In today’s Thoughts from the Garden, an incident between my daughters over a broccoli plant reminded me of how beauty and productiveness in our lives is in the eye of the beholder.

Watch the video to learn more about the lifecycle of a broccoli plant and a few thoughts on how the stages of our lives can mimic that of a broccoli plant’s lifecycle.

Several families in our area have purchased milkweed plants and are watching the amazing Monarch butterfly lifecycle first hand. However, a few have contacted me and others on our homeschool list about their caterpillars disappearing and possibly atacked by predators.  The basic question has come down to “How Do I keep our caterpillars from disappearing?” 

The first year we did milkweed and caterpillars I freaked out over the missing caterpillars too. Here there were these wonderful caterpillars and then the next day they were gone. But thankfully we figured it out… Once they reach about 1 ½ to 2 inches (or whatever it is when they know they are ready to pupate) then they crawl off and form their chrysalis somewhere else. They will not form the chrysalis on the milkweed.

So what we’ve learned to do is when they were in the big fat stage on the milkweed, we put the ones we want to watch (not all) into a habitat so we can watch the transformation.   Whatever habitat you use should be contained, with plenty of air flow and cool (avoid a sunny & humid environment, otherwise they will die). It’s important that it is contained because they will crawl away. (Earlier this year, my 11 year old daughter had one crawl out of an opening and form it’s chrysalis on a single thread from her bed sheet.)

If the caterpillar is big enough and you have some milkweed leaves, put them in there, but they prefer live milkweed. I’ve experimented with putting a milkweed plant in the habitat and that works. I’ve read research on using squash peelings when you are out of or low on milkweed; and it seems that it works best when the caterpillars are large enough and are fed a blend of milkweed and squash peelings. But I’ve never tried it.

Milkweed is poisonous to most would be predators, so overall monarch caterpillars don’t have much for predators. Wasps however are known to attack caterpillars periodically. We’ve found that most of the time missing caterpillars are usually just the result of their time coming to begin the transformation.

Once the butterfly’s emerge, we usually let them go. However several years ago, my daughter wanted to “nurse” a butterfly with a broken wing and we were able to keep it going for a few days on fresh flower nectar (Potted, not cut) and when that wasn’t available, sugar water. 

Here’s some instructions for creating your own habitat out of netting. http://www.butterflyschool.org/teacher/makehouse.html We used these the year we “nursed” the butterfly. Since then, we’ve purchased a collapsible butterfly habitat and that’s worked well for us. If you are looking for a collapsible butterfly habitat, I recommend the Butterfly Pavilion made by Insect Lore; it fits a small milkweed plant and is large enough for multiple caterpillars and/or an emerged butterfly to flutter about.

Another choice that has worked well for us is a bug house . This is only good for watching the transformation though. The caterpillar needs to be just about ready for the transformation and once the butterfly emerges, you’ll want to release it pretty quickly, as there’s no room for it to fly. But, it works good as a small portable area to watch the transformation from caterpillar to chyrsallis, to butterfly, and is relatively inexpensive.

Anyway, you choose, enjoy the process. The metamorphisis from caterpillar to butterfly is an amazing thing to behold and so much more interesting to learn about first hand than from a book.

Enjoy!

…Shannon

Green beans ready to plant

Gardening is therapeutic. It helps soothe my spirit and reconnects me with the miracles of this world. In each little seed is everything it needs to grow and flourish, given the right temperature, moisture, and soil.

Gardening connects me with God and with life all around me. The ground is teeming with life. The birds twitter in the trees around me. The sun warms my spirit. Even the process of composting renews me – as everything breaks down, becomes food for the worms and for my plants.

Whatever problems I may be mulling become insignificant in the cycle of life that happens out in my garden beds.

Even when I didn’t have garden space, I have always grown something in containers – usually tomatoes (you can’t beat the flavor of a vine-ripened tomato!).

Spinach & Peas in my Garden

I prefer to garden in containers or raised beds, for simply the ease. There’s little weeding, or hoeing, or anything else to do. Simply plant, water, and grow. Then when that plant is done throw in some more compost and start again.

I love to go out to the garden beds and graze. Pick off a fresh pea or broccoli stalk, pick a spinach leaf and munch on it. Even my pickiest eater will eat from the garden.

I don’t grow all of our own food, but I grow enough during harvest time to be able to pick fresh veggies and herbs for dinner. It connects us with the earth and with the knowledge of where our food comes from.

Kids preparing their new garden beds

The kids each have their own garden beds and are free to grow what they want in it. In our last house my oldest son grew the largest artichoke plant we had ever seen. Now they are planting their new beds.

11 yr old planting Marigolds in her garden

Each brings their own personalities and likes/dislikes to their gardening.  My oldest has eight watermelon plants, and the rest is herbs and flowers. My youngest son is planting only “Food”. While my youngest daughter is planting mostly flowers. My oldest son is mixing both flowers and veggies, eagerly consulting the gardening books for inspiration.

I love this adventure with them. Their creativity combined with the opportunities to observe and discuss all the life we see – at each stage of its growth.
 
If you are new to gardening, I encourage you to try it. Gardening does not have to be done a huge scale, and certainly not in the traditional plowed row style. (If it did, then I would not be gardening at all!).  Here’s a few resources to get you started:

On the basics of Gardening from another Mom’s experiences: “Momma’s Guide to Growing Your Groceries” by Kimberly Eddy  (Note: until April 30th, 2009 this e-book is on sale for $5.95. Normally, it’s $7.95)

On an easy, no-fuss method of gardening in raised beds: All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew (Note: if you borrow this from a library, be sure it’s the “New” method not the original.)

On container gardening: Movable Harvests: The Simplicity & Bounty of Container Gardens by Chuck and Barbara Crandall. (Note: This book is out of print, so you’ll need to find a used copy. But it is a wonderful book on how to grow different types of veggies and fruits in containers. I love this book and have used it for my entire adult gardening life.)

The newly emerged Monarch Butterfly with the chrysalis in the background.

This week we released our first Monarch Butterfly! I love butterfly season. It was a bonus when we moved to Texas that we happened to be right on the migration path for the Monarch butterflies. 

The first year we were here, I planted milkweed and some flowers. Milkweed is the only plant that Monarchs will lay their eggs on, as it is the food their caterpillars eat.

Every Spring, I get to go out each day and count how many caterpillars we have on the milkweed. And because I love to do this, of course the kids think it’s great fun to try to discover the latest changes before mom does. 

The first year we did this, we learned how big the caterpillars grow before they disappear to create their chrysalises. So now, a couple times during the season, we take one caterpillar just at the big and fat stage and put it in my daughter’s Butterfly Habitat or one of the kids’ insect houses. And we watch the metamorphosis. It is always amazing to watch. Over time we’ve learned when the butterfly is about to emerge (the chrysalises becomes translucent and you can see the colors of the butterfly within).

Releasing the new monarch butterfly into the wild

It’s an event each time we release a newly emerged butterfly. Holding a new butterfly in your hand and finding just the right place for it to dry its wings and take off on its first flight – it’s always awe-inspiring and renews my faith.