Butterfly feeders galore

 Our butterfly garden received a whole bunch of love this past week. With the help of Alessandro O., we constructed homemade butterfly feeders! We also assembled a butterfly feeder that we ordered from Amazon. Orange juice is the sweet, nectar-like substance that we added to our feeders to attract the butterflies. We were a little nervous about the state of our garden after the storm that blew through Pingree Grove, but all was intact! (Perhaps our shepherd's hook was a bit bent, and our tomato plant capsized, but we will able to set everything right again.) Our only plant casualty (despite all of the hot sun and the rabbits) in the garden so far has been the potatoes that we were trying to grow in a burlap sack.  That is one experiment we will need to start anew. 

Having some laughs while building                                           Xavier fills our feeders with o.j.                

(Tony, Mia, Will, Alessandro O., Alessandro C., & Braelynn)             

A multitude of feeders--drink up, butterflies!

We made it through the storm! 💪💚

Braiding a rope to hang our feeders & dangling some worms over our terracotta pots

Faith, the butterfly whisperer, with a Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis)

Reading in the garden on a "cool" day

Will finishes his novel in the peaceful butterfly garden

Lemon seedlings and new fruit

Yesterday we planted oregano and lemon thyme into our very own seedling pots made out of lemon rinds. At home, students can decide if they want to plant their lemon seedlings into a pot or directly into the ground. They can also decide whether to plant the lemon into the soil or to remove the roots of their seedlings from the lemon pot and place them into the soil. As we learned last week, a little bit of acidity is good for most plants. We discovered new lavender blooms and two ripe red tomatoes!

Our gardeners: Will, Amelia, Faith, Kaydence, Erica, and Samuel

Will, Amelia, and Faith plant their seedlings

Amelia and Will label their seedlings: Greek oregano (origanum vulgare) and lemon thyme (thymus citriodorus)

In the butterfly garden, we spotted a loyal monarch perched and then in flight.