Releasing Jeffery

Butterfly ready to go

Pooka and K's first butterfly, Jeffery hatched from his cocoon. Pooka wanted to make sure K was there for the release and he was ready to go. This is only picture we got of him before we released him. I guess we have started the butterfly army of doom 2.0.

Working on Pooka's army of caterpillars

The caterpillars are returning and so is our caring for them. About a week ago, Pooka and her friend K found 3 in the parsley plants. I am sure this is only the beginning of the army. The smallest of their new friends is the tiny black dot with the white stripe on its back.

3 new friends, big, small and tiny

Since both girls were concerned they would forget the names of their little soldiers, I mean friends, they wrote them down this time. I did have to help with the spelling of some of the words, but the girls are both getting so big, they had to write it. Where has time gone. Next thing I know, they will be doing their own records of which caterpillar is which.

The girls list of names.

A simple trip into the garden

Everytime we walk outside, Pooka finds at least one caterpillar "friend" that we need to raise. In fact, the other day I walked outside just to take some pictures of the 5 color pepper plants, and we came inside with 5 new friends. I think the "nursery" house as Pooka calls it is looking a bit crowded.

Can I post a no vacancy sign?

I was able to move one cocoon to the hatching pen, but really, 5 more friends. Some were very tiny, like this little guy. I still have no idea how Pooka saw him hiding on a dill plant.

Itty bitty black dot - I mean caterpillar

But at least we got to release Sabooga. Pooka was sad to see him go, but she was okay with it overall. Although I think her new caterpillar names are just trying to see how weird she can make them.

Bye Sabooga. Good luck in the wild

At least this means that Pooka has the butterfly habitat thing figured out and will be a huge help when we do her school garden. Until then, Excuse me while I help a Pooka feed her caterpillars.

Sharing the bounty (of caterpillars and knowledge)

Pooka is a very giving creature. I see am so lucky and happy to be able to see this almost daily.

She is adjusting to kindergarten in her own way. She is making friends and adjusting to being with so many people for so long very well. The other day she asked if she could take some of the caterpillars up to the school to share with her friends. I thought it was a great idea (and was glad to see some of them leave the house), but reminded her I had to ask her teacher. Fortunately, her teacher loved the idea. They normally learn about caterpillars and butterflies in the spring, but was more then willing to let Pooka give the class a jump start. She even told me that Pooka was a very good "little teacher" the day she brought her caterpillars walking them up and down the rows so all her friends could see them and answering their questions.These caterpillars have even been helpful in the room as a "calming presence" for some of the kids when they need a minute to recollect themselves.

I swear there are 2 in here that went to school

Pooka's giving spirit is also seen in her desire to help at the school. They have a butterfly garden that sadly has become a bit overgrown. Her friend K's mom asked if we would be willing to make it a "2 family" project to rip it all out and rebuild. Pooka immediately said they could have some of the Pooka sunflower seeds and some of her milkweed seeds. She then told K's mom and I that we need to plant dill, carrots and parsley for the Black swallowtails. I did wonder briefly if this was another way for Pooka to work on "training my butterflies to come when I call." What she will be calling them for is only in her head, and hopefully not some butterfly army. But all in all, she is already excited to give back to her school and not let it just be "Brother's Big Kid school."

In what seems pre-determined destiny, this is the first year the school has decided to have a Garden club. Do I even have to tell you how quickly I was asked about it after Pooka found out? It does involve some parental involvement (which didn't bother me since people joked I lived up there BEFORE Pooka was in school there.) The first meeting is Tuesday for Pooka so hopefully she enjoys it and it encourages her to make more new friends.

I am always happy to watch Pooka grow and mature, but to see her so excited to find her own place. Now I can only hope with her love of learning, she continues to love school past the first 2 weeks.

Butterflies and caterpillars oh my

Around here, we seem to be on a butterfly and caterpilar rollercoaster. We are constantly finding new caterpillars in the garden that we have to "raise" In fact, as soon as ones go into cocoons, we are bringing in more caterpillars. I think Pooka is on her 4th Generation this summer. 

Everyone takes a nap

Time to move guys

Once the caterpillars are in their cocoons, I gently take out the cocoons (which would be much easier if they would use the darn stick instead of the walls 

New babies

Then we clean out the old/dried herbs and frass (yes thats the term for caterpillar poop). Then the new inhabitants of the bug house are placed in their new home. Generally they are sometimes even collected off the carrots or parsley before the bug house is vacant. Good thing I keep enough jars around.

Look at them growing up

Then the cycle starts over where we feed them daily to make sure they get enough food and are happy. The upside to bringing them inside, I can decide what they eat instead of them eating all of one plant. Pooka says they are getting a more balanced diet.

Someone woke up

Meanwhile the cocoons we removed from the bug house move into Pooka's butterfly house. This house sits in the garage and we give the butterflies time to develop.

Fly free Sushi

Once they are awake and happy, Pooka is allowed to spend an afternoon with them and watching and naming them before we release them back into the yard to do their thing and make more caterpillars for Pooka. The butterflies also help to pollinate the garden.

Life is everchanging

Yesterday, Pooka started kindergarten. Pooka emerged yesterday ready to be a big girl and go to a big kid school. She was able to walk away and stretch her wings as she began to really grow up.

Surprise of the day

When we got home from dropping her and Brother off. Daddy and I saw that one of her caterpillars emerged from his cocoon. It seemed the perfect metaphor for the day.

After school Pooka and K released this butterfly to grow and live on his own. Much like I need to let go just a bit so she can learn to fly and grow on her own. Good luck Cluckaboo (the butterfly's name).

Good luck butterfly

Goodbye to Spot

On Monday Pooka said goodbye to Spot. He was a good butterfly, but I wanted to make sure we released him before he got too old. Not to mention the weather is perfect for out little friend being in the 70's yesterday.

Pooka and I took his little house in the backyard. I let Pooka do the honor of saying goodbye and then opening his house. She was just about to reach in and see if she could be brave enough to hold him when apparently he panicked and started fluttering around everything.

Goodbye Spot

At this point my normally calmish Pooka freaked and jumped away because she was afraid he would land on her shoulder. I went over to help her get him out of the house when he suddenly found the door and was gone. Sadly the above is the only picture of him that day.

Spot flew off the deck, and into the sky. It was then Pooka chased him for a minute and looked over the rail with a very serious expression. "Mommy, Will Spot be okay?"

Yes Pooka, he will be okay. His body knows what to do, its part of who he is.

"But he has never flown in the wind, and doesn't know what rain is. What if something tries to eat him? Mommy, I am going to miss Spot. He doesn't even have friends." She never cried, but she was verry worried about her little friend.

I told her that he would make friends and he would figure it out. He was a smart butterfly after all. In a month or 2, Spot will bring friends back to the garden, and maybe even leave some eggs that we can grow into caterpillars and then butterflies all over again. Spot would want you to care for his babies since he knows what good care you took of him.

That seemed to help, but my Pooka loves with her whole heart, and Spot will forever be in it, just like the bunnies and the Black Swallowtails. So goodbye and goodluck Spot. Don't be a stranger once Pooka has flowers that will need you.

Spot Via his Hello to the world.

New friends

One of the wonderful Christmas presents Pooka recieved was a butterfly garden kit. Pooka loved the idea but has waited (mostly) patiently until I told her we could order the caterpillars due to it being too cold.

The gift Pooka had to wait to open

Last Monday, I finally gave in and opened the box to see what I had to do to get the caterpillars. It seems you have to go to their website and after a $5 shipping fee, our little friends were on the way.

Pooka has been so excited for the butterflies after having her Black swallowtails last fall. On Saturday she recieved a little box in the mail. Even with the fact I told Daddy what I ordered, he was a bit leery of a box that says "live insects".

Mail Call for Pooka.

Inside was a little cup with some directions. Turns out, her little caterpillar friends will spend their entire caterpillar lives in the cup. Once they form their crysallis, then we can remove them from said cup and put them in the butterfly house.

Caterpillar A, Pooka named them all, but I don't know which is which

Our little cup had 4 bigger caterpillars and one very tiny little guy. It is nice to not have to feed these guys. These are suppose to be Painted Lady butterflies. So they will look nothing like our little black swallowtail friends. Now we wait and see how long it takes before they get into their sleeping bags.

The other 4 caterpillars, but they don't photograph well in the cup

Pooka did recieve a bug viewer from the Easter Bunny. I wonder how long before she asks to see her friends in it. She also found the "Other live insects we offer" paperwork in the box. Now she wants lady bugs and other bugs. At least the lady bugs would be good for the garden...

Deep thoughts

In the past, I have tried to keep this blog lite and fun, but today, I find it hard. The real world is closing in on our little Science Experiment. Not only is winter still here and arguing about leaving, but the world goes on out there.

Winter storm Virgil's little present

As I face the things around me, I find it hard to be cheery. I am sure come Saturday when I get at least the pea plants in the ground (it is suppose to be in the 50s by then), I will be cheery. But until then, I am just going to post things that make me smile. Things that I am hoping the foot of snow on my back broccoli beds melting will turn into a reminder that life goes on. So until then we wait to see....

Snapdragons from

Snap dragons that remind me of summers in my Grandmother's yard.

Stargazer lilies that remind me of the day I married the man I love.

 Butterflies that the kids raised and are looking forward to doing so again.

Tomatoes, tomatoes and fresh produce everytime I walk outside. Hopefully these images can get all of us through until we see some warm weather and some signs of summer.

Why Hello there....

Yesterday morning was rough. One of those mornings where you are rushing, things are not going well, and even the happiest morning person is just not happy. As we rushed to the car, I had Pooka and Brother loaded in the car and ready to leave for school, I had forgotten something and rushed into the house. On my way back to the car through the garage, I noticed movement out the corner of my eye. I stopped and realized it was still moving and BLACK.

Considering the mood of my morning, I feared the worst. I was ready to scream and run and find SOMEONE to deal with whatever black thing it was. I turned and saw this.

It is black and it moves.... 

Now, I freely admit, I was quite relieved when I realized it was the butterflies. However, I was rather surprised. All my research had said they should sleep till spring. Since we didn't have much time, I grabbed the jar as well and continued to the car where I handed it to a very surprised Pooka (I only wish I had taken more time to see both kids reactions, but remember, we are running REALLY late here). I did however go BACK into the house and grab the camera so we could get pictures. The butterflies then went to school with Pooka.

Again, Pooka was the hit of the class. Her teacher had taken the aquarium of chrysalises home to winter in the garage (she was going off my info). So no one expected them to be waking up. She went home and grabbed the aquarium only to find some waking up as well. So Pooka's butterflies stayed all day in her jar in the classroom (while the entire school would come visit and look at them) while the class began to release the awakening butterflies into the prairie behind the school as they found them. 

Yes, I was silly and took the lid off, but it is a great picture

Once school was over, Pooka asked if Grandma could see the butterflies when she came over that evening. Now, yes this meant I would probably have to care for the butterflies for at least one more day, and since I had no idea when they woke up, so Pooka and I looked up what to feed them until the next day. A simple sugar water solution kept them happy and Brother was relieved to come home to find we hadn't released them without him.

A view of where they spent the night

This morning before school, I told the kids we had to let the butterflies go. Pooka was very very sad, she wanted to keep them, but I didn't give her much of a choice (besides, they weren't eating that sugar water solution and I would hate to explain death right now). 

I let the kids choose where to release them, here or next to Brother's school is a small wooded area. Pooka convinced us to let them free in our yard. 

Brother communing with a Butterfly

We took the jar out and opened them. Neither flew out, however the one that liked to hang out by the lid was looking around. I convinced Brother to put his finger out and it crawled right onto him. Brother was so happy but at the same time couldn't get it to fly away. I told them at since it was morning, it may still be a tad cold for them, so I had Brother put his hand next to the lavender plant and he crawled right onto it. 

Goodbye Butterfly

Now it was time to release the other butterfly. He was a bit skittish and I think he had gotten his wings wet in the sugar water. So I pulled out the stick they had in it and offered to let Pooka put this one on her finger. For all that girl's talk about having a butterfly on her finger, she got scared and nervous and worried it would bite her. So I let her hold the stick with the butterfly. She loved being able to bring it really close to her face to examine it.

We then placed the stick in the lavender plant and said our goodbyes. Pooka has been checking the lavendar all day to see when they fly away. She got to see the last one take off and fly away, in search of food. She is very sad they had to go, but I told her in the spring we will do it again and who knows, maybe come spring, we will find the kids of her butterfly to raise all over again.  

Goodbye Black Swallowtails and good luck, and stay out of the dill. 

Into Their Sleeping bags.

About a week ago we found some Caterpillars in our dill plant. We awoke on Friday to find that our new friends were getting ready to take a long nap (or hibernation as Pooka told me). One had already gotten himself starting to be comfortable, the other was just starting. Sadly the first pictures we took didn't turn out as well due to the shape of the jar.

Getting ready for bed

By Saturday evening, both were quite comfortable and the one cocoon was already hardened to protect our little friend. (We also cleaned out the jar once they were pretty settled so it wouldn't be nasty all winter). You can see in the picture below the little threads that they used to tie themselves into bed so they don't fall.

Goodnight, have a good winter's nap. 

Pooka is very happy and very sad at the same time. She is excited to see them when they come out, but is sad that she didn't get to watch them longer. Now to wait till spring for them to emerge and hopefully we can watch that too. Until then, into the garage with them so they stay cold but not frozen until then.

Pooka asked to make her writing debut today. I admit to helping her with the spelling, but she typed it and decided what to say.

Pooka says:     
The harder outside shell        protects      caterpillars because                     it keeps                                       them  safe and    helps them   turn into                                 butterflies.  I love  my caterpillars.

Goodbyes to friends

Today has been a busy day for Pooka. Not only did she have school today, but we also took 5 of the caterpillars we found in her garden to her classroom. She decided she wanted to share them with her friends. I discussed this with her teacher ahead of time, so we packed up 5 of them, and Brother said his goodbyes before he left for school. They had a very nice packed lunch of carrot greens as well. We are hoping this will help teach Pooka's whole class about caterpillars and maybe even the life cycle. Pooka has already noticed this morning that the caterpillars have already molted once (they are more green and less orange now). 

Can you find them all? 

We did keep 2 of the caterpillars here for Pooka and Brother to experiment on watch and learn from. They have been named Green Thumb (Pooka's choice) and Mjollnir (Thor's Hammer name, from Brother). I don't know why they chose these names, they just did while I was making lunches for school.

Green Thumb and Mjollnir

Although as I write this, I now know to watch Pooka so she doesn't try to pick the caterpillar's jar up with the jar lifter from the canning set. Last thing I need is broken glass and caterpillar waste in the kitchen. Guess I forgot to mention that part of the leave the caterpillars alone directions. Leave it to my kids to find loopholes in everything.

Safety is always our number 1, er 200 concern (okay top 10) here in the Experiment Garden. While preparing to transport Pooka's little friends (I placed them in the front seat so no one would play with them and get caterpillar waste all over my car). Pooka pipes up from the back seat and says "Mommy, you have to buckle them in or the inertia and momentum will make them fly forward." Yes, she really said that, no I didn't make her, however I buckled them up and then ran inside to take a picture of our precautions. In science it is always best to document how you deal with your test subjects.

Safety eventually. 

And then the caterpillar's went to school, where Pooka was instantly the hit of the class. They have found a glass aquarium to put them in, and the whole class went on a stick hunt today. So these 5 brave caterpillars will be well cared for. Turns out they are named already, but I didn't get a chance to find out what they were.  And Pooka went on to explain all about them to her friends while I talked with the teacher about them.

Our little friends here at home are still needing some sticks. Our hope is the rain will hold off enough this afternoon to go on a walk to pick some up.   Until then, they are eating like little hungry caterpillars and its a good thing I needed to thin some of Pooka's garden for greens.

New Friends

Thursday evening Pooka made some new friends. I was out getting the grill started while Pooka looked at her (kinda neglected) garden. I looked over and couldn't figure out what was on the dill. I got closer and sure enough, we had visitors. 

Can you see me? 

Caterpillars. Lots of them. Now, Pooka and I have both read the book about the caterpillar that eats everything, and after realizing it was more then just one or two, we decided to remove said friends. However, Pooka didn't want me to kill them since we need them in their life cycle.  So instead, I went out, armed with a tupperware and a caterpillar removal tool (also known as a skewer) and I pushed them all off their little perches or sadly took the perch with them. 

1 little, 2 little, 7 little caterpillars

Here they are, all 7 of them (I think 1 might of gotten away). Yeah, that is more then I wanted eating our dill plant. 1 okay, I can live with, but 7. Yikes.  We kept them in that tupperware (with the lid cracked) overnight. By morning we had to decide what to do with them.

Hanging out in our new/temporary home

Pooka, Daddy and I talked about it. We had discussed doing butterflies with Pooka before, so we decided it was time. So with a bit of research (looking up images of caterpillars on google, I know so scientific) we think they are Black Swallowtail caterpillars that turn into a really kinda cool black butterfly. Turns out that butterfly likes sunflowers, and lay their eggs on carrots, dill and parsley. So we had a whole buffet going.

I still wasn't sure that I wanted to have 7 caterpillars to raise into 7 butterflies to eat the garden, or worse yet,  leave 7 butterflies worth of babies in the garden. I am willing to keep a couple, but not all. We took a quart jar with some carrot greens we had thinned out, and put them in it with holes poked in a lid (it was a used lid, so it would never seal again anyway). So a quick email to Pooka's preschool teacher. Her teacher loves the idea of taking the rest as a class project, so we are going to try and both learn how to do caterpillars. And once they are all ready to fly away, we are going to release them into the prairie behind Pooka's school. 

I am wondering a bit if the caterpillars are going to do the overwinter thing (they don't migrate, they just make a sleeping bag for the winter), in which case, I guess I will have a few winter house guests. 

This is what we think they are.   However the only way to know for sure is to let them eat their fill and take a nap, (as well the keep it alive part). I am sure their will be updates to this. Anyone done this before?? Got any tips for me?