Never have I ever…until 2023!
If you are not familiar with the midwest, it is hard to understand. What was once native land where native plants grew for miles and miles, is now corn and soybean fields for miles and miles. No fault to the farmers at all, I like to eat along with the millions of people that directly benefit from what is grown here. This however, directly links to the decline in the monarch butterfly. There are now slivers of land along roadways for native milkweed, the only plant that the monarch lays eggs on. Farmers mow ditches, sometimes for their fields, sometimes to keep their property looking good for their landlord, and sometimes for the safety of the roadways.
One day, watching a ditch getting mowed down, I thought maybe we should check the ditches close to us before they got mowed. Sure enough, their were tiny monarch caterpillars about to meet their maker. This is how we started raising monarch caterpillars. I ordered an enclosure from Amazon to come the next day. I started reading and watching videos to gain as much knowledge as I could. The next day, Mike and I went on our first rescue mission.
This is the enclosure I bought – https://amzn.to/47uiQFI They must be in butterfly netting to avoid flies laying eggs on the chrysalis and killing the butterfly.
We have a large covered front porch. It is important that they have natural air and light. I placed a concrete paver in the bottom to keep it from blowing and placed a puppy pad on top of that. You would be amazed how much caterpillars poop! It does require bringing fresh milkweed daily.
A whole other concern is that farm fields are sprayed with pesticides. One day when we were gathering fresh leaves, we noticed there were no other insects around. That meant the leaves were covered in pesticide. We washed our hands and went to a patch that had insects everywhere.
What an amazing experience! We released several butterflies on year one. It is something we will do every year.
The Story About the Red Tail Ranch 