caterpillar wisdom. (Patreon)

so...tanya took us on a walk through her garden and it was filled with hundreds of caterpillars getting ready to turn into monarch butterflies.

she gave ash a swan plant in a little pot and two caterpillars to take home and he named them simon and honghang.

there was a third tiny stowaway that he named bella when we found her after we got home, but i can’t find her today, which makes me sad. someone on instragram who understands bugs suggested the big ones probably ate her. at least she went back into the food cycle...?)

tanya explained to ash the sad thing that happens with the wasps.

they find the caterpillars when they are in their fragile metamorphic state, hanging there on a leaf, and they kill and suck the life out of them. i was sitting five feet away from tanya and ash, examining my own caterpillar, when i heard her say it:

“things are at their most vulnerable when they are changing.”

quote of the year, tanya.

hang in there, everybody. nobody said pupation was easy.

there are wasps.

i love you. i really love you. about to drop the podcast with masarat daud and it’s a fierce one. tune in.

xx

afp