Feasting Caterpillars

WE occasionally go to the library's reading and craft session and we were excited to discover that this week a puppeteer was visiting. The little show was all about Monarch caterpillars who change in their milkweed patches from green to black and yellow striped, then when they hatch from their chrysalises into butterflies, 'take the Monarch Express to Mexico for a fiesta'. It was very sweet and prompted me to read up on Monarch butterflies.

Later in the garden we went caterpillar hunting and discovered a couple of different kinds. Chowing down on the hostas was a fat black and yellow caterpillar, which just left leaves looking like Swiss cheese. The petunias didn't fare so well at the hands of our little squirmy visitors. After lots of research it turns out we had tobacco budworms, the caterpillar of the uninspiring grey moth. They burrow their way into unopen flower buds and munch from the inside out before moving onto leaves. Apparently these pests take on the color of their dinner, but the ones we found on our pink petunias were only green. They are supposed to be hard to spot, but Emma's keen eye found a bunch, which she was happy to deposit away from the flowers.

Farmer Mary's Goat Farm

THIS week we visited a working goat farm with our Waldorf Homeschoolers group. We first met the babies, then Thunder Sprite was invited up to the milking station and we all got a chance to milk her! Between us we squeezed out half a pail of warm frothy milk. I wonder at what age children can make a connection between this, human breast milk and a carton of milk in the fridge?

Next it was off to the other wildlife. A rabbit shared the chicken coop, and when Emma wandered off I found her round the corner comfortably stroking a kitty. To her dismay the enormous golden retriever was passed out behind a fence with his goat friends and she couldn't go to see him. Instead, we made our way to the woods where Farmer Mary had thoughtfully laid out some treasures for the children to find. Animal bones, snake skins, a bird foot, and then onto the living as she managed to catch a crawfish in the creek. I didn't even know we had crawfish in Georgia!

We made our way back to the meadow, and enjoyed freshly made goat's milk feta, mozzarella and cream cheese along with our picnics before returning home. What a beautiful day!

Walls and Mountains

SINCE we got back from our long holiday in Germany in May, we've been busy sprucing up the back garden for our annual summer party. One of our long-term home improvement plans was to build a retaining wall around the bank in our garden, and this year we finally took the plunge and did it. Though not perfect, we're very pleased with the result, and the wall among other things provides a great spot to sit and watch the wildlife in the flower bed.

Every Spring we also mulch the bank. While we were sad to see the county pull down lots of trees in the tiny wooded area behind our house, they have been using the space as a dumping ground for woodchips... which means free mulch to anyone that wishes to pick it up. So the last few days have been filled with rides for Emma in the wheelbarrow, 'mountain climbing' and helping us shovel and haul sweet-smelling pine chips through the back gate and onto our flower beds. She's also been fascinated by the many colonies of ants that have taken up residence in these great cities the county conveniently provided, and has been parading around carrying large sticks on her head to show us how the ants carry their food.

Natural Playground

WITH a slight pang of guilt towards my second child - because Emma really did have fun playing on it - I sold our Little Tykes slide and playcube with the intention of making a more natural play space.

It started last year with a sandpit that I built myself out of 2x4s. It was a little too shallow, so this year my Dad and Emma added a second layer of depth and a storage box/seat in one corner.

Two of our dogwoods have not fared well in the long drought we've been suffering here in the southern US. In a fit of manly fervour, Thomas attacked them with a chainsaw, resulting in several logs and lots of smaller blocks cut in different sizes. He took the opportunity to also massacre my poor wisteria, which he has always hated due to the tendency of its tendrills to take over a small city in a matter of weeks. The dogwood and wisteria stumps now 'live' on in a circular obstacle course Emma and I created in the small wooded area at the back of our garden, and also serve as superb hidey-holes for insects of all shapes and sizes.

A seesaw and balance beam were easily created from scraps of wood, and the 6+ minimum age on the box in no way deters Emma from scaling the rope ladder we mounted against a tree for extra stability. But the piece de resistance is a work in progress; the speed of its build-out depending on fallen branches gathered in the garden and purloined from the woods behind the house. Emma has yet to share my vision - she looks at me with one brow raised whenever I mention "the fort" ("Fort?? Call that a fort?" I hear her thinking), but Basil appreciates my efforts to gather sticks for him and occasionally manages to free one of my carefully woven wall pieces to sharpen his teeth.

In the Shade

THE next time we have children over, I think we shall have a competition to see who can collect the most pinecones and sweetgum fruits. Emma has an ongoing collection of green and brown sweetgums "for the squirrels" nestled in the roots of the tree. This got me thinking that I didn't actually know what most of the trees are in and behind our garden, besides the numerous pine trees, American holly, flowering white dogwoods and one sweetgum.

So with the help of this website I made a start at identification:
Sweetgum - liquidambar styraciflua
American holly - ilex opaca
Black tupelo (black gum) - nyssa sylvatica
Water oak - quercus nigra

The Dandelion

THE Angel of the flowers came down to earth to search for the flower she loved the most. She came upon a gay tulip, all orange and red, standing stiff and proud in a garden, and the Angel said to the tulip: “Where should you like most of all to live?” “I should like to live on a castle lawn,” said the tulip, “where my beautiful colours would show against the grey castle walls.”

But the Angel turned away with sad eyes from the proud tulip, and spoke to the rose. “Where should you like most to live?” she asked the rose. “I should like to climb the castle walls,” said the rose, “for I am fragile, and delicate, and need help and shelter.” The Angel of the flowers turned sadly away from the rose, and hurried on until she came to the violet, and she said to the violet: “Where should you like most of all to live?” “Here, hidden in the woods,” said the violet. “The brook cools my feet, and the trees keep the warm sun from spoiling my beautiful colour.”

But the Angel turned away from the violet and went on until she came to the sturdy, yellow dandelion growing in the meadow grass. “And where should you like most of all to live?” asked the Angel. “Oh,” cried the dandelion, “I want to live wherever the happy children may find me when they run by to school, or play in the fields. I want to live by the roadside, and in the meadows, and push up between the stones in the city yards, and make everyone glad because of my bright colours.”

“You are the flower I love the most,” said the Angel of the flowers, as she laid her hand upon the dandelion’s curly, yellow head. “You shall blossom everywhere from spring till autumn, and be the children’s flower.”

Berries, Berries and More Berries

WE found a new farm for pick-your-own and fell in love! We went to pick strawberries, but will head back later in the year for blueberries and blackberries. It's a bit of a hike - an hour away - but it's worth it for a day trip.

They also had a playground, picnic tables, farm animals and some old-fashioned country games such as a maize pit (think a large bath of dried corn-on-the-cob kernels) and a water pump 'racetrack', where you pump water as fast as you can to propel your rubber duck to the other end before your opponent's rubber duck gets there.

Needless to say it was not easy convincing everyone to leave. The day ended with 8 jars of strawberry jam, a huge bag of berries in the freezer, and strangely enough, dried corn kernels in the washing machine and on the bathroom floor.