10 years ago, my mother Gabriele took a walk-about, and was delighted to see swamp milkweed dotting the property.
Land stewardship and a love and respect for nature had always been the family roots, on two continents no less, so she made sure to open every pod she could find that fall, to try and make sure every possible seed had a chance to fly.
And then she kept going. Year after year on cat walks, bringing anyone with who would walk & pop.
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And then as I became more involved with the farm, on my way to co-ownership today, I decided that my prior Search & Rescue Volunteer training could be applied to the Milkweed project,
...because how are you going to get ALL the milkweed seeds out if you don't search in a protocol centric way? And... swamp milkweed is delightful, but there are other native variety's, so add, add, add.
(yes, I Kristin know I am ridiculous - I think in the right way but, anyhoo...)
Here we are in 2026, thankful to have 4 native varieties of milkweed thriving throughout the entire farm. This allows me to not only enjoy the joy & beauty of the wild monarchs returning to lay eggs, passing through when they gather for migration, but also the ability to hatch my own completely in the wild as recommended by the profesional bug folks, to add to the numbers for that great journey south, thanks to the wonderful work of the folks down in Kansas at the Monarch Watch project. They only have to make it to Kansas, and if/when I have the $$ to order babies, I can continue to ensure some will always hatch along a traditional migratory pathway.
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More info to come as we grow (and I make myself computer).