So, I know everyone is starting to think about registration and wondering where the brochure is. The sad truth is that it's still in my head. I'm working on it this weekend, so I promise to mail it out next week. If you think you might not be on our mailing list, leave a comment with your name and email address and I will be happy to check for you. Remember that I won't ever publish comments with email addresses in them, so if your comment is "rejected" that's why.
If you're not sure whether or not you want to register, leave a comment with questions or concerns and I'll be happy to answer any of those that I can.
Sorry for the delay guys! It's amazing how fast the summer flies by. You might not believe it, but your leaders did have good intentions of getting the brochure out in July. Oops.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
itty bitty swallowtail caterpillar
Further to the last post, here's a photo of the creature that emerged from the egg, about a week and a half after it was laid. It's now been working on the carrot for about a week:
It's not quite as long as my thumbnail yet. Tiny! But the colours are starting to become noticeable. If you click on the photo you can see it a little closer. It's definitely patterned to look like a bird dropping, but as it gets larger it will develop a distinctive pattern of warning colours. I'll try to keep photos coming!
It's not quite as long as my thumbnail yet. Tiny! But the colours are starting to become noticeable. If you click on the photo you can see it a little closer. It's definitely patterned to look like a bird dropping, but as it gets larger it will develop a distinctive pattern of warning colours. I'll try to keep photos coming!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
black swallowtail butterfly in my garden!
Summer sighting, very cool:
I was sitting in my garden this morning and a large black butterfly caught my eye: a black swallowtail! Now, it seemed to be hanging around my vegetable garden. I watched it for quite a while, keeping my distance (I didn't want to bother her because I suspected she was up to something) and once she had gone, I went and inspected my carrots.
Sure enough, there's a tiny little egg on one of my carrot plants. I have a confession: I don't really like to eat carrots myself. So when I planted them, I was secretly hoping that I'd end up with swallowtails! Carrots and other plants in the same family are host plants for the caterpillars of some species of swallowtails.
I thought about bringing the egg inside where I could keep it safe until it hatched, and feed the caterpillar, but I decided it was probably a better idea to leave it outside. Hopefully I'll be able to keep an eye on the egg and then the caterpillar as it grows. It might be a little hard on my carrot plants, but that's okay. I think the caterpillar can have my share!
I was sitting in my garden this morning and a large black butterfly caught my eye: a black swallowtail! Now, it seemed to be hanging around my vegetable garden. I watched it for quite a while, keeping my distance (I didn't want to bother her because I suspected she was up to something) and once she had gone, I went and inspected my carrots.
Sure enough, there's a tiny little egg on one of my carrot plants. I have a confession: I don't really like to eat carrots myself. So when I planted them, I was secretly hoping that I'd end up with swallowtails! Carrots and other plants in the same family are host plants for the caterpillars of some species of swallowtails.
I thought about bringing the egg inside where I could keep it safe until it hatched, and feed the caterpillar, but I decided it was probably a better idea to leave it outside. Hopefully I'll be able to keep an eye on the egg and then the caterpillar as it grows. It might be a little hard on my carrot plants, but that's okay. I think the caterpillar can have my share!
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