Hello fellow Poshers! This is my story:

These are some of my best pictures of me and my butterfly friends. I have been raising Monarch butterflies since I was six years old. As I have learned, Monarch caterpillars do not have a high survival rate because of diseases and their worst enemy: the tachinid fly. Being a problem-solver, I began to create a Monarch way-station: a habitat planted for Monarch butterflies that consists of their host plant, milkweed, and other plants such as ironweed that will provide food for them to see if that could ease their journey to the sky. Seeing that many caterpillars were still being disrupted by the tachinid flies, I began to collect or -as I like to call it- shop for Monarch caterpillars that are only a couple days old (first, second, and third instar) and bring them into captivity -which is my house- and raise them until they go through metamorphosis and are ready to fly. After noticing how the quantity of caterpillars becoming butterflies and survival rates improved, I calculated that I have raised and released well over three hundred Monarchs butterflies! After years of studying how Monarch butterflies are vulnerable to pests and illnesses, this little creation of God has taught me an important lesson: even though illnesses, diseases and predators can hurt and kill Monarchs, they never stop flying beautifully and joyfully in the sun, absorbing all the awe of the earth.