June Sweetness
Butterflies, caterpillars, and a special strawberry moon
Happy June! Summer is almost officially here!
It’s the beginning of the month, so you know the drill. Here are three events to watch for, two quotes for the season, and one grounding activity to get you slowing down in the month ahead.
Three Events to Celebrate this Month
1. Butterfly and Moth (and caterpillar and pupa) Season
The warm months of summer are when moths and butterflies breed and reproduce through a life cycle of metamorphosis, which involves four separate stages in the life cycle (egg, larva, pupa, and adult).
This means summer is a great time to see both butterflies and very hungry caterpillars — and their chrysalises.
Butterflies and moths are incredibly important to our ecosystem, which is one of the reasons it’s important to lay off those pesticides. In fact, some of the most well-known (and oft studied in schools), such as the the monarch butterfly, are endangered due to human impact.
And they really are a wonder to behold, as this time lapse video from National Geographic of monarch’s life cycle (set to very dramatic music), reminds us:
2. Summer Solstice
This year the summer solstice occurs on Thursday, June 20. At that moment, half of the Earth will be tilted the closest to the sun, and those in the northern hemisphere will experience the greatest amount of daylight all year.
3. A special solstice Strawberry Moon!
The next full moon occurs right around solstice, on Friday, June 21. This moon — traditionally known as the Strawberry Moon in honor of early summer berry season — is significant because it will be one of the lowest full moons we’ve seen in years.
Thus due to its position near the horizon, it will (by pure coincidence) likely take on a strawberry pinkish hue. Time to mark your calendars for some moon viewing!
Two Quotes for June
1.
Beginnings feel so good, don’t they? Here’s an ode to early summer from turn-of-the-century British horticulturist, photographer, and garden designer Gertrude Jekyll:
“What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade.”
2.
See those yellow and dark brown cinnabar caterpillars in the first photo I shared in this post? You’d never guess that they’ll transform into the dark red and bluish-black moth pictured just below.
Inventor (and creative extraordinaire) Buckminster R. Fuller gets at to the heart of it with this quote:
“There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.”
Indeed.
Slowing Down: Try this for the month of June
Go on a larva and butterfly walk and see what kinds of pairings you might find.
Meadows, gardens, and prairies are great spaces to find these colorful insects — but don’t overlook forests, campgrounds, or shorelines as well.
This is one of those times when a little research may help out because one of the key features of many butterflies and moths is that they rely almost exclusively on a specific plant. (This is part of why their habitats are so threatened.)
So for instance, if you want to try to see the rare, endangered, Oregon Silverspot butterfly, you’ll have to go to the Oregon coast because these butterflies rely on the coastal grass, the early blue violet, for their life cycle. Or perahps you are looking for a monarch chrysalis? Their larva feed on milkweed.
A quick biz note — over at Art Nature Place, we’ve been running a series of professional development workshops for folks in nonprofits, and we have a new one we just launched for summer. If you work in a public facing nature or culture nonprofit, take a look.
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Thank you for a wonderful inspiration for activities in June!