Although it’s been a dry summer and monarch sightings have been sparse here at the Farmstead in central Maine, these amazing pollinators continue to stop by to visit, lay eggs on our milkweed plants, emerge from their chrysalides, metamorphose into monarch butterflies and fly off on their annual migration to winter inMexico, where their life cycle will begin again next spring… ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author and monarch butterfly advocate
An amazing visit (check out the photo, post, and video) at Jennie Fitzkie’s place… Afterward, check out this link to find out how to tell a male from a female monarch butterfly! ~ Bette A. Stevens, author and monarch butterfly advocate
Monarch butterfly and milkweed plant from Bette’s garden in Maine.
A monarch butterfly visited our flowers. S/he was determined to stay, in spite of excited children and adults reaching out to touch. This butterfly is endangered, so the visit was very special.
I always give the children I teach roots- the foundation to become strong and happy. That comes naturally for the teacher in me. Wings are the final journey, after roots have become secure and sturdy. The monarch was showing me the power of wings.
This monarch butterfly stayed for a very long time. I knew there was a reason and a message:
Jennie, never forget how important roots are. The more you give to children, their wings can grow.
Yes. I thanked the monarch butterfly. What a gift!
Jennie
STATUS UPDATE: As of Juy 25, 2022—Monarch butterflies are on the Endangered Threatened Species “Red List.”
Their status was announced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature last week, but we still await a status change from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Some of the largest contributing factors include significant loss of milkweed habitat and growth, as well as an increased use of herbicides, pesticides, and other chemicals. Now for the good news.
As said by John F. Kennedy, “One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.”
The Great Monarch Migration
Each year from August through October, masses of monarch butterflies embark on a journey from the southern reaches of Canada that takes them 2500 Miles to remote mountain treetops in central Mexico. Millions of overwintering monarchs were discovered roosting there for the first time in 1975. Here at the farmstead in central Maine, monarch butterflies visit us from early June through mid to late September. As a citizen scientist, I report my sightings to Journey North . I invite you to visit their website to find out more about our amazing monarch butterflies and find out how you can help.
Hubby Dan and I have sighted sixty (60) monarchs so far this season. The monarch chrysalis in my photo collage was spun by a caterpillar Dan discovered on a day lily leaf when he was cleaning the garden on August 13, 2019. We transferred the caterpillar and part of the leaf to our back porch. By the time I put fresh batteries in the camera and returned, this chrysalis had already been spun. On August 31, a beautiful monarch butterfly had emerged and was resting on her chrysalis (yes, it was a girl, our 2019 Matilda) about noontime. We sat and watched for hours as she dried her wings. I moved her to a nearby phlox plant where she could rest and sip nectar as she prepared for her long journey south. One of her friends (most likely a monarch sibling) stopped by to check on her several times. By 4:45 p.m., she was flitting and fluttering through the garden before she began soaring and landed on the birch wood pile before soaring away on her long journey south.
Note: The top left monarch was one of our earlier arrivals that stopped to lay eggs on our milkweed. The others are all of our amazing Matilda who is on her way to Mexico!
Leaders from U.S., Mexico & Canada have agreed to help protect this threatened species through the NAFTA trade agreement. Groups and individual citizens continue to band together to support and protect monarch butterflies. Together we can make a difference!
Bette A. Stevens is the author/illustrator of award-winning picture book Amazing Mailda, A Monarch’s Tale.
Here’s what two readers have to say:
“A beautiful message of love, patience, perseverance, and belief. The story is told with a frog, bird, rabbit, and the butterfly as the main characters. A perfect book for children mainly to teach them about the cycles of life and the importance of patience, perseverance, and keeping faith in a dream.” ~Karen Ingalls
“I can’t wait to give this to my grandchildren and will enjoy our reading time together with this delightful tale!” ~ D.L. Finn
Amazing Matilda (2019) on her way to Mexico!
One concern parents have is how to inspire their children to meet challenges with patience and persistence. This is the plot of the award-winning picture book, AMAZING MATILDA, A Monarchs Tale, written and illustrated by Bette A. Stevens. In this story a caterpillar wants to learn how to fly. She asks all of her friends in the meadow, but doesn’t find an easy answer. Yet, she continues the quest until, at last, she becomes what she wants to be—a butterfly. AMAZING MATILDA offers adults the opportunity to inspire the children in their lives to meet their own challenges with patience and persistence.
Stevens has put together two (2) FREE #PDF companion pieces to make talking to the kids about AMAZING MATILDA and learning about Monarch butterflies exciting and fun.
CLICK THE TWO LINKS ABOVE TO DOWNLOAD. These resources will not only keep the kids talking about the book with their finger puppets, they’ll learn even more about Monarch Butterflies, their endangered habitat, monarch and milkweed conservation and preservation. Fun & Learning offers activity sites and resources for butterfly gardeners and teachers as well. Don’t miss these two great resources for families, clubs, classrooms and homeschoolers.
May your days be blessed and beautiful
May your nights, sweet dreams supply
May your New Year be amazing
As a monarch butterfly
© Bette A. Stevens
Bette in her garden with one of the monarch butterflies that emerged from its chrysalis at the farmstead in central Maine.
Monarch butterflies offer an amazing view into the intricate nature of the wild. Their scientific name—Danaus Plexippus— Greek for “Sleepy Transformation,” gets part of the story right, but not the epic whole. Monarch butterflies embark on an amazing migratory phenomenon as they have the ability to hibernate and metamorphose. International conservation efforts to protect and restore monarch habitat are ongoing. These efforts may help improve the near-endangered/endangered status of the species; but we, as ordinary citizens, can easily help the monarch butterfly recovery right in our own backyards and gardens.
Wishing all of you & all of
our amazing monarch butterflies…
“An Amazing New Year!”~Bette A. Stevens, Maine author
One concern parents have is how to inspire their children to meet challenges with patience and persistence. This is the plot of the award-winning picture book, AMAZING MATILDA, A Monarchs Tale, written and illustrated by Bette A. Stevens. In this story a caterpillar wants to learn how to fly. She asks all of her friends in the meadow, but doesn’t find an easy answer. Yet, she continues the quest until, at last, she becomes what she wants to be—a butterfly. AMAZING MATILDA offers adults the opportunity to inspire the children in their lives to meet their own challenges with patience and persistence.
Stevens has put together two (2) FREE #PDF companion pieces to make talking to the kids about AMAZING MATILDA and learning about Monarch butterflies exciting and fun.
CLICK THE TWO LINKS ABOVE TO DOWNLOAD. These resources will not only keep the kids talking about the book with their finger puppets, they’ll learn even more about Monarch Butterflies, their endangered habitat, monarch and milkweed conservation and preservation. Fun & Learning offers activity sites and resources for butterfly gardeners and teachers as well. Don’t miss these two great resources for families, clubs, classrooms and homeschoolers.
Please share this post…
Monarch butterflies are a threatened species. The Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Food Safety filed a legal petition requesting Endangered Species Act protection for the monarch and its habitat. Yet these butterflies, once a familiar sight, are plummeting toward extinction due to landscape-scale threats from pesticides, development and global climate change. That’s why the Center is working hard to win them protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
AMAZING MATILDA written and illustrated by Maine author Bette A. Stevens ONLY 99¢/p thru April 25:
“Award-winning picture book adventure follows a monarch butterfly through her life cycle and teaches kids important life lessons along the way!”
AMAZING MATILDA (Ages 5-11 + grownups love it too) Friendship, patience and persistence are among the lessons learned in this gem of a tale featuring an amazing monarch butterfly. This award-winning picture book adventure follows the monarch’s life cycle as Matilda embarks on a quest to make her dream of flying come true. Matilda emerges from her egg on a milkweed leaf, she stretches and yawns and wants to fly. Sparrow tells her to follow her dreams. Toad and Rabbit laugh at a creature without wings who wants to fly. You’ll be as amazed as Toad and Rabbit, as you follow Matilda from egg to imago.
Review Excerpt Blurb:
“Matilda crunched and munched and lunched, leaf after leaf, day after day.”
If you loved P.D. Eastman’s incomparable book, Are You My Mother, about a baby bird’s search for its mother, you must read this book. If Charlotte’s Web is one of your childhood favorites, I say, Move over Charlotte. Matilda is now here! ~Jacqui Murray, WordDreams
DOWNLOAD a copy of AMAZING MATILDA by Bette A. Stevens ONLY 99¢/p April 21–April 25—award-winning monarch butterfly picture book— at YOUR AMAZON
Meet the characters and download Bette’s #FREE Character Puppets HERE.
Have fun and learn even more about Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ our amazing monarch butterflies by downloading Bette’s FREE PDF Click here: FUN & LEARNING with Monarch Butterflies where you’ll find:
Wishing everyone “A Very Merry Christmas” and “A Happy & Healthy New Year!” ~Bette A. Stevens, Maine author
🎄Celebrating the holidays🎉 and still looking for a special gift for a friend or family member?
Three of my eBooks are on sale for only 99¢ each through New Year’s Day 2021. I invite you to check them out at https://www.amazon.com/author/betteastevens
NOTE: You can also purchase any of these as paperbacks and download the eBook versions for FREE (Kindle Matchbook) anytime.
DOG BONE SOUP
“Adventures and misadventures to the likes of Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry.” Frank Scozzari
Whether or not you grew up in the 1950s and 60s, you’ll find Dog Bone Soup (Historical Fiction) to be soup for the soul. Shawn and his brother Willie are in charge of handling everything that needs to be done around the ramshackle place they call home—lugging in water for cooking and cleaning, splitting and stacking firewood…But when chores are done, these resourceful kids strike out on boundless adventures that don’t cost a dime. Dog Bone Soup is the poignant tale of a dysfunctional family struggling to survive at a time when others were living The American Dream. This family drama and the emotional world of the characters are timeless and relatable. Dog Bone Soup (2017 Top Finalist KCT International Literary Award) PURE TRASH (Short story prequel to the novel Dog Bone Soup)
“A great book for young adults, parents, guardians, mentors, and educators to read. Strongly recommended!” Yoong
“If you loved P.D. Eastman’s incomparable book, ‘Are You My Mother’ about a baby bird’s search for its mother, you must read this book.” Jacqui Murray
If you read to children, you’re sure to want a copy of AMAZING MATILDA, A Monarch’s Tale (Award-winning Picture Book/Purple Dragonfly Book Award & Gittle List 2013) by Maine author/illustrator on your bookshelf. Follow Matilda, a monarch butterfly (through metamorphosis) from the time she emerges from her egg on a milkweed leaf until she realizes her dream to fly. Challenges and adventure at every turn, this story teaches children that patience and hard work really do pay off.
Find all of Bette’s Books and take a “Look Inside” on YOUR AMAZON
Please share this post…
Monarch butterflies are a threatened species. The Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Food Safety filed a legal petition requesting Endangered Species Act protection for the monarch and its habitat. Yet these butterflies, once a familiar sight, are plummeting toward extinction due to landscape-scale threats from pesticides, development and global climate change. That’s why the Center is working hard to win them protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
AMAZING MATILDA written and illustrated by Maine author Bette A. Stevens ONLY 99¢/p thru April 24:
“Award-winning picture book adventure follows a monarch butterfly through her life cycle and teaches kids important life lessons along the way!”
AMAZING MATILDA (Ages 5-11 + grownups love it too) Friendship, patience and persistence are among the lessons learned in this gem of a tale featuring an amazing monarch butterfly. This award-winning picture book adventure follows the monarch’s life cycle as Matilda embarks on a quest to make her dream of flying come true. Matilda emerges from her egg on a milkweed leaf, she stretches and yawns and wants to fly. Sparrow tells her to follow her dreams. Toad and Rabbit laugh at a creature without wings who wants to fly. You’ll be as amazed as Toad and Rabbit, as you follow Matilda from egg to imago.
Review Excerpt Blurb:
“Matilda crunched and munched and lunched, leaf after leaf, day after day.”
If you loved P.D. Eastman’s incomparable book, Are You My Mother, about a baby bird’s search for its mother, you must read this book. If Charlotte’s Web is one of your childhood favorites, I say, Move over Charlotte. Matilda is now here! ~Jacqui Murray, WordDreams
DOWNLOAD a copy of AMAZING MATILDA by Bette A. Stevens ONLY 99¢/p April 21–April 24—award-winning monarch butterfly picture book— at YOUR AMAZON
Meet the characters and download Bette’s #FREE Character Puppets HERE.
Have fun and learn even more about Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ our amazing monarch butterflies by downloading Bette’s FREE PDF Click here: FUN & LEARNING with Monarch Butterflies where you’ll find:
Compassion in life
Is a beautiful thing
Sharing its beauty
Gives others their wings
Stirring love into each
Little thing that we do
Is sure to help their dreams
And our dreams come true
© Bette A. Stevens, Maine author
Compassion in life is a beautiful thing. But exactly what is compassion? I’ve always thought of compassion as “love in action.” After writing the poem Compassion is a Beautiful Thing…, I searched Google for a definition to share. The synonyms fit perfectly into my preconceived notion for the poem because they not only include love and mercy, each synonym requires action—stirring—on our part to metamorphose the idea of compassion into the reality of compassion.
noun: compassion; plural noun: compassions
sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.
“The victims should be treated with compassion.”
| synonyms: | pity, sympathy, empathy, fellow feeling, care, concern, solicitude, sensitivity, warmth, love, tenderness, mercy, leniency, tolerance, kindness, humanity, charity
“Have you no compassion for a fellow human being?” |
||
| antonyms: | indifference, cruelty | ||
Origin Middle English: via Old French from ecclesiastical Latin compassio(n-), from compati ‘suffer with.’
May compassion reign in our hearts and hands each day. ~ Bette A. Stevens
Enjoy more of Bette’s poetry in her new collection—MY MAINE, Haiku through the Seasons.
Stevens has released a poetry and photography collection inspired by Maine’s diverse landscape, natural beauty, rural communities, and independent people. The author’s 150 haiku poems, along with her photographs, reflect the Maine she knows and loves. My Maine, Haiku through the Seasons takes readers on a poetic journey through the state’s four distinct seasons. In addition to its poems and photographs, My Maine includes state symbols and interesting facts about The Pine Tree State.
Come join us!
Bette A. Stevens, Maine Author 
Written
on 08/29/2022