The Big, Fat Caterpillar

My mum is obsessed with Eric Carle books.  (Sorry, Mum, it's true.)  Not that this is a bad thing.  It just means that my kids have received a number of Eric Carle books over the years, and we've amassed quite a collection.  They happen to be great books for kids.  A favourite of Reuben's has always been "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", and he actually had the book memorized at a very young age.  I'm not sure if he still does; maybe one of these days I'll pull it out again and find out.

Anyway, I digress.  Today, I found the very hungry caterpillar in my garden.  Except, he was not a tiny and very hungry caterpillar.  He was a big, fat caterpillar.

See for yourself...

The Big, Fat Caterpillar

Apparently, instead of just eating through one nice, green leaf, he decided to eat through a whole bunch of nice green leaves, like the ones on my tomato plants.  And he took a few bites out of some nice red tomatoes as well...

 I don't know how well you can see in this picture, but this is a tomato plant that's had all of it's leaves eaten off.  I now have the answer as to what's plaguing my tomato plants.

Suffice to say, it gave me a bit of a jolt when I was out picking tomatoes this afternoon and reached down to lift up the tomato plant and grabbed that not-so-little guy.  I mean, I've seen some caterpillars in my life, but none quite like this one, and I've certainly never touched any like this.  It gives me the creepy-crawlies just thinking about it...

In other news, the basil and parsley I planted in one of my barrels has taken over.  Take a look:

I really need to get around to making some more of the Herbed Garlic Butter I made last year.  And more bruschetta.  And anything else I can think of that needs basil.  If anyone wants some fresh basil, I've got more than enough to share.  Let me know...