St Martin Butterfly FarmHow I Became A Butterfly FarmerMy love of gardening goes way back, but I remember distinctly how I ended up a Butterfly Farmer. It was in the Fall of 2004, when I had the wonderful opportunity of spending eight glorious days on the beautiful island of St. Martin with a group of friends. Okay, so three of those days were shared with a passing tropical storm, but still, we were in paradise… we barely noticed a thing. One afternoon as a few of us were driving back to our villa from a shopping excursion we saw a sign for a Butterfly Farm with an arrow pointing to the right. From what we could glimpse through the overgrowth and what could possibly be a dirt road, on the right, we were intrigued. I have been an avid gardener for quite a few years, and a friend who was along shares this love with me. Neither of us had ever visited a Butterfly Farm, and I certainly had never even heard of one. A whole farm, just for the butterflies… who thinks this cool stuff up? This was entirely too exciting for me and all I did was pray there really was one back there in the rubble and it wasn’t a sign leftover from long ago days of butterflies, living freely, flying around from flower to flower, enjoying the good life, right there on a tropical island, only to have been distinguished by a nasty hurricane. There certainly was a lucious and breathtaking Butterfly Farm back that road and luckily we were never charged for any suspension work that may have been needed on our rented vehicle after numerous trips to the magical land of the butterflies. I was so enthralled with the whole life-cycle that I’m sure I could have easily given the tour by the end of the week. My friend and I had learned which lotions would attract which kinds and/or the most butterflies to land on us. We also realized certain butterflies liked to land on certain colors of clothing. I have since visited other butterfly farms here in the states, but I’ll admit, my favorite will always be the one in St. Martin. It certainly was not the nicest of them, nor was it adequately funded from the looks, however, it was the least touristy, and in as natural a state as possible a butterfly farm can be. It really didn’t have a thing to do with the fact that it was also the only butterfly farm where you could buy a bottle of beer right there by the front door, alongside two picnic tables situated just so the shade was always on them. That trip was in the Fall of 2004 and by the next Spring I read and searched all over the internet learning about butterflies that are common in my area, their host and nectar plants. The minute Spring arrived, I started my own BUTTERFLY GARDEN. |
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