'bye, 'bye futta-flies!

I was beginning to feel guilty that these painted ladies were going to spend all of their short lives in a cage eating sugar syrup. I had planned to release them on the 4th, but stormy weather nixed that and rain and winds have continued. Today offered brief relief and even a few peaks of sun, the best I could hope for until Friday. I had been warning Boogie that the butterflies would have to go bye bye since they hatched and I was hoping that he wouldn't be too upset when his friends flew off. He took it very well, just chasing them through the garden for a few minutes, but no tears.

































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The rainy weather also necessitated a trip to use a dryer at the laundry or we would have been out of clean diapers shortly. We spent some time at the park while the dryer worked its magic.

I will not complain too much about the weather here given the temperatures out east, but I am hoping for it to dry up a bit before the garden becomes too much of a jungle!

Futterflies!

Boogies butterflies emerged from their cocoons early this morning. Unfortunately we did not get to see the process :(. I had checked them late last night after we got home from our outing to Midway Village and there had been no change but this morning after chores nine of the ten chrysalis had become Painted Lady butterflies!












Per the instructions, we are feeding them sugar water on tissue and flower blossoms, elderberry in this case.

The little guy finds them fascinating and has been remarkably gentle with his 'futterflies' and I hope he's not too upset when we release them later in the week.

Weekend Update from the Farm

Here is my new strawberry bed, it's loaded with rich compost so I'm hoping for a bumper harvest next spring.

The caterpillars have become chrysalis and soon I will move them into their mesh cage. They grew very quickly and it is amazing how much they eat in such a short period of time!

Boogie and I went to Rendezvous for a bit on Friday and Saturday. The weather on Saturday was amazing and Boogie liked watching the Native American dancers. With all the dogs we have at home, he still wants to pet every single dog he sees. His doggie back pack/harness is a life saver in crowds. He didn't get the nick name Boogie for nothing.

I found him a little tool kit at a garage sale a while back and he likes to help Rob with projects. He got the
frame built for a sand box, now we just need sand.









I also found a much needed dog house and a cute toy chest at garage sales this past weekend, wish I would have had time to check out more of them.





I found a single chick down by the hen house with an injury to the right side of it's head. I had no idea what had happened to it (it had been hatched by a broody hen that is not getting a mother of the year award) and I couldn't tell if the eye was viable so I brought it up to the brooder where it has done well with the incubator chicks and guineas. The eye is fine, though it appears she will have a permanent scar, and she will eventually join the layers back in the coop.













Looking forward to the official start of summer, play group on Tuesday, an evening estate auction and a visit to Old World Wisconsin on Saturday where I will meet a dear friend that I haven't seen in a while, meet her family and she can meet Boogie too!

Hope everyone had a great Fathers Day!

The larvae have arrived!

Boogies Painted Lady butterfly larvae arrived yesterday. We came home from play group to`find them on the
front porch. Inside were two containers with five caterpillars each. There was also a small amount of what looks like web, which the instructions call normal and healthy.

The peanut butter looking substance in the bottom is the food source and we are supposed to leave the containers closed (there are air holes in the lid) and out of direct sun and wait for the chrysalis to form. At that point we move them to a pop-up mesh cage that is include with the kit and wait for the butterflies which live for 2 - 4 weeks, though we intend to release them.

So if all goes well, and I can keep the little guy from shaking or opening the containers, I'll let you know how our science experiment turns out. See, we are home schooling already.