A few weeks back, we noticed the fattest, coolest looking caterpillar (or “calerpitter” as our four-year-old calls them) on our Italian parsley. We’d decided to grow the parsley because it was easy and cheap, and once we put it in pots on the deck (away from the bunnies) it flourished. The caterpillar was so cool, we did a bunch of research (they are swallowtail butterfly caterpillars, and they love parsley) and had just decided to build a caterpillar cage when… it disappeared. (Eaten by a bird, we think.)

Never fear, the three pots of parsley had plenty of caterpillars hatching on them. In a few days, all three pots were down to nubs, and there were five or eight or fifteen caterpillars on them. So we put the cage together (two pie plates, some small-hole mesh, baby food jars with water and parsley, and some sticks for cocooning), put it on our screened in porch, and started moving caterpillars. We started with just two, but eventually felt for the little guys on their parsley sticks, and moved ten more into shelter.

We’ve been feeding them, cleaning their cage, watching them, and moving the chrysalises out to a pot where the butterflies would have enough room to dry their wings.

And today, the first of them hatched. Once she starts to flutter about, we’ll have to corral her and let her out of the porch, where she can try to find more parsley (good luck) or get eaten by a bird.