikes and other nature photos I’ve collected over the years. You can also check out my BuyMeACoffee page, where you can add a small contribution.
