Eric the Caterpillar

[AeryFairy]

On occasion, I get organic veg box deliveries. This week's box included a lettuce. This week's lettuce evidently included a little caterpillar dude, who I found after he had sat in the fridge for two days. So I picked him up and put him out on the window ledge (any bug left inside the flat becomes a cat snack). He looked pretty dead at first, but a few minutes in the sun made him a bit more perky and he was crawling around. We gave him some lettuce scraps and named him Eric after the guy who wrote 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'. He was super cute so we took a picture:

We then sent the picture to the veg box company, who just sent this email in response:

Thank you for your e-mail and photo.

Eric looks very content in his new home- I'm so glad that you were able to set him free so he can continue on his caterpillar travels. I love the photo too, how cute.

I've ordered you some olive oil and some extra lettuce to come along
with your next delivery on Wednesday just to show our thanks for your
valued custom. We hope you all enjoy it very much!

Have a great weekend!

 

[Amy SF]

Awwww how cute! I love caterpillars! (especially when they turn into beautiful butterflies. And yes, sometimes beautiful moths.)

On a separate note:
It's remarkable how your attitude and the veg box company's attitude are refreshingly mature, considering you had basically an unwanted guest in your veg box. Over here across the pond, you would have seen screaming headlines on the news sites about some woman angrily indignant about finding a horrible bug in her lettuce, demanding financial compensation and fresh lettuce from the company (with the threat of a lawsuit), and the company being very apologetic and embarrassed.

 

[KLS52]

I love this!!

 

[ledboots]

What a sweet caterpillar! (and my son's favorite childhood author). I love that company's response, so great.

 

[kibbleforlola]

Awesome.

 

[Everleigh]

Yeah, that was really cool of the company to send you that nice email. Good luck to Eric!

 

[thefadedone]

On a separate note:
It's remarkable how your attitude and the veg box company's attitude are refreshingly mature, considering you had basically an unwanted guest in your veg box. Over here across the pond, you would have seen screaming headlines on the news sites about some woman angrily indignant about finding a horrible bug in her lettuce, demanding financial compensation and fresh lettuce from the company (with the threat of a lawsuit), and the company being very apologetic and embarrassed.

Hell yeah it is. I will admit that I have not shared that attitude at all. I just had this happen to me last night with romaine lettuce I bought from the produce stand. It isn't the first time it's happened either. Usually I find those same green caterpillars in their broccoli and brussel sprouts. They hide ridiculously well in any green produce considering they blend in perfectly . I always tend to freak out whenever I find them. Not because they are scary, but because it grosses me out to think that I came close to accidently ingesting them (although I'm sure it's possible that I probably have accidently).

I just have to reframe my thinking. I'll be picking up some more produce this Monday and I'm going to remain positive and think "What would Aery do" when I find those stowaways.

 

[AeryFairy]

On a separate note:
It's remarkable how your attitude and the veg box company's attitude are refreshingly mature, considering you had basically an unwanted guest in your veg box. Over here across the pond, you would have seen screaming headlines on the news sites about some woman angrily indignant about finding a horrible bug in her lettuce, demanding financial compensation and fresh lettuce from the company (with the threat of a lawsuit), and the company being very apologetic and embarrassed.

I'm sure there are plenty of people who would do that here, too

Hell yeah it is. I will admit that I have not shared that attitude at all. I just had this happen to me last night with romaine lettuce I bought from the produce stand. It isn't the first time it's happened either. Usually I find those same green caterpillars in their broccoli and brussel sprouts. They hide ridiculously well in any green produce considering they blend in perfectly . I always tend to freak out whenever I find them. Not because they are scary, but because it grosses me out to think that I came close to accidently ingesting them (although I'm sure it's possible that I probably have accidently).

I just have to reframe my thinking. I'll be picking up some more produce this Monday and I'm going to remain positive and think "What would Aery do" when I find those stowaways.

I had an incident a couple of weeks ago at the family BBQ with one of my nan's home-grown lettuces... Wound up putting a slug in my mouth. Thankfully, I spat it out and it was still whole and alive. But after that. I'm totally cool with a cute little caterpillar dude who falls out before my mouth gets anywhere near him

 

[SummerRain]

Adorable I think most bugs can survive being in the fridge for a while, it's what people studying them sometimes do to slow them down in order to look/study them/draw them. So hopefully Eric will be fine! I agree, your attitude is refreshing, and the companies response was really nice.

The slug story made me feel very gross. I grow my own lettuce, the worst I've ever got is a green fly, that I know of !

 

[kazyeeqen]

I work in organic produce, there are many many many many bugs. Bugs mean fewer poisons!

Once there was a fella who was about to buy broccoli but noticed there were a bunch of aphids on it (common problem for broccoli, aphids are super annoying) and he came back and was all upset and couldn't find any sans aphids and was all, "we're not buying any!" and his wife was kind of abashed about his reaction and as an aside to me was all, "well yeah sometimes there are bugs I just rinse them off. "

 

[Tom L.]

Small critters can be annoying, if not necessarily a health threat...

I used to grow romaine lettuce in my home yard, and plan to start growing it there again. The earwigs thought these were the greatest condos! I would pick a few leaves off a plant and the earwigs who had snuggled down into the space between the base of the leaf and the stem would scatter in a panic. They weren't eating the lettuce that I could see; they were just using it to hang out. So we co-existed nicely (considering I gave them a few rude awakenings).

How is Eric doing? He can probably eat what you found him on, but some caterpillars can only eat a few kinds of plants.

 

[Amy SF]

I'd also like to know how Eric is doing. Is he still a caterpillar or he is undergoing metamorphosis?

 

[ledboots]

 

[Amy SF]

Keeping a pet caterpillar and having it ultimately go through metamorphosis is a good way to teach science to kids, methinks.

 

[ledboots]

Keeping a pet caterpillar and having it ultimately go through metamorphosis is a good way to teach science to kids, methinks.

We did it with my kids a couple of times, and the butterflies always emerged okay. I was panicked that the kids would freak if the poor things didn't make it though!

 

[Forster]

Hmmm, Eric is cute enough but I have a deep seated fear/ickyness left over from childhood re caterpillars. My grandparents had this nice golden willow in their backyard with this great branch that you could just catch and hang onto if one jumped high enough. Last time I did it there was a big fat caterpillar on top of the branch right were I grabbed...at least he didn't see it coming.

 

[Amy SF]

Hmmm, Eric is cute enough but I have a deep seated fear/ickyness left over from childhood re caterpillars. My grandparents had this nice golden willow in their backyard with this great branch that you could just catch and hang onto if one jumped high enough. Last time I did it there was a big fat caterpillar on top of the branch right were I grabbed...at least he didn't see it coming.

Poor B.F.C.