

Harbingers of Autumn
Fourth generation monarchs emerge from their chrysalises as the evening and morning air becomes cooler in late August and September. They can't stay still, but must keep moving south, stopping to nectar on the purple, yellow, and orange flowers that are blooming in abundance this time of year. They are in a race against time. They must get to the mountains in central Mexico before the winter storms begin. And they aren't the only ones, the songbirds are also making this trip


Monarchs on the Move
Sullivan County 4-H students from Acworth visited the County Farm last month with Robin Luther to help out the Education and Outreach Specialist with 2 citizen science projects connected to monarch butterfly migration. For Mission Monarch, they identified milkweed patches on the County Farm and Marshall Pond properties, measured the density of milkweed growing and searched for monarchs in these stands. They tallied up how many eggs, caterpillars, chrysalises, and adults they