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️(he/him) 1/ On several occasions I've heard Tyson Yunkaporta talk about seasonal patterns and how seemingly unrelated flora and fauna indicate that something important is happening in the other (e.g. "the yam is ripe for harvest precisely at that time of year when the grasshopper’s mating call can be heard").
I've been trying to see things like that—a somewhat impossible task in the suburbs of a dying rust belt city.
But tonight is the first time I *felt* some meaningful pattern had revealed itself.
2/ We've been planting native milkweed all over the yard (even transplanted some destined for destruction nearby). After three years we've seen a slight increase in monarch butterflies, but tonight was the first time we had ever seen a caterpillar (and dozens of eggs on the same plant).
I also noticed earlier in the day that the elderberries (which didn't fruit last year) were ripe enough for picking.
3/ I felt a surge of emotion at the realization: that the elderberries we planted last year finally fruited and were ripe this year, on the same day that we discovered the first monarch caterpillar on a milkweed plant... I immediately told my son that this was important and something we should pay attention to, "the monarch caterpillars chew on milkweed when the elderberries are ripe."
As if to add an exclamation point, several crows started cawing and flew overhead (seriously).
4/ my son had this look, it was incredible... a look of awe and wonder and excitement and also like he was going to cry tears of joy.
I have no idea if this pattern will repeat itself, but it feels important, and the act of noticing these things is something I want him to learn as young as possible, since it's likely they will be different for him than they were for me.
Here is the article I quote above, worth a read: https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-seasonal-calendars-of-indigenous-australia-88471
5/5 Robin Wall Kimmerer (and others) wrote of becoming indigenous to place in Braiding Sweetgrass. This feels like the closest to that I've ever been. I know there is much more work to do, but I am so excited.
And we did put some netting/fabric over the plant so the birds don't eat the caterpillar. Hopefully we can watch as it transforms, and maybe transform with it.
@nathanlovestrees This whole thread is gorgeous . . . and the way you teach your son? Bravo!
You know Nathan, you just made me feel so very very happy, for a variety of reasons. Thank you, my friend. Thank you so much.