My nursing in hospitals had finished long ago, however, my caring for people and the elderly, was especially what I found most interesting to me. Living in someone’s home, treating the whole person allowed me to encourage them to exercise and hydrate and It it allowed me to Select better food for their meals, which was more wholesome than any hospital or care home would be able to do.
I had come back from travelling and was ready to do another stretch of in-home nursing A friend from Vancouver Island recommended. an elderly gentleman, 96 years of age, who has just lost his lovely wife after 75 years of marriage. He was a kind, big hearted and open minded individual, who had been shaped by many years of working as the head of a factory producing dynamite as well as making explosives used in blasting for the mining industry. He had been a tall 6 foot four man in his earlier day however, his hunched back and 96 years of age had him looking a bit tired and exhausted. Especially after he had lost his wife some months ago. and prior to my taking care of him, he had hired two students from the local college that needed a place to stay and cooking was not their priority.
When he heard I liked cooking, but that I was a vegetarian which he had never tried to be, he was open to a new style, and after a few for meals, which I tried to cater for him with lots of fish, eggs, and cheese, he decided that it was not too bad and was game to try.
I got used to his routine and he got used to mine, and we would have a nice lunch and small dinner together as the time went, he was happy and content. I have been travelling quite extensively and had become somewhat ill and needed a homebase and. I was thrilled to settled in and start the garden going that his wife had so lovingly produced all their food in. This was paradise for me, and for the time I was with him, we became good friends. At 96 he had a few health issues, One of them being a pacemaker, but he was strong And could walk half a mile to the mailbox every day and back, Which he had done for years. He was able to drive a car still, although I drove when we went together shopping and I would drive him to friends homes, and pick him up again, which pleased him to be able to be social with people again.
He taught me much about chemistry, Which he majored in with his job. And it fascinated me as it related to the elements of the body and the health, which I was constantly reading about and had to keen interest in the topic. We had many long conversations about His marriage of 75 years as well as things he has done in his life and he enjoyed hearing about my own life’s experiences and over the time we became very good friends. In fact he reminded me very much of my own grandfather. And some nights we would sit and play scrabble together. He gave me a run for my money.
As the months went by and the winter past, In the spring I found his property with two Mulberry trees sprouting. He and his wife had planted them years earlier near to the house. They had travelled back to Britian and while there they had snuck out some tree cuttings from the Queens Garden in England,
One dark berry, and the other a white berry, both having the most unusual and delicious flavour I’d ever eaten in a berry!. He then educated me to the silkworms, mentioning they would only give the best Silk but only if they had a steady diet of mulberry leaves. Apparently they can stay alive with lettuce leaves, but the silk is inferior and mulberry leaves are there natural food.
With this information he offered to help me get some eggs from the University from back east. We ended in ordering some that were to be delivered in an ice package and kept in the freezer until we were ready to start. We prepared the feeding trays (we used egg cartons with their individual compartments needed for each worm. We’d reviewed our ideas and details of how to set up the room and then got to work.
One of the rooms in his home was set up with the amount of cartons needed. We would place one egg in each hole, allowing for the growth of each worm separately. The eggs were the size of a pinhead and came glued onto a piece of paper, approximately 2 inches in diameter, and contained approx 150 eggs. Then the day came where we took them out of the freezer and got them ready to thaw out and hatch. After taking the eggs from the freezer it took a few weeks around 25 days, for the eggs to hatch, Keeping them warm and cosy they hatched right on time.
Because they were so small, when they first hatched, they would get lost in the egg carton hole in the curled up leaf.
I found that as the mulberry leaf would dry up it would curl up around them, so extreme care had to be taken to not throw them out with the curled dried up leaf. I picked the leaves 3 times a day, And this seem to be keeping the worms with fresh food all day. However this also meant that the old leaf had to be removed three times a day. When the worms were young, the a leaf could be torn into tiny pieces that would feed each very little worm, they were easy to overlook when young And eventually got larger and easier to spot as they were growing. All they did, all day long, was eat eat eat. They grew from the size of a pinhead to the approximate length and width of a middle finger (this varied within each worm of course) All this growth happened within a 6 to 8 weeks period which completed their life cycle.
Some nights I’d go into the room and all I could hear in the silence, was the chewing and crunching of their tiny little jaws, munching continually on the mulberry leaves and that’s all they ate!
After this longer phase of eating, the silkworm got ready to make its cocoon. This happened when the worm appeared translucent and yellowish which was seen as its indicator, i then knew the silk worm was ready. Prior to the worm making its cocoon, it would also excrete a fluid to clean out its system, in preparation for the last part of its life cycle and It’s life’s purpose which was “ to spin its silk”.
It knew to excrete a bit of sticky fluid, in order to anchor and stick the beginning of its long filament of Silk (that it needed to continuously produce for making the of its cocoon).
I found its movement fascinating when the action of making the cocoon was made by the worm supporting its body upward on its back end, while swinging his head in a clockwise figure 8 movement, back-and-forth from side to side. It was wrapping the long strand of silk around its body. On finishing its cocoon, it had a large beige, peanut shape, and had been glued together with t sticky liquid how long does the silk worm inside? The cocoon have to stay in Moult before it starts hatching found this on the web that had been secreted along with the Silk it produced. I discovered that the one strand of silk can be up to 1 km long.
Inside, the worm will molte one last time, finalizing its life cycle to becoming the moth. It takes 2 weeks of being in the mush while developing inside to produce the moth that will emerge.
If the moth is allowed to eat its way out of the cocoon, then the Silk will no longer be a continual strand, and, of course, will not be used for weaving (called sericulture) The cocoons will be cooked in order to prevent the silk from being eaten and destroyed by the moth
If, in fact, it is allowed to eat its way out, then when out, its unable to fly because of the domestication of so many years (5000 Yrs)
After being free from its cocoon, The moth will instantly try to find a mate, as quickly as possible, as their life span now is short (5-10 days), and as adults they don’t eat or drink As they have no mouse, and are in capable of eating or drinking. but instead they mate, lay eggs and then pass. Reproduction. No, is there prime importance.
My silkworms were fascinating to look at after hatching. The female had a larger body than the male. Each one, A beautiful snowy-white, almost furry fuzzy body, and off their long antenna Observed very fine hair like long filaments coming off the Antennas along the edge, that waved as they moved in the air.
Their meeting once they found each other was fascinating. Their tails no joining, Steed joined for a good day, and every hour or so they had a vibratory rate together for a few minutes, and then would lay still for another time, and this repeated itself, For a period of time till the next day.
Unfortunately, most of the cocoons I had put up in the attic to spread out and dry, met an unfortunate ending. A rodent had somehow entered the attic, and had helped itself. It left most of the cocoons with a hole, but the rodent had sucked out the moth from.
However, I had managed to keep a few which hatched, and gave me the delight of my life to see this magnificent creatures lifecycle complete.
Upon a little more research, I found that in the Orient, the silk was used as currency, and anyone caught, going out of the country with silk worm eggs, or any hint of spreading their secret wealth, would get beheaded instantly, as leaders did their best to prevent anybody knowing where Silk came from.
when it was first used and discovered by a princess while out in the palace gardens. she happened to spot and discover this shiny new thread being woven by a silk worm, who then was said to have been given credit for the Discovery of silk and its first use Which was later used to enlarge their next empire.
And it was a secret, kept for years and years, and made China very prosperous. Hence the name Silk Road that was used for the trade that was then to be done with the world… this made them very rich indeed and put China on the map
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