mainely portland

Back in June I discovered this fat little caterpillar firmly attached to a carrot leaf. He really didn't want to be removed, going so far to rear up and sprout little horns when I disturbed him. Just seemed to be happy eating my carrot leaves. The boys and M and I brought him inside in the kids' bug cage and with a stick and plenty of carrot leaves we discovered he (or she...) was a black swallowtail butterfly caterpillar. He lived in the cage for a few days and then seemed to start shriveling up pretty quickly. His body mass went from fat to gaunt in a day or two and before you knew it, we thought he was dead. Hanging from the stick. Well, it turns out that he didn't spin a cocoon as we thought he would, but had just hardened his outer skin into a chrysalis. In about two weeks I was startled one morning by a beautiful butterfly inside the cage. We sent him or her out to enjoy the world. Pretty cool!

The empty chrysalis...

Garden 2013

Damn squash bugs...

The garden before the squash took over!

The two newest garden beds against the fence perfect for tomatoes and any other vine or climbing plant.

The garden bed of underachievers on the left... for the forlorn squash, slow growing lettuce and orphan beets. The overcrowded carrot and wild tomato bed on the right.