One of the host plants for Bordered Patch butterflies, which I have seen here, is sunflowers and I do have an abundance of those. I wrote last year about observing Bordered Patch caterpillars, and I am starting to see them again.
These caterpillars seem to travel around a sunflower plant as a pack, which surprises me since I’d expect there to be a better chance of food if they spread out. There certainly are plenty of leaves to be had. A group will demolish a leaf or two, and then move onto another. Sunflower leaves must be sturdier than other leaves that I have seen caterpillars eat, because rather than consuming the entire leaf, in this case there is a fibrous remnant that is left behind.
Caterpillars eat a lot, and they poop a lot.
My instinct was that this caterpillar waste could potentially be beneficial fertilizer for the garden, as is the waste from earthworms. While I was researching that, that’s when I learned that the word for insect feces is FRASS. And yes, insect frass can act as a nitrogen-rich fertilizer in soil. I don’t plan to do anything particular to collect or distribute the caterpillar frass that is accumulating here. I reckon it will eventually find its way to the soil via rain or wind, and that will be a gift to the garden for allowing nature to happen.
Rewilding My Lot 
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