Dear Sunday Letter friends,
Good morning and happy Sunday. As we head into the middle of October, the temperatures in northwest Arkansas have finally dropped—it was 39 this morning! The asters are in full bloom. And, the Ozark hills and hollows are slowly coming alive with fall color.
I LOVE this time of year, this time before the holidays, before winter sets in and I begin to crave sunshine and watermelon again.
Butterfly Project
I released my last monarch butterfly of the year last week. So today, I am officially reporting the results of my 2021 season of butterfly raising.
Raising butterflies on my back porch turned out to be such a fun and rewarding thing to do. I will definitely continue doing it next spring. (I promise to provide detailed instruction early next year in case any of you are interested in joining me!)
A few highlights:
In addition to the 44 monarchs and 6 eastern black swallowtails, I also raised two spicebush caterpillars to chrysalis stage. Spicebush caterpillars are the ones that look like cute little cartoon snakes! Well, these little guys are so comfy in my butterfly hotel, they’ve decided to overwinter with me. They won’t be emerging until spring. (This sometimes happens near the end of the season when the temperatures fall and sunlight lessens.)
Here they are now, hibernating in the hotel (on the back porch). Sleep well, my friends.
Dangerous Time
This is the beginning of the most dangerous time at our house. Black walnuts have begun falling like missiles onto the driveway and in the far corner of the yard. They land hard! And I imagine they could really do some damage if they landed on my head, or heaven forbid, on one of the dogs.
Oh, the squirrels are crazy about them. And as tough as the husks are, the squirrels seem to have no problem cracking them open and making a big ole mess—the husks stain everything they touch a yellow-brown color.
We pick them up by the basketfuls just so we can walk without stepping on them. Slip on a walnut, crack open your noggin’. Each year about this time, I think about drying out a bushel of them, opening the husks (somehow), and then cracking the nuts to get to the wonderful meat inside. Has anyone done this? They aren’t easy to open like a pecan.
This article by Backyard Forager gives me hope that I might be able to do it.
Batty Halloween
Y’all, my Halloween bats have been lost since we moved from Dallas. For seven years, I’ve not been able to find them! A couple of weeks ago, I set my sights on finding them. Again.
This time, success!
Now, once again, they sweep past our front door. And Halloween peace has been restored to our October porch.
Want to make your own cloud of Halloween bats? My how-to post is HERE.
Things Momma Says:
Momma: I took a shower with a frog this morning. He was friendly though.
Me: Maybe your prince has finally arrived!
Staci: I hope he’s a handyman.
***
Thanks for reading today’s short Sunday Letter. Before I go, I would like to give a shout out to the Arkansas Library Association and to all the Arkansas librarians. Speaking at the ArLA State Conference last week was an honor of the highest for me!
Next time,
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
My favorite is the Spicebush Caterpillars. They are so cute, and they look like they are smiling. Your Halloween porch looks beautiful; I need to find my bats. I had to let Freddie, the frog, go, because the cats were bothering him.
If it was meant to be, Freddie will come back:))
Sorry about your Hawgs: they’re much better than yesterday.
To remove the green husks, let them dry a bit in baskets, then spread them close together on a gravel driveway or road, find a kid who is dying to drive a car/truck/tractor, and let them drive back and forth over the walnuts until the husks are cracked up and off, or the kid gets bored. Wear gloves and peal away the cracked husks, then spread them out on old house window screens (or something that looks like one), and hang them in garages and sheds to dry. Just before Christmas crack the walnuts open with a hammer on an anvil, cinder block, or other hard surface, and sit in front of the TV picking the meat out of the shells.
We would then pack the walnut meat in pint canning jars, Mom would cover the lids with colorful swatches of cloth, and they were revered as priceless gifts of ancient aunts and grandmothers.
It’s hard to beat the taste of black walnuts in banana-nut bread.
Thanks for all the tips!!
Enjoyed as usual.
Thank you!
We are up in the Rockies enjoying a touch of mountain fall. Really gorgeous and cold!
My folks house over on Lake Louise off North street had a walnut tree. They definitely had a love/hate relationship with them.
Enjoy your trip. Sounds lovely!
I love black walnuts, I was cracking them on the back porch one night and Gerald was trying to sleep, he was not happy.💕
LOL!
Last weekend we were at a Missouri State Park (Echo Bluffs…beautiful) and outside the lodge I was so happy to see Monarchs covering their bushes. I have to make a run to a bigger city today, with a Hobby Lobby, and I may get some felt to try out the bat craft. Thanks for the easy how to. We have a hickory tree above one of our decks and are having the same “risk” of sitting out there, especially if the squirrels are up there cracking them over our heads.
Let me know if you try out the bat project.
I swear, I think squirrels wait for us to walk underneath them…
I’m glad you found the bats! They give your porch an especially fun Halloween vibe. Congratulations on the library gig and your successful butterfly season. Terry’s Aunt Penny loved black walnuts and complained about there being none where she lived in California. Getting the nuts would be a major painstaking labor of love. Watch your head!
I was so happy to find them! The library gig was so much fun. Thanks, Dorothy!