Save the Date: Live with the Caterpillar Experts — October 14 🐛

[Kim DeAndrade]

FYI

Kim

View Online    Forward to a Friend SAVE THE DATE Caterpillars Aren’t Just for the Birds A live panel discussion of The Extraordinary Caterpillar featuring Homegrown National Park co-founder Dr. Doug Tallamy, The Caterpillar Lab director Sam Jaffe, botanist Laura Reeves, moderated by The New York Times columnist Margaret Roach. October 14 · 12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. ET This spring, we hosted The Extraordinary Caterpillar, a 60-minute documentary about the hidden world of caterpillars, and the response has been incredible. People around the country have hosted and scheduled over 400 local screenings, reaching more than 39,000 viewers and counting. Now we're going further. One registration gives you two ways to take part.  1. Watch: Stream The Extraordinary Caterpillar on demand, free with registration, anytime before the webinar on October 14. Watch it as many times as you'd like, on your own or with your household.  2. Join us live: Join a live panel webinar, Caterpillars Aren't Just for the Birds, featuring experts from the film on October 14. Bring your questions! This is your chance to hear directly from the people who study these ecological powerhouses.   What we'll cover in the webinar: The incredible diversity of caterpillars. What they need at every stage of the year. And the everyday things you can do at home to help them thrive. Get Access Now Can't make the live webinar? No problem. Registered attendees can access a replay through November 14. Watch the Film Trailer Tickets for Individual Viewing Choose the option that works best for you: Caterpillar Superhero: $35 Caterpillar Champion: $15 Open Door Ticket: Free This event supports Homegrown National Park and The Caterpillar Lab. Free registration is available as part of our effort to make opportunities available to all. Choosing to purchase a ticket or add a donation helps extend our work to more yards and classrooms, and comes with a coupon for 30% off The Extraordinary Caterpillar t-shirt.  This limited release of the film is made possible by the creators of the film, Merit Motion Pictures. We can’t wait for you to experience The Extraordinary Caterpillar, and to see the conversations and connections it inspires. Register Now More About the Film Meet the Panelists Margaret Roach is a longtime garden writer—first for Newsday newspaper, then for Martha Stewart Living (where she became the company’s EVP/Editorial Director) and the last five seasons for The New York Times, where she began her journalism career as a copy girl decades ago. She also creates a website, podcast, and weekly newsletter called A Way to Garden, the title of her 1989 book that was reissued in 2019 in an all-new edition. She has been honored for her contributions to horticulture with the Scott Medal from Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore and the George Robert White Medal of Honor from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, among other awards. Dr. Doug Tallamy is an entomologist, conservationist, and professor at the University of Delaware, whose work has transformed our understanding of the relationship between native plants and wildlife. His research and books, including Bringing Nature Home and Nature’s Best Hope, have inspired millions to see their own yards as part of the solution to the biodiversity crisis. Driven by the belief that everyone can play a role, Doug co-founded Homegrown National Park to encourage people to plant natives in the spaces they care for. As Tallamy explains, caterpillars are essential to the food web: a single chickadee nest requires six to nine thousand caterpillars to survive their first two weeks of life. Even grizzly bears rely on caterpillars to fatten up for winter.  Sam Jaffe is the founder and Executive Director of The Caterpillar Lab. Sam studied ecology and evolutionary biology at Brown University, earned a master’s degree in environmental education from Antioch University New England, and is an Associate in Entomology at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology. His work combines close observation, scientific inquiry, and visual storytelling to reveal caterpillars not only as beautiful or bizarre creatures, but as participants in an extraordinary web of relationships unfolding in our own backyards and fundamental to local ecosystems. A lifelong naturalist, photographer, and educator, Sam has spent decades studying and documenting the lives of caterpillars. He founded The Caterpillar Lab to bring these dynamic animals directly to the public through immersive educational programs, photography, film, and natural-history research. Today, the Lab works throughout New England and beyond, sharing thousands of live caterpillars with audiences while uncovering the life histories of hundreds of species, many of which remain poorly known to science. Laura Reeves is a botanist and naturalist who regularly shares her passion for wild plants through hands-on workshops, presentations and private land consultations. She has over 20 years experience. She received her BSc. (Botany) from the University of Manitoba in 1997. She is the founder of Prairie Shore Botanicals and author of “Laura Reeves’ Guide to Useful Plants – From Acorns to Zoom Sticks”. In the film she helps the audience understand the secret world of caterpillars and their ecosystems. Margaret Roach Dr. Doug Tallamy Sam Jaffe Laura Reeves      Copyright (C) 2026 HOMEGROWN NATIONAL PARK®. All rights reserved. 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