3 Reasons We Raise Butterflies

Last year, we decided to celebrate the first day of spring by heading to a local nursery and purchasing a milkweed plant. The owner graciously gave us a Monarch Caterpillar with our plant.

We had so much fun watching it grow and transform. After it went into chrysalis, I put my milkweed out in our garden and a few weeks later I noticed my milkweed plant was getting eaten again. I looked closer, and saw littler caterpillars! So, I put the plant back in our mesh habitat container and we have had caterpillars on rotation ever since.

Here are three reasons why we keep it up and why we encourage others to:

#1– IT HELPS THE ENVIRONMENT
It’s simple. All our food needs pollinating and pollinator species are diminishing. Our little nursery is a small way to help add pollinators into the world.

#2– MY KIDS LOVE IT
The whole process from egg to hatching chrysalis is only a month. Great for kiddos with short attention spans. During those 30 days, so much change happens. Each day, the caterpillar visually gets bigger. When it goes into chrysalis, that changes too. It gets darker and you are able to see orange wings form through the chrysalis wall. In the end, you have a completely different creature.

#3– IT’S A LOW COMMITMENT PET
The only thing a monarch caterpillar eats is milkweed. There is no changing water bowls, taking it out for walks, or expensive vet bills. You just put the caterpillar on a plant and watch. There were times my little one would pull up a chair and just watch our butterfly habitat like a TV . Then, in 30 days, you release the the butterfly. It’s that easy.

There are many great online sites that offer butterfly starter kits that don’t cost that much. In fact we purchased a Painted Lady kit this spring and loved it!

A friend of mine simply went to her local organic nursery and a Monarch Butterfly came to the garden and provided her with the caterpillar eggs.

If you are in the Conejo Valley and interested in watching this process, I highly recommend you visit: http://thisisamonarchy.weebly.com

Lynne can provide you with the butterfly habitat, milkweed, and you can visit her beautiful garden.

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