Hobby turned Mission
If you clicked on the About page you no doubt have an interest in our Monarchs. You’ve heard about their falling numbers and are interested in what you can do to help them. The mission of Milkweed 4 Monarchs is to help spread as many milkweed plants across our country as possible. Since milkweed is the only plant that the young caterpillars can eat, we need to provide enough plants to support and increase the Monarch population.
I’ve lived in Elizabethtown and it’s neighbor Mount Joy, PA. my whole life. On a secluded and peaceful piece of land, I now call home, it’s been a hobby of mine to start all of my plants, trees and veggies from seed. When I first heard about the plight of the Monarch in fall of 2018, it took me by surprise. How could that have happened without noticing? Wasn’t my lane lined with Common Milkweed? Nope. They were all but gone as were the Monarchs visiting the Butterfly Bush. So I got online and ordered 4 different species of milkweed and experimented with the different germination methods. After a lot of trial and error there were enough thriving seedlings in the Spring of 2019 for me to start my backyard butterfly garden and sell 18 dozen to the passer-byes on E-town Rd. Fall of 2019 netted me the first seeds from those plants and I started selling them. My mission is to keep all the plants and seeds I offer, affordable so that everyone who wants to grow a few milkweed plants is able to buy them. It’s a bare-bones, no frills business. The seeds are germinated in my kitchen and the plants are sold in the front yard on a picnic table. Cleaning, drying the seeds, and packaging them is done in the dining room.
Thank you for being a part of the Monarch’s come back. You are welcome to email me with any questions or post a comment here. Together each of us can make a difference.