by Bea Peterson
Lindsay Kuhn of Smoke Ridge Organic Farm in Bloomfield, NY, about 20 miles southeast of Rochester, had a long drive to reach the New Lebanon Library on Thursday, August 9. She arrived to a room filled with youngsters and adults of all ages anxious to learn more about butterflies.
These beautiful winged creatures don’t have an easy life, it turns out. Adult butterflies drink from nectar plants like bee balm. They like the same type of plants hummingbirds enjoy. However, butterfly eggs need entirely different types of plants to live on. Milkweed is the host plant required by Monarch
butterflies, for example. And not just any milkweed. Kuhn has horses on her property, and they eat many things in the fields, except milkweed. That is perfect for the butterflies. An independent milkweed won’t have as many bugs around it that enjoy eating the tiny eggs. An adult female butterfly will lay anywhere from 200 to 400 eggs, and she will be lucky if two to four of her “children” survive. The butterfly begins its life as an egg. Then it hatches into a caterpillar. That caterpillar loses its old skin at least five times as it grows. Then it turns into a pupa or chrysalis (like a cocoon) where it gets a chance to rest. Depending on the weather, it will transform into a butterfly in anywhere from five days to two weeks. It will work its way out of the chrysalis and slowly, slowly, move its wings back and forth until they are filled with air and it can fly. Most butterflies live about two weeks. They need temperatures of at least 55 degrees to fly. Many varieties winter over in the Northeast, living in the chrysalis stage. More butterflies were seen early this year because of the early onset of warm weather. The Monarch butterfly is the only one that flies south for the winter.
After taking in all this information, the group went outside where Kuhn handed each person a little triangular packet. Once everyone had a packet, they were opened and out flew a butterfly!
Kuhn brought monarchs, painted ladies, mourning cloaks, eastern black swallowtails, and red admirals. It was breathtaking to watch them take flight. Some lingered for a while, catching their breath, you might say. They landed on fingers, foreheads and clothes, much to the delight of everyone present.