10 years of The Life Cycle of the Silkworm

10 years ago we moved into our house. James was about 2 and Thomas was a tiny,newborn baby. Someone gave us silkworms. I was new to the neighbourhood and did not know where to find a mulberry tree to feed these tiny wrigglers. We searched and searched and in the end I sat down on the lawn in our very big garden and prayed. I did not want James to be sad when they all dies of starvation.

I had not really paid very, very keen attention the the kinds of plants and trees in the garden. As I sat there and prayed and looked around there I noticed that the one strange , weeping, miniature looking tree was getting leaves and indeed it was a mulberry tree. Our very own in our garden. I was thrilled. This dear tree has grown over the years and has brought us much joy with all the fruit it bears as well as the great learning experiences we have had these passed 10 years with these silkworms.

Each year I put the eggs away somewhere safe with a tiny label on the box that reads "silkworms". The eggs are all but forgotten through the winter but when the new leaves start sprouting I always seem to remember the eggs. This year Adele reminded me and there the tiny catterpillars had begun to hatch. They were a little early for our tree and so she kindly worm sat them for us until they could come home.

We have had some great times chatting about these odd little caterpillars. We have tried to discover which are male and which female ; which is the head and which the tail ; do the stripey ones spin the yellow cocoons? and much more. James recently studied in more depth the life cycle at school and so it was fun to put time to this process.

Thanks be to God for his fun and creative genius.