photo courtesy of National Geographic, Joel Sartore

Help us feed and house the monarch butterflies–the Texas state insect–during their migration to and from Mexico. During January and February the butterflies travel back from their wintering grounds in Central Mexico and during October and November they head out on their long journey to Mexico. It takes four generations for the monarchs to reach their winter home in Central Mexico.

The butterflies only eat varieties of milkweed and lay their eggs on the plant as well. Often considered a weed, milkweed has been destroyed and GMO-seeded fields with heavy herbicides and pesticides cover the monarch’s migration pathways, leaving the butterflies nowhere to eat and live in transit. Extreme climate variations during the fall and summer also affect the butterflies’ reproduction.

Texas Farmers’ Market (Cedar Park & Mueller) has teamed up with Lone Star Nursery to help these creatures on their way through Central Texas. Lone Star Nursery will offer three varieties of milkweed seedlings (available in January for sale at each market) and offer advice on growing milkweed successfully. The markets will provide families free seed packets to encourage market goers to plant their own butterfly garden. The first feed the monarchs event will be the weekend of December  14^th and 15^th when the kids can select, package and label their seeds and the entire family can help them plant the seeds.

Help us plant a butterfly farm across Central Texas for the beautiful monarchs as they travel to and from Mexico!