Thursday, May 11

My Good Deed For The Day


Free To Fly Away

Another butterfly? Well, yes, but this is a special butterfly. This is the butterfly I was telling Stephanie about earlier this afternoon in the comments section of today's daily photo--the one I said I saw stuck in the henhouse window yesterday and couldn't do anything to save it.

Well, I was wrong. Several times. First of all, I actually saw that stuck butterfly the day before yesterday (because I was off the farm all day yesterday). And secondly, when I was over feeding the chickens a few stalks of lovely flowering arugula a little while ago, I thought I'd see if somehow the butterfly had escaped (though I was half afraid to look because I was pretty sure that I would find a dead butterfly). Wrong again! It was, miraculously, still alive, but looking very worn down.

I was determined to do something this time. So I started bending the mesh wire away from the wall and trying to coax out the butterfly with a little stick, but the space was too tiny and the butterfly was confused. Then fwop! the whole piece of mesh came away from the top of the 'window,' and suddenly there was enough room for the butterfly to get out. I nudged it onto my stick and voila! freedom. I set it down on the grass, and it floundered around a little, getting its bearings I guess. Then I snapped this photo, and not five seconds later it lifted off and danced up into the sky. I swear I could almost hear it singing.

So that is my (slightly sappy) butterfly story for the day. And if you are reading this wondering why on earth I'm making such a big deal (or any deal, for that matter) about one silly old butterfly, well, just remember that little girl who was walking along a beach absolutely covered with dying starfish that had all been washed ashore. She picked one up and tossed it back into the water. The adult who was with her said something like, "Why bother? What difference can it make? There are thousands of dying starfish here; you can't possibly save them all." And the little girl calmly replied, "It made a difference to that one." And I am sure that starfish danced out into the ocean just as happy as my silly old rescued butterfly.

12 comments:

  1. Beautiful story. Of course it's worth it, to you and to the Butterfly!

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  2. That's what all the butterflies in your previous post were talking about. "how do we get our friend out of the window?" "I don't know, who has any ideas?" "If only we had thumbs, we could open the window" "Maybe if we flap around together we'll get someones attention?"

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  3. FarmGirl Receives Good Deed of the Day Award. You showed your kind and loving nature saving that butterfly. Who knows, in another cycle of life, he may save you.

    Felice, Portland, Maine

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  4. Your butterfly good deed story reminds me of two things. The first one is the tiger swallowtail butterflies i grew up with in the North Georgia mountains...whenever thoughtless drivers-by would litter soda bottles or beer cans on the road at a certain time of summer, hundreds of tiger swallowtails would flock to the sugary puddles and explode like fluffery little fireworks if you got too close. I remember sticking my hands into the midst of the bunch a feeling them bruch my fingers as the flew away! The second thing is the repeated rescue of the now-endagered Luna moths who got similarly entrapped in our partially-screened-in-porch. How beautiful and prehistoric they were.

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  5. Personally, we think the good deed of the day involves flowering arugula and chickens with
    im-peck-able taste.

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  6. you keep saving any little creature and winged thing that needs help! good for you! :)
    great story. enjoyed reading here again.

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  7. I'm not the only one that rescues bugs? Hooray! I'ma always catching spiders and wasps that get into the house and escorting them outside. The flies..not so much.

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  8. That's not sappy. It's lovely. And yes you did make a difference to that butterfly!

    I've been rescuing birds from the wood burning stove lately. I don't know how or why they get in there.

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  9. That's a great story! I'm sure the butterfly was very happy to be out.

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  10. And the joy of setting a life free compensates for all the effort that goes into it. :)

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  11. I think it's wonderful you went to the trouble to save the butterfly. I love the story about the little girl and the starfish. If each person only helped one other living thing a day it would be a much better world.

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  12. What a beautiful blog! Your photographs are wonderful on work-weary eyes. And that starfish story! I read it when I was a child and am so happy to find another person who is just as moved by it as I am. Judging from your more recent butterfly photos, it looks like that butterfly you saved told the rest how great you are :D

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December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.

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