Farmington Hills Moms Teach Love of Monarch Butterflies

Farmington Hills residents Becky Brunner and Laura Webber are a little worried about monarch butterflies. 

The two moms sent out an invitation to friends and local homeschool groups for a June 11 backyard program about the tiny creatures, and about 30 children attended. Webber said the monarch population is down about 50 percent this year. 

"Last year, I was finding eggs and caterpillars by May 27," she said.

"The only way monarchs are going to survive is milkweed," Brunner said, adding that use of pesticides and herbicides in agricultural fields has led to a loss of those plants. And the milkweed plant is the only place monarchs lay their eggs. It's also part of their food supply. 

Webber has raised monarchs for about a year; Brunner said she got hooked on monarchs when one of her husband's friends gave her caterpillars a few years ago. She raised and released 125 butterflies last year.

For the presentation, Brunner had to borrow a few adult monarchs from Brenda's Butterfly Habitat in Redford Township. 

The children who attended heard a reading of The Hungry Caterpillar, drank from a cup of juice using a straw as a butterfly would use its proboscis, crunched on carrots to imitate the sound of a monarch caterpillar crunching on milkweed, made butterfly sun-catchers and were encouraged to plant milkweed in their own backyards.