Tag Archives: nature

a girl and her bug collection

When I first started pinning butterflies in June (you can see my how to pin butterflies post here), I was well-aware that this was going to be a slow-going hobby for me. I only ever pin bugs that have been found dead, and I think we all know how rare it is to find a beautiful dead butterfly in the wild.

All the Redditors can defend their bug-catching methods all they want, but I’ll never be okay with catching and killing a bug for the sole purpose of owning its beauty. Imagine you’re enjoying your life one day, out in the big wide world, and a giant alien sees you, thinks you’re pretty, scoops you up, and sticks you in their freezer, just so that they can pin you in a box.

Y’all, that’s insane, and there’s not one ounce of me that approves of that selfish barbarianism ☝🏼🤨

the colors and pattern on the Ornate Tiger moth’s wings (bottom left) are pretty crazy

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raising eastern black swallowtail butterflies

It was soon after I bought the Painted Lady caterpillars (mentioned briefly in my recent post) that I went down to the spring plant sale at the farm and had the tiny baby Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars pointed out to me on the dill plants for sale.

I’ll admit that as much as I love dill, the reason I got the dill plants was to try raising these butterfly babies.

The only butterflies that I’d ever raised up until that point had been Painted Ladies, so I was psyched to have another species to watch grow. I will say that at the end of this particular journey, I was very relieved to set them free, because it was a bit of a roller coaster. But I’ll also say that I think I learned a couple things, and I’d probably try it again if I find some more babies next year!

(you can watch the YouTube short that I made about raising them here!)

cutest lil face munchin on his dill leaves 🥺

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how to pin butterflies

As I briefly mentioned in my recent post: I pinned my first butterfly.

This, of course, quickly turned into me pinning my second butterfly. And my third butterfly. And then I moved on to pinning plenty of moths and other interesting insects…but I’ll save that for another post (because my current collection deserves a whole post of its own).

And just in case y’all don’t know me already, I’ll start this post with a clear disclaimer: I only pin bugs that have already died naturally; I never kill bugs to pin, and I don’t approve of such strange activities ☝🏼🤓

Spicebush Swallowtail (left) and Red-Spotted Purple (right)

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the past month

July has come and gone (if you missed my July wrap, you can watch it here!), and we are well and truly into summer. As in, it’s frickin hot, and I don’t remember the last time we got rain. I’m giving my gardens just enough water to make it through these hot days, but they could really use a good soaker.

The pole beans are finally producing (I always forget how late they start, but once they start, the harvests are plentiful until the first frost), the butternut squashes are climbing to the sky and have quite the collection of babies growing, and the zephyr squashes have been as delectable as ever.

my friend Brandi sent me these marigold seeds (left) a few years ago, and I’ve continued collecting the seeds and growing them every year since!

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a small update

It’s been a hot minute (literally) since I’ve posted on this blog — you have no idea how many drafts I’ve started in here, only to lose steam halfway through and never publish them!

When I disappear from one place, it usually means that I’m busy elsewhere, and that has definitely been the case this time around.

Although summer has technically just started, it’s been so much fun so far.

releasing my dear Painted Lady butterflies (more on this later in the post)

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side quests

Goodness gracious. Officially half way through April, and it’s definitely been an emotionally tumultuous shift from the previous few months.

Spring has returned, and although it brings the joy of green grass, blooming flowers, singing peepers, and birds fighting over our nesting boxes (as cute as the bluebirds are, they are being just as problematic as usual), it also means that our horrendous neighbors have returned to their horrendous ways (unfortunately, it’s been a telltale sign of the changing seasons for the past decade).

the time of the crocuses has officially passed, but today our first mini daffodil bloomed

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march wrap

While January and February seemed to fly by, March seemed to go on forever.

Looking back on the month’s wrap I can’t believe that some of the clips were from the 31 days of March — it felt like they were taken months ago.

Although the weather is in its annual spring fickleness, the fam and I have been making sure to enjoy all of the warm days we get. Spontaneous afternoons spent hiking, laying in sunny fields, and listening to the spring peepers were a March staple (and are carrying into April).

The grass is turning more green every day, and buds are starting to pop on the trees and bushes.

So here’s a short photographic recap of the month:

I’m not sure that I’ve ever posted photos of this coat on my blog, but, FUN FACT: I made it out of my old bedspread last year

I bought the pattern from ReillyFitzsimmons, and it was easy and great, aside from the fact that I did have to downsize a lot because the pattern is unisex and created by a man

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calendar collages

Last year I was given a pile of old gardening magazines; I didn’t have a plan for what I’d do with them, but I held onto them because I just had a feeling that they’d come in handy at some point.

It took a while, but I was right.

believe it or not, these millions of scraps of paper were somewhat organized

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albatross

The weather forecast was right (despite our doubts): winter storm Albatross arrived, and we woke up to a winter wonderland on January 19th.

The temps plummeted during this storm, so although the snow started off heavy and wet, the majority of it was dry and powdery — the perfect combination to coat the landscape in 5-6″ of pristine white ❄

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morning meanderings

January 18th was the last day that we got truly decent temps. The morning was warm*, and rays of sunlight were shining through the rising mist over the stonewall.

Very New England-core✨

*a winter’s “warm”, of course

although I despise what the invasive bittersweet plant does (and do my very best to not let it produce berries on my property), its winter display (in my grampa’s yard) is always impressive

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