Care Sinclair 4/2/19 Care Sinclair 4/2/19

Grow A Butterfly! Buy Your Caterpillars NOW for Junction Wings 2019 - Community Fundraiser

It’s officially spring, so that means it’s time to place our orders for Junction Wings 2019!! If you’ve never heard of this incredible community fundraiser, you need to check it out. Basically for $10 you get an adorable little caterpillar in a container with food and instructions on how to care for it. You take it home and watch it grow into your very own special butterfly. It truly is magic.

My family has been taking part in this fundraiser for several years, and every single year I am amazed at this process and how much our kiddos learn from it.

Check out my post from a few years ago for a super simple Ikea Hack Butterfly Habitat, so you’ll have the perfect home for your little friend to emerge into as a butterfly.

Don’t wait! Place your caterpillar orders by this Friday April 5th! ***ORDERS EXTENDED TO APRIL 8TH AT 5PM*** ( I always recommend buying a few, since some won’t work out. Think of it as a good insurance policy.)

Caterpillars will be available for pickup in the West End on Saturday May 11th & Wednesday May 15th. The pickup location and all details will be sent out via confirmation email with each caterpillar purchase. You can arrange for someone else to pick up your caterpillars on your behalf, but please let the Junction Project know in advance. Full Details & Buy Caterpillars

I hope you and your family enjoy this as much as mine does every year. Maybe it’ll become one of your spring family traditions, like it is in our home.

- Care

Care Sinclair 4/2/18 Care Sinclair 4/2/18

From Caterpillar to Butterfly - Take Part in Junction Wings 2018

It's that time of year again. Time for the most fun community fundraiser ever - Junction Wings! For anyone who isn't familiar, it's basically the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar (without the inappropriate food choices) come to life in your very own home.

For only $10 you get a caterpillar in a little container with some caterpillar food. We always get a few caterpillars. In nature not everything works out, so think of extras as an insurance policy to avoid a disappointed kid. Your fuzzy friend(s) will remain in the little cup eating until they're nice and big and tired. Then it will attach to the lid of the container and spin it's cocoon. At this time you can move the container lid with the attached cocoon to an appropriate butterfly habitat.

Check out my post from last year about a simple Ikea Hack for a perfect butterfly enclosure.

About 10 days later a beautiful painted lady butterfly emerges. Your butterfly will need to remain in the butterfly habitat for a few days while it's wings dry out and it gains strength. Then it can be released outside. (Don't worry, all the details are included in the instructions that come with your little critter)

The whole experience is so magical and such a fun activity to do with your kids. We look forward to this event every year and are so excited that it's almost time to bring a few hungry caterpillars home.

If you live in the area and are willing to drive to the Junction to pick up your little fuzzy friend(s), you are more than welcome to take part in this event. Simply Buy Your Caterpillars Here by Tuesday April 10th.

Please Note: Caterpillar pickup will take place on Saturday May 12th from 12pm-4pm on the 2nd floor of the Legion in the Junction 3591 Dundas Street West. If you can't make this pickup time you will need to arrange for someone to pick them up for you.

Make sure to share your caterpillar adventures on instagram and facebook with #junctionwings so we can all follow along.

Care

Care Sinclair 5/15/17 Care Sinclair 5/15/17

From Caterpillar to Butterfly - Habitat Inspiration & A Super Simple Ikea Hack

As promised, I wanted to share some butterfly habitat inspiration as a follow up to my post about The Junction Wings Project. So here it is! Don't hesitate to post questions in the comments.

Now that you've welcomed (or will soon be welcoming) some fuzzy little caterpillars into your home, you need to start thinking about a habitat. Lucky for busy parents, your caterpillars will remain in their little cup with their food for the first week, so you don't need to rush out to prepare this right away.

As promised, I wanted to share some butterfly habitat inspiration as a follow up to my post about The Junction Wings Project. So here it is! Don't hesitate to post questions in the comments.

There are tons of ways to make a great butterfly enclosure, but keep in mind how old your children are and what might be needed to keep said children from killing said butterfly ;) The enclosure doesn't need to be fancy, but it needs to allow fresh flow of air, have a place for your cocoons to hang down while waiting for them to emerge, and keep your little butterflies safely inside once they hatch. You can make some simple DIY versions with mesh netting and various household items (see pics below). You can also use a mesh laundry hamper (like the one below from Ikea). Personally, having something that can't be easily crushed, and that doesn't sit on the ground, is top priority in our house. Our littlest is currently in the "destroy all things" phase, so keeping them out of her reach and safe is key.

This is our 3rd season welcoming butterflies and we're still loving out Ikea mini greenhouse. We usually add a few plants and a mesh top. Last year we used simple bulldog clips to hold the mesh top in place (I used a recycled lime bag), but I found it frustrating with curious kids. This year I decided I wanted to improve the mesh top, so I removed one of the glass panels from the greenhouse lid and traced it out on a piece of cardboard (the box it comes in works great).

I cut out the square of cardboard and then cut out the centre of the square leaving only a 1cm wide outer edge frame. I then wrapped some organza (any type of soft mesh or screen will work. If you don't have a scrap laying around, your local hardware, fabric or dollar store will probably have something appropriate) over the cardboard frame and stapled it into place. The screen frame then slid nicely back into place in the top of the greenhouse. You could do both sides, but we're going to leave 1 glass and 1 mesh. Once the cocoons are ready and attached to the lids of their cups I will cut an X in the mesh and carefully lower the cocoons through. The plastic lids of the containers sit in the holes of the mesh so the cocoons can hang down into the greenhouse awaiting their arrival.

Once your butterflies hatch they will need to remain in your habitat for up to a week to dry out their wings and gain strength. Don't worry, the instructions that come with your caterpillar will give you all the details on the food options eg. sugar water & sliced fruit. Once your butterfly is flying around it's ready to be freed into the wild. We love letting our butterflies go in our garden every year.