06/12/2026
The bees aren’t the only pollinators hanging around the farm. 🦋
A few days ago, Emily went hunting for some monarch butterfly eggs hiding on the underside of the leaves of milkweed plants. Individual leaves containing eggs were removed from the plant and moved into our pole barn for safe keeping. Yesterday, we found the first small caterpillar, barely the size of a pinhead.
While monarch butterflies are not recognized as endangered in the United States, they are considered to be endangered underneath the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
One of the largest threats to these cuties is habitat loss. As more humans expand into natural habitats, such as the prairies that can be found in southern Minnesota, these butterflies lose the resources needed to continue their population. These prairies once covered 18 million acres of Minnesota, but now, less than 1% of those prairies remain intact.
Other dangers to these little cuties include predation and risk of pesticide and herbicide poisoning.
While it may not seem like much, bringing a few of these caterpillars inside and allowing them the safety to eat as much as they want increases their likelihood of completing metamorphosis (changing into a butterfly) later this summer.
We cannot wait to watch these little ones grow and are eager to release them once they are ready. In September or October, they will make the long journey to Mexico for the winter, and will hopefully return to Minnesota to continue the population.
If you’d like to hatch some monarch eggs yourself, our milkweed is 75% off this weekend (if you mention this post). Don’t forget to pick up some extra flowers to attract even more pollinators to your yard!
