This week’s SnapJax stories brought me to the country to a house on 40 acres in Palatka where we are looking for something that only one percent of the population will ever see, a pink grasshopper. Jackie Green who owns this property has seen one twice and once right here in this stall.
I asked, Tell me so what in the world? What do you have here? This is paradise!
“We have 40 acres of wonderfulness,” said Green.
By trade Green is an attorney but she now acts more like a farmer.
She left Jacksonville six months ago and moved to Palatka. Green acquired goats, chickens, cats and dogs and of course horses. Green added 17 animals in 6 months. You can credit her daughter for the vision.
“She wanted a pony and I said we couldn’t have a pony until we had a place to put the pony, so here we are,” says Green.
Her daughter Daisy is training to be a competitive rider and while this family is clearly focused on animals they never expected to find a very rare insect.
“I was mowing down there one day. And all of a sudden, I was like, What is that thing and I climbed off the mower and there is this beautiful big pink grasshopper,” says Green.
The thing that only a very small percent of the population will ever see and that’s the SnapJax picture that was truly breathtaking. Jackie saw one last year and just last month she spotted another one.
“I start to mow this bush and I look and I’m like oh my gosh, there’s another one. This is insane. So most people never find one in their lifetime much less to 11 months apart,” says Green.
It’s believed a genetic mutation causes them to turn pink. Their bright color makes them nearly impossible to hide from predators so they often don’t survive very long. Jackie’s not sure if she saw the same pink grasshopper or if she has two, either way she’s a lucky lady. I asked if she played the lottery.
“Yeah, I know. I thought about that, that day, and I never do. So I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I feel like we sort of already have it all. But you know, yeah, I’m definitely blessed and I’d call it luck. But I think it’s more of a blessing for sure,” says Green.
Ever since Jackie found the grasshopper she stopped mowing the stall to protect it’s habitat so it might still be there on the property. She does have several cats so who knows.