I live near Liberty State Park in New Jersey, where the skyline views of New York City and the Statue of Liberty take your breath away during a picture-perfect sunrises or sunsets. 

Two years ago, during one of my bike rides through the park, I noticed a beautiful moth-like creature that I had never seen before. It revealed a brilliant pinkish-red color under its spotted grey wings and had black legs.  I thought it was a coincidence when I saw several more the next day.  By the end of the week, I was seeing them everywhere and heard from the local news station that this invasive species from China had come into the US accidentally on a stone shipment and were rapidly expanding throughout the East Coast.  With few known natural predators, we were instructed to "stomp" on any we could.

Fast forward to this past summer, and these Spotted Lanternflies are swarming EVERYWHERE  -  on trees, railings, screens - even on buildings in Manhattan and Jersey City! Although they don't bite or sting, they EAT!  The adults enjoy feasting on the sap from the "Tree of Heaven" (also an invasive species from China); however, the young nymphs are especially fond of grapevines, apple trees, and other crops.

This is what many of the trees in Liberty State Park looked like THIS summer:

"How could it have come to this so quickly?" I thought.  "Why isn't anyone doing anything about it?"  As it turns out, each state has approached the federal government for funding; however, they still a depend on each of us that sees these little monsters to do whatever we can to stop them from spreading across the country like wildfire.

When I am not in New Jersey, I enjoy travelling to the West Coast to see my family.  One of my favorite places to stay is at a special winery in Oregon's famous Williamite Valley.  Thanks to the Covid-19 lock-down, I looked forward to receiving those cases of wine from the West Coast and have come to enjoy "one" nightly glass of truly excellent Pinot Noir. 

During my last bike ride in Liberty State Park, I had a truly horrible thought: "What if the Spotted Lanternflies make it clear across the country and invade Wine Country?  What if they gobble up all of the grapevines and my favorite winery would be destroyed and my pinot noir would no longer be available...what if there could be NO MORE WINE?"

From that point, I made it my mission to let everyone know about the US Spotted Lanternfly invasion.  Only by working together can we truly get the situation under control and SAVE THE WINE!

I hope you get a little chuckle from when you see the products on this site, but, more importantly, I hope these items help you to spread awareness and inspire others to do their own research and do their part to help STOMP THEM OUT!!

Sincerely,

Michele