The Circle of Life

When we got back from NO, I discovered that a certain butterfly is attracted to passion flowers. This also means that the butterfly will lay its eggs on my vines. These eggs will hatch and the caterpillars will eat up all of my new vines (that I spent $60 on and tend to every morning)! So now I have a new hobby--harvesting and raising caterpillars.

Every morning (when Ian and I go outside for breakfast, etc.) I check all the vines for new eggs and caterpillars. It's amazing to see how many eggs will get layed from one day to the next. Sometimes the butterflies are out there frantically looking for a place to land as I remove (and sometimes squish) the daily harvest. Now I'm not an evil person and I hate the idea of killing caterpillars especially since I want butterflies in my garden. I just don't want to sacrifice my new favorite flowers/plants in order to have them. Eggs get tossed and caterpillars get moved to a new home. Currently that new home is a nice sized rubbermaid bin with a lid. I've gotten the hang of how often and what (my vines, duh) to feed them. I've seen three cocoons with only one looking really viable at the moment. I have been juggling rain and scheduled activities while trying to plan a trip to the Butterfly Garden just south of us. They have a 2,000 sf butterfly house, hiking trails, an education center, gift shop, botanical gardens, etc. What a fun field trip! If the planets would just align for me! Kerry thinks I'm crazy, but Ian and Max are enjoying watching the little buggers eat and grow (and poop-they do that alot!)