Monarchs on the Farm
Its hard to go far on the farm without hearing or seeing a pollinator of some kind. My greatest delight comes from these special critters!
I found my first monarch caterpillar of the year! She was on the smallest milkweed plant in the whole garden right next to this prairie sun rudbeckia. I picked her up and took her over to the biggest and healthiest plant I could find and watched her for a long time. I don’t want to even imagine a day when these little ones are not around. I get excited every single time I see a monarch butterfly or caterpillar and trust me there are quite a few in the flower gardens. I love to bring one inside and watch them make their chrysalis each year and all the guests that come to my house are always in awe and are just as happy to sit and watch as I am. I especially love showing kids! My niece and nephew were so elated to see a different stage every time they came over, even though it took some convincing for them to believe that it was the same creature.
Last year I went on vacation at the time that they were beginning to make their chrysalis and I gave them to my mom to watch and finish the story. It was her first time watching the beautiful transition and she called me thrilled every day to report their newest development , until one day they took off and were gone to begin their beautiful cycle all over again! It inspired her to research and learn so much about monarchs.
Watching the monarch cycle is very powerful and mystical, but they also have an incredibly vast and amazing journey to make to reproduce.
In the Fall Monarch butterflies will leave their breeding grounds in Northeastern US and Canada and travel over 3,000 miles to Mexico to overwinter. They all huddle together on the branches of oyamel fir trees and they create a micro climate under the trees that keep them warm. As the weather warms up they head North to places such as Texas to lay eggs on milkweed plants and then they end their journey. The new caterpillars that emerge feast on milkweed and go through the transformation to a butterfly. This batch of butterflies head more North and continue up to four or five generations to make it all the way to Canada and begin all over again!
Milkweed is the monarch's main source of food and it is no accident! Milkweed is a toxin to many predators and by consuming it they become toxic. Predators associate the colors of monarchs to toxicity and horrible taste, and many other species try to mimic those colors and patterns for safety.
These creatures are just amazing and are rapidly declining as we cultivate more land and spray herbicides over our fields. They are a very important pollinating species and have a story that is inspiring, touching, and awe provoking. To lose them would be a tragedy and I hope that you can see it too. I take the time to share about them and research so that hopefully I can show someone else the joy these creatures can bring!
Happy Summer and happy monarch caterpillar hunting!
-Heather
