100 Days of Growing Food Challenge: Days 36-43 Monarch Butterflies

Where have we been?

The short answer is simple. We have been very, very busy.

Morning chores just for the animals alone have been taking nearly an hour (or more) and another half hour at night. Gardening has thankfully fallen into the self maintenance but I am still out daily to check for pests and overall health of the garden.

I do still have some pumpkin pie pumpkins that need to be planted soon. Getting in the random little plants we started a little later this season have taken up most of my ‘free time’ during naptime.

Unfortunately, the blog has been put on the back burner. Not because I don’t enjoy it, or want to show everyone what’s growing on. I simply have too many irons in the fire right now.

Back when I started writing the blog (in December 2019) it was during the down months around our homestead and both of the boys were napping for 2-3 hours everyday! Now that it’s summer, they’re down to about an hour, hour and a half naps.

Harvesting

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We’ve been enjoying breakfast in the garden the last few days. Searching for ripe strawberries and snow peas is the first thing Stirling wants to do as soon as we get outside.

The taste of a perfectly ripened strawberry, freshly picked, and still warm from the morning sunshine is unlike anything in the world. Similarly, the crispness of snow peas just harvested will never be replicated from a store bought package.

The boys, who balk at packaged peas and other greens will eat their weight in fresh garden-harvested produce if we let them!

Most produce loses around 30% of it’s nutrients after only 3 days of being harvested. Some nutrients are up to 80% loss within a few hours after harvest. Water soluble vitamins are what are at highest risk, as they degrade faster than fat soluble vitamins and minerals.

It makes sense, then. Why fresh produce, milk, and meat tastes so very different than something store bought or processed.

We’ve enjoyed our own fresh greens, fruit, milk, and eggs everyday this past week. Hopefully, the string of berry varieties we have established will overlap (as we designed) and continue to provide us with fresh fruit for the rest of the summer!

Welcomed Guests

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We have several milkweed plants that have volunteered in our garden (most likely planted by the birds) the past two years. We found one monarch butterfly on the plants last year. This year we have found FOUR so far!

The boys were tickled pink (and so was I). Over the next few days after our find, we spent some time researching and watching short documentaries on the life cycle of monarchs.

The entire cycle from egg to adult butterfly takes about a full month. A caterpillar will shed it’s skin five separate times before going into it’s chrysalis. Once hatched, the butterfly will begin laying eggs of it’s own in 2-5 weeks!

So fascinating!