Corner Ketch Cottage

07/28/2026

Zebra swallowtail butterly/Eurytides Marcellus
Yesterday we took a short 4 mile bike ride along the Susquehanna River on the Enola Low Grade Trail. Paw paw trees are plentiful along trails on both sides of the river, and the Mason Dixon Trail on the west side of the river is a great place to find paw paws and collect fruit, which may be ready in the next few weeks.
Anyways, paw paws are the sole host food for zebra swallowtail caterpillars, and they were everywhere along the trail. They were so hard to photograph, so this pic is from Wikipedia. This time of summer their tails are even longer than this. It was so nice to see so many!

07/26/2026

We love this idea. We have already tried using flowers to make fabric dyes. We think this will be our next mini adventure in the garden.

Herb stems, celery ends, coconut husks, and kitchen scraps you'd normally toss become birthday cards, envelopes, journals, and even plantable seed paper friends can grow into a garden.

07/24/2026

This fierce tiny bird is our hero of the week.
Tufted titmouse/Baeolophus bicolor
Our veggies gardens were all flutter yesterday with many of these cute but humble-looking ravenous predators. They were eating bugs that were all over our Swiss chard, kale, squash, and rhubarb.
And we thought they were just cute visitors to the bird feeders! It turns out that they are some of a gardener’s best allies. And that even a vegetable garden can contribute to healthy ecosystems. 🐦‍⬛❤️

07/23/2026

One of the features in our gardens we have loved is the playhouse, which matched our cottage with its white siding and red roof shingles. It had a little banquette and cot with trundle, and it was hooked up to electricity, so it had a lovely overhead fan light and reading light. Unfortunately, it has been rotting from the floor up for a few years. Ants, voles, mice, and chipmunks have overwintered in it, and this spring we realized it is unsalvageable. We are sad to see it go.

07/18/2026

We think this is a snowberry clearwing or other sphinx moth. The thunder was rolling overhead as we followed it around the garden, but this is the only photos we could get. The butterflies have been starting to show up, especially tiger swallowtails and a few black swallowtails and monarch.

07/17/2026

Sun through the smoky haze. Thinking of the communities lost to fires in Canada this morning.🙏🏻

07/17/2026

Are we so focused on details and critical of every problem and imperfection, that we fail to take in the beauty and joy that is all around us? In life, as in the garden, sometimes it helps to step back and see the whole picture with eyes of gratitude.
(The smoky haze in the distance is real, and not a trick of the camera aperture!)

07/12/2026

We wonder what this tiny butterfly might be in the wild bee balm.

07/12/2026

Saw this for the first time today: Stizoides renicinctus/sand wasp. It seems to love the mint flowers.