VIDEO: Caterpillars to Monarch Butterflies

My grandmother, who is 101 years old, loves Monarch Butterflies. I can remember her taking us to the forest in California where they migrate when I was 8 years old and marveling that I wasn't staring at leaves above, but hundreds of thousands of butterfly wings hanging from the treetops. Grandma always had milkweed plants before she moved to assisted living (monarchs love their nectar and lay eggs on their leaves). She'd carefully move the plants into a big cage once there were caterpillars on the leaves to protect the little critters from the elements. Once they hatched, she'd carefully let them walk along her fingers and dry their wings before fluttering away.

She saw a spark in the men and women with troubled memories as they connected the dots between holding caterpillars to watching them fly.

She moved into an independent living facility in her 90s. On one side of the building there was a memory care unit where residents with early signs of dementia and Alzheimer's resided. She took it upon herself to conduct a class for those residents about butterflies and let them safely handle the caterpillars and told them about the caterpillar to butterfly process. She brought them back out to her garden to see the chrysalises when they developed, then again when the butterflies were hatching. She swears she saw a spark in the eyes of these men and women with troubled memories, as they saw the butterflies and seemed to connect the dots from the time when they held the little caterpillars to seeing them flutter about.

She is the Butterfly Lady.

She taught my kids and I about the process and everyone else who knows her can probably say the same. Around mid-march 2020, when we began sheltering at home due to the Covid Pandemic, we found ourselves meandering outside a lot. We'd pass by the milkweed and check for caterpillars. At one time, we counted about 14 caterpillars. We'd check on them every day. Watch where they built their chrysalis and wait for them to hatch. We don't use the big cage as Grandma did. I've found it enjoyable to search the garden for them instead. Some do get eaten by the mosquitoes or other animals. Some perish from the elements, but it is a natural cycle of life, and we choose to let the caterpillars wriggle wild. Also, I couldn't keep up with the amount of milkweed they needed when I tried putting them in the cage (or keep the cage free of all the caterpillar poop!). Very hungry caterpillars indeed.

We watched several monarch caterpillars during their process from egg to caterpillar, then chrysalis to butterfly. My 101 year old grandmother always shared this process with me growing up, and I'm so happy to be able to pass it on to my children and now to you. We captured as much as we could on video. Enjoy! SHOW LESS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZUlPk3_J1M