An Unusual Year

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar, Butterfly, Monarch, Nature

By the end of July my photographic library usually has a myriad of colorful photos of the butterflies that grace the gardens. This year they are few and far between. Perhaps it was the many March snowstorms or the early heat followed by a cold snap. Maybe it is the lack of some larval foods as seven oaks fell during a wind storm.

But last week a few began to appeared. It led me on a quest to locate their caterpillars. A of today I am raising six monarch and six black swallowtail caterpillars. I hope to help increase the population!

Cabbage white on white cone flower 2 — Cabbage white on white cone flower

Silver-spotted skipper on white cone flower

Mature Black swallowtail caterpillars on dill

Beginnings

Art, Caterpillars, Nature, Photography

A new start – the source from which something new springs forth

I love caterpillars as much as I love butterflies and moths. Their shapes and colors are astounding. But even more miraculous is how a creature that has a multitude of legs and appears to be nothing more than a colorful sac filled with fluff can emerge to become a creature with scaled wings that flies higher than any human can jump. Take time to seek them out and smile at what Gaia has created!

White-marked Tussock moth caterpillar on Scarlet Honeysuckle

Transformative Qualities

Art, Butterfly, Life, Nature, Photography, Poetry

And so it begins

A miniscule sphere harboring new life

Emerging as a creature from a nightmare

Juvenile Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

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Growing into a character in a children’s dream

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Ever so slowly shedding greens and yellows encasing its soft body in an armor of crusty brown

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To one day emerge into a creature which we embrace as a symbol of what we can attain

It does not happen in a blink of an eye, it does not happen over night

Days, weeks months in a life that exists for but a short period of time

Once its insatiable appetite for parsley, dill or carrot greens has been quelled it will travel long distances to find a place to rest as it transforms into a creature no longer shackled to the earth

We too have the capacity to transform but only after many years of feeding our own voracious appetite for that which we are drawn to

Look to the sky to see them glide on an invisible current and know we too can unshackle ourselves from that which keeps us from soaring ever higher

Caterpillars-Contemplating Their Transformative Nature

Caterpillars, gardening, Nature, Pennsylvania Butterflies, Photography

IT’S COLD OUTSIDE!

I live in eastern Pennsylvania and like millions of others along the eastern coast of the United States we are in a deep freeze. The sun is shining through the skylight but the warmth is deceiving. Just tried to drive to a local winery, the back roads were drifted over thanks to wind gusts of up to 40 miles an hour. I need a warm weather connection! So enjoy with me one of the most transformative creatures – caterpillars!

All the beauties you see here have called the gardens their home before transforming and flying away…