Story by Joanne Niswander
Photos by Chelsey Bassett
Despite the restrictions that the corona virus has put on many of our regular activities, the butterfly project at Maple Crest has been thriving as usual this summer.

The only exception is that the only people who are privileged to visit the project this summer are the Maple Crest independent living residents and staff.

For those readers who have not heard of our ongoing summer project (one that began at Maple Crest way back in 2007) let me fill you in.

What began as a tiny table-top project of spending a couple months raising a few monarch butterflies from tiny caterpillars to adult butterflies has, today, expanded to a much-larger table-top project with more than 100 butterflies produced.

Last season, we raised and released 117 adult monarchs to make their monumental high-flying trek to their wintering mountains of Mexico. We expect to top that number this year, if all continues to go well.

So far this summer we have raised and released 56 of the beautiful butterflies and have at least 50 caterpillars in various stages of growth – still chomping away at milkweed leaves and getting fatter every day.

In addition, we continue to find new tiny caterpillars on our milkweed plants, all growing right here on the Maple Crest campus. It's definitely a home-grown project, tended by Joanne Niswander and Hazel Rodabaugh, two Maple Crest residents who aren't afraid of a few wiggly caterpillars.

Will any of our butterflies "make it" all the way to Mexico? We surmise that  some of them will, but have no way of knowing for sure.

Even though we are "tagging" them through the organization Monarch Watch, the likelihood that someone will find and recognize one with a numbered tag is rather remote.

Are we making a difference?

Would all these monarchs have "made it" in the wild without our help? Perhaps, but we don't really know.

What we DO know is that we are making a difference for our Maple Crest residents and staff. Each one who stops by the exhibit table goes away with a smile and a better appreciation of what nature provides in the way of awe and beauty.

We hope and trust that by next summer, when butterfly season rolls around, you will all be able to visit our on-going project in person once more. In the meantime, know that all's well with the butterfly project at Maple Crest.