I don't want insects to disappear 📸

15 Jul, 2026

I’ll start by saying I’m not a huge fan of insects.

They have an annoying habit of getting tangled in my hair, one of them actually got inside my ear and woke me up in the middle of the night recently. Plus, I am absolutely TERRIFIED of crawling insects, things like slugs, snails, and caterpillars.

When I say terror, I really mean terror. The kind where I’d throw up if I touched one.

I remember a time when a tree grew in our backyard (really fast by the way, like, less than a year, it was already as tall as our house) and it was right next to the building. Suddenly, it was full of stinging caterpillars (the famous taturanas) black with yellow spikes. Apparently, they turn into moths, but I was terrified of them. The tree got so infested that they started climbing the walls and coming inside the house. And, in case you didn't know, a sting from one of those caterpillars hurts A LOT. We had to cut the tree down because the situation had become unbearable.

That said, the lack of insects in my yard, and around me in general, worries me.

I’ve been hearing more and more experts talk about how the existence of many insect species are in threat of extinction, yet no one seems to care.

A while back, the disappearance of bees caused quite a stir, then it was the Monarch butterflies, and now people are talking about fireflies.

I remember that years ago, during my childhood, my yard always had plenty of big yellow butterflies flying among the flowers. Now, I only see a few small ones every once in a while.

Maybe I’m partly to blame, since I never liked caterpillars and always tried to get rid of them.

The problem is, you can't have butterflies without caterpillars. Well, for years we’ve had lemon balm, and they’ve always had a serious problem with caterpillars. We even thought about stopping planting them, but they take root so easily that there’s always one here or there.

I recently discovered that they’re actually good for pest control. Apparently, lemon balm is so delicious that caterpillars love it, they attack only the lemon balm and leave the surrounding plants untouched.

So, I planted several cuttings that took root very quickly, and got covered in caterpillars just as fast.

My mom wanted to get rid of them, but I asked her to leave them be. At some point, I put 2+2 together and realized that caterpillars = butterflies. And look who showed up today!

I’m going to set aside a corner of my yard for this type of plant. But, like, a really isolated spot, far away from me.

#childhood #garden #photos