My home is a fascinating place. I have surrounded myself with the wonders of nature. One of my many pleasures is my butterfly garden. It greets you as you come to the front door. The garden is made up of a majestic silver palm or bismarkia nobilis which stands guard over the area. Bulbinia, red salvia and a bleeding heart vine have the beautiful flowers which provide the nectar to attract the butterflies. Then it is necessary to provide a host plant, in this case it is milkweed. The host plant is the restaurant for the caterpillars. The Monarch butterfly is so attracted to these flowers. She then lays eggs on the underside of the leaves of the milkweed. Upon hatching the caterpillars grow quickly and devour the milkweed. Within a few days they are the size of your pinky finger. At that point they will travel up to 30 feet from the host plant and begin the process of forming the chrysalis. It is the caterpillar’s one degree of change on a daily basis that brings about the transformation. It is simply mesmerizing, or should I say metamorphosing!
#3: Eat out only 15 times a month, or less!
Wha-wha-whaaaat? Yes, I said that and meant it. We have 60-90 meals per month. Eating out only 3-4 times a week may seem drastic to many people. Calculate how many times you eat in a restaurant. Now calculate the cost of each meal including tip. You could save a small fortune! In our household we eat in a restaurant 3-4 times a week. We usually select a local restaurant and enjoy food that we would not normally prepare at home. We go out for sushi or Thai food and an occasional lunch or breakfast. Most of the time the meals we prepare at home are more nutritious and we can be sure of the ingredients.
To maintain your one degree of change of creating a new you, decide to create more meals at home. Make it a family event. Create healthy menus, make it fun to shop and share the kitchen chores. Make the meals colorful with plenty of organic vegetables. Challenge the household to come up with unique meal presentations. Prepare a favorite food that you usually eat when you go out and make it healthy. Try gluten free or vegan recipes. Take heirloom/family recipes and make a healthier version by substituting a more conscious choice of ingredients. Explore the web, the internet is a great source for finding recipes.
Chrysalis formed on our Silver Palm!
These are photos of my future Monarch butterflies. I counted twelve caterpillars beginning the cocooning process. And we have more that are still on the milkweed. We even have one who decided our front door was the perfect location! We are looking forward to our kaleidoscope of butterflies! Here is a short video that show the process of transformation!
Just a miniscule change every few hours changes a caterpillar into an extraordinary chrysalis.
What will your change look like?
Our front door caterpillar!