Milkweed for the Monarch butterflies

At the Yard Stop outside Mt Dora I found some Milkweed plants. They really do look like weeds and they don't have beautiful flowers. The only reason I want them is because this is the only plant that Monarch butterflies lay eggs on, cause it's the only food Monarch caterpillars eat. 

As a bonus, it came with several caterpillars!

I also have some Red Milkweed Beetles, but they are supposed to be harmless.

Chrysalises at the end of Day 3

I checked on the chrysalises several more times but didn't see any change.  The day was getting colder and windier and I was getting worried about what would happen to them overnight. Eventually I went inside for an hour or so and when I came back out it was empty!! I missed it! 

OK, I can deal with that but I also could not find the butterfly. Maybe it already dried and took off? I called Randy out and he immediately saw it on the opposite side of the drainpipe, still drying its wings. The wind may have helped that but the dropping temperature did not. 

I texted Judy, a lady in the park who is raising Monarchs for release. She and her husband jumped in the golf cart and came right over. She asked if we wanted her to take them. She has an indoor setup where they can be safe through this weather so I said sure, I'd love her to save them! She gently took the butterfly while her husband cut off the section of the rope that the other chrysalis was attached to, then they took them both home. 

Soon Judy sent me pics of them relaxing at her place - so cute! She'll keep them overnight and maybe a day or two, until the weather is good enough to release them to fly south. 

Chrysalises Day 3

We had a big storm overnight so I checked on the chrysalises early this morning. They are still there! And the big one is very dark, which hopefully means it will hatch today. I've gotten quite invested in these little guys.

 

Chrysalises Day 2

In just one day the larger of the two chrysalises had changed to almost clear, with the lovely Monarch wings visible. If these little guys don't make it I'm going to be very unhappy.

Cute little chrysalises

Well, how cool is this. We planted milkweed this year to support the Monarch butterflies. Milkweed really does look like a tall stringy weed so it's not something I like but, you know, anything for the butterflies. A few Monarchs did show up to graze on the flowers in the fall. And today I found a couple of Monarch chrysalises attached to the rope Randy put up for my climbing vine! 

Food Pantry again!

Randy's ministry of a Food Pantry at church is going strong. Currently we do this once a month; hopefully we will be able to increase that in the future. 

The cars are lined up when we open! Today we helped almost 90 local people, providing food, conversation, and prayers. (We could have had more but someone stole several of our signs this week!)

There is a great group of people who work in this ministry to make it happen (not everyone could be here today)!

And they're fun, too!