Have you ever witnessed a natural invasion – an onslaught of advancing creatures bent on consuming everything in their path? Me neither. Until recently.
In the last month or so we have been inundated, overrun, and overwhelmed by an onslaught of tent caterpillars. These ingenious little creatures form tents of spider-like webbing at the end of branches. They use the tents as shelter from which to grow, eat, and advance on the surrounding vegetation. They are a natural part of the yearly cycle of life. Their population varies over a 7 year cycle where the caterpillars are more numerous each year until their numbers crash – and this year is an historic outbreak (click to see video).
The first clue came as we saw their tents on the ends of branches of our largest and quite noble apple tree. I would see the tents forming and kept thinking I should do something about that. Other projects kept me busy, however, and the next thing I knew I went out to the tree only to see an extraordinary sight: most of the branches and new leaves were fully covered with literally thousands and thousands of caterpillars. Soon 80% of the tree was completely denuded of any leaves.
I freaked out. I blamed myself for my laziness and taking my eye off the ball. I felt literally sick to my stomach when I looked at the damage they created.
Those devils, those brutes, those unnatural enemies of green growth and fruiting apples! How dare they? Well, something had to be done.
When the caterpillars are less numerous, and where practical, a simple solution is to prune the branch end – including the tent – and place it in a plastic bag. We were too late for this strategy. There are chemical and biological sprays that can work, but we are staunchly against using these kinds of poisons unless absolutely necessary.
At this point Virginia made a brilliant find by searching online. We learned that all insects breathe through their skin and by simply spraying the offending creepy-crawlers with vegetable oil they would pass on to their next lives. Each morning for a week I went out and sprayed and sprayed and sprayed. I would come in stinking like a short order fry cook and covered with a fine mist of oil on my glasses. My orchard ladder still smells like a deep fat fryer. Soon visiting our tree became like witnessing an apocalyptic movie scene – thousands of unmoving caterpillar corpses covered the tree. My compassion was not triggered – these beasts had to be stopped!
At this point we noticed that the caterpillars had also infested the deciduous trees in our forest. Entire stands of Alder were denuded of leaves. We could walk into the forest, stop and listen…and HEAR the sounds of caterpillars eating the leaves. As their invasion progressed the ground and roads were covered with the fuzzy vanguards of this natural calamity. We experienced anger, frustration and fear for the future of our trees.
It was somewhere in here that something shifted in me. I stopped blaming myself for not doing more to protect my fruit trees. I began to see the forest for the trees, to see this for what it is – a stunning, beautiful, and awesome natural phenomena. We are also learning that the trees will be fine – the big apple tree already has new leaves growing in. Nature prevails, she has her balance, and things work out. We just learned that most of the caterpillars are dying from a natural parasite that enters and eats their brains (!) so next year the population will collapse and the cycle will start over again. How cool and fascinating is that?
In the end we received a lesson in natural cycles. We were reminded that we can do a lot to nurture and support this land we are stewarding, but we are not bigger or stronger than nature itself. Things will proceed in ways that don’t match our pictures or expectations, but in the end they seem to work out. With a little more compassion, curiosity and humility, I look forward to watching the natural cycles unfold. And I am prepared to put myself a little less at the center of my personal universe, to remember that much of what happens around me isn’t even about me at all. In an unexpected way, that comes as a relief.
And finally this – the meaning of CATERPILLARS as a totem: “Caterpillar asks what stage of metamorphosis you are in. They are a symbol of the beginning stages of transformation, a time for growth. All things come in nature’s time. A caterpillar’s movement is not fast, it is slow and shows us that patience is required.”