I found this excellent fuzzwuggler yesterday by the front door. I believe it’s an Io moth caterpillar. One of the saturniids, the same family as Lunas.

One summer I witnessed a pair of Io moths spending the day together. Apparently after mating, these moths will sometimes keep a day or two in each other’s company. In an adult life that only lasts a couple of weeks, where in their final form they forgo even eating, I can’t help but find deep meaning and beauty in choosing to spend the day together.

More notes from mid-summer days…

• I’m popping up again! Come say hello at the Campbellford Farmer’s Market this Sat 9-1. There are many great reasons to visit this wonderful market. Home to taiyaki and vegan bento boxes, vegetables, spring rolls, avocado plants and more! (My pop-up decisions are once again informed by my desire to be close to delicious snacks.)

And at the woodland homestead —

• Dry, dry, dry. For the first time in 8+ years, our primary rainwater storage has gone dry. A couple more rainbarrels to go through before we’re empty, but the vegetables and I would love to see some luscious rainclouds.

• The baby bunnies that were growing in our asparagus patch successfully hatched and fledged. The other day I saw an adult and baby bunny duo landscaping the edges of our driveway. There is nothing zoomier than a baby bunny! The local foxes — who have been busy leaving their sign all over our yard — need all the luck they can get.

• Deep cleaning a chicken coop recently, I stumbled across a mouse nest full of babies. Mama mouse had already flushed out and startled me, but seemed reticent to leave — stopping instead to size me up with her shiny black gaze. I didn’t understand why until I swept out shavings that enclosed the babies’ soft little world. The shavings were mewling, and baby mice spilled onto the coop floor. I put the disrupted nest and all the pinky babies back together, reassembled as best I could, and popped it out of the coop in a “reunion box”. Mama mouse quickly appeared to tend to her little ones.

– Happy August! I hope your wells continue to replenish — both the ones that hold water, and the ones that hold other things which nourish you. 💚