Simon Stenkle said:

i saw an insect in the garden it looked like a small fly...smaller than a
house fly but larger than a black fly. the wings seemed stuck to its back.
when i prodded it, it did not fly away. is this a house fly freshly hatched
and consequently to young to fly? or possibly a pest interested in eating my
crops?

May have been young and freshly hatched. It could also have been the adult
of a cabbage maggot. But it could quite possibly be a beneficial insect rather
than a pest. Go to:

http://www.metrokc.gov/hazwaste/hous.../goodbugs.html

and scroll down to 'tachnid [sic] fly.' (This is a rather nice list of garden beneficials,
with pictures.)

Or see

http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/mbcn/kyf409.html -- about tachinid flies.

http://www.chaparraltree.com/mn/tachinid.shtml -- pictures of an adult tachinid fly
(species unspecified) feeding on nectar.
--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)