Welcome to Litsy!

We‘re continuing on our monarch journey as a family and discovering more about them! We‘ve released 4 so far from our indoor habitat and several have survived outside (though the preying mantises make it difficult!) This book has been a great read for me to learn more about the way milkweeds and monarchs co-evolved, and some super scientific facts, some of which went over my head. Regardless, I‘m fascinated by this creature and love learning more.

I‘m home recovering from surgery and got this bad news which pertains to everyone. If you can, in late fall please plant some milkweed. Some of the species take well over 300 days to germinate.

In the monarch way station where I work so far I have only seen around five adults and two larvae. So it‘s time to ramp up our conservation and education about pollinators even more.

Long story short, no pollinators no food.

Holiday present from my mum.

I was working on the farm yesterday and came across one of the milkweed plants. I stuck a tomato cage around it so that nothing happens to it while the area is being prepped for planting.

One of the butterflies graduated from the nursery today. He‘s the second one out. Few cocoons, three caterpillars 🐛, and a couple eggs still in my care.

My current butterfly "farm." Our walking route is lined with milkweed, and I love finding the eggs and taking them home. I'm obsessed with their whole life cycle. I'd much rather watch them chomp milkweed than, say, clean! The little one on the left is about 3 mm long (just hatched today), and the big one on the right is about 4 cm long (2 weeks old). It'll probably be in its chrysalis before the weekend is done. ????????????

Two years of letting milkweed grow rampant in my landscaping beds and finally, this. 💕

#BonBonCat meditates upon this cover. #CatsOfLitsy #LittenKitten

It's here! This book is so good! If you are even remotely interested in anything nature, give this one a try -- well-written, far-ranging, and illustrated. Butterflies! Scientists! Poisonous plants! (Seriously, it's really good.)

Who knew there was a presidential memorandum on pollinators? (Wrongly naming monarchs as successful pollinators, by the way).

Next time someone mentions plants, why not casually say, "oh, you mean those sessile sugar factories?" #wordnerd ??

This book chronicles the relationship between monarch caterpillars and their only food source, milkweed, and how each has evolved because of the other. The monarchs and the milkweed plants are used as a case study for interacting species in general; the book also chronicles scientists at work and competition. Read chapter 1 here: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10944.html -- To be published #April2017 #netgalley ***really interesting so far!