Raising Pollinator Lovers

Raising monarchs was one of the highlights of my kids’ summer- and the last butterfly emerged from her chrysalis right before the back to school rush, so it felt like we got to mark that last thing off our bucket list just in time. 

There is something magical about watching life transform before your eyes, and that magic gets magnified when you share the experience with children and their innocent, impressionable eyes… These memories are here to stay!

Like most of how my life happens, we were in the right place at the right time and stumbled upon a chance to adopt and raise these butterflies.

I love it when serendipity takes center stage!

My mom spotted this one in her gardens!

Most people find their eggs or caterpillars on milkweed leaves outside, but we were fortunate enough to get three monarch caterpillars from a very special children’s librarian, Anna Haase Krueger, who found our little gluttons on milkweed around the Maplewood Library grounds.

The Ramsey County Libraries are amazing “Monarch Mentors”; many of the libraries have been finding and saving eggs, raising and releasing monarchs for a few years now.  This summer all the libraries did it as part of the Countywide Pollinator Project! This grass roots effort is run by the awesome people over at the Pollinator Friendly Alliance.

The day we went to pick up our caterpillars, there was one butterfly that was ready to be released. Being a part of this butterfly’s first flight got my boys extra pumped up for raising their 3 caterpillars!

So with that we brought home our hungry little caterpillars! At first our runt was so tiny I couldn’t pick her up to move her so I just cut out the leaf around her and let her move off in her own time.

They grew and ‘grew on us’ quickly!  They are almost as hilarious as the chickens to watch. (ps- chickens and and caterpillars DO NOT mix!)

In the larvae (cute caterpillar) stage, they undergo five ‘instars’, which means they shed their skin around 5 times.

They poop A LOT! the cage needs to be cleaned pretty much everyday. If this is the part where you’re like, “I want to help pollinators and all, but already clean up after kids, dogs, myself etc- consider making your yard more pollinator friendly with a nesting site outside, Xerxes Society to the rescue!

The second biggest caterpillar didn’t want to leave the leaf her sister was on…for almost a day!

The next day, she made a webbing and attached her silver button to the GLASS!! Talk about adapting…

A few days later, the littlest sister snuggled right next to big sister and made her chrysalis there…which I happened to catch on video with my phone! Bare with the first few seconds, but the process is mesmerizing regardless.

The boys were especially entranced with how much the chrysalis changed after the monarch was done making it, before it hardened. The chrysalis on the right just finished forming. The one on the left is a day old.

In this stage, the pupa will not consume food but just hangs out for around 10 to 15 days. The first stayed quiet for 13 days, the second only 12 days. With the first two popping out withing hours of each other! They Chrysalises went from the gorgeous jade green color to paler and then transparent- when we could see the orange wings they broke through within the hour, but we missed all three times (arghh). Just another reason to gather some of our own next summer again!

It was really hard waiting for them to get strong and dry enough to fly… they pump a liquid  into their wings to inflate them fully and this takes a while. Add that it was raining the evening they became butterflies, which meant it was best to keep them inside rather than get cold and wet during their first attempts at flying. (Seriously, that’s got to be a weird feeling, right!!)

The last girl hung out for 5 more days, just like she went into her chrysalis 5 days after her sisters.

But finally, she decided to show off her stuff too. Her wings are not quite fully inflated here.

This was really such a fun experience for the kids (and me)! Being able to remind them (again and again) that these beautiful creatures also help pollinate the beautiful flowers and maybe even some of the food we eat was an added bonus for me – and one that finally sunk in for them.

Thank you to Anna Haase Krueger, and the Ramsey County Library for sharing these little nuggets with me and my boys- I just wanted to share this experience with you all as a way of paying it forward.

The look of pure joy at the butterfly’s first flight says it all!

Next summer, we’ll be checking our milkweed for eggs often and probably raising even more of these magical monarchs!

The more time I spend in the gardens the more I see how we’re all connected and dependent on all of nature. To that end,  I’m buzzing with excitement for the upcoming Polli*NATION Festival this Sunday! Party with a purpose for the bees, and support local food trucks, craft beer vendors, bee science and live music!

More info and Tickets HERE!

For now, I’m going to to Dig In and plant a few more fall flowering plants to help extend the pollinator’s nectar season!

Michelle