Awe & Wonder of Monarch Miracles Blog #7
Wow, what an incredible adventure, there are little Monarch miracles everywhere.
Last fall, my husband David and I took a trip up to Monterey and Carmel California. It is one of our favorite places to visit and recharge. It was so beautiful, about 70 degrees. We just wanted to relax and to be able to walk around and enjoy the village and the ocean and fantastic views. It had been a few years since we traveled anywhere and it was just what we needed.
We were guided to go to the Monarch Butterfly Reserve in Pacific Grove, which is another place where the Monarch’s gather for the winter besides Mexico. It was gorgeous, thousands and
thousands of beautiful butterflies up in these giant trees and very close together. Almost looked like a strange bark of some kind because they blended in so well. It was fascinating to see them fly up to the trees and settle in as a part of the group and disappear; such amazing camouflage.
We were fortunate enough to be there when the docent was there sharing the importance of
Monarch butterflies and pollination they provide especially here in California, where so much
of our food is grown. The docent told us one of the best ways to help the Monarch butterflies
was to plant Milkweed in our gardens. It is the only plant that Monarch butterflies use to lay her eggs on. The caterpillars, once hatched, feasts only on that plant for two weeks and then are ready to become a pupa (chrysalis). In another two weeks, they emerge as gorgeous Monarch butterflies. We stayed and listened to the docent for more than an hour and learned so much about the dwindling numbers of Monarch butterflies and how they need our help.
We determined when we got home to grow Milkweed in our yard to support the Butterflies.
So when we arrived home, I planted Milkweed seeds in little starting pots in February. Which ended up being a little too late to get them up and blooming by April, but they will be a great size by next year. So I purchased a few plants and planted the Milkweed in our front yard. It was/is very important to make sure we get organic raised plants with no sprays or pesticides or the caterpillars will not survive.
In just a few days I started seeing two then three and four… Monarch butterflies flying all around our house. It was so amazing to see. It was like we put up a search light to bring them all in. I love giving a spirit to spirit hello to the butterflies as they fly into our yard. They will usually hover around and say hello back. You can tell they are on an important mission to lay their eggs.
After about a week I started checking the Milkweed plants for eggs and caterpillars. In just a few days I found two small caterpillars and next day there were four. The caterpillars eat up all the leaves very quickly especially because we have smaller plants. It is so incredible to watch and see them eat and go through all the stages of sheading their outer layer a number of times to grow and develop as a caterpillar. Such an awesome miracle, I am looking forward to seeing them hanging as chrysalis up on the rafters of our house and on tree branches and see the magnificent Monarch butterflies emerge. So grateful to be guided that day to the reserve and learn about these incredible beautiful creature. What a gift! I am so humbled and in awe and wonder of sweet Mother Nature.
In Animal Medicine, the butterfly is the symbol of change, new beginnings and self-transformation; we take on many forms before we ever take flight.
We are the stewards of this sweet planet and the wonders of life are all around us. It warms my heart to feel we can all help and support the Monarch eco system in some small way to support our Mother Earth.