Forget the Whales…Save the Caterpillars!

Since beginning this journey, we’ve explored many new experiences. One of them is growing our own organic fruit and vegetables.   

Because we’re keen to grow our produce organically, I spend five minutes each day handpicking caterpillars off of the cabbage and broccoli plants. I’ve found organic gardening less challenging than I imagined it would be, but the pests in our garden have found a new ally.

Tomboy has always been interested in bugs, worms and icky things, so I wasn’t surprised when she asked me to put the caterpillars in her hand so she could have a closer look at them. As I placed each one in her hand, I said, ‘Don’t drop them back on the plants,’ and then reminded her to squish them under her foot when she was done.

She was horrified that I wanted to kill them, so I explained that if we left them on the plants to eat our produce, we wouldn’t have any left for us to eat. She didn’t argue or ask more questions, so I assumed she understood.

After I’d finished and moved onto looking at the other plants, I turned around to discover Tomboy busily placing the caterpillars on another plant elsewhere in our garden.

‘It’s okay, Mum,’ she said, ‘we don’t eat these plants.’