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Wednesday, October 17, 2007Raising Butterflies
    It all started when Jonathan came home with a container full of Monarch caterpillars. Yes, he knows these things. He knows what Monarch caterpillars look like, and he knew just what to do in order to ensure that the caterpillars would thrive, leading to the formation of a chrysalis and, ultimately, an adult butterfly. The photos speak for themselves. The caterpillars feasted on milkweed leaves (and pooped accordingly) until, one by one, they crawled up the sides of the box and formed a chrysalis. The jewel-green pods remained suspended until yesterday, when Jonathan announced that two had darkened -- which, evidently, they do just prior to emergence. Yes, he knew that, too. Jonathan blows me away with his depth of knowledge of things like this. By midmorning, we had two Monarchs-in-a-box, drying their wings. A third emerged later, and there are more to come. I never dreamed I'd have freshly emerged Monarchs fluttering about in my living room. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love my life. There is more pleasure in watching the birth of a butterfly than I could have imagined. Would that every day brought such wonders. (And yes, I realize that a butterfly is an insect. I don't get close enough to get a look at those ugly little faces and beady eyes. I just enjoy their vibrant wings and the fact that they don't bite or sting.) In a warped, entomological way, I've become a grandmother. Labels: family, homeschooling, life |
About Me
I am: Mother to five stunningly individualistic children... Writer of young adult fantasy... Passionate advocate for Women At Home... Madly in love with my husband... In need of Organic Gourmet Chocolate on a regular basis. I've got a Paypal account if you'd like to contribute to the cause....
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7of my readers are feeling chatty:
Thanks for featuring my butterflies. I've got some gulf fritillary caterpillars feeding on fresh picked passion flower vine, and I just dumped out a large amount of old frass from my monarch caterpillars, and my praying mantis is getting hungry...
BEAUTIFUL! I think the most awesome part is he did it without a fancy butterfly habitat and a special light and a whole lot of other fancy equipment from a specialty science catalogue!! A few years ago we had a tiger moth, it was awesome. :-)
Way to go Jonathan!!
LOVE the pictures!!!!! Butterflies are beautiful. You are definitely a Grandma!! xo
How neat. I wish Ida could see them. And off the butterfly topic for a moment...look at those cheekbones on that son of yours! ;o)
When I was young we would collect monarch caterpillars on the way home from church. There was milkweed along the road for some distance, and they weren't hard to find. it was fun to watch them grow, and go back to the milkweed every other day to pick fresh leaves for them to eat. I think of that time often and have wished many times that there was a source of milkweed close to our house so that I could show my kids the wonder of watching the life cycle of a butterfly. I'm envious :)
So pretty! I love their curly tongues.
I remember doing that in 4th grade. Well the teacher did most of it.
I remember that she would feed them sugar water then set them free.
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