Choosing the Building
As I get out of the car, I spot an old cecropia cocoon along a branch of alder, and by the time I reach the building entrance I have already found black swallow tail caterpillars on Queen Anne's lace along the parking lot edge, a group of evening primrose flower moth caterpillars in an overgrown flower bed, and a decorator caterpillar among the golden rods.
The entry way opens into a large, bright room. It could become our creative space, our museum, our conference and program area, a place for all things natural history and caterpillar-related to come together. A long cement countertop, once a bar, could serve as our primary microscope presentation and display surface. There is even a hydroponic living wall already in place along one side of the room, ready to support year-round host plant growth.
I step out the back door, imagining the area alive with insect life, with families and naturalist groups coming and going, and a Caterpillar Lab van being loaded up for a traveling program. As I stand there, a blue bird drops from a branch, picks a caterpillar from the overgrown edge of the parking lot and carries on.