What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly, originally uploaded by VickerMonkee.
We have a new "pet" in the Marler household. While visiting Jacob's Sunday School teacher last Thursday, he found a caterpillar (just like the one pictured above) eating the parsley in her garden. Next thing I know, he's bending over to pick the stem of parsley the caterpillar is on – and his teacher put it in a bag with more parsley to take home.
Jacob named his caterpillar "Nashville". Joe got right to work and put Nashville in a mason jar with some parsley, and fixed up the top so it could get plenty of air. Let me tell you, this caterpillar EATS. And eats and eats and eats. Now I think I'm beginning to understand the Eric Carle book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar... "but he was STILL hungry".
Based on a conversation with a friend who says their caterpillars never last inside overnight, I just figured that Nashville would go the same way - quickly. You can imagine our surprise when he made it through the first night, then a second, then a third?! Today is day 6 in our house, and we awoke to find THIS:
a CHRYSALIS!! We are beyond excited at the chance to see metamorphosis occur right before our eyes. I did some research and found out that Nashville is going to be a Black Swallowtail Butterfly. As it turns out, this species is particularly good for a beginner butterfly farmer. You can find out more information HERE if you are interested. Hopefully I can share pictures of the new beginning.
Jacob named his caterpillar "Nashville". Joe got right to work and put Nashville in a mason jar with some parsley, and fixed up the top so it could get plenty of air. Let me tell you, this caterpillar EATS. And eats and eats and eats. Now I think I'm beginning to understand the Eric Carle book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar... "but he was STILL hungry".
Based on a conversation with a friend who says their caterpillars never last inside overnight, I just figured that Nashville would go the same way - quickly. You can imagine our surprise when he made it through the first night, then a second, then a third?! Today is day 6 in our house, and we awoke to find THIS:
a CHRYSALIS!! We are beyond excited at the chance to see metamorphosis occur right before our eyes. I did some research and found out that Nashville is going to be a Black Swallowtail Butterfly. As it turns out, this species is particularly good for a beginner butterfly farmer. You can find out more information HERE if you are interested. Hopefully I can share pictures of the new beginning. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.
– Richard Bach
6 comments:
Coolness...keep us updated on our friend Nashville.
P.S. You know he's going to hatch on the big Kindergarten day. How ironic...a caterpillar turning into a butterfly on baby boys first day of Kindergarten.
Dear Big Guy upstairs,
Thanks for the symbolism. The Mommy people are trying to wrap their minds around it but it takes us a little bit, ya know?
Love,
the Mommy people
How beautiful! And all of us Eric Carle fans and teachers are pleased to noticed your correction of chrysalis vs. cocoon. Love Mommy's note of the symbolism. AMEN to that!
mommy - yes, I definitely see the symbolism (through the tears). =)
kara - do you remember Jacob talking about metamorphosis in the red room? I think that's when I learned that butterfly = chrysalis and moth = cocoon. Isn't that right?
oh my I just got a science lesson from the comments. LOL This is super cool can't wait to see the end result. I'll have to let my Jacob peek in to see this one....then maybe we will try it. By the way...all will be well Mommy People....all will be well. =)
that is super cool!
Okay - thanks for the lesson on chrysalis vs. cocoon - I had no idea the difference and thought they were all a cocoon!!!
I swear I'm educated!
Post a Comment