overwintering eastern black swallowtail caterpillars

This week we have been preparing for the cold weather. We have been harvesting herbs like mad, digging up annual herbs to bring indoors, bringing in the houseplants and scented geraniums, and finding many......READ MORE.

Metamorphosis of an Eastern Black Swallowtail

Nature amazes me, no matter how many times I’ve seen this before, each witness feels as if it’s the first time!

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Stripe Scavenger Hunt!

The hunt for stripes!

Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus)


Bumblebee (bombus genus)


Potter Wasp


Monarch caterpillar (Danaus plexippus)


Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucas)


Cicada (Tibicen linnei)- annual type


We couldn't identify this mushroom.


Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio polyxenes)

How to Raise Eastern Black Swallowtail Caterpillars

Every spring we plant a lot of parsley, dill and fennel in hopes of luring the Eastern Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) to lay her eggs in our garden. Last year we released over 25 EBS butterflies, which we raised from larva to adult. This year we haven’t found nearly as many, but we do have some. Just today I found this beauty on a a Queen Anne’s Lace (another host plant of the EBS and another reason to let a patch of QAL grow wild in your yard).

Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars look different at different stages; those stages are called instars, and the caterpillars shed their skin between each. I was so surprised when I first learned this and then saw it with my own eyes.

We like to give our caterpillars lots of room to move and lots of the fresh food to eat. Our EBS habitat is an aquarium with parsley planted directly in garden soil. Parsley grows really well this way, fennel and dill usually get too big so if an EBS prefers fennel, dill or Queen Anne’s Lace then I have to replace it daily. I just place the fennel and dill in the tank mingled in with the parsley in hopes that the caterpillar will go for the parsley (usually they do if they are young enough when placed in the tank). I am not a fan of the plant in a vase of water method because I have seen caterpillars fall into the water and drown. My sister Katrina (a butterfly expert at a local arboretum), recommends putting the stems of freshly picked larval host plants in green oasis that has been soaked with water, this keeps the plants fresh longer and doesn’t endanger the caterpillars. We put sticks in the habitat for the caterpillars to form their chrysalises on when they are ready. We have a screen top made to fit on this aquarium to keep the caterpillars in and the predators out. Sometimes the caterpillars like to make their chrysalises on the top, which is fine, but we have to be careful when we move the lid to put fresh food in, water or release butterflies.

The Eastern Black Swallowtail will overwinter in a chrysalis if it hatches from an egg in the fall. If it is kept in a safe place outdoors for the winter, a beautiful welcome of spring is in store come May. With good care and a little patience the beautiful caterpillars will become beautiful butterflies!



*Jump over to 5 Orange Potatoes at Wodpress for a better look of the photos.

Araina's Heavy Harvest

Araina wanted to do all the harvesting in the garden this morning. She harvested: Peppers and

Cucumbers, Araina was fascinated with the "Little White Pokies" on their skin.

Quite the Heavy Harvest for someone that is 6 and only 36 pounds!

Araina's Harvest:

2 Cucumbers

2 Squash
1 Artist's Pumpkin

8 Peppers

A couple snips of Stevia

A couple handfuls of Chamomile Flowers

1 Monarch Caterpillar and 5 fresh Milkweed Leaves for it to munch

Now the Little Ladies are in the kitchen enjoying the bounty with their daddy! More on the Monarch Caterpillar in a future post.

Cornerview in Ohio and Growing Wings

Sorry Cornerview friends, blogger friends, Ohio friends and family, but this not a very beachy post. The tides are turning for my little family and me. I am generally the type of person that tries to live more in the moment and not worry about the future. Well, today I must question the future a little; we have just found out that the company my husband works for is packing up and moving to Georgia. They are taking some people with them and leaving others behind to fend for themselves. This is what we know right now, we are either: 1. moving to Georgia, 2. losing our only income which leads to 3. finding a new job which can transplant us anywhere in the US (the city I live in right now is considered a dying city because many companies are in bankruptcy or moving). We won't know about the possibility of Georgia until the end of July.

Molting Caterpillar

I am trying to look at our new situation as a new chapter, a way to possibly make our wonderful little life even more wonderful. I honestly have been feeling anxious lately before this big news, like we needed a change in some way. My feelings must have made an impact somewhere and new doors are now opening. So I intend to remain optimistic and carry on. I need to warn you though, I feel the need to help with the income and soon will be changing my blog around a bit (perhaps a website instead)....will probably have to add some advertising and finally open that Etsy shop I've been considering.




To all of you in the same boat, isn't life really all about change when we least expect it? I leave you with a haiku by OneMultipleCode.

full caterpillar

who sleeps in the early spring

ignorant of wings

For some reason, I'm feeling the growth of wings............

Monarch Watch and Planting Milkweed

We pulled out our seed box yesterday. It's full of envelopes stuffed with seeds from our gardens.

We had so much fun going through the box and seeing the gems we had saved in the fall.

Milkweed is the favorite, so we decided to plant these seeds first.

Separating the seeds from the fluff is fun, but you have to be quick or they could fly away.

We are planting a Monarch Waystation this year, our milkweed seeds are perfect for this. The waystation is a safe, organic place for the Monarch butterflies to lay their eggs. Milkweed is their host plant; the caterpillars will only eat milkweed.


Visit Monarch Watch to learn more about Monarchs, Monarch waystations and ways to protect this beautiful butterfly.

A Day of Clay and Tree Play

Clay..........................

Araina's Caterpillar

Fauna's Snail

Araina's Turtle

Fauna's Leprechaun

Tree Play..................

Araina and me.....freckles and long red hair.

A Web Made for a Butterfly

I was going through my photos of the past summer and thought I'd share a magical moment. I had given the girls various colors of yarn to make a web that weaved in and out of the trees in our orchard. The web had been up for about a week and we were in the process of taking it down when the little ladies spotted a Red Spotted Purple caterpillar preparing to pupate:

It was dangling right in the center of the web:

We have a butterfly garden and have raised many caterpillars from their larval stage all the way to their adult stage, but I have never even seen a Red Spotted Purple caterpillar anywhere! It's so ironic that we have planted many plants for the purpose of spotting different caterpillars....but this little guy ends up making a chrysalis on a man-made piece of yarn! I apologize for the next picture, my camera was not cooperating but I still felt the need to show it. Can you make out the chrysalis?





We put it in a safe place and kept a good eye on it and about a week later this is what we had:

The wonders of nature never cease to amaze me!