Woolly Worm Expedition

In keeping with my theme of recording the family’s events in not-so-real-time, here is the account of one of their latest adventures - our first woolly worm expedition over Labor Day Weekend.

These Woolly Worm Caterpillars, aka Wooly Worms, have been sighted by our kids everywhere - at school, at the park, in the road, in the soybean fields and of course, in the landscaping by the house, conveniently munching on the leaves of my perennials..... Our neighbors had captured many of the fuzzy crawlies while exploring around the creek down the road, so Erica and Brian set off on their own expedition Saturday afternoon, with the big wagon, filled with leaves and grass, in tow.

It appeared that the normally tall wild grasses had recently been cut and it initially seemed as if the Woolly Worm would be quite elusive. But in a residual clump of grass, we came across several of the fuzzy creatures and we started to collect them in the wagon. (Actually, I would coax the Woolly Worm on to a stick and hand said stick to awaiting child who would run up to the street level and deposit the worm into the wagon.).

Erica with her first Woolly Worm:


Brian attempts to collect a lightly colored caterpillar:


The kids scramble up the banks of the creek to place the worms into the wagon:


Heading back home after collecting about 20 of the fuzzy guys:


Just a small sampling of our collection:


Playing the handoff game:


One of the unusual species - his hair was a bit spiky:


We kept the Woolly Worm collection for a couple of days before they were returned “back to nature”. Unfortunately, “back to nature” was the backyard landscaping......oh well, our Salvia plants were out of control anyways......(and the other option of bringing them into the house was less desirable!)