[Qiviut]

All 10 of the black swallowtail caterpillars in the herb garden ‘disappeared’. They had eaten all of the leaves on the lovage & were clinging to the stalks when I last saw them. I suspect some bird spotted them & had a feast - they’re not toxic.

[FamiliarFace]

Ahh, nature. I hope they survived and went off to a quiet place to pupate. I bet I’ve had 80 monarch caterpillars, and I’ve only seen the one ready for transformation.

[FamiliarFace]

Ahhh, the Monarch caterpillar has formed its chrysalis! I got to watch it happen. Pretty cool. It reminds me of birth. The contractions start and then the chrysalis forms. Very cool. Here are a few shots I was able to capture.

Caterpillar just starting to wiggle to go into the chrysalis. Note the green just starting to form near the head of the caterpillar.

After just a few seconds you can see the chrysalis emerging.

Nearly finished with chrysalis formation. In this case, the dark skin didn’t fall off. The whole process only takes a few minutes once it starts.

[Qiviut]

For all the shishito pepper growers/lovers:

Pickled Shishito Peppers
https://peppergeek.com/pickled-shishito-peppers/