Last weekend watching the Monarchs emerge at breakfast – I think Charlotte loves butterflies nearly as much as do I <3
Newly eclosed female in the petunia patch
In the above photo taken during the fall migration last year, you can easily see the difference. The female is on the left, the male on the right.
Please join me at the virtual screening of Beauty on the Wing at the Providence Children’s Film Festival. Screenings begin tomorrow, Friday the 12th, at 4pm. Tickets are only $12.50 per family and can be purchased here at Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly (Feature Doc)
If there’s something that the Moreno family agrees on, it’s that monarch butterflies changed their lives. And not just their own but the lives of most in Macheros, Mexico. The agricultural village of 400 people—whose name translates to “stables” in Spanish, because of the 100 horses that also make their home here—sits at the entrance to Cerro Pelón, one of four sanctuaries in Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, established by the federal government in 1986.
It started when Melquiades Moreno de Jesus secured a job as a forest ranger, or guardabosque, in 1982. Six years earlier, National Geographic had run a feature on monarch migration, bringing international attention to the butterflies’ overwintering sites in the mountainous oyamel fir forests some 80 miles west of Mexico City—though locals had discovered the colonies long before outsiders descended on the area. Soon after that publication, the State of Mexico’s Commission of Natural Parks and Wildlife (Comisión Estatal de Parques Naturales y de la Fauna, or CEPANAF) established the local forest ranger positions, employing men from Macheros to patrol the part of the sanctuary that’s in the state of Mexico. (Part of the butterfly reserve also lies in the state of Michoacán.) CEPANAF hired Melquiades several years later and he stayed on, monitoring the butterflies and deterring illegal loggers, for more than three decades.
Ellen Sharp
“When my dad got the job as a forest ranger, it changed our lives,” says Joel Moreno Rojas, the fourth-born of Melquiades’s 10 children. His father’s steady income brought the family out of poverty and afforded the children the chance to go to school. It also instilled a sense of local pride and inspired his family’s commitment to caring for the natural wonder at their doorstep.
Among the Moreno siblings, three have continued their father’s legacy: Joel, Anayeli, and sixth-born Patricio (“Pato”). Pato took over Melquiades’s forest ranger position after his dad’s retirement in 2014. When the monarchs are roosting in Cerro Pelón, roughly from November to March, he spends many days near the overwintering colonies, monitoring them and asking visitors not to disturb the impressive clusters. The butterflies, which have migrated thousands of miles from the eastern part of the United States, are drawn to the oyamel canopy—which provides insulation and keeps out the elements—for their winter rest. “I love it,” says the father of two. “It’s the most marvellous thing that could have happened in my life to have a job like this.”
Ellen Sharp
Being among hundreds of thousands of butterflies sparks such an intense emotional reaction that the Moreno siblings say it is impossible to name. When they do find the words, they describe experiencing the monarchs as powerful, beautiful, and emotional. Joel has seen visitors drop to their knees and pray or break out in tears when they first see the butterflies, who some locals believe are the souls of their ancestors, since the migrating monarchs arrive in Macheros right around the first of November, el Día de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead.
“As Mexicans, we should all be proud of the butterflies,” Pato continues. “I’d like everyone to understand the value of the forest, because it helps us and it helps the butterflies.”
We in Essex County are so incredibly blessed to have Greenbelt working so hard to conserve beautiful green space throughout the region. Check out this super video to get an overview of just some of the good work that has taken place this past year.
From Greenbelt, “Join Greenbelt President, Kate Bowditch, as she reviews Greenbelt’s challenges and accomplishments this past year. Thank you for your continued support of our organization!”
If you’d like to make a donation in support of Greenbelt, please visit ecga.org/annualfund
Each year customers ask nursery growers for plants earlier and earlier in the season. Yes, purchase if you are worried about stock, but do not plant outdoors until after May 31st. Keep in a protected location and gradually acclimate to outdoor temps (hardening off*). In the old days, after Memorial Day was the standard rule of thumb for New Englanders. We’ve gotten away from that. It’s risky business to plant your annual flowers, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, and herbs such as basil oregano outdoors too early, especially this year when we may have a snowfall this coming Mother’s Day weekend.
The following is a handy chart specifically for Cape Ann from the Farmer’s Almanac, although I would modify, ignore the frost date, and plant my warm weather seedlings closer to the June1st – June 5th Moon dates. The first date in each box is based on frost dates, the second line is based on Moon dates. Follow the Moon dates, especially this year when we are having an unusually cool spring.
*What does hardening off your seedlings mean? Think of it this way – seedlings are weaklings. They have delicate slender stalks that are easily blown over and their tiny tender leaves will freeze in a heart beat or shrivel in the penetrating sun of May. Seedlings need time to toughen up before planting out in the garden.
Hardening off is the practice of gradually exposing the seedlings to outdoor conditions. Place plants in a protected area for a few hours a day, out of the way of wind and direct sun. On cold nights bring indoors to a garage, shed, or back inside. Gradually increase the plant’s time spent outdoors. Keep moist and don’t let the soil dry out. In a week or so you will see the stalk and leaves have visibly thickened. House plants and herbs that have been grown indoors all winter (essentially babied) will also benefit from hardening off if you are planning to move outdoors.
| Crop | Based on Frost Dates Based on Moon Dates | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Start Seeds Indoors | Plant Seedlings
or Transplants |
Start Seeds Outdoors | |
| Basil | Mar 13-27 Mar 24-27 |
May 8-29 May 22-29 |
N/A |
| Beets | N/A | N/A | Apr 24-May 15 May 8-15 |
| Bell Peppers | Feb 27-Mar 13 Feb 27-Mar 9 |
May 22-Jun 12 May 22-Jun 5 |
N/A |
| Broccoli | Mar 27-Apr 10 Mar 27-Apr 7 |
Apr 17-May 8 Apr 22-May 7 |
N/A |
| Brussels Sprouts | Mar 27-Apr 10 Mar 27-Apr 7 |
Apr 10-May 1 Apr 22-May 1 |
N/A |
| Cabbage | Mar 13-27 Mar 24-27 |
Apr 10-24 Apr 22-24 |
N/A |
| Cantaloupes | Apr 10-17 | May 22-Jun 12 May 22-Jun 5 |
N/A |
| Carrots | N/A | N/A | Apr 3-17 Apr 8-17 |
| Cauliflower | Mar 27-Apr 10 Mar 27-Apr 7 |
Apr 10-24 Apr 22-24 |
N/A |
| Celery | Feb 27-Mar 13 Feb 27-Mar 9 |
May 15-29 May 22-29 |
N/A |
| Chives | N/A | N/A | Apr 10-17 |
| Cilantro (Coriander) | N/A | N/A | May 8-22 May 22 |
| Corn | N/A | N/A | May 8-22 May 22 |
| Cucumbers | Apr 10-17 | May 22-Jun 12 May 22-Jun 5 |
N/A |
| Dill | N/A | N/A | Apr 3-17 Apr 3- 7 |
| Eggplants | Feb 27-Mar 13 Feb 27-Mar 9 |
May 22-Jun 12 May 22-Jun 5 |
N/A |
| Green Beans | N/A | N/A | May 15-Jun 5 May 22-Jun 5 |
| Kale | Mar 27-Apr 10 Mar 27-Apr 7 |
Apr 10-May 1 Apr 22-May 1 |
N/A |
| Lettuce | Mar 27-Apr 10 Mar 27-Apr 7 |
Apr 24-May 22 Apr 24-May 7, May 22 |
N/A |
| Okra | N/A | N/A | May 22-Jun 5 May 22-Jun 5 |
| Onions | N/A | N/A | Apr 10-May 1 Apr 10-21 |
| Oregano | Feb 27-Mar 27 Feb 27-Mar 9, Mar 24-27 |
May 8-29 May 22-29 |
N/A |
| Parsley | N/A | N/A | Apr 10-24 Apr 22-24 |
| Parsnips | N/A | N/A | Apr 17-May 8 Apr 17-21, May 8 |
| Peas | N/A | N/A | Mar 27-Apr 17 Mar 27-Apr 7 |
| Potatoes | N/A | N/A | May 1-22 May 8-21 |
| Pumpkins | Apr 10-24 Apr 22-24 |
May 22-Jun 12 May 22-Jun 5 |
N/A |
| Radishes | N/A | N/A | Mar 13-Apr 3 Mar 13-23 |
| Rosemary | Feb 27-Mar 13 Feb 27-Mar 9 |
May 15-Jun 5 May 22-Jun 5 |
N/A |
| Sage | Mar 13-27 Mar 24-27 |
May 8-22 May 22 |
N/A |
| Spinach | N/A | N/A | Mar 27-Apr 17 Mar 27-Apr 7 |
| Squash (Zucchini) | Apr 10-24 Apr 22-24 |
May 22-Jun 12 May 22-Jun 5 |
N/A |
| Sweet Potatoes | Apr 10-17 Apr 10-17 |
May 22-Jun 12 Jun 6-12 |
N/A |
| Swiss Chard | Mar 27-Apr 10 Mar 27-Apr 7 |
Apr 17-24 Apr 22-24 |
N/A |
| Thyme | Feb 27-Mar 27 Feb 27-Mar 9, Mar 24-27 |
May 8-29 May 22-29 |
N/A |
| Tomatoes | Mar 13-27 Mar 24-27 |
May 15-Jun 5 May 22-Jun 5 |
N/A |
| Turnips | N/A | N/A | Apr 10-May 1 Apr 10-21 |
| Watermelons | Apr 10-17 | May 22-Jun 12 May 22-Jun 5 |
N/A |
A quiet dinner for two – with no Charlotte and Alex for dinner, we decided to give Allie’s Beach Street Cafe’s take out a whirl. Along with several other fine Cape Ann restaurants, it is now at the top of our list. So nourishing and so delicious, country French cooking is pure comfort food, especially welcome after a cold damp drizzly day.
Tom had the baked haddock, with potatoes and green beans, all cooked to perfection and he LOVED that. I had the most extraordinarily huge serving of the most delicious beef stroganoff. So huge I am having the second half for lunch. The beef was melt in your mouth tender. The mushrooms and noodles were a rich chocolate brown, full flavored with absorbing the outstanding wine/beef/creamy sauce. I am crazy about creamed spinach (I know, it’s a little weird) but creamed spinach made with fresh spinach is amazingly delicious and Allie’s is just that.
Allie’s Beach Street cafe is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, for both curbside pick up and delivery.
Allie’s is located at 36 Beach Street
Manchester-by-the Sea
978-704-9571
One of the most haunting images is dog poop in plastic, found haphazardly discarded in every corner of the City, but nowhere more prominently than at our beaches.
What are we leaving for our children to uncover in fifty years?
These photos were taken on the weekend of March 28th, 2020. For two and a half days, the pile grew larger and larger, greeting everyone as they came on and off the beach. The pile was removed by the DPW on Monday morning.
