Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Finders Doesn't Always Equal Keepers

One of my summer projects is cleaning out the playroom. The kids have so many toys that they've just outgrown - the boy moreso than the girl. Yesterday, the girl and I cleaned out about a third of the playroom and today, after dropping the boy off at the ball field for camp, we took some things to the Goodwill. While we were there, I thought to head in and let her spend some of her veggie stand money.

She found a wonderful rocking baby crib that she is just in love with. She played with it all day which is worth the price. She also found two books - one Little Mermaid and the other a Snow White. Score!

Walking down the aisle to the books, I happened upon this bandana skirt which I think will be just adorable with a white shirt and a jean jacket for school. Score for me as well!

Finding surprises when you're not looking for them is not always pleasureable, however. Look what we found in the parsley this afternoon.

They were so hard to get off of the stems and the texture of the stickyness just totally whigged (sp?) me out. Any idea what they are? The girl says they're "disgus-thing." I'm inclined to agree. One kept popping up orange horn like things every so often. Creepy!

The zucchini and squash is struggling right about now. Inspite of all of the bees doing their jobs, they are either not pollinating or the bugs are just prooving too much for the plants. I pulled three of them today that didn't look like they were able to put out any more viable veggies. They've been in the ground since March, so I can't complain. I've got about 7-8 small 2 cup bags in the freezer and some more in the fridge. There are several plants still out there so I think I'll still be happy with the season's output.


The morning comes early. Hope you find better things in your dreams than these caterpillars. YUCK! Man! Do I even eat any more of the parsley or just rip it out? I can't stand it!! Eeewwww!






14 comments:

  1. Ohmigosh quick, DON'T kill them! Those are the final instar stage of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly LOL! I have an entire garden devoted to them, they will be on your parsley, fennel and dill especially! Look closely and you will see all 4 stages of the little caterpillars. They won't eat your veggies, just the herbs, so plant lots! Hey Ribbit wasn't it YOU who killed a Praying Mantis or something last year LOL, do I have to come down there?! Now go plant some more dill and parsley!

    p.s. that skirt is CUTE!!

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  2. Those are Monarch Caterpillar's, they turn into beautiful butterfly's. They do seem to be attracted to herbs for what ever reason. I have had them on dill & parsley before.

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  3. Quick Link to show you!

    http://www.pbase.com/rcm1840/lifecycleofblsw

    They will eat the herbs down to the nubs, so plant, plant, plant and you will have enough to share. Our parsley and dill is allowed to reseed itself out in the perennial beds so there's no work planting every year.

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  4. Under a closure look they might actually be Black Swallowtail Caterpillars. An equally beautiful butterfly. Monarch & Swallowtail caterpillars look very similar.

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  5. Black swallowtail or Monarch - don't panic. I didn't kill them. I moved them to the fire pit where they'll feast on all of the vegitation back there - we'll not be building a fire for a long time.

    Erin - I didn't kill that mantis -Give me some credit ;). just moved the egg sac which killed that, I think, as it deflated pretty quickly.

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  6. Just got the last two comments. Y'all rock! Looking at the link now.

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  7. LOL, yay! I was worried for a sec! I'm also thinking I need to make a skirt like that, it's so cute!

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  8. The books just arrived! Loch's busy writing the boy a note now :), very cool!

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  9. Awesome, Erin! I'll go let him know.

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  10. When I saw the caterpillars, I thought...I don't know what they are, but I think they're rather pretty. If I had to have caterpillars, I'd want them to look just like that. I'm glad they're the good guys!

    When I saw the skirt, I thought...that looks like something Erin would wear. I had to laugh when I came here and saw her comment. This is getting scary, I can read you girls like a book!

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  11. G;ad you didn't squish the 'pillars'......great skirt!

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  12. What a lucky find with those caterpillars!

    Love the skirt.

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  13. Lucky You on all the finds, including the caterpillars.
    I have planted some milk weeds hoping to see some caterpillars but so far without any success.
    Best Regards and Happy Gardening
    Paula Jo

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  14. I grow extra dill every year in hopes the swallowtails will lay eggs on them and eat them to nubs. I love the butterflies too much to think of them as pests. Even though that is what they do. Eat all my umbelliflora plants. I found several carrots between the tomatoes chomped down. I'm guessing that is what it was. I usually move them from the carrots to the dill since I don't want them eating my carrots. Sadly I didn't find the caterpillar though. I did see a black swallowtail the other day flitting around some dill. I hope I see its children soon.

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