Every year, Pollinator Week brings together growers, conservationists, gardeners, and advocates from across North America to raise awareness for the bees, butterflies, and other pollinators that our food system depends on. This year’s theme, “Life on a Leaf: Celebrating Caterpillars and Host Plants,” is a reminder that healthy habitat and the plants that support it […]
Flowers have always been how we say I love you in May. But what if this Mother’s Day, the flowers you gave kept blooming not just for a week on the kitchen table, but for seasons, summers, and generations of pollinators to come? At Farmers for Monarchs, we think the most meaningful gift a family can give […]
Where are the monarchs now? The monarchs are well into their northern migration and can be found throughout the Midwest. Monarchs have been sighted as far north as Indiana. Follow their migration at Journey North. A campaign that started in England urging landowners to avoid mowing their lawn is steadily gaining momentum in the United […]
Where are the monarchs now? The southern migration is well under way, advancing at a pace such that the first monarchs will likely arrive at the overwintering sites in Mexico in time for the Day of the Dead (November 2). The number and sizes of overnight roosts reported to Journey North across the eastern US […]
One of the many requests the world makes to farmers and other land managers is restoring pollinator populations by implementing pollinator-friendly conservation practices on their lands. This month, we share a conservation principle that we hope lightens the burden on farm managers: simply stop mowing, at least during the month of May. Last year, we […]
The monarchs coming out of overwintering in Mexico have reached their breeding grounds in the southern U.S. and are nearing the end of life. Their offspring, the first generation of 2022 will soon continue the northward migration. Insect populations fluctuate with annual weather patterns and timing. Success for monarchs relies on well-timed and abundant resources, […]
There’s a relatively new campaign catching on across the world urging home and landowners to skip their early season lawn care—at least during the month of May. The campaign is called No Mow May and it asks landowners to forego mowing their lawn during the entire month of May to let flowers in lawns bloom, […]
Among the most simple and effective measures farmers and landowners can take to conserve monarch butterfly populations is to follow best practices for mowing. When establishing habitat, or conducting management activities to keep the site healthy, mowing can be an important tool. Once habitat is well-established, mowing or prescribe burning every 3-5 years promotes healthy […]