I spent this morning at a neighboring school district, about twenty minutes away by car. Sixty first graders, in three separate classes, sat quietly and listened to my presentation on the Monarch Life Cycle, the importance of milkweed, Monarch Migration and the development of the Monarch Highway. With the exception of the information on the…
For years I have waited, watched, and prepared the garden beds for visitors. Carefully, I have examined each leaf for signs they inhabit my garden filled with milkweed for them. Common milkweed was the first, taking years to be established. Then swamp milkweed, followed by rose milkweed planted by students. Each germinating, growing,…
Earlier this week, toward the end of the vacation my husband and I took to the island country of Bermuda, I remembered to ask my sister-in-law who was staying with our boys how the monarch eggs that I charged with her care were doing. I did not get a response. Our cell phone service on…
Lately, mowing has been the subject of many conversations in which I have taken part. This summer, for the first time in many years, I hopped on our tractor (60 inch deck, Blue New Holland) to help my husband mow our lawn. He is siding our house, so I decided to help with the grass….
Today, I realized I have quite a few monarch stories. Early this morning, I travelled to the Trempealeau Wildlife Refuge to speak to a group of Festival attendees about the Monarch Butterfly and its current plight. On my way, I was reviewing my self-introduction (in case it was necessary) and remembered how I came to…
On June 30th, last Friday, I saw my first Monarch of the season! It was at our cabin in the Northwoods of Wisconsin! I have a perennial bed with common milkweed for the caterpillars and nectar plants like purple cone flowers for the adult butterflies. The monarch was flitting from plant to plant! Later, after…
Late last week I spent some time looking at my milkweed patches for signs of monarch caterpillars. It is one of those activities that no matter how many times I do it, it is always filled with hopeful anticipation for me. I have three main patches. The first patch is common milkweed, next to my…
Yesterday, I had my “learning to drive adolescent” chauffeur me out to the Trempealeau Wildlife Refuge (TWR). He got an hour’s worth of driving experience and I got to walk through part of the prairie found near the loop trail at the TWR. The refuge is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. There…
We have some large projects going on at our house right now. The siding is being replaced and a few of the gardens are being revamped, once the siding is finished on each section. My husband is handy, so the siding job is his. My job, fitting for a nature lover and master gardener, is…
Today, I have a need to just post some simple photos of the evolving aspects of nature in my yard. There are reasons for this simpler post. While glancing at my social media feed this morning, I saw several articles and posts that irritated me. I do not wish to be irritated, so I will…