A flash of gold… A quick flutter followed by erratic flight then another flash of gold… Did it finally land? Did I lose it? All I see are dead leaves… Ah-ha! There it is pretending to be the dead leaf it is sitting on. And it stayed still long enough to get a picture!

Hooray!! Moths! Why am I excited about moths you may ask? Moths at my porch lights means spring is finally coming!

You see a slight flutter out of the corner of your eye. That’s odd – it’s a tiny brown moth. Nothing to worry about, right? Unfortunately, this particular little moth is the savvy shopper, food prepper, and stock piler’s worst nightmare. This is the infamous Indian Meal Moth – and it has found your pantry.

I’m sure at one point or another we’ve all heard “timing is everything”, usually when we’ve missed out on something. Well, with bugs it is actually true. Whether it’s finding a food source at the right time, a mate before your competition, or in the case of today’s story, changing from a caterpillar to moth in the correct season. An insect’s timing frequently determines whether it survives or not.

This is why we need to be careful when we’re out cleaning the yard – You never know what you’ll uncover when you turn over a moss-covered rock! While this small little brown blob may not look like much now, come spring or summer, it will turn into the most lovely little blue butterfly. If you have enough of them living in your yard, it might actually look like a Disney fairytale scene :)

It looks like I’m going to need to start watching where I step in my house. Not because there are dog toys on the floor, or rugs waiting to trip me up (although it has been known to happen), but because I have extra critters roaming about. Large, fat, and theoretically grossly squishy if stepped on, caterpillars!

The adorable Woolly Bear Caterpillar brings a lot of fond memories for me. As a kid, I would always find these furry guys crossing the road when out for a dog walk or just going down the street to a friend’s house. Every fall. Without fail. And of course, being a good little nature lover, I would have to stop and carry each one to the other side of the road lol. I mean, I couldn’t let them get hit by a car, now could I!

Whoever said little moths were all brown and ugly clearly has never seen this lovely critter. This bright, boldly patterned creature looks more like a roll of batik fabric than a fragile little moth in my opinion. And it’s a moth that actually comes out during the day!

Remember back when you were a kid and your parents were freaking out about the gypsy moths destroying all their trees? Ok, well the late 80’s early 90’s since most of you reading this probably aren’t the same age as me… Gypsy moths were really a big concern when I was young. My parents wrapped black tar like sticky bands around all our trees to keep the caterpillar from climbing up. My siblings and I were taught what the egg masses, caterpillars, and moths looked like so they could be killed if…

I love parsley. Usually I try to plant a few parsley plants every year, but generally it ends up being no more than a handful of plants. This year, I managed to overwinter one single mature plant and have a few additional tiny seedlings. Despite only having one properly sized plant that could even possibly support something eating it - she found it. The Black Swallowtail found it again.