For Once I'm Happy To Be Stuck Behind A Desk

The view from here this afternoon.  After a warm and beautiful fall, today's cold and snow is hitting pretty hard.  I'm glad I have a big pot of soup ready for dinner and the fireplace is keeping the Wool House warm.  Whether or not Bea and I take our afternoon walk...is up for debate.

Everyone is pretty well tucked in for winter now even though it's going back up into the 60s for several more days after this cold blast.  I still had a bunch of blooming blanket flowers and salvias out front and as they've been pretty cold tolerant all fall, I decided to try to save them and built an elaborate "greenhouse" over them.  

If it works, I'll share a picture.  If not, I'll just take it all down and lick my wounds and know I at least tried.  I lost touch with the caterpillar so I can only hope that story has a happy ending somewhere.  If I could keep the bees fed for another week or two, it would help.

I am working on the 2026 farm calendars today.  

 

October

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Most of October was pretty darn good :-).

Happy Halloween

I couldn't come up with a good sheep costume this year, but that sure doesn't mean everyone has to skip the pumpkin party!  

"Sure looks like we're going to have to skip the party!"

Just give me a minute, guys.

Stellaluna helped me pick out a few pumpkins this afternoon.

And Baaxter and Thelma got first dibs before the crowd got too unruly.

Pumpkins have become a favorite treat.  Maybe not as universally loved as Vanilla Wafers, but the fans are big fans.

Big Moose is a big fan.

And wasn't afraid to let everyone know!

Pinto had to think about it for a minute, but he quickly remembered.

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Remember the little swallowtail caterpillar?  He/she is still here, munching away on the carrot tops, showing no signs of turning into a chrysalis (!).  I decided to carve a butterfly pumpkin as a little encouragement.  And now, looking at the picture, the makeshift greenhouse almost looks like a ghost costume :-D.

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Real Quick

Hug A Sheep Day was chilly, but very fun and I have pictures and stories to share from that, but they are on my phone, so an extra step to share, but not to worry...I will get that done, hopefully tomorrow.  In the meantime, here is a quick post to update everyone on the swallowtail caterpillar in the garden.

Last week I found a swallowtail caterpillar still eating away on some leftover carrot tops out in my messy garden.  I'm glad the garden was messy because, by accident, there was still some food for a late to the party caterpillar.

We had two medium freezes and a hard freeze last week and I worried about what was going to happen, so I built a makeshift greenhouse using some picket fence pieces and clear plastic and on the coldest nights I draped a cotton sheet over the top, tucking it in the edges to hold as much heat in as I could. 

It worked!

Each morning I walk out and check on it and this morning he/she was in a good spot for a photo so I grabbed my big camera.  Cell phone cameras are nice, but no comparison to a good DSLR.  I not only prefer those pictures, but they are also easier to get inspired to post a quick blog.  

Monarch caterpillars can not make it through the winter, but swallowtail caterpillars can overwinter if they make it into a chrysalis.  I'm not sure if I would need to try to move it into the garage or something, but if we make it that far, I'll do a little more research. 

In the meantime, we'll all do our best and be grateful there to have made it this far.  Those carrots have got to be confused for sure!  

Speaking of messy gardens, it's best to leave them messy all winter!  The birds will eat all sorts of leftover seeds and any insects they find there and there are insect of all sorts living in the mess and eggs that would hatch next spring if they are given a chance.  Embrace the mess and leave your leaves, too!

Transplants

As I was picking some tomatoes for dinner last night I noticed several monarch caterpillars trying to make a living on some pretty marginal milkweed in the raised bed area.  Even with trying to keep everything watered, this summer has been hot and dry and the milkweed has paid a price.

I was headed off to our weekly Wool House Crafters zoom meeting so I couldn't do anything about them right then, but this morning I headed out to see if I could find and move them to a couple of greener plants in the nearby B Garden.

I stewed about whether or not it was okay to do that, but a couple of them were pretty small and sickly looking.  Moving them might be their only chance of making it to maturity.  I carefully snipped their current leaves from the dried plants and placed them on a greener neighbor.  Each caterpillar immediately started eating the fresh(er) leaves. 

I hope everyone has had a good monarch summer.  I've seen more butterflies this summer than I've seen the last ten years combined.  Same with caterpillars.  The one thing I'm not seeing...or finding...are their chrysalises.  Hopefully they are out there and I should just stick to finding four leaf clovers.

I'd love to find at least one to watch open though.

What are you seeing your way?

June Was A Pretty Good Month

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August

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July

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July was hot and humid, but we got plenty (and then some) of rain so the grass grew and nothing turned soul crushingly brown and crispy.  I already know it's going to be hot.  I can live with the extra humidity if it's from rain.  I'd prefer it didn't flood the barn, but we can deal with that. 

The B Garden has been a real treat this summer.  We've had several monarch appearances already (usually not until August) and have seen several caterpillars!  I'm not sure if this is just going to be a good monarch year all over (finger and toes crossed) or if we've just added enough habitat that our farm has made their map.

Our year supply of hay and straw is in the barn.  The Tour de Fleece was fun and productive.  I pulled the big girl camera out and enjoyed taking some nice pictures.  Archie only nearly fell off a couple of things this month, Possum has fully embraced the air conditioner life, and Bea has learned what a "pup cup" from Dairy Queen is.   

Onward into August!

Crawling Under A Leaf

I've seen way more monarch caterpillars this year than last...but I'm still not sure they are making it to the chrysalis stage.  I've yet to find a chrysalis in real life. This is not just for this year, but ever, so maybe they are just really good at hiding them.  I hope.  

I've toyed with collecting them and putting the porch nursery back in service.  I kept all my supplies.  Watching the caterpillars grow and change was really fun...but it was a lot of work keeping fresh food picked for them.  Providing habitat was my go forward plan, but if they aren't actually surviving, then it's still not a great plan.

While I'm stewing on what to do, here are some fun pictures from a couple of days ago.  The greens are turning brown rapidly, but there are a few younger plants that can hopefully keep everyone fed.

If You Build It They Will Come...Or Not

After the milkweed took off like...a weed...this spring I had high hopes for a record number of monarch butterflies this summer.  I've only seen four so far and none of them stayed more than a couple minutes and I can't find any evidence of egg laying, much less caterpillars.  

I can only guess that maybe the cold spring caused problems?  Or maybe I should say I hope that is just the problem.  I'd hate to think the loss of habitat and too many pesticides have pushed them to the point where it might be too late to help them.

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Biggest swallowtail I’ve ever seen! Hopefully it’s a female and she’s getting ready to head to The B Garden to deposit a bunch of eggs 🤞. . #pollinatorgarden #butterflies #swallowtail

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I have seen a few more swallowtail butterflies than normal this year, but interestingly they have all been in pretty rough shape.  Even this one has a tattered "tail".

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The B (birds, bees, butterflies and blooms) Garden just gets better and better. Only one or maybe two Monarchs, but several Swallowtails this year. Tons of bees from tiny to huge and even a hummingbird working the flowers. The sunflowers and buckwheat are a big hit with several different types of birds. The Goldfinches are moving in now. ❤️❤️❤️

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Here's a short video tour of the B Garden.  I have thoroughly enjoyed this messy place full of blooming and seeded out buckwheat, sunflowers, milkweed and all sorts of bright colors, shapes and sizes tucked here and there.  So have tons of wild bees, some smaller moths and butterflies, lots of birds and even a couple bunnies :-).

Caterpillar Camp

The nursery is back open for business.  Sigh...

I planted a bunch of milkweed seeds and plants this spring in hopes that the caterpillars could all grow up out in the "wild" this year and I could just walk out and enjoy them without all the set up and care...and what I think I did was plant a flashing neon sign that says "ALL YOU CAN EAT CATERPILLAR SMORGASBORD!" :-(

This is mostly what I see.  There was obviously a caterpillar here not too long ago.  The leaf has been eaten and the green balls on the next leaf down are caterpillar poop...but there is no longer a caterpillar.

My first thought was birds, but I think a bigger culprit is wasps.  I see them swooping in and around the plants all day long.  There are apparently several that are known to eat caterpillars.  While I am a firm believer in live and let live in situations like this and that maybe surely wasps have a productive purpose in life, my fun trips to the milkweed gardens...have not been fun.

Frequently I see this - a baby caterpillar happily eating away on a fresh leaf, just the way nature intended.  I have yet to see one make it to maturity.  They are now coming in to the nursery where they are probably not as happy...but they have a much better chance of staying alive and turning into beautiful monarch butterflies.

In order to put the cut stems down in a water bottle or container, I have to pull off the two lowest leaves.  I almost missed this super tiny baby on one of the discarded leaves.  Into the nursery he goes!  At least I'll have easy access to plenty of fresh leaves this year.

Blooms

It's been a week since I last posted...and it's been a week.  We're all okay, basically, but the summer has taken a toll on everyone around here...except maybe Saint Tim...who's a summer loving freak...and that's all I'm saying about that...freak ;-).

Hank has had issues with the heat and also has an ulcerated lesion on an elbow that doesn't want to heal.  Salt ended up with an abscess on a foot that is slowly healing.  Tilly still has her ongoing band aid butt.  Renny got an infected hair follicle on a foot that had to be lanced.  Big Moose got a cough that needed doctoring and now Frankie's got a hitch in his get-along.  I'm getting a hitch in my get-along just trying to doctor on everyone :-o.

So it's raining AND pouring...but not actually rain...which we could use.  How about some pictures of some of my birds, bees and butterfly plants?

Sunflowers.

Pink buckwheat.

White buckwheat - flowers and grains.

Milkweed mixed in with the white and pink buckwheat with some phlox from a friend in the background.

These are the short sunflowers.  Somehow I got some packets that were supposed to grow to 12' and 15' feet tall.  These are the 12's, but they are probably only 10' tall.

The 15's are probably only 12' but that's still a pretty darn tall plant and kind of fun.

I planted milkweed, dill and parsley for monarchs and swallowtails this year.  The birds and the wasps are getting all the caterpillars :-(.

I guess I should start bringing them in to the safety of the porch when I find them, but honestly...I am mentally and physically maxed out right now...and I feel bad about that...on top of everything else.  Maybe things will settle down this week and operation caterpillar rescue can commence.

A friend posted on IG that every day there is "one less day of summer".  We (except Saint Tim) are feebly counting it down to ZERO.