Butterflies

Most kids learn about butterflies by reading about them in books.  I learned about them by raising them myself.  We would go out onto a ditchbank somewhere and find milkweed.  It's a fuzzy little plant that monarch butterflies love.  We would search them until we found one that had caterpillar eggs on it, then we'd break it off, grab a few more leaves for food, then bring it home.

At home we'd put the leaves in a widemouth mason jar, put a lid on top, then use a nail to poke holes in the lid for air.  (Usually not in that order.  We'd typically poke the holes before we put it on the jar full of leaves and eggs.)  And then we'd wait.  Every day we'd anxiously crowd around the jar, hoping to see something new and exciting.  First the eggs would hatch into tiny little caterpillars.  Those caterpillars would grow and eat and eat and eat the milkweed.  We'd have to keep an eye on that to make sure they didn't run out of food.  We'd also put little twigs and such in there, just to give them variety.  Finally, typically at night while we weren't looking (whether it's a nocturnal habit, or a matter of privacy, I never figured out) it would build a cocoon.  Typically it would hang from a bit of metal on the lid, product of poking holes with nails.  But every once in awhile one would pick one of the twigs or other random things we put in the jar.

And then the waiting began.  This was the most horrible part.  It often took upwards of two whole weeks before the cocoon hatched.  And it was incredibly boring.  I mean, staring at a cocoon isn't really anyone's idea of a good time.  I'd rank it right up there with watching paint dry.

Finally the cocoon would hatch and out would come… you guessed it, a beautiful butterfly!  At this point us younger kids were forbidden from participating in events.  Butterflies' wings are very fragile, you see, and if you touch them, the oils from your hand may cause the butterfly to not be able to fly.  So only the older kids and parents were allowed to help the butterfly out of its home and into the wild.  But we younger ones loved watching it.

I remember once Jalin put the butterflies in my hair.  I thought it was hilarious.  Mom has a picture somewhere (that I'll put on here if I ever find it) of me grinning with two or three butterflies perched on my head.  And Damian behind me holding up some new baby kittens, which I still recall being super mad about.  I mean, what if one of the kittens hurt one of my butterflies?!  Kittens are supposed to catch bugs!  It wouldn't have been their fault.  And thus, Damian was cruel to even put them in that situation.  (Love you, DJ!)

I even remember doing a science fair project on butterflies.  I felt so cool being able to do most of it myself.  I knew so much about monarch butterflies!  I hope when my kids are old enough that I'll live near milkweed to be able to raise butterflies again.