The Calleta caterpillars (Eupackardia calleta) started hatching today. These beautiful moths are native to much of the American southwest. I am raising them mostly for the fun of it – they do produce silk, but it’s not one I’ve made into yarn yet. This tiny hatchling is eating cenizo – Leucophyllum frutescens – which many […]
Every year it happens… the leaves pop out on the local mulberry trees, and then it’s time to start the silkworms. The Ancient Wisdom version says that you should start the silkworm eggs when the leaves are the size of a mouse’s ear. We don’t have the kind of long, slow spring where that lasts […]
I’ve enjoyed nature all my life. I was that kid, tromping in the woods, turning over logs to marvel at the life beneath, watching the patterns of light and shadow on leaves to see the hidden snake. Getting a camera with a good macro, and learning to take close-up shots, has taught me to look […]
I spent some time in the yard today with my Canon Rebel T2i. I love the convenience of having a camera in my phone, but it just doesn’t have the glass… with a 60mm macro lens, I can get a lot more detail, and catch more interesting things. This is the Passiflora caerulea vine […]
I have been busy getting two big moth-related events put together, and not blogging about them… I promise I’ll try to get blurbs up about them, because there was a lot of cool stuff and I want to be able to remember and reference them (with photos! Mantisflies, Hercules beetles, scorpions oh my!), but for […]
This lovely little thing is Passiflora mooreana. It’s easy to suspect the photo for making it look kind of faded and blue, but that’s the way it looks in real life – the whole plant has a kind of sage green tint to it. a solo shot in the light of the westering sun: They […]
This is something that I’ve always wanted to do, and have never done. Now, I’ve hung around outside buildings and watched the moths and other night-time insects come and go… but I’ve never done the full-on, out-in-the-woods, light-and-a-sheet type experience, where you trap moths with light and count and observe and all that. So, I […]
I’m sorry about the previous post being locked – it’s got a lot of information that’s not quite public domain yet. But the general idea, I can give you…. Before Bill Wyatt passed in 2009, he and I had a talk about getting somebody to replicate his silk reel design. These nice folks […]
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We’ve had a beautiful weather year for the garden. The moist spring turned into a warm but not parched summer, and our fall cold front came almost a month early, bringing lovely cooler nights and plenty of rain. Because of the way our weather works in this part of Texas, it’s almost like we have […]