Happenings around the Homestead

This post is a collection of pictures from several events. Make sure to scroll all the way down for a fun video! Isaac helping make sauce with the tomato bounty. About 3 weeks ago I found a group of swallowtail butterfly larvae on my dill plants.

Some gardeners might consider this an infestation. But seeing as my dill plants were already on their way out, and the caterpillars were really pretty and fun to watch, I let them stay (the same tolerance is not shown to the cabbage white caterpillars, who eat holes in my cabbages without restraint). We collected two caterpillars to bring in the house. I read to put dill cuttings in wet sand for them to eat. Within a few days one caterpillar made a pupa. We waited anxiously for its emergence (especially after an accident involving Caleb, the cage, and gravity). A few days ago we saw this beautiful butterfly hanging from the top of the cage. It was gratifying to see that my identification of the caterpillar was correct. Unfortunately, it both created its pupa and hatched out of it at night, so we didn't get to watch those events unfold.

Here is the butterfly adjusting to his new state. Perhaps the best part of "hatching" your own butterfly is getting to hold it for a little while before it flies away.

Here's a good view of the proboscis (mouthpart for sucking nectar - you can see it as a small circle underneath the head - it uncurls to form a "straw").

We released it on a zinnia. We were both too impatient to wait for it

to fly away, but evidently, it did. Yesterday I saw this while checking for grapes. Came back with the camera and got this shot.

Last night my neighbor Heidi called to say that one of the Great Horned Owls we've been hearing at night was up on our neighbor's grain bins. Here's a fun video.