Black swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes

I'm so used to every buggie that shows up in my garden revealing itself to be a monster threatening to decimate the world that I nearly gave up trying to identify them all. Until yesterday.
When I discovered that I actually had a caterpillar that was going to become a REAL BUTTERFLY someday, I nearly choked on my kale snack.

*side note: Kale is amazing when you've marinated it in sea salt and lemon olive oil, just sayin'.

Take a look at Lumpy. I wish I came up with the name, but someone else on Pinterest had a photo of this species of caterpillar with the title "Lumpy the Caterpillar" and I couldn't resist. I just name everything "Fred" as many loyal readers must know by now. I apologize if it's redundant, but I am the Goddess of Redundancy Goddess.

Lumpy is spectacular, although hims is small. He/She is only about an inch long, so it's rather new to the world of being a caterpillar.

I was a little disappointed at first when I saw that Lumpy wasn't nearly as majestic as it should be according to the world wide web. Once I identified it though, I figured that maybe it was a late bloomer, and went on about my business.

This morning I revisited the tab that I'd left open to read a little more about Lumpy and discovered that hims was in grave danger from the local wasp population. These caterpillars are quite the delicacy for those masters of disaster. We have a HUGE parsley and fennel area in our garden, we should have at least twenty of these Lumpies! That's what they eat, it's their favorite "get big and strong snack" unless the wasps find them.

So, I researched "how to grow a caterpillar" and rushed outside to see if hims was still there! Joyousness abounding, I found Lumpy and saved hims. Yes, the picture is sideways, but there it is, the caterpillar sanctuary.

That's a giant mason jar with a screen lid, and all the fresh fennel Lumpy could want. You can see how Lumpy's markings might keep hims camouflaged for awhile, but hims deserves a chance. We'll make sure there's plenty of fresh foods for the next 30 days, until the transformation begins. I'll keep you posted.

Thank you, so much, for reading and I always welcome your comments!
Take a look at @Labyrinths when you have a moment, and join our labyrinth community on HIVE if you're interested. We just started it, so there's not much going on yet, but if you're ever in the need for a "down to earth" (but not too earthy) psychic, you can find me online at Brigid's Aether.

Any images and graphics (unless noted) are mine.