from the Garden

well it's about time
for enourmous produce. i ate my first tomato last night...
mmmmm.

Cucumbers and Zucchini are Big!

Emergence of Butterflies

You start with these:

You get these:      ( more here );;

and then:

and even when they escape indoors, they pull through!

and then-- the drying out,

and finally!

So--there is a story behind one butterfly...it emerged from chrysalis in the house-- as it escaped as a caterpillar and attached on the wall.

 It has a notch in its wing and i have photographed it several times since emergence. 

When it comes to the yard it flies around my head.

Here is a video of this butterfly after it SOARED and eventually came back to eat--

and HERE IS  the butterfly that started it all....

Thrilling

Some would say i should get out more...
but i was out,
 sitting outside for several hours over the last few days
 in the morning, birdsongs, cool temps,
 waiting for this or that Swallowtail Chrysalis to be opened by the undaunted head of a new butterfly.

And boy do i have the photos to prove it!

not only pics of the butterflies, but also of a wren building a new nest, a baby hummer playing with a little wren, bumblebees, and all the other benefits that come with getting up early and sitting quietly outside.

Of course, i am goin to bed at 9:30...heh.

I just want to post one or two quickies; then i need to upload to the yertubes and i will post a complete timeline soon of the EMERGENCE!!.

Big thanks to my inspiring mother who knows all about this Raising Butterflies stuff..and taught me...

click on pic to view large...

wren builds a housenest

stained glass window

Who Is Listening to You? lol

underwater, baby...

Raising Butterflies

The birds will eat most of the little caterpillars that are on a path to Swallowtail Butterfly status.

There were dozens of these on my dill hedge, but they were disappearing fast.

My mother taught me how to raise butterflies...

Here are some pics of

• the newest little caterpillar,
•  the growing ones, 
• the habitat, and then 
• the chrysalis!

the giant black swallowtail butterfly that laid these eggs is pictures in a blog post below.

the caterpillar gets quiet, swells up at the head, and attaches itself to the wood.
within several hours it quivers and moves almost imperceptibly.
then, an hour later

click to enlarge

black swallowtail chrysalis

you walk in and viola! magic...

I am going to try to film these beauties coming out of chrysalis. they are calm for an hour or two,
then, saute'd butterfly for dinner!

tasty...


here are some of the chrysalii

two chrysali

can you spot it??

A yard full of wrens

I will add some more singing tomorrow...
here is one video, and more wrens HERE

The Huge Black Swallowtail

This was the biggest one i'd ever seen. Very fluttery-- probably recently hatched, and it's wings are very big!
more butterflies HERE and also HERE

Zebra tail

Zebra Swallowtail ventures outside its usual region...

 Lovely Zebra Swallowtail.
Typical region HERE

poster click to view LARGE

this snake (gopher) surprised me to say the least-- at night,

snake in tree click to view larger

i was walking about the yard and thought a piece of plastic or something had blown into the tree. i approached, closer and closer, and when i comprehended what it was, i was 8 inches from the snake's head, which was poking toward ME!