How to Care for a Monarch Caterpillar

If you are one of the lucky ones who found themselves caring for a cute little eight-legged fuzzy friend, otherwise known as a monarch caterpillar, you probably fall into one of two categories. Either you have never been a foster caterpillar mom before, or you could use a quick refresher course. Hopefully, this post will take care of both!

I will go step-by-step through the life cycle of the monarch and you can just jump in wherever you happen to be with your new temporary family member.

Finding eggs:
Eggs can be found on the underside (almost always) of the milkweed plant. Unfortunately, milkweed is becoming harder to find as more and more houses and building are being built and as more heavy duty pesticides are being used in fields and pastures. It is a weed, so it is usually found along the sides of roads and pastures, along fences...those kinds of places. There are LOTS of different varieties of milkweed, the most common in this region (Utah) being Common Milkweed. If you tear the leaf, you will see, yep, you guessed it, milk. Ok, so it isn't really actual milk that you drink wouldn't that be cool?, but it sure looks like it!

Here is an egg on the underside of a milkweed leaf. You can see some of the milk on the leaf below it.

Monarchs only eat milkweed. The milky substance in it makes them taste bitter so it acts like a natural deterrent to predators.

If you find an egg, it will only be an egg for a four to six days before it will hatch. Watch the egg, when it starts to get black on the top, it is getting ready to hatch. If you are lucky, you will see it wiggle its way out of the egg and start its journey as a hungry, hungry caterpillar. A newly hatched caterpillar is super, super tiny. It is actually kind of hard to see it is so small. But....they will grow and grow really quick!

The Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar:
Once your wiggly friend had taken its first breath, all it will do is eat and eat! It will eat its own weight in milkweed in one day. This stage only lasts 9-14 days. It is fully grown at about 2". At that point it will likely wander, searching for a place to settle and form its chrysalis. During this caterpillar stage, you will need to keep a fresh stalk of milkweed for your caterpillar to be munching on. Keep your milkweed in a jar of water to keep it fresh, a mason jar works great. I keep the lid and ring on it and just poke a hole in the lid big enough to stick the milkweed through. When the leaves start to get dry or just old looking, get a new stalk. The bigger your caterpillar gets, the more it will eat and the faster you will need to replenish your milkweed. This is their only source of food, so make sure you are watching to make sure your caterpillar always has something to eat, and something to crawl on. Your caterpillar will shed its skin five times. Like a snake, you will see the skin after it is shed. Kinda gross, kinda cool.

Before getting too close to the end of this stage, make sure your friend has adequate housing. So far all they are doing is eating and will most likely stay on the milkweed, munching away. But, when the caterpillar stage ends, they WILL wander off, looking for the perfect spot to settle down. We have found our caterpillars on our kitchen counters before, and even have had them attach and form their chrysalis under counter tops. Definitely a conversation starter, but not really something I would advise.

In the past I went to the local thrift store and found a huge glass vase. I have also used a fish bowl. It needs to be large enough to fit your jar of water with your milkweed stalk inside. Cover the top with some kind of netting. I think I used tulle for mine. We are now the proud owners of a 'butterfly house' that is super tall and awesome and works great. But.....some kind of large glass vase or bowl will work fine, too!

Our fancy, dancy butterfly houses. We just stick  the jar and milkweed right inside.

Chrysalis:
When your caterpillar is full grown (about 2 inches), it will find a spot to 'form a J'. He will find a place, usually not on the milkweed, make a little silk-like mat and attach itself to it, hanging upside down in the shape of the letter "J". It will stay this way for about one full day.

At this time, your friend will shed it skin for the fifth and last time, but instead of a new layer of caterpillar skin underneath, it will be a jade green casing, or chrysalis.

The chrysalis is only about an inch long and is soft at first. After about an hour it becomes a hard protective shell. It will stay in its chrysalis for 9-14 days. After its transformation inside the chrysalis is complete, the shell will become clear. You will be able to see the black and orange wings stuffed inside. When it is ready, the butterfly will break out of the chrysalis. Its wings will be wet and crumply and it can't fly yet. It will hang onto the chrysalis while a blood-like liquid is pumped through its body. This will make its wings and body bigger. About an hour after it emerges from its chrysalis, its wings and body will be full size, dry and all ready to fly.

At this time, look on the top of its wings (looking down on to the top of the butterfly) when they are opened up. If you see a black dot on both wings (on the bottom end, not the head end) your butterfly is a male. No spots, you have a girl. Here is a good picture to show you what to look for.

Now....take your winged creature outside, wish it well and send it on its way!


If you would like to follow our own caterpillar journey, or see more pictures, you can go here.
Also, here is a post I did about the life cycle of a monarch butterfly in more detail.

It's that time of the year again...caterpillar eggs!

I am so excited, it's time once again to share our home with visitors for the next few weeks. Probably not the kind of visitors you are thinking of, though. These are the super teeny tiny, can't I just hold you(?) fuzzy, always eating, rapidly growing, constantly changing and eventually leaving for good kind of visitors.
It's monarch caterpillar season!!! YAY!!!

It's been a few years since we have had the lucky experience of raising butterflies and I am so excited to once again share with my kids the awesomeness of nature. This time around, my two boys are old enough to follow along and understand what is going on. They were just teeny tiny themselves the last time we shared our abode with our winged friends so this is all new for them, and even funner for us as parents to see their excitement in learning.

There is definitely a science to finding, collecting, feeding, protecting and releasing these creatures, but it's all pretty simple, really. We were lucky enough to have a good friend who had been raising butterflies for a while and was gracious enough to show us the ropes.

Let's begin our journey......

Monarchs lay their eggs on Milkweed, which is just that, a weed. The key is knowing what it looks like and where to find it. I had no idea milkweed even existed until this whole adventure started.

We were super lucky and had a couple stalks of milkweed spring up in the flower bed in front our house. I had been watching for a while and as soon as I saw Monarchs flying around, I began my hunt for eggs.

I found 20 eggs in one day! Unbelievable! If you find eggs at all, there is usually just one and sometimes two on a plant. I was super lucky and was able to check my milkweed as soon as the butterflies had laid their eggs and before the spiders and insects could get to them. The eggs make a tasty snack for our multi-legged little friends, and most eggs don't survive.

I showed my boys what to look for, and the next day we saw Monarchs flying around again. My six year old found nine more eggs to add to our growing little soiree of pets.

Here is picture of an egg on the underside of one of the leaves.

A few days later, the eggs started hatching and we had all of these so tiny and so cute little caterpillars. They are so small at first that they are hard to spot. You can tell when it is getting close to hatching when the top of the egg turns black. After that, you just have to keep checking and if you are lucky, you can see one squirm its way out.

They don't stay little very long, though. They will eat their own weight in milkweed each day and they grow SO fast, it's amazing. Here is a picture of one day old caterpillars and six and eight day old caterpillars. HUGE difference, huh?

One day old.

Smaller one is six days old and larger two are eight days old.

This last picture is from today, I will keep posting as they keep growing and changing. SO FUN!!

To learn about the whole life cycle of a Monarch butterfly, read my post here.

The Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly

Butterflies have four stages of life: egg, larva (the caterpillar stage), pupa (the chrysalis phase) and adult. These four stages are called Metamorphosis. It takes a monarch butterfly about a month (28 to 38 days) to complete the whole life cycle. 

Common Milkweed

Females lay their eggs on milkweed, which is the only plant monarch caterpillars can eat. The eggs are usually laid on the underside of the leaves and usually one at a time. They are white and are really small, smaller than a pinhead. The egg is attached to the leaf by an 'liquid glue' as it is being laid. Four to six days later they will hatch. Monarch caterpillar egg on the underside of a milkweed leaf.

After it hatches, the caterpillar is so small you can barely see it. It grows really fast, eating nothing but milkweed leaves. A Monarch caterpillar can eat enough Milkweed in one day to equal its own body weight. 9 to 14 days after hatching, the caterpillar will be about 2" long and fully grown. 

 

Monarch caterpillars about one day old.

 

The larger caterpillars are eight days old, and the smaller one is six days old.

During the larval stage, a monarch caterpillar will shed its skin five times. A new, larger skin is waiting under the one that is shed.You can see its shed skin left behind each time.

When the caterpillar is full grown it will usually leave the milkweed plant. It crawls (sometimes 20 or 30 feet away from the milkweed) until it finds a safe place to pupate. The caterpillar lays down a silk-like mat and then attaches itself to the mat with its cremaster. Then it will drop and hang there, upside down in a J-shape, for about one full day.

The caterpillar's skin is shed for the last time as it passes from the larval (caterpillar) stage to the pupa (chrysalis) stage of metamorphosis. Under the caterpillar's skin this time is a jade green casing which is called a chrysalis. Inside the inch long chrysalis, is where the real magic begins as the caterpillar transforms into a beautiful butterfly.

At first, the chrysalis will be very soft. Within an hour, it hardens to become a protective shell for the caterpillar. Lots of majaor changes happen inside the chrysalis. The mouth parts change from being those required for chewing milkweed leaves to a straw-like tongue the butterfly will use for sipping nectar from flowers.

9 to 14 days after the chrysalis is formed, the transformation is complete. The green color will disappear and become clear. Through the chrysalis, you can will be able to see the orange and black wings of the monarch butterfly.    When it's time, and without any warning, the chrysalis will suddenly crack open and out comes the monarch butterfly. Its wings will be crumpled and wet. The butterfly will clings and hang on to its empty chrysalis shell as hemolymph, the blood-like substance in insects, is pumped through its body. Once the hemolymph fills the monarch's body and wings, they will enlarge.

About one hour after emerging from its chrysalis, the monarch's wings are full-sized, dry, and ready for flying. A week later, or less, a monarch butterfly is old enough to mate, starting the next generation's life cycle. Pretty amazing! We are in the process of 'raising' our own caterpillars, if you would like to follow us on our journey so far, you can read about it here.

Healthy Corn and Black Bean Chip Dip

My family LOVES chips and dip!

A bag of chips never lasts very long around here, especially if we have an awesome dip to go with it!
Here is one recipe you are bound to love as much as we do, and it's super healthy, too!
My daughter made this last batch for us.

Healthy Corn and Black Bean Dip

1 can mexicorn, drained

1 can rinsed and drained black beans

1 can sliced black olives

 2 green onions sliced

 2 diced Roma tomatoes

2 Tbs red wine vinegar

 1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cumin

1/8 tsp. pepper

4 shakes Tabasco sauce

 corn tortilla chips 

Mix everything except chips and let chill. Serve with chips.

Let it sit in the refrigerator at least an hour to let the flavors really blend together. If you have any left the next day it will taste even better! Be advised, though, the longer it sits (like overnight) it loses it's visual appeal. In other words, it won't look as appetizing the next morning, but I promise it will taste SOOOOO good!

Super Nummy, Super Easy Greek Yogurt Chicken

I tried this the other night and LOVED it! Super easy and WAAAY nummy!

I used six chicken breasts, but you could use tenders just as easy.  I've seen similar recipes floating around on Pinterest. . .here is my version that the whole family ended up loving:

Ingredients:
6 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups plain greek yogurt (I used Kirkland Signature brand)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbs. seasoning salt (I used Kroger brand)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Panko bread crumbs -enough to cover

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine greek yogurt, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, seasoning salt, and pepper in a bowl. Coat the chicken with the yogurt mixture, then roll in the bread crumbs. Place on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Be sure to spray the foil with cooking spray first! I used frozen chicken and cooked it for about an hour. Enjoy!

After devouring one piece by itself, I cut one up and topped a salad with it for dinner.
It was even better the next day for lunch. Definitely a keeper!

Our First Eggs!

So. . .I'm way behind here, but last Thursday, the 25th, we got our first chicken eggs! We weren't expecting our cute little squawkers to start laying until at least September, so it was a pleasant surprise to say the least!

I opened the coop door to check their food and water, even leaned in a bit to level out their food.
As I was closing the door I happened to notice a cute little egg just sitting there in the middle of
the coop floor. I have no idea how I missed seeing it. It was so little and cute! 

Did I mention how cute it was?

At first I just kind of stood there and stared, it took a second to sink in that it had come from one of our own chickens. I even wondered for a sec if it was my husband just playing a trick on me by sticking a store bought egg in there, but it was so much smaller than the ones in our fridge that it couldn't have been that.

Then I felt really bad. I wasn't expecting any eggs for at least another month, so I didn't have the
coop ready with their nesting boxes. This poor chicken had to lay her first egg in the middle
of the wood floor. Poor thing. So I set out to remodel the coop. 

I had planned on adding a couple more feet off the end of the coop for their nesting boxes. But. . . 
because this is how most of my DIY projects work  I got one end of the coop torn apart, managed to break the blade on my saw and basically got nowhere. After putting everything back together the best I could and having nothing to show for the last hour of my life I was left with no choice but to do the best with what we had and just added a few boards to separate a section off in the back and added more torn newspaper strips to make it soft and cushiony. Yes, I just said cushiony.

This whole process took a couple of hours and when I was putting everything away and cleaning
up I noticed one of the chickens in the coop, scratching around in the newly set-up nesting boxes.
She was acting kinda wierd and wouldn't leave that area. I closed the door and left her alone for a while. After about a half hour I came back to check on her and she was chasing another chicken
out the coop squawking at her as loud as she could.

Inside, hidden under the newspaper, was another cute little egg, this time a brown one. 

Two eggs, three hours apart, over one month ealrier than expected. What a day!

We didn't get any eggs the next day, which was disappointing, but have had two
everyday since then. It's been a lot of fun going out to gather them up.
I can only imagine what it will be like when all six of them are laying! I can't wait!

Homemade Chocolate Sauce

I planned on having brownies, ice cream and chocolate sauce for dessert last night, so I took
it upon myself to try a recipe I found on Pinterest. I know, of all places to find a recipe, right?

I'm pretty sure that no matter what you do, chocolate sauce that tastes like it's supposed to, is not going
to be good for you. While this recipe does have a lot of sugar because it tastes like it's supposed to, what it DOESN'T have is all of the extra preservatives and whatever else in it that you can't pronounce.
For that reason, this one is a keeper for those random times we do have the coveted liquid deliciousness.
I hardly ever buy it because when I do, I can always count on catching my two boys
drinking it straight from the bottle out of the fridge. I'm SURE my girls have NEVER done such a thing!
At least they've never have been caught!  

If I tell them they can only use it for ice cream or chocolate milk, they do mind and do just that.
I guess it's my fault I never told them that there should be significantly more milk than chocolate sauce
when using it with milk. They are diligent in informing me that there is a layer of milk on top of
the two inches of chocolate sauce sitting in the bottom of the cup. Needless to say, chocolate sauce
does not hold a permanent spot on  my weekly shopping list.

So...back to last night. The original recipe can be found here, I doubled it and changed it just a tad.

This is what I used for my recipe which turned out great, and it was super easy!

2 cups sugar

1 cup cocoa powder

2 cups water

1 tsp. vanilla

pinch of salt

 pour everything into a heavy pan ...

 ... mix it all up really good. I scraped the sides a lot while mixing.
You want it to be real smooth, with no lumps.

Once it is all smooth, turn on the burner to medium/medium high. I kept stirring off and on so it wouldn't burn on the bottom. Once it starts boiling, turn it down and let it simmer for 5-7 minutes, or until it is the consistency of syrup. After 7 minutes, mine was still kinda thin, but I called it good. Take it off the burner and let it cool to room temperature. Then, stick it in the fridge in a covered container. It should last for up to two weeks if your kids don't drink it all in a day or two. This recipe filled a quart jar about half way.

I didn't make mine until dinner time, so when we used it with dessert, I hadn't put in the fridge yet and it was still a little warm. Warm chocolate syrup with warm brownies and cold ice cream. ... mmmmmm.

Update, I had ice cream for breakfast this morning don't judge and the sauce was even better!
I thought it had a little bit of a dark chocolate taste to it the night before with our brownies, but after
sitting in the fridge overnight, it was quite a bit thicker and tasted just like Hershey's milk chocolate syrup! Not a bad way to start the day!

Homemade Toothpaste

It's time to make another batch of toothpaste and I thought I would share my recipe. There are so many different recipes and concoctions, it's hard to know where to start. I have tried a few different ones and have settle on this one for now....and I LOVE it! Every time I brush my teeth it feels like I just left the dentist after a cleaning. My two teenage daughters agree, which doesn't happen too often because they know everything.

It literally takes minutes to make.
Here is the recipe I have settled on after a few batches of trial and error:

2 Tbs. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 heaping tsp. xylitol

4 tsp. glycerin

12 drops peppermint essential oil

3 drops OnGuard essential oil blend

2 drops melaleuca essential oil

Using a glass bowl, add all your ingredients together and stir!

Don't use plastic or anything else porous. You will forever smell and taste the essential oils
in whatever else you put in that same plastic bowl. You've been warned! ;)

 

We store our glob finished product in empty baby food jars. Again, do not store in plastic.
There is the smell/taste issue like I mentioned before, but also the oils will 'eat away' at the plastic
and you will end up putting BPA from the plastic in your mouth everyday. My thought is that
that kinda defeats the whole point of making your own toothpaste, you know, to get away
from all the potentially unhealthy additives. Just my two cents!

I use doTERRA essential oils. They are the only brand that is CPTG (certified pure therapeutic grade)
so I know they are safe to ingest. Do not just grab any brand of essential oil off the shelf and
use it in your body. Do some research to make sure it is safe for you. I've done mine, and
I am hooked on doTERRA for my family.

We all have our own jar in our bathrooms. We did experiment with adding different kinds of oils to get different flavors, but found that the flavor of these three oils together are fairly dominating and that adding anything else just made it taste a little weird, and not at all like we were hoping. The taste might take a little getting used to, my husband isn't a huge fan, but my girls and I love it and the clean feeling we get every time we brush. Not only are we getting the health benefits from the essential oils, but it has been a great teeth whitener, too, with no added stuff that we can't pronounce. Give it a try!

Breakfast Skillet to Feed an Army

We are out of food. Nothing to eat, just ask my kids!
I had planned on going to the store as soon as I got up and ready, but to be honest I wasn't sure
what we were all going to eat for breakfast. I did find 4 eggs, 3 potatoes and some sausage that
I forgot I had in the back of the refrigerator drawer. Bingo....breakfast skillet here I come!

The beauty of this recipe is that it is so adaptable to whatever you have on hand.
I found two mushrooms, a half an onion, and three corn tortillas to go in today's batch.

First step is to chop up the sausage and get that cooking on the skillet. We add a bit of honey to
cook in with the sausage as well. My husband has always done this, so now of course I do, too.
It does add quite a bit of flavor.While that is doing it's thing, I threw the potatoes in my
microwave potato cooking bag thing and cooked them.

Dice/chop up the onion, mushrooms and corn tortillas. When the potatoes are done and not
too hot to handle, dice them up as well. I use red potatoes, less starch and lower on the glycemic scale. Leave the skins on, too. You want all those nummy vitamins and nutrients!

I also add salsa right in the mix. I like the flavor it adds when it is cooked in.
Not a ton, though, or it gets too soggy.

 Once everything is cooked and chopped, add it all together on the skillet and mix it up well.
I like to sprinkle a bit of cumin on the top. Cumin just makes everything that much better. 

Add your eggs and stir them in to coat everything. I only had for eggs, but I probably
would have used another one if I had it. The eggs make a good binder to kind of
hold everything together, and also soften the corn tortillas a bit.

 Spread it out a bit and just let it all blend together.
Once the eggs are all cooked through, you are good to go!

Serve with more salsa and enjoy!

Feel free to add anything you happen to have on hand. We have used green pepper, cheese, avocado and black olives in the past. That's the beauty of the recipe, you could have a different breakfast every time you make it! It is VERY filling and it makes A  TON! The leftovers, if you have any, make REALLY good breakfast burritos the next day. Just wrap a bit in a tortilla and warm it up in the microwave.

This recipe is very similar to my husband's signature breakfast that we have dubbed
Hash browns El Zorro. I will post that the next time he makes it, it's definitely a keeper!

I love downtown!

I love downtown Salt Lake. We don't get there nearly enough. I took the kids there yesterday to play and get out of the house. Our first stop was Trader Joe's, my first visit. That stop was definetly a success. After that, we went to the Gateway and the boys played in the fountains.

I love the Gateway mall. So many cute shops and fun things to see and do. We window shopped, wished we had more money, then found some cute swim suits on the clearance rack. All three of us girls picked up a new suit for super cheap! And who doesn't love a new swim suit!

Pizza on the way home rounded out our day on the town. We all had a lot of fun, I love my kids!!!

A Long Distance Love Affair

I admit it! I'm in love. His name is Joe. Trader Joe, that is. Distance is the only thing keeping us apart. Now I am in a tough spot...do I continue this relationship or try to just forget and move on? This is a tough one.

It all started last Fall when I heard through the grapevine that Trader Joe's was coming to Salt Lake. 

I'd been reading on blogs all over the place about how cool this place was and how much everyone

 loved going there. Then...I had my chance. It all became a reality when they had their grand opening 

the end of November last year. The problem....distance. 45 minutes one way to be exact. Which might 

not seem like much to some, but to a mom of four who shares a car with her husband, 

driving an hour and a half to get groceries was a little hard to justify. Nope...ain't gonna happen.

So...here we are, eight months later, and I decide to take my kids downtown to hang out and play. 

I have to just stop and see just what all the hype was about, right?

I have to say, I was expecting a bigger store. I almost missed it. Once we got inside, though, my disappointment quickly vanished as I was met with rows of organic produce...cheaper than I could get non-organic at my local grocery store. One big smile comin' up! The first aisle we walked down sported the coconut oil I had been wanting to get for quite a while, and it was a couple dollars cheaper than I had paid before. Another smile. Right after that joyous find was the liquid stevia that has been on my want list for months, and for three dollars cheaper than I had seen locally. HUGE smile!

My haul.

Next find...deodorant. For the last year, I have been making my own deodorant after reading mounds of articles about the aluminum found in anti-perspirant and it's link to breast cancer. I can't even tell you how many different recipes I have been through, trying to find one that could successfully tackle the job of taking on my over-zealous sweat glands (I know...TMI). Thanks a lot for that, DAD! 

I did find one I loved and thought worked better than any store-bought kind I had used, only to find a couple of weeks later that I was allergic to the baking soda that was in the mix. I tried lowering the amount, still a no-go, and even tried substituting with arrowroot. A few of the natural solutions I tried worked great short term, but would eventually stop working. The last thing I have been using is a crystal. I had read different reviews, some good, some bad, and decided I didn't have anything to lose. I have to say, I haven't been overly impressed, and neither has anyone that has had to be within a couple feet of me! So, I decided I had to bite the bullet and fork over the two-weeks pay for a stick of deo at Good Earth.

Never fear, though, my new love Joe had his own label on a stick right next to Tom's...and for 

noticably cheaper. Today is my first day using it, we'll see how it goes. I'm sure my kids 

will let me know fairly quickly if it is not working.

After that, I picked up a loaf of bread and a few snacks for us to enjoy while perusing Salt Lake. I left happy and a little saddened at the same time. I was in love....but knew it would never work out. Too many miles sit between us. There is no way I could continue to visit Joe on a regular basis.

Now....if Joe decides to move to Utah County, then I've got a problem. 

I may just have to tell my husband he's got some competition!

Cabela's here we come!

We love going to Cabela's!

It has been so hot outside and we have been stuck inside our sauna house,
thoroughly enjoying each other's company. It was time for a break!

Our first stop is usually the walk-thru aquarium. It's amazing how big some of the fish are! 

I swear there is a monster sucker fish in there. You know...those fish that suck up all
the algae and all the left-over fish food in the aquarium.

Next up, the animal displays.

We weren't the only foxes in the house.

Feeding the fish. I always go in there feeling good that we are just going there for fun and not to buy stuff, but they always manage to get my donation somehow. OK, so it's just a couple of quarters for fish food, but still!

 And who doesn't love the completely obnoxious pop guns that every
kid that walks through the front doors has to try out?

And last but not least, my secret reason for going to Cabela's...the roasted cinnamon pecans. 

No trip would be complete without 'em!

Oh ya, they also have clothes and outdoors equipment in there somewhere, but where's the fun in that?