Tadpoles, Chainsawing, and Butterflies

August 29, 2026

On August 18, I felt well enough to walk around Blackberry Homestead. Bruce had been talking about frog eggs and then tadpoles in the blue half-barrel. Once the tadpoles hatched, Bruce mentioned the green layer on the half barrel was gone. The tadpoles had eaten it. In the picture, you can see the tadpoles. The brown at the bottom is coconut coir.

Here is a Hackberry Emperor hanging from the eaves.

I found a false potato beetle on an eggplant leaf. They do eat eggplant, so of course, one found mine. The strip pattern is slightly different from that of a Colorado potato beetle. There are a lot of flea beetle holes in the eggplant leaves. It doesn’t seem to be hurting the plants’ production.

I performed an inspection of Bruce’s work.

Here is a silver-spotted skipper on take-off.

The horseradish is looking much better after I picked off the harlequin bugs for several days. The sorrel in the background has recovered from the Japanese beetle attack!

I picked so many cucumbers. On the way inside, I noticed a cabbage white butterfly flitting from the hydrangea bush and the herb garden.

A lot of folks call the cabbage white butterfly a cabbage white moth. I grew up calling it a moth.

After I put the cucumbers away, I looked out front and saw a swallowtail visiting the lantana plant.

Looking out the back door, I can see the shed and pig feeder. They weren’t visible before Bruce’s fence removal project.

The spineless weeping caperbush has grown a lot and continues to bloom.

Looking at Bruce’s work of chainsawing the fallen branch.

Bruce speed mowing as the sun is setting.

South yard sky was really beautiful.