It's Butterfly Season

Dear Friends,

If you've been following this blog, you'll remember that we were raising up Black Swallowtail caterpillars that had hatched out in our garden. Most of them have successfully pupated now, and we're getting a bumper crop of beautiful butterflies!



 Numbers seven and eight emerged and flew off today, leaving us feeling a little bereft of their companionship after so many weeks of care. Rather like watching one's little ones grow up and develop wings to fly away on their own!

We've been sowing lots more dill and fennel, in hopes that it will be big enough for future caterpillars that "our" butterflies might produce~

The swallowtails aren't the only butterflies we've been enjoying~ the little skippers seem to like our butterfly garden more than anyone else, and we love watching them flit here and there.

The bees have finally started coming in and pollinating our vegetables, thanks to the huge squash blossoms everywhere~

Now we can have even more cucumbers that we don't have to pollinate with a paintbrush! 

Whether Rebecca will share them or not is another story. . .

Soon we'll be getting lots of yummy yellow squash, if we can keep ahead of the squash bugs and vine borers~ A gardener's job is never done!

This is our first year of successfully raising native wildflowers, including this Plains Coreopsis. We have a nursery bed devoted to raising a few perennials that should start blooming next year, and we hope eventually to have our own little business of raising and selling butterfly and bee-friendly natives that are easy to grow. Now to find that elusive farm. . . .

The girls have been busy helping friends get ready for a move, and making hats and scarves for a local homeless shelter. We'll have to share their progress on the next post.

In the meantime, may these last Dog Days of Summer find you doing what you love, as much as you can, and keeping cool the rest of the time! :)

Love,

Marqueta