Let your heart guide you...

...it whispers, so listen carefully

Littlefoot's mother~Land Before Time

It's not often that my head and my heart are on the same wave length.  A battle between the two usually ensues when a tough decision has to be made & there's never a clear winner. I've made the decision to discontinue raising Monarchs & an amazing thing happened-there was no battle, no tug-of-war, no loss of sleep...just solidarity between my heart and my head.  

It's not something that just came to me. It's been a slow realization. I mean-look at this handsome guy-I could sit (I often have) and spend hours observing the critters to chrysalis to the emerging.

 Raising Monarchs has been a life changing event for me~It got me through some of the darkest, bleakest and most desperate times and now that those dark days have passed, I'm looking ahead. There will be a time in the near future that Frankie & will be moving from California to find our bliss elsewhere. I know with my whole heart and soul...and yes my head...that any new homeowners couldn't possibly love and devote the amount of time to nurture these beauties that I have...and still do. 

Can I tell you...I'm sweating the last 6 critters-

It is like the Depression Era around here.

There is nothing left to eat-It's been unseasonably warm so the bigger plants have tiny buds-

I am literally rotating the critters to the plants that get the buds and hope the other stalks grow fast-

It's crazy-Who else would ever do that~Besides Kim 

She raises Monarchs in Texas. We celebrate & commiserate often!

The weather is eventually going to turn cold, rainy and windy & not good releasing weather. It's stressful to me wondering if my critters are going to be ok & hoping for a warm day to release the butterflies. 

I've had enough stress this past year to last a life time...It's time to let go. 

So, it is with both sadness and a contented heart that I resign myself from this experience and hope that it doesn't create to much confusion among the mama butterflies if/when they come back to lay eggs. 

I know without a shadow of a doubt that I have done everything humanly possible to help populate the world with these beauties.  Frankie...my dear husband, has been right there by my side. He's helped me troubleshoot, build, move, shield and any other hair-brained thing that needed to be done...all I had to do was ask and sometimes I didn't even have to. 

I will be forever grateful for the knowledge and deep meaning the Monarchs have taught me. 

In the meantime, I'm taking boatloads of photos so I'll have plenty to share off and on.

My heart is happy

xo

Kelly