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| Tom, Joy and Joe (click to enlarge) |
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| Joe hard at work! (click to enlarge) |
We were joined in the garden this morning first by Tom Wendt and student Joe Hinman from the St. Croix Valley ALC. Tom and Joe were joined by Joy from our office and they quickly went to work staking up the last of our cherry and tomatillo tomatoes. Shortly thereafter the white and red bus pulled up in the parking lot with the SPIN kids!
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| Cabbage Caterpillars - Oh my! (Click to enlarge) |
Not only did they get to harvest a bounty of food, but a bounty of bugs! We have the ever present Japanese Beetles, but today they discovered the Cabbage Caterpillars. The kids had fun watching and collecting these green destructive creatures. A red cabbage leaf was quickly turned into a caterpillar holding vessel.
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| Laura and Caterpillars! (click to enlarge) |
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Monarch new out of its chrysalis ! (Click to enlarge) |
Tom surprised the SPIN kids by bringing out a monarch chrysalis that was just emerging. Tom explained the Monarch metamorphosis process; how the caterpillar creates a chrysalis then 10 to 16 days later cracking open and out comes the monarch butterfly. Its wings are tiny, crumpled, and wet. The butterfly clings to its empty chrysalis shell as hemolymph, the blood-like substance of insects, is pumped through its body. As the hemolymph fills the monarch's body and wings, they enlarge. At that moment, the monarch is extremely vulnerable to predators because it is not yet able to fly until its wings dry and fully expand.
Click this link to see the entire process: http://www.linknot.com/Magic-Garden/Monarch-chrysalis.htm The SPIN students were invited to visit the ALC where they have over 60 of these chrysalis at various stages of development. The kids accepted the invitation and they stopped at Tom's classroom on their way to the food shelf. What a wonderful morning in the garden!
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| SPIN Kids - names to be added (click to enlarge image) |
