source: Farm and Food Report
In her faded gardening cover-alls, June Baxter sits before a class of first-graders, a storybook in her hand. She tells the story of a larvae’s transformation into a butterfly. Baxter knows the journey well. She has witnessed it in her house at her Beechy farm many times before.
For the past two years, she has been raising Painted Lady butterflies as a hobby and a business venture. Her springs have been spent watching pupas grow into chrysalises, and then to butterflies. Saskatchewan’s climate only allows her to raise butterflies during spring and summer.
The butterflies, with their black and orange wings, are placed into rose bowls with a small floral arrangement and a bow around the rim. She sells them as Mother’s Day gifts, along with a letter from the butterfly to its new owner.
“I have been purchased for you because you must be very special to someone who cares,” the letter begins. Along with instructions on the butterfly’s care, the letter explains how an “ancient tradition believes that when you capture a butterfly, set it free, and in return for its freedom it will carry your wish to the heavens above, and it shall be granted.”
So far, Baxter said, the Mother’s Day gifts have been a hit. The rose bowls cost $25, which she said people who love butterflies are happy to pay: “Lots of people look and if they like it, they like it.” she said.
The second part of Baxter’s business — and her favorite one — is visiting schools to teach children about the growth stages of a butterfly. She always wears her gardening overalls on these educational excursions, and at times her butterfly-shaped hat as well. On the school circuit, she is known as “the Butterfly Lady.”
Baxter begins her talks by reading a story to the children that explains the process through which a butterfly matures into its final state. She has a brown suitcase full of props: stuffed versions of what a larvae or a chrysalis looks like, an assortment of books, as well as stickers for the kids.
At the end of her presentation, Baxter builds a butterfly hotel out of a used aquarium and places the chrysalises in it so students and teachers can watch their progress and set them free a few days after they become butterflies. Last year, she sent out 28 school kits, and visited schools in Beechy, Lucky Lake, Kyle and Dinsmore, and at the Beechy Hutterite Colony. What Baxter loves as much as doing the school presentations is receiving letters and pictures from the students, thanking her for her presence in their class.
A third idea, which Baxter has only tried a few times, is selling butterflies for use in wedding ceremonies. The butterflies, sold by the dozen, are each folded into a piece of paper and handed out to wedding attendants. At an appointed time during or after the ceremony, the butterflies are released from the folds of the paper and set free into the air.
Baxter got the idea to raise butterflies from a CBC radio interview with a woman from Winnipeg who was speaking about her hobby. After contacting her, she ordered her initial 100 eggs, and paid $25 for an outdated incubator from the hospital where she works part-time as a laboratory technologist. The incubator provides a constant temperature for the growing eggs, which is crucial to their development.
“I put one or two eggs in there,” said Baxter, holding up an empty film canister —any clear container will do. She cut a small square from a coffee filter, draped it over the container, and snapped the top back on.
“That little caterpillar is going to grow out of his skin five times, and he just lives in here,” she went on. “He doesn’t need any more oxygen or anything, he just needs the food.”
The food, Baxter said, is the biggest expense involved in raising butterflies. At $56.00 per kilogram, she spends more money on it than on any other aspect of her business.
After seven to 10 days in the canisters, the larvae attach themselves to the coffee filter with what Baxter calls a “spit button.” They curl themselves in a “J” shape, and become a chrysalis during the next 24 hours. After another four days, Baxter removes the filter from its canister and pins it to a funnel-shaped piece of netting. Ten days later, when the butterfly emerges, it will hang upside down in the netting until its wings unfurl and dry.
While she hopes in the future that her business will become more profitable, at the moment Baxter is satisfied calling it a pastime that brings in a little extra income. It is clear she takes joy in this unique hobby, and all of its facets.
“Maybe it’s the kid in me that comes out,” she said. “How many people get to play with butterflies?”
For more information, contact:
June Baxter
Butterfly Wishes
(306) 859-2066
In her faded gardening cover-alls, June Baxter sits before a class of first-graders, a storybook in her hand. She tells the story of a larvae’s transformation into a butterfly. Baxter knows the journey well. She has witnessed it in her house at her Beechy farm many times before.
For the past two years, she has been raising Painted Lady butterflies as a hobby and a business venture. Her springs have been spent watching pupas grow into chrysalises, and then to butterflies. Saskatchewan’s climate only allows her to raise butterflies during spring and summer.
The butterflies, with their black and orange wings, are placed into rose bowls with a small floral arrangement and a bow around the rim. She sells them as Mother’s Day gifts, along with a letter from the butterfly to its new owner.
“I have been purchased for you because you must be very special to someone who cares,” the letter begins. Along with instructions on the butterfly’s care, the letter explains how an “ancient tradition believes that when you capture a butterfly, set it free, and in return for its freedom it will carry your wish to the heavens above, and it shall be granted.”
So far, Baxter said, the Mother’s Day gifts have been a hit. The rose bowls cost $25, which she said people who love butterflies are happy to pay: “Lots of people look and if they like it, they like it.” she said.
The second part of Baxter’s business — and her favorite one — is visiting schools to teach children about the growth stages of a butterfly. She always wears her gardening overalls on these educational excursions, and at times her butterfly-shaped hat as well. On the school circuit, she is known as “the Butterfly Lady.”
Baxter begins her talks by reading a story to the children that explains the process through which a butterfly matures into its final state. She has a brown suitcase full of props: stuffed versions of what a larvae or a chrysalis looks like, an assortment of books, as well as stickers for the kids.
At the end of her presentation, Baxter builds a butterfly hotel out of a used aquarium and places the chrysalises in it so students and teachers can watch their progress and set them free a few days after they become butterflies. Last year, she sent out 28 school kits, and visited schools in Beechy, Lucky Lake, Kyle and Dinsmore, and at the Beechy Hutterite Colony. What Baxter loves as much as doing the school presentations is receiving letters and pictures from the students, thanking her for her presence in their class.
A third idea, which Baxter has only tried a few times, is selling butterflies for use in wedding ceremonies. The butterflies, sold by the dozen, are each folded into a piece of paper and handed out to wedding attendants. At an appointed time during or after the ceremony, the butterflies are released from the folds of the paper and set free into the air.
Baxter got the idea to raise butterflies from a CBC radio interview with a woman from Winnipeg who was speaking about her hobby. After contacting her, she ordered her initial 100 eggs, and paid $25 for an outdated incubator from the hospital where she works part-time as a laboratory technologist. The incubator provides a constant temperature for the growing eggs, which is crucial to their development.
“I put one or two eggs in there,” said Baxter, holding up an empty film canister —any clear container will do. She cut a small square from a coffee filter, draped it over the container, and snapped the top back on.
“That little caterpillar is going to grow out of his skin five times, and he just lives in here,” she went on. “He doesn’t need any more oxygen or anything, he just needs the food.”
The food, Baxter said, is the biggest expense involved in raising butterflies. At $56.00 per kilogram, she spends more money on it than on any other aspect of her business.
After seven to 10 days in the canisters, the larvae attach themselves to the coffee filter with what Baxter calls a “spit button.” They curl themselves in a “J” shape, and become a chrysalis during the next 24 hours. After another four days, Baxter removes the filter from its canister and pins it to a funnel-shaped piece of netting. Ten days later, when the butterfly emerges, it will hang upside down in the netting until its wings unfurl and dry.
While she hopes in the future that her business will become more profitable, at the moment Baxter is satisfied calling it a pastime that brings in a little extra income. It is clear she takes joy in this unique hobby, and all of its facets.
“Maybe it’s the kid in me that comes out,” she said. “How many people get to play with butterflies?”
For more information, contact:
June Baxter
Butterfly Wishes
(306) 859-2066
Comments