Pesky Pests Partaking of our Parsley

We grow various herbs in pots on the back patio.  It is pretty convenient so that you don't have to walk all the way out to the garden to harvest a handful of parsley, oregano, mint, or rosemary when you are cooking.  I would do the same for basil, but we make so much pesto, that we really need a full garden row for growing basil.

Saturday morning I went out to pick some parsley and something bright and colorful caught my eye. Parsley is supposed to be green, not bright and colorful.  A fat caterpillar was making quick work in eating, no voraciously devouring our pot of parsley.

Parsley Eater

But he wasn't the only one.  His wife was in the back working on the Our Maker's Acres Parsley All You Can Eat Special.

Junior was finishing up his breakfast and going back for seconds.

I Google searched, Caterpillars in Louisiana and found This Link.  It told me that this was called a Ppolyx Papilionidae.  These actually become swallowtail butterflies.  I like butterflies.  I don't like caterpillars eating our herbs, though, and that was what was happening.

The entire family of caterpillars were having a feast.  They were so busy eating, they didn't even notice when I picked off the parsley stem that they were clinging to.  My plan was to walk these fat, parsley filled interlopers out to the pasture, where I would call the chickens and take enjoyment watching them snatch up and eat the caterpillars.  Sadistic, I know.

I called the chickens, they came running, I tossed the caterpillars over the fence and the chickens just stared at the offering.  They were not interested.  Strange.  These things are so bad the hens don't even want to mess with them.

If you are looking for a happy ending to this story, where the caterpillars form cocoons and and we gather around the chrysalis and joyfully shout when butterflies emerge and soar heavenward, well, you're going to be disappointed.  They were eating our stuff and instead of a happy ending for the caterpillar family, our story was more of a tragedy - a macabre one, at that.