Cabbage moths - cheap solutions?

Watching our vegetable garden grow is so fun. :-)

After the initial period of turning the earth and lugging bags of dirt around, it's so relaxing to just have to weed, water, and generally check things out everyday. The only serious work I've had to do recently, besides resowing some things, was kind of an unpleasant surprise. The kale looked like crap on Sunday, and the cabbage (on the right), broccoli, and sprouts had some similar damage.

Yuck...looks like we won't be having any kale chips unless I figure this out. :/

Some Googling showed that there are a few insects to suspect, but this is most likely due to cabbage moths, which look like white butterflies with a black spot on each wing. Then I remembered: I saw a cute little white butterfly while I was weeding recently, and paused to think "awww." ...

Well, there are some hilarious descriptions online of gardeners doing exactly the same thing. It's a typical rookie mistake. It turns out the female cabbage moth is stopping to lay her eggs, which sit on the underside of your plants' leaves until they become caterpillars and start to ruin your life. So I checked, and I believe these pics from my garden show eggs.

Advisers online recommended removing the eggs and caterpillars from each infested plant and dropping them in cold water, then covering the plants somehow. I did this, and it took nearly two hours and wasn't the most fun job, so I'd like to make sure I have a more permanent solution. Here are some of the caterpillars I found and murdered with soap. (Look at the smallest kale leaf.)

Afterwards, I was pretty sure the plants were clear of eggs and caterpillars, but needed a quick way to protect the garden from the moths, so I just threw some deer netting on top of the whole garden and used twist ties on the perimeter.

I know it looks kind of pitiful. Don't judge me. Anyway, it was raining so I went inside for a while, and when I came back later to check, there was a white moth inside the net! I opened the net and started shooing it away and cursing at it. This net just made things worse! What if they get in and get stuck now? Will they just lay eggs until they die?

So, if any of you have advice, please let me know. There is a lot online, but I don't want to spend very much money and I prefer not to use pesticides. I'm fine with removing the eggs and caterpillars one more time but don't want to do it over and over. I plan to get a sprinkler this week with a sensor, and while I think that'll help with birds, I don't think it can defend against this pesky little moth.

Is there something organic you can spray on plants to keep the moth away? Maybe some homemade, nontoxic solutions that actually work?

General comments are cool too. Sorry for all the complaining. ;)