It occurred to me that I promised to have another contest in April. Seeing as I only have a few hours of April left, I’d better get on it!
block printed cards
Up for grabs this time is another item made by yours truly: a set of 5 note cards printed with insect block prints. They’ll arrived bundled together with envelopes and a set of 6 hand printed bee stickers to act as seals. The winner can choose 5 images they’d like from those in my collection of insect linoleum blocks (damselfly, ground beetle, tiger beetle, scarab, ant, dragonfly, giant water bug, predaceous diving beetle, or wasp – and I’m working on some new ones too!). The image to the left is a set of cards I made for a grad student who let me stay in her house when I was doing some research in another city and are an example of what the cards will look like and the style of the prints.
Want a shot at winning these? There are three ways to enter, so you can enter up to three times if you wish:
- Method 1) Leave a comment below with the answer to this question: if you were to eat an insect, which one would it be? (Or if you’ve already eaten insects, tell me which one was your favorite!)
- Method 2) Follow me on Twitter (I’m @dragonflywoman2), then leave a comment below to let me know you are a follower. I use Twitter to share news about insects, aquatic biology (including some marine), and other interesting bits of biology. News about bats creeps in from time to time too because I love bats and I can’t help myself. I tweet about 15 times a day on weekdays, less on weekend.
- Method 3) “Like” my Dragonfly Woman page on Facebook, then leave a comment below to let me know you’ve done so (or that you already “like” me). I created the page so that I could post notices about new blog posts, the occasional interesting news tidbit, and photos related to my blog separately from my regular Facebook account. I promise to resist the urge to bombard you with status updates and other things that will clog your Facebook news feed.
I’ll accept entries for one week, then I’ll write all the entries on slips of paper and have my husband draw one. I’ll announce the winner here and contact him/her by e-mail to make arrangements for shipping the cards. Easy, right? Just make sure you send me a valid e-mail address or I won’t be able to notify you if you win!
Good luck!
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The Dragonfly Woman 
Seeing that I was feeding mealworms everyday to birds last field season, I decided to try one myself. And I picked a new pasty super mealworm too! To be honest, it taste like the chicken ground mash that we kept the mealworms in, except more gooey and in plastic. I had to down a couple gulps of beer afterwards though. That was my insect-eating story.
My favorite insect to eat would be those deep-fried grasshopper kabobs that I seen on TV. Second would be fried ants in omelette (like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/haglundt/5089206729/ ). I’d eat anything to be honest.
Ooh! Good choice on the foods you’d most like to try! I do not eat insects (at least on purpose – I don’t eat invertebrates or aquatic animals at all), but I’m thinking that when I do eventually decide to try one, it’s going to be ants. I don’t think I could happily eat a raw mealworm though… You’re much braver than I am!
I always get tempted this time of year to throw a Palo Verde Beetle on the grill.
Let me know if you ever try it! I’d be interested to know how they taste. Could be good, though they have so much chitin…
I’m already following you on twitter & like you on fb! lol It would be hard for me to eat an insect, as I won’t even kill the venomous spiders that live around here ~ if I find them in the house, I catch them & relocate them to a safe area outdoors. About the only insects I do kill are the fleas & ticks that get on my pets & rescue animals. I guess if I absolutely had to, I would try the fried crickets or grasshoppers I’ve seen on various shows.
Forgot to mention ~ the note cards are beautiful. Rather than using them as note cards I think they would be stunning framed and hung as a grouping. Some day could you explain how you made the tile stamps? I’m going to be doing some redecorating around here & would love to make some prints of leaves & things to add to the wildlife/nature photos I’ll be using…
I’m glad you like them! If you win, I can send them as little unmounted prints rather than cards if you’d like.
As far as the process is concerned, they’re linoleum block prints, so I make a drawing, transfer it onto a piece of artist linoleum, and then carve out the parts I don’t want printed from the block. Then I roll on some paint and transfer the paint to paper. It’s fairly easy to get started with, though practice definitely makes things easier. I’ve got a book about printmaking that I really love and can recommend: Simple Printmaking by Gwne Diehn. She’s got great instructions and shows you how to do everything without presses and other fancy/expensive equipment. She’s also got insrtuctions for making leaf prints and other found object relief prints. You can get some relief printing supplies (lino, soft rubber sheets, sometimes some wood blocks, and carving tools) from many art/craft stores (like Michaels or Hobby Lobby), but I get mine from Dick Blick (http://www.dickblick.com/block/printing/) because they have a better selection. Their wonder-cut linoleum is really soft, great linoleum if you’re just starting out! I used it for my sister’s wedding guest book and it was excellent to work with.
Hope that helps!
Thank you so much for the information! I’m really looking forward to trying some various methods ~
I really enjoy your blog ~ so glad I found you when researching the dragonfly swarms last year. Still anxiously awaiting their return this year ~ lots of great birds coming in, but not many insects yet…
We had a few different kinds of commercially-fried insects (mixed beetles, crickets, mealworms, etc.) last summer. They were OK, but there was too much chitin – it was kind of reminiscent of eating popcorn, with the hulls getting stuck in one’s teeth. This seems to be a problem with the whole frying-insects-for-food process – you end up with mostly exoskeleton, with most of the internal juices cooked away.
We also had canned silkworm pupae, which are kind of leathery, smell bad, and squirt the sour pickling solution into your mouth when you bite them.
I actually liked the raw queen ants that I ate some years ago better than any of the cooked ones. They had a mildly acidic “zip” to them. And my wife said that the worms that infest hickory nuts are surprisingly good when eaten raw.
My favorite published recipe is one from “Unmentionable Cuisine” for dragonfly nymphs, which is in its entirety:
“Boil dragonfly nymphs. Eat them.”
Boiled dragonfly nymphs – love it! That might not be half bad!
I’ve never eaten insects, but I’d be up for fried grasshoppers, sure! I already follow you on Twitter…
Chocolate covered grasshopper! Crunchy & delicious!
Also, as a past motorcyclist (I had 12, over the years) assorted flies, mosquitos, and unknowns that got in and down before I knew it! (Keep your mouth shut, motorcyclists!)
I’ve not eaten them, but I think nice, juicy grubs would be very tasty.
Your cards are really nice!
Yeah, I can imagine that motorcycling involves a certain amount of unintentional entomophagy! I’ve swallowed several bugs while riding my bike, so I can only imagine how much worse it is when you’re going four times as fast. :)
Of the insects I’ve eaten (crickets, mealworms, termites) I liked the Mopane worms best. The people of Zambia and Namibia really love them. They reminded me of Fritos — very salty.
Chris,
Since I won your last contest (HOORAY!!!), please do NOT enter me in this one.
After watching “Lonesome Dove” some years ago, in which the cook, Po Campo, collected insects along the trail and fed them to the men, I decided to try raw grasshopper. Tasted just like grass. Really.
I do enjoy reading your posts and look forward to them. The only insects I’ve eaten have been crickets in “Chocolate Chirpy” cookies. They were delicious.
I’d eat a midge because it is so small I wouldn’t really know I was eating it!
I’m intrigued with the thought of eating lemon ants (Myrmelachista schumanni), although who knows if I’ll ever get the opportunity. I already like your Facebook page and follow you on Twitter.
Hmm, I’ve tried a bunch of insects (superworms, mealworms, crickets, ants, katydids) in various stages of preparedness.
I’ll tell you for sure the one I will NOT eat again is a LIVE superworm.
I think I preferred the big-butt ants the best, I’d eat them again if they were cooked and seasoned nicely. They were provided by Dave Gracer, great guy, I’m sure I could get some more interesting insects from him to try!
Oh, and I’ve always wanted to try honey-pot ants.
I’ve only eaten crickets before, so I guess they’d have to be my favourites. I think if I were to eat some again, I’d try ants.
I also already like you on fb and follow you on twitter!