(Photo by Tom)
Category: farm
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Farm Day 7
One of these years, I really am going to take the time run around and take photos. Really. I am. But in the meantime, I give you three of the four photos I took this year.
Despite the lack of photos, I declare another Farm Day success. I’m always amazed that so many friends and family take the time to come join us for a day on the farm. It always looks like a big mess of crazy from my perspective, but I assume people are having fun, or they wouldn’t come back, right?
For those of you who might want to revisit the crazy next year, mark your calendars! Farm Day 8 will be on October 9, 2010.
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New release
And Tom thought the best thing that would come out today would be the new Beatles box set.
Wrong-o, my friend.
Our first two monarchs emerged while we were out this morning. Our junior naturalists are ecstatic, but having a bit of a hard time thinking about letting them go.
Unbelievable to think they all started out as this tiny caterpillar.
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WARNING! LIBBY! CREEPY CRAWLY THINGS AHEAD!
Tom discovered this spider while cutting grass. She has made a nice home for herself on the side of the shop. She seems to be so comfortable that she’s unpacked some luggage and even her egg sac.
I knew instantly that this was a yellow argiope spider, as my friend Amy W. has been blogging about the one living on her raspberry bush all summer.
How appropriate that we just began reading Charlotte’s Web to Neko. I have a feeling we’ll be keeping an eye on those baby spiders.
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Metamorphosis
Many of our monarch caterpillars have moved into the “J” formation, where they spin some silk and attach themselves to the top of the container, and hang down into the shape of a J.
24 hours later, they will be a bright, green chrysalis.
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Bug alert!
This imperial moth caterpillar may be one of the strangest creatures we’ve found on the farm. Ambling across the driveway, it measures nearly four inches long and is covered in fuzz (which some are allergic to, hence the blue garden gloves). Neko was beside herself with not only a new find but the shock value it wields with strangers.
However, once we discovered it pupates underground for an entire winter, we decided we would not be seeing this one through to its adult stage. But for 48 hours it was loads of fun for our junior etymologist.
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Birth announcement
I’m proud to announce we are the parents of nine baby monarch caterpillars. Another parent at school gave us some monarch eggs he gathered so we could experience the life cycle. Today they hatched! My desperately-in-need-of-a-manicure finger included for scale. They are SO TINY.
And adorable.
Seriously.
I’ve also decided a macro lens is now officially on my wish list.
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Toy stores should sell large piles of dirt
We’ve got a new driveway. That itself deserves its own post, which I will do later.
But in the meantime—dirt.
Because the new driveway is about six inches thick, they dumped these huge mounds of dirt in our yard to regrade the edges. The kids are ecstatic. We spent the better part of the evening outside, climbing up and down. Throwing rocks. The kids decided it was Utah, and went hiking and exploring. Pretending it was a slide. The kids were downright filthy. Glorious summer fun.
I think we might get another pile of dirt next summer.
