monarchs and milkweed

The basic theme of this blog is the many seasons occurring in the natural world that can be observed here in Vermont. After all these years, there is one facet that I've never mentioned and that is the season occurring right now, the relationship between monarch butterflies and milkweed. The reason I've never mentioned it is because I've known next to nothing about it.

I decided it was time of that to change and spoke with my dharma sister, Mitra, the monarch and milkweed maven. She told me how to find the caterpillars among the milkweed and how to raise them into butterflies.

I started out in the field behind my house where I'd seen a patch of milkweed. By the time I got out there I was astonished to see that it had all been eaten!

Could the caterpillars have done that? No, the culprit was the cows. I didn't know they liked milkweed. I knew of a patch nearby, and went over to see what I could find. I hadn't been there a minute when I saw this.

It's funny how some things change. I had read about the monarch and milkweed, but seeing this caterpillar made it real for me. There was a connection. It was similar to the bluebirds we've had in the backyard for so many years. A little bit of knowledge and a little bit of contact elicits a connection. Now those caterpillars became my caterpillars.

The story about the monarchs and milkweed is a sad and familiar one. Something beautiful is going away; the Amazon rain forest, the wood thrush, people we care about.

https://myaltonaforest.wordpress.com/2014/04/30/monarchs-and-milkweed-the-precarious-cycle/

On a happier note, when I was looking for caterpillars I saw this. 

As I matter of fact, I saw 6-8 monarchs that day. There are a lot of things we don't have in Vermont, but it appears that we have boat loads of milkweed.

It's everywhere! Given that there are fewer cows in the remaining pastures, and given what the cows in our fields did to the milkweed there, it seems possible that the milkweed supply at least in our area is growing, and with it the population of these beautiful creatures!

Driving home from the Zen Center yesterday, I saw a number of monarchs crossing the road. I held my breath every time I saw one. They are so beautiful. The number of roads and other perils they will encounter on their way south seems almost infinite. One more being to worry about coming out of this newfound relationship.

Only connect

E. M. Forster

mist in the morning

Rain yesterday, mist in the morning. Goldfinches blasting around the countryside, feasting on thistles.

Such coolness-
the sound of the bell
echoing out from
the bell!
Buson
Zen page-a-day calendar

observations

Another sunny day of grace here on the other side of the creek. Driving on the detour around Brandon the other day and noticed what I thought was wildflowers that were growing amongst the stalks in a corn field.

What I was seeing wasn't wildflowers at all, it was brownish/pink tassels on the tops of the ears of corn. This was the first time I'd seen this. I started to look at the tassels in other cornfields and didn't see it again. The other tassels were a yellowish/green. Hopefully you can see this. Tell me I'm not crazy.

These are the kinds of observations that I find most gratifying. I've been doing this blog/journal for over 13 years. Most of the postings involve observations that are not new to me. To see something I've never seen before means the natural world is opening up just a little bit more.

all the birds are leaving

I've said more than once on this blog that not only do you start to notice when seasonal phenomena arrive, but also when they depart. Spring mornings are full of the sounds of song birds, but now the sunny mornings are silent. I don't know if the birds have actually started their fall migration yet, or if they are just quiet because they don't need to establish their territory now that the breeding season is over.

Across the evening sky, all the birds are leaving.
But how do they know it's time for them to go?
Before the winter fire, I will still be dreaming.
I have no thought of time.
For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?
Sandy Denny

August in Vermont

The old saying says that there's nothing so rare as a day in June. Can't argue with that, but August in Vermont is pretty nice, too. It's almost like a state of grace, the calm before the storm, like the brief moment when you stop at the top of a roller coaster before the quick slide into fall and winter.

Friday was another beautiful, sunny day, and we decided to order dinner from Sissy's in nearby Middletown Springs. Many of the viewers of this blog have been to Sissy's and love it as much as we do. It is unique.

Allyn called in the order. The person taking our order was one of Allyn's old students from Tinmouth. As I drove into town for the pickup, I saw this sign.

It seemed quintessentially Vermont. Direct, simple, unpretentious, stuck in a hay bale at the end of Many Springs Drive. Picked up the order at Sissy's.

Stopped at the village store, just off the town green to get some Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream to go with the sour cherry pie from Sissy's.

I'm sure I won't feel the same come February and March, but, for now, I'm grateful to be in such a beautiful place.

post script

There is a final post script to last Friday's recounting of our adventures with the cows jail break into the neighboring forests. I didn't mention it at the time because that post was so long. The whole time that we were chasing the cows through the woods, I was figuratively kicking myself. I was sure that my own carelessness in trying to secure the gate had led to the problem in the first place.

When the cows were finally back where they belonged, Dave said that some of the cows have learned how to open the gate with their nose and tongue, and that you have to keep that in mind when you wrap the chain around the gate. That was the first I had heard that, and felt had I known that, I would have secured the gate differently. This is my new arrangement.

full disclosure

old photo from Flickr

After yesterday's post with the photo of the moon shining through the trees, a couple people asked if I took that photo. That is actually a question I get a lot on this blog. The answer in that particular case is that I think I did, but I'm not really sure. I have been posting photos on this blog for years and the blog site saves the photos that I've used. This is helpful because I do often reuse those photos like I did yesterday. In the early days of this blog, I often used photos that I found on flickr, and I did try to make the proper attributions, but it's just the photos that get saved, not where they come from.

I've often wondered what would be the proper thing to do. I guess I should write something along the lines of what's written with today's photo. Sometimes I use quotes that I get from my Zen page-a-day calendar, and I try to remember to make the proper attributions there. Sometimes I forget to do that, and I apologize. I know this is no excuse, but I feel the viewership on this blog is not large, and I hope my friends and family will forgive me.

Full moon, the "Sturgeon" moon is tonight.