budding and hatching

It started three weeks ago with the barren forsythia branch that I swiped while I was running early in the morning. I put it in a cup of water in the kitchen and forgot about it. After 4 days the warmth of our house beckoned out little green buds which soon burst into that first yellow of spring. This gave me and the kids hope and we got going on some spring projects:

First there was our butterfly garden. I got this online at amazon.com. I think I spent fifteen bucks and man was it worth it. I have never been a witness to the butterfly life cycle and it was amazing to behold.

They arrived as little larvae, ate a bunch of weird stuff that came with them in a jar in the mail. They grew and grew just like Eric Carslie's book. Then they hung from the top of the container and formed chrysalis.

We moved the chrysalis into the little butterfly garden that they sent us. They looked pretty dead for about 10 days and I had pretty much lost hope....thought we got some duds. Then, one afternoon Hazel screamed in her most dramatic voice, "MOM!!! COME QUICK!!!!" I came and there it was....an empty chrysalis and a beautiful butterfly, just uncurling her wings. It really was quite amazing.

Then, hour by hour three more emerged. The kids were absolutely delighted (it felt almost like Christmas morning around here.) They squealed with joy and beckoned so sweetly to the ones who hadn't quite made it out yet. They named their new pets and got so excited about feeding them and watching them learn to fly.

If you live close by and reading this makes you think you want to witness this process in your own home....talk to me before buying the kit. I think we have some butterfly romance going on in our habitat and we may have some offspring to share before too long. Maybe we'll get into the butterfly breeding business.

And then, there was the excitement of starting our garden. This is the first time we've tried doing our garden from seed....and if it keeps working I think I'll always do it this way. It's way cheaper and not too hard and really pretty fun to do with kids.

It's much more exciting to see the whole process....from seed, to plant, to garden, to veggie, to table, to mouth. The kids are digging it. Hazel is trying to grow peas (we hear they don't grow too well around here...but she is her very determined self) and charlie is trying to grow baby peppers from seeds from the Costco peppers he loves. He's also bound and determined to grow an apple tree and carefully preserves all his apple seeds.

So, there you have it. Things are budding and hatching in Boston. Our souls feel alive as the earth wakes up. We're pretty darn happy around here.