Hello from Idaho: @nickp

[StoneCarver]

There's a lot of bugs with this body shape as there are a lot of Hemiptera around the world. Some of them are predatory beneficial insects. But most are obnoxious like the ones that move into our houses in fall to overwinter.
There's little ones that get on my blueberries and I have to be careful when I'm harvesting them.
More than once, I wasn't careful, threw a handful of berries in my mouth, and.... yuck! That taste doesn't easily go away.
In Africa, stink bugs are a significant food source for people. They even get sold on the market. I'm not that courageous due to my experience with them on my blueberries.
Edible stink bugs

 

[UmbriaFarmer]

I forgot about voles. Its because of them I gave up on growing sweet potatoes. My main practice for voles is to not kill any snakes on my property if I can help it.

We're given up growing potatoes due to porcupines, they are bastards...

 

[UmbriaFarmer]

There's a lot of bugs with this body shape as there are a lot of Hemiptera around the world. Some of them are predatory beneficial insects. But most are obnoxious like the ones that move into our houses in fall to overwinter.
There's little ones that get on my blueberries and I have to be careful when I'm harvesting them.
More than once, I wasn't careful, threw a handful of berries in my mouth, and.... yuck! That taste doesn't easily go away.
In Africa, stink bugs are a significant food source for people. They even get sold on the market. I'm not that courageous due to my experience with them on my blueberries.
Edible stink bugs

The Brown Marmorated stink bugs we get just crowd into any little spaces they can fit into, indoors, to over-winter. Hundreds of them. They really suck.

 

[nickp]

Those Brown Marmorated stink bugs seem to be global plague. We experience the same in winter. Which reminds me -- I need to spray the perimeter of the house before it gets too cold!

 

[UmbriaFarmer]

Those Brown Marmorated stink bugs seem to be global plague. We experience the same in winter. Which reminds me -- I need to spray the perimeter of the house before it gets too cold!

Yes, that's interesting, we've only had them in these numbers for a couple of years.

 

[nickp]

On the topic of companion plants -- I noticed while puttering in the garden that my wife had planted Nasturtiums in one bed w/ some of the squash. It had been so overgrown I hadn't really noticed them. She said that bed had significantly fewer issues with squash bugs this year than the others w/ cucurbits in them (pumpkins and cucumbers). For what it's worth.