Monarch Magic in Maryland with Donna Thompson and Friends

Wendy & Rich 0:00
Hey, everyone is rich Bennett. Can you believe it? The show is turning 10 this year. I am so grateful for each and every one of you who've tuned in, shared an episode, or even joined the conversation over the years. You're the reason that this podcast has grown into what it is today. Together, we've shared laughs, tears, tears, and moments that truly matter. So I want to thank you for being part of this journey. Let's make the next 10 years even better. Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios Harford County Living Presence, conversations with rich Bennett. 

To

Donna Haley 1:00
10 years ago, I didn't know what a monarch 

Kayla Deickman 1:03
was. I didn't 

Donna Thompson 1:04
know what milkweed was. I didn't know what a chrysalis was, and I was never into butterflies. I'm still not into butterflies. 

Kayla Deickman 1:12
Kid how? 

Donna Thompson 1:14
But, so a city one day looking at my Facebook, and I saw 

Donna Haley 1:19
Something. 

Donna Thompson 1:19
something on a friend's Facebook page, and I said, "What is that?" And she said a chrysalis. And I said, "What's a chrysalis?" And then she said, "It's going to be a monarch." And I said, "What's a monarch?" 

Rich Bennett 1:32
And 

Donna Haley 1:33
I mean, this is absolutely a thousand 

Donna Thompson 1:35
true 

Donna Haley 1:35
percent 

Donna Thompson 1:35
story. And then she said, "Well, the butterflies, they're in trouble." And she said, "What do you mean they're in trouble?" Well, there you go. So that was it because my nature is a rescuer. So we rescue dogs, we rescue cats. So if we find 

Donna Haley 1:50
anything, 

Kayla Deickman 1:51
I 

Donna Thompson 1:52
can't just sit back and do nothing. So that was my calling. Okay, the 

Kayla Deickman 1:57
monarch 

Donna Thompson 1:57
probably 

Kayla Deickman 1:57
should 

Donna Thompson 1:57
be in trouble. What can I do now? 

Donna Haley 1:59
Well, 

Kayla Deickman 1:59
were there, weren't there almost extinct? 

Donna Thompson 2:01
So, so before we, before we, yes, said, "No, they're not almost extinct." The issue is they're in New Zealand, they're in Australia, they're in Hawaii, they're in the Canary Islands. 

Kayla Deickman 2:15
Wow. 

Donna Thompson 2:15
So as a butterfly, they're not at risk of extinction. 

Kayla Deickman 2:20
But 

Donna Thompson 2:20
in the United States, we have the North American migration, which goes from Mexico, up the East Coast, the Midwest, and the West Coast. And I don't know if the other two migratory paths are in trouble. But 

Donna Haley 2:36
the focus 

Donna Thompson 2:37
on the North East migratory path, which runs for Mexico, up the East Coast to Canada, 

Kayla Deickman 2:44
was 

Donna Haley 2:44
and back, 

Donna Thompson 2:45
is it risk of extinction? And when I heard that, I can't just not do anything. 

Kayla Deickman 2:52
It's 

Donna Thompson 2:52
instinctive in me that I have to do, 

Donna Haley 2:55
something, not just sit back and watch 

Donna Thompson 2:57
watch and 

Donna Haley 2:57
and 

Donna Thompson 2:57
say, 

Donna Haley 2:57
say, oh, 

Donna Thompson 2:57
oh, 

Donna Haley 2:58
that's 

Donna Thompson 2:58
that's 

Donna Haley 2:58
so sad. 

Rich Bennett 2:58
And it's not 

Kayla Deickman 2:59
like 

Rich Bennett 2:59
like, 

Kayla Deickman 2:59
you're raising 

Donna Haley 3:00
tigers 

Rich Bennett 3:01
or 

Kayla Deickman 3:01
anything. I mean, it's something as small as this. 

Donna Haley 3:04
I 

Donna Thompson 3:05
knew nothing, absolutely nothing. So I started googling, and the issue was you need a plant milkweed. I said, what's milkweed? So I just did a search on Google, and I found an online plant source, 

Donna Haley 3:19
and 

Donna Thompson 3:19
she's retiring, but Rose 

Donna Haley 3:22
I came from 

Donna Thompson 3:22
Franklin 

Donna Haley 3:22
monarchs 

Donna Thompson 3:22
is the 

Donna Haley 3:22
and 

Donna Thompson 3:22
milkweed. 

Donna Haley 3:23
milkweed.com, and I purchased six 

Donna Thompson 3:26
swamp milkweed plants, which is asclapia 

Donna Haley 3:28
and Carnada. 

Donna Thompson 3:30
So 

Kayla Deickman 3:30
the plants 

Donna Haley 3:31
that's 

Donna Thompson 3:31
came, 

Donna Haley 3:32
the botanical name, asclapia and Carnada. I knew that, I was just 

Kayla Deickman 3:35
testing 

Donna Haley 3:36
it. 

So 

Donna Thompson 3:38
the six 

Donna Haley 3:39
plants came, and they sat out 

Donna Thompson 3:41
in a little box on the front sidewalk, and I was busy with everything else. the 

Donna Haley 3:46
And 

Donna Thompson 3:46
next thing I walk out there and go, oh my gosh, there's a 

Donna Haley 3:49
caterpillar. 

Donna Thompson 3:50
So that was really cool. 

Rich Bennett 3:52
How big were these plants when you got them? 

Donna Thompson 3:53
They were probably about 10 inches. 

So here's this little 10 inch plant, and there's a big caterpillar. So no. So I would think because of the size of that caterpillar, it probably came shipped with that caterpillar. 

Kayla Deickman 4:12
Oh, good. 

Donna Thompson 4:14
So plants just sat out there on the sidewalk, and then now the caterpillar's gone. I thought great, a bird ate it or something, and then we looked, and we 

Donna Haley 4:23
saw it in 

Donna Thompson 4:24
our bush, and it was hanging upside down in the shape of a j, like what is it doing? I knew 

Kayla Deickman 4:30
nothing. Nothing. nothing, 

Donna Thompson 4:32
Absolutely 

Kayla Deickman 4:32
absolutely nothing. 

Donna Thompson 4:33
And then my dog, I'm at work, and my daughter is calling. And you see, mom, you've got a butterfly, so you got to be kidding me. So she sent me pictures, 

Kayla Deickman 4:41
and 

Donna Thompson 4:41
I thought this is really cool. 

Donna Haley 4:42
And I 

Donna Thompson 4:42
I 

Donna Haley 4:42
never saw it 

Donna Thompson 4:43
because it flew away, but literally I ordered six plants because it said you need to buy milkweed. So I bought milkweed, sat it down on the sidewalk, never even planted it, found a caterpillar, it turned into a butterfly and it flew away. So that was around this time, August, September, several, ten years 

Kayla Deickman 5:02
ago. 

Donna Thompson 5:03
So then because of that, then it was just so intriguing 

Donna Haley 5:08
that I saw it. I just started reading about it and doing 

Donna Thompson 5:11
Google search, and I went to 

Donna Haley 5:14
YouTube and I 

Donna Thompson 5:15
found different videos from a guy 

Donna Haley 5:18
Rich 

Donna Thompson 5:18
named 

Donna Haley 5:18
Rund. He's 

Donna Thompson 5:19
I'm absolutely brilliant, 

Donna Haley 5:21
an 

Donna Thompson 5:21
science 

Donna Haley 5:21
excellent 

Donna Thompson 5:21
teacher. 

Donna Haley 5:21
teacher, 

Donna Thompson 5:21
I think he's in many--and 

Donna Haley 5:23
Michigan Wisconsin, he's 

Donna Thompson 5:24
he's--and 

Donna Haley 5:24
up in the northern state, and he 

Donna Thompson 5:26
he had 

Donna Haley 5:26
had five-part 

Donna Thompson 5:27
video series on how to help the monarchs. So you go out and you look for eggs and, you know, then you can protect them 

Kayla Deickman 5:35
from 

Donna Thompson 5:35
and on and on. And still, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. So the next spring, 

Donna Haley 5:42
spring 

Donna Thompson 5:42
I ordered more plants, and I ordered common milkweed monarchwatch. org, ordered about six flats of it, and I asked people, "Hey, you want milkweed? You want milkweed?" Yeah, 

Donna Haley 5:55
yeah, sure. 

Donna Thompson 5:56
we just distributed milkweed, and I was telling people the monarchs need milkweed because that's what they lay their eggs 

Kayla Deickman 6:01
So 

Donna Thompson 6:01
on. At the time, I didn't 

Donna Haley 6:03
know what the significance of the milkweed was. 

Donna Thompson 6:07
So we just distributed a bunch of milkweed, and then we had a friend in Delaware, Penny, it's like a sister to me, and whatever I ordered, I replicated my order, and I sent it to her in Delaware. So here, we're in two different states, but she and I are growing this milkweed, 

Donna Haley 6:23
and seeing what happens. 

Donna Thompson 6:24
So we literally learned 

Donna Haley 6:25
together and 

Donna Thompson 6:30
hardly--maybe we found one or two eggs. And the research that I found 

Kayla Deickman 6:35
was, 

Donna Thompson 6:35
"You've got a plant native, native, native, you've got a plant your natives," and there's a-- 

Kayla Deickman 6:39
Which is--what, the swamp milkweed was-- 

Donna Haley 6:40
swamp in common. 

Kayla Deickman 6:41
The 

Donna Haley 6:41
Yes, and two boroughs. Is your butterfly wheat? Those are the three around here. 

Donna Thompson 6:46
do? Yeah, so we did everything that the science told 

Donna Haley 6:50
Told 

Donna Thompson 6:50
us 

Donna Haley 6:50
us 

Donna Thompson 6:51
to 

Donna Haley 6:51
to 

Donna Thompson 6:51
do because we worked absolutely clueless, 

Donna Haley 6:53
and what 

Donna Thompson 6:54
we did was Google searches and YouTube videos, and all that. And you 

Donna Haley 6:58
see a 

Donna Thompson 6:59
native native native. You've got a plant--and 

Donna Haley 7:00
you're native, and I 

Donna Thompson 7:01
jokingily 

Kayla Deickman 7:02
say 

Donna Thompson 7:02
so I think we're 

Kayla Deickman 7:02
native, 

Donna Thompson 7:03
sarcastically now, 

Donna Haley 7:04
because 

Kayla Deickman 7:04
and 

Donna Haley 7:05
for four years I had no 

Donna Thompson 7:06
butterflies. 

reached back to Rose Franklin at monarchsandmilkweed.com, 

Kayla Deickman 7:12
So I 

Donna Thompson 7:12
and I told her I said, "Rose, I've had this milkweed 

Donna Haley 7:14
for three 

Donna Thompson 7:15
four 

Donna Haley 7:15
or 

Donna Thompson 7:16
years now, and I still don't have any butterflies." So she suggested we try tropical milkweed, and yes, the other name is Harry Balls Milkweed. 

Rich Bennett 7:25
Get out of here. 

Donna Thompson 7:27
Harry Balls 

Donna Haley 7:27
Oh, 

Donna Thompson 7:27
Milk. 

Donna Haley 7:28
go 

Kayla Deickman 7:28
ahead, king! I knew you 

Donna Haley 7:29
have 

Kayla Deickman 7:30
had to 

Donna Haley 7:30
that one. 

Kayla Deickman 7:31
I 

Donna Haley 7:31
the 

Kayla Deickman 7:31
was reading 

Donna Haley 7:32
newspaper, and I was 

Kayla Deickman 7:32
I 

Donna Haley 7:32
just-- 

Kayla Deickman 7:32
was waiting. 

Donna Haley 7:34
Harry Balls. 

Donna Thompson 7:36
no, no, no. So, 

Kayla Deickman 7:37
No, 

Donna Thompson 7:38
it's--so 

Donna Haley 7:39
I'm going to we can call 

Donna Thompson 7:41
a gompo--gompo--gompo-carpa-s-faso-carpa, or we can call it Garrett. So it's the botanical name is gompo-carpa-s-faso-carpa. 

Rich Bennett 7:49
All right, so the Harry Balls Milkweed. 

Donna Thompson 7:51
Harry 

Rich Bennett 7:51
Milkweed. 

Donna Thompson 7:51
Balls Now, some people refer to it as 

Donna Haley 7:54
balloon milkweed. Another people 

Donna Thompson 7:56
call it "family jewels." 

And some people--oh, 

Donna Haley 8:03
the shit of brother 

Kayla Deickman 8:05
Ball. 

Donna Haley 8:05
Harry 

Kayla Deickman 8:06
We 

Donna Haley 8:06
actually showed a broad Harry Balls with us. 

Rich Bennett 8:08
a--that's a--oh, 

Kayla Deickman 8:09
That's 

Rich Bennett 8:10
you see? 

Donna Haley 8:10
This is--it's a broad--everything but the Harry Balls. You know what 

Kayla Deickman 8:12
right? 

Donna Haley 8:12
this is, 

Kayla Deickman 8:13
It reminded me 

Donna Haley 8:14
of--it reminded me of now 

Kayla Deickman 8:15
old 

Donna Haley 8:15
the--like--the 

Kayla Deickman 8:15
Saturday--like--Sarinite Livescape, where they 

Donna Haley 8:18
that. 

Kayla Deickman 8:18
were doing 

Donna Haley 8:18
The R-Radio. 

Rich Bennett 8:20
Did you ever see 

Donna Haley 8:20
that? Two-witter. 

Rich Bennett 8:22
So, it didn't have a--had a guy on, 

Donna Haley 8:24
said--I 

Rich Bennett 8:24
he mean, these--soapy 

Kayla Deickman 8:27
balls, 

Rich Bennett 8:28
they're gold--fourth--they're 

Donna Haley 8:28
gold back. 

Rich Bennett 8:29
Fourth--they're--you 

Donna Haley 8:31
guys--yeah, 

Kayla Deickman 8:32
that--I'm 

Donna Haley 8:36
Honey, 

Rich Bennett 8:36
sorry. 

Donna Haley 8:36
honey, a couple--a couple years ago, we were--we, 

Donna Thompson 8:40
um, host--we invite people to--we invite people to come look at the garden. 

Donna Haley 8:45
And, gentlemen, from--what 

Donna Thompson 8:48
is it called? The--the Bel-Air--the Bel-Air Facebook News. 

Kayla Deickman 8:53
W-Belle--oh, Go home. 

Donna Haley 8:54
W-Belle Air News. 

Kayla Deickman 8:54
G-O. 

Donna Haley 8:55
G-O. G-O. So G-O came to the house, and he was so 

Donna Thompson 8:58
funny. So, what I didn't realize is he leaned--he 

Donna Haley 9:01
leaned down, and he wh--he 

Donna Thompson 9:02
whispered into the microphone, and he had told me to say Harry Balls as much as I could. So, he reached down, and he spoke into the mic. He said, "Now look, she's gonna say it. And every time she says it, I want you to take a shot." So... 

Donna Haley 9:15
So 

Donna Thompson 9:18
he came down and, you know, 

Kayla Deickman 9:19
came down 

Donna Thompson 9:20
the, to the garden and he's asking me to describe the Harry Balls and and every time I said Harry Balls he was asking his viewers 

Donna Haley 9:27
into 

Donna Thompson 9:27
to take a shot. 

Donna Haley 9:42
And 

Donna Thompson 9:42
I walked over and I won't use the guy's name. I said, hey Dr. Jo, how are your Harry Balls doing? And, and people looked at me, why? 

Donna Haley 9:52
ah, 

Donna Thompson 9:52
He 

Donna Haley 9:52
he's been 

Donna Thompson 9:53
said, 

Donna Haley 9:53
doing really 

Donna Thompson 9:54
really well in somebody's, 

Donna Haley 9:54
in my case, doing 

Donna Thompson 9:55
well 

Donna Haley 9:55
really 

Donna Thompson 9:55
too because I had given so many people. 

And we're all talking about our Harry Balls in, 

Donna Haley 10:01
in hallway, and the doctors just went right along with it, it was actually going like that. 

Donna Thompson 10:07
But no, the name of the plant is Harry Balls Milkweed. So we planted Harry Balls Milkweed and we planted 

Donna Haley 10:16
Tropical Milkweed 

Donna Thompson 10:17
and our garden 

Donna Haley 10:19
exploded. 

Donna Thompson 10:21
And when I say exploded, I'm talking, we've got monarchs everywhere, yeah, 

Donna Haley 10:27
so we've got, we've got Harry Balls. 

Kayla Deickman 10:30
What is this? 

Donna Haley 10:32
The Harry Balls 

Rich Bennett 10:33
exploded. 

Donna Haley 10:33
Balls exploded, 

Donna Thompson 10:34
Harry 

Donna Haley 10:34
I mean, it's, Harry Balls, Harry 

Donna Thompson 10:35
Balls explode, 

Donna Haley 10:37
but tell them why it exploded. 

Rich Bennett 10:38
Well apparently

Donna Haley 10:40
nevermind. 

Donna Thompson 10:43
So go to page three on your handout. 

Kayla Deickman 10:45
Oh Jesus. 

Donna Thompson 10:45
Rich go to page three. So so little real little story. So we had my daughter called me and said, hey mom do you still have milkweed? Yeah, why? What's up? Well, my dear friend Angie Godblaster lost her little 

Kayla Deickman 11:06
But

Donna Thompson 11:07
when I said, you cannot start a butterfly garden in August, you got to start it Mother's Day to begin any of the season because the plants need to be substantial. 

Donna Haley 11:16
But she said 

Donna Thompson 11:16
she wanted to start a butterfly garden, but you can't start a butterfly garden in August. So I said send her down, I had never met Angie before. This is an absolute 1000% story. This is what got us to where we are today. 

Kayla Deickman 11:32
that 

Donna Thompson 11:33
This is the name of the friend just you know very heartbroken mom. 

Donna Haley 11:37
And 

Donna Thompson 11:38
we stood on the 

Donna Haley 11:39
driveway and I had 

Donna Thompson 11:40
to 

Donna Haley 11:40
planned 

Donna Thompson 11:41
swap milkweed common 

Donna Haley 11:44
milkweed, 

Donna Thompson 11:45
butterfly weed, showing milkweed. There were different types of native milkweed in our garden. Native native native native. It just keeps saying you got to plant your natives and I did. And I had no butterflies. So then we added tropical milkweed and hairy balls milkweed. But when I started noticing monarchs and I'm standing next to a mom who's lost her daughter and I said, Angie hold on. Stem will still because something just flew by my head and it was orange and oh my gosh. It was a female and she landed on front and one of Harry ball right in front of me and started laying eggs right in 

Kayla Deickman 12:25
me. 

Donna Thompson 12:25
front of And my jaw dropped and I said, you have got to be kidding and we still have to drive away and we watched that butterfly go from hairy balls to hairy balls to hairy balls. Like a ping pong she skipped the calm. 

Donna Haley 12:42
She 

Donna Thompson 12:42
skipped the tropical she skipped 

Donna Haley 12:45
swamp she skipped the incant, 

Donna Thompson 12:46
the 

Donna Haley 12:46
the incant those swamp is incant out of she 

Donna Thompson 12:48
switched. She switched she skipped the two barossa and she skipped the showy 

Donna Haley 12:53
and she won all over that car and lay 

Donna Thompson 12:55
eggs on the hairy balls and I'm 

Donna Haley 12:58
standing in the 

Donna Thompson 12:59
driveway. Now the fourth of this is the fifth year 

Kayla Deickman 13:02
end 

Donna Thompson 13:03
of this literally stunned frozen in my steps. I can't I don't understand what I'm watching. 

Kayla Deickman 13:09
Yeah. 

Donna Thompson 13:10
And about three months later, I saw this study that you have in front of you. So this study was published by these two professors the one gentleman is Dutch. I don't know how to pronounce his name. If you look at the bottom 

Donna Haley 13:24
of the study, it says of all 

Donna Thompson 13:26
the list, it's a study was done by professors. Job, derrode and Mark Hunter. So what this study, what they did is they measure the levels of Cardinolide in different varieties of milkweed. So if you look at that top paragraph, 

Donna Haley 13:45
it says milkweed 

Donna Thompson 13:45
t 

Donna Haley 13:46
talks, 

Donna Thompson 13:46
oxins, or cardiac glycocides, and the levels are higher in different types of milk weed, monarch female butterflies have given a choice like to choose 

Donna Haley 13:55
they choose 

Donna Thompson 13:55
milk weed with higher levels of 

Donna Haley 13:57
milkweed 

Donna Thompson 13:57
these 

Donna Haley 13:57
for these 

Donna Thompson 13:57
glycocides, 

Donna Haley 13:58
blinds, which 

Donna Thompson 13:59
which 

Donna Haley 13:59
is 

Donna Thompson 13:59
is in 

Donna Haley 13:59
in 

Donna Thompson 13:59
the 

Donna Haley 13:59
a 

Donna Thompson 13:59
sap 

Donna Haley 13:59
self-detective 

Donna Thompson 14:00
to protect 

Donna Haley 14:00
way. 

Donna Thompson 14:00
their babies. 

that's what you're going to find at home depot and lows. 

Donna Haley 14:15
So 

Donna Thompson 14:15
So you go across and look at the cardinal I level 0.004. 

Donna Haley 14:22
And 

Donna Thompson 14:24
now you see the first end which is swamp, which is askepius incarnata 0.05 

Donna Haley 14:33
and 

Donna Thompson 14:33
it's a finicky plant that 

Donna Haley 14:34
leaves turns 

Donna Thompson 14:35
the 

Donna Haley 14:35
red. 

Donna Thompson 14:35
next red I I had many we ripped them all out because it just didn't perform well in our garden. 

Donna Haley 14:40
So 

Donna Thompson 14:40
So then 

Donna Haley 14:40
then 

Donna Thompson 14:40
the next one we had also added was showy milk weed, which is askepius speciosa 0.192. So as you see, as you're going down the numbers are getting higher 

Kayla Deickman 14:54
and 

Donna Thompson 14:55
Common milk weed is what you're going to find in farmers fields on the side of the road in ditches. 

Donna Haley 14:59
higher. 

Donna Thompson 15:00
So that's askepius syriaca. And that spreads by rhizomes. I didn't know that the first time I ordered it. So it's like a snake slithering across your 

Donna Haley 15:09
lawn. 

Donna Thompson 15:10
So it slither slither. It's across the lawn and then it's head pops up and then slither slither and then the head pops up. 

Rich Bennett 15:17
Does that mean it's invasive? 

Donna Thompson 15:18
It is. Well, whether it's invasive or aggressive spreaders or different criteria. 

Donna Haley 15:23
Okay. 

Donna Thompson 15:23
So I might say it's invasive and somebody might say no it's not invasive. It's an aggressive spreader. I don't know the specifics as to what what defines one from the other. For me, if I planted it here and it shows up there it's 

Kayla Deickman 15:37
invasive. But 

Donna Thompson 15:38
scientifically there are specific specific characteristics of the plant, whether it's 

Donna Haley 15:44
aggressive or whether it's invasive. 

Donna Thompson 15:46
I just don't want to use the incorrect terminology. But the common milkweed syriaca 0.370. Now you go down to your tropical milkweed which is askepius, curisovica 0.86. 

Donna Haley 16:00
So it's getting better. It's 

Donna Thompson 16:01
getting better. Now go to the bottom line and what do you see? 

Kayla Deickman 16:04
The hairy balls, holy 

Donna Thompson 16:06
cow, what's it say? 

Donna Haley 16:07
3.003.00 Man. 

Donna Thompson 16:11
that moment when I 

Donna Haley 16:13
So 

Donna Thompson 16:13
saw this study 

Donna Haley 16:14
published and to 

Donna Thompson 16:17
this day I literally remember jumping up from my seat and yelling I knew it. I knew I knew I knew something was going on in that garden. 

Donna Haley 16:26
But I had 

Donna Thompson 16:27
no idea But why if I have six types of milkweed in my garden is that female going from hairy balls to hairy balls I saw it 

Kayla Deickman 16:36
what. 

Donna Thompson 16:37
with my own eyes. 

Donna Haley 16:38
I didn't know 

Donna Thompson 16:39
and 

Donna Haley 16:39
why 

Donna Thompson 16:39
I didn't know what I was seeing. And when I saw this study, 

Donna Haley 16:44
this 

Donna Thompson 16:45
study and that moment with my friend Angie 

Donna Haley 16:47
who lost her 

Donna Thompson 16:48
daughter was absolutely life changing. And I literally felt like Paul Revere, the British are coming. 

Kayla Deickman 16:55
I mean, 

Donna Thompson 16:57
I mean that I felt compelled to oh my gosh, I have to tell people about this. 

Kayla Deickman 17:01
Yeah. 

Donna Thompson 17:02
And I literally felt like I'm onto something. No, I'm just a person in my driveway. These scientists did this study. I think they know. But here I am in my I have it. He just 

Donna Haley 17:15
saying, 

Donna Thompson 17:16
I got to tell everybody that the 

Donna Haley 17:18
amount of monarchs are 

Donna Thompson 17:19
in trouble. The numbers are down. They need milkweed. And I see their lay in eggs all over my dry all over my garden. I need to tell people. So I harvested the seeds off of one of them. And I don't people look at my gardens. And when I say, I don't know how to garden, they think I'm crazy. When I say that to me, a good gardener, I know the soil content, I know the pH of my soil. I know what fertilizers to you. I don't know any of that. I just, 

Donna Haley 17:50
that's what I do. 

Donna Thompson 17:52
I planted and I let it go, so I don't know the science. 

Donna Haley 17:56
And 

Donna Thompson 17:56
I guess it's horticulture, the industry. I don't know the science. All I know is that I put the plant 

Donna Haley 18:02
in the dirt, 

Donna Thompson 18:04
soil, 

Donna Haley 18:04
water 

Donna Thompson 18:04
I 

Donna Haley 18:05
it and 

Donna Thompson 18:05
it grows. 

Kayla Deickman 18:06
Did you play them 

Donna Thompson 18:07
ground 

Kayla Deickman 18:07
in 

Donna Thompson 18:08
or in pot? 

Kayla Deickman 18:08
the 

Donna Thompson 18:08
Both. 

Rich Bennett 18:09
Okay. 

Donna Haley 18:10
So 

Donna Thompson 18:10
I do, I do both and I'll explain it. I'll explain to you why I do that. But so I had this tray and I took all these seeds, and I just threw the seeds. And they all germinated. And I thought oh my gosh, I 

Kayla Deickman 18:24
[BLANK_AUDIO] 

Donna Thompson 18:24
have a thousand, I have a thousand hatchlings. 

Kayla Deickman 18:28
Wow. 

Donna Thompson 18:28
So then I look all the poor little hatchlings, I can't throw them away. So I went and I got lights and then I got trays and I got potting soil and I got racks because I didn't, I know this is ridiculous, but remember I'm a rescuer. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 18:43
Yeah. 

Donna Thompson 18:43
And I'm looking at this little seedling when it's just trying to grow. So 

Donna Haley 18:46
I feel 

Donna Thompson 18:47
Sorry 

Donna Haley 18:47
sorry. 

Donna Thompson 18:47
for it. I don't want to throw it in the trash. 

Donna Haley 18:50
I wouldn't 

Kayla Deickman 18:52
have done the same thing. 

Donna Haley 18:54
But, but to the extent, I mean when she took us down into her basement, she goes you're not, you're not ready for what you're gonna see. And we were just going over there because I found Donna on Facebook. so I wanted to try the hairy balls. And so she, she 

Rich Bennett 19:13
And it was 

Donna Haley 19:13
sold us some hairy balls and then she said come inside and we went down to her basement, we're going, we left going oh my god. I mean, she took 

Rich Bennett 19:21
the 

Donna Haley 19:21
it 

Rich Bennett 19:21
the 

Donna Haley 19:21
to green because racks, lights, 

Rich Bennett 19:25
she's hoarding hairy balls, 

Donna Haley 19:27
and and watering and just the whole system to take care of, like 25, how many plants? 3,000 

Donna Thompson 19:33
3,000 

Donna Haley 19:34
3,000 plants in her basement. And they had to stay in her basement because of the weather outside wasn't. 

Donna Thompson 19:40
It was February. 

Donna Haley 19:41
Yeah. 

Donna Thompson 19:41
And then on top of that, I gotta transfer. 

So, so, yeah. So 29 grown lights, 29 grown lights in the racks. And then we had an electric electrician come in, he had to put outlets for all the lights. And then I, I 

Donna Haley 20:01
just, it just kept snow boiling, it got 

Kayla Deickman 20:03
and 

Donna Haley 20:03
worse 

Kayla Deickman 20:03
worse. 

Donna Haley 20:04
and worse 

Kayla Deickman 20:04
You need a farm. 

Donna Thompson 20:05
So, 

Donna Haley 20:06
so then we get our electric bill and our 

Donna Thompson 20:08
electric bill went up $400 a month. for, for having 

Donna Haley 20:12
29 

Donna Thompson 20:12
29 grown lights growing it, the running in our basement. And we did that for at least two years. But what happened, what 

Kayla Deickman 20:21
happened? What 

Donna Haley 20:23
happened is we 

Donna Thompson 20:24
had had repotted. So when you came, I had already repotted the seedlings into the four inch pots. then we had 

Donna Haley 20:32
And 

Donna Thompson 20:33
bought a 

Donna Haley 20:33
popular brand, 

Donna Thompson 20:35
and I won't use the name of it. But we used a popular 

Donna Haley 20:39
brand 

Donna Thompson 20:39
of potting 

Donna Haley 20:39
of oil, 

Donna Thompson 20:40
soil. And it started 

Donna Haley 20:44
failing, the 

Donna Thompson 20:44
plants just started 

Donna Haley 20:45
bad. And I don't 

Donna Thompson 20:46
looking 

Donna Haley 20:47
know anything about 

Donna Thompson 20:48
growing stuff. 

Donna Haley 20:49
I just knew that these 

Donna Thompson 20:50
things, I threw 

Donna Haley 20:50
them on the 

Donna Thompson 20:51
soil. And I watered them. I put them on a heat mat. 

Donna Haley 20:55
Got one of those humidity tones 

Donna Thompson 20:57
and put it under a light, and they all exploded. 

Donna Haley 21:00
They were all just 3000 plants. 

Kayla Deickman 21:05
You know, you want- 

Donna Haley 21:06
I mean, 

Donna Thompson 21:08
I could have just 

Donna Haley 21:09
tossed them, but I 

Donna Thompson 21:10
power, 

Donna Haley 21:10
had seen, 

Donna Thompson 21:11
seen what I had observed in the garden. It was just 

Donna Haley 21:15
so 

Donna Thompson 21:15
so powerful. I just felt like I was on a mission. So I planted all of these into these four 

Donna Haley 21:22
inch pots. 

Donna Thompson 21:23
And then they stopped growing. So I pulled them out and I go, oh my god, this soil was 

Donna Haley 21:27
a 

Donna Thompson 21:27
like soil. So what I- what I've learned over the- over time is the little white things that are in the 

Donna Haley 21:34
soil. 

Rich Bennett 21:35
So 

Donna Thompson 21:38
again, I'm no expert, but this is just what I've learned. So if you had a cup and you poured marbles in it, and then you poured sand in the cup, the sand would go down, and fill all the gaps around the marbles. 

Donna Haley 21:50
So the marbles helped prevent the soil from 

Donna Thompson 21:53
becoming too 

Donna Haley 21:54
becoming- 

Donna Thompson 21:54
compacted. 

Donna Haley 21:55
There was hardly 

Donna Thompson 21:56
any perlite in this soil. 

Donna Haley 21:59
So when I was watering 

Donna Thompson 22:00
water- 

Donna Haley 22:01
it, 

Donna Thompson 22:01
the 

Donna Haley 22:01
the 

Donna Thompson 22:02
water was going around the top and 

Kayla Deickman 22:03
down the 

Donna Haley 22:04
sides. 

Kayla Deickman 22:05
And it wasn't 

Donna Thompson 22:06
getting to the roots. And the plants were not growing. 

Kayla Deickman 22:10
Interesting. 

Donna Thompson 22:10
So I said, I've got a replan- 3,000. 

Donna Haley 22:16
And that's 

Donna Thompson 22:16
when that's when I met Mark 

Donna Haley 22:17
and Dawg me long. 

Rich Bennett 22:19
Craig, 

Kayla Deickman 22:19
"Girls 

Rich Bennett 22:19
you just 

Kayla Deickman 22:20
with 

Donna Haley 22:20
then? 

Kayla Deickman 22:20
a vacation" 

Rich Bennett 22:21
had 

Donna Haley 22:22
They were so sweet. They were so sweet. 

Kayla Deickman 22:26
Again, 

Donna Thompson 22:27
this- I'm just someone 

Donna Haley 22:28
woman who's 

Donna Thompson 22:29
who's a 

Donna Haley 22:29
a nurse who's got plants in her 

Donna Thompson 22:31
basement. And I wanted to help the butterflies, and Dawg and Mark 

Donna Haley 22:35
came along. 

Donna Thompson 22:36
And they said, "Well, help 

Donna Haley 22:37
we'll 

Donna Thompson 22:38
you." 

Donna Haley 22:38
Then there was there was construction over and hovered grace. Yeah, we went out to lunch and, um, I was talking to some of the women in the table next to us about the monarchs. 

We were gonna be, um, restoration and they have all these pots over there that they're gonna throw out and she said anyone can take them if you want them. We're like what? So we ate lunch quick, went over to the site and we filled our Subaru with, I don't know, about a thousand plants in the pots. And then we called down and we said you need pots. 

Rich Bennett 23:31
Wow. 

Donna Thompson 23:31
know each other. We didn't 

Donna Haley 23:33
We didn't 

Donna Thompson 23:34
even 

Donna Haley 23:34
even 

Donna Thompson 23:34
know each other. 

Donna Haley 23:35
But they, they felt, 

Donna Thompson 23:37
I guess, the passion, 

Donna Haley 23:38
whatever 

Donna Thompson 23:39
you know, 

Donna Haley 23:40
it was that got you guys going. Right. But yeah, and then she's down on the ground scrubbing these pots 

Donna Thompson 23:46
because 

Donna Haley 23:46
now this, 

Donna Thompson 23:47
it's spring 

Donna Haley 23:48
because we started these in January 

Donna Thompson 23:49
and, and they got to a certain point and I said 

Kayla Deickman 23:52
I 

Donna Thompson 23:52
if we don't 

Kayla Deickman 23:52
don't 

Donna Thompson 23:52
rip 

Kayla Deickman 23:52
rip 

Donna Haley 23:53
them, 

Kayla Deickman 23:53
them. I'm gonna 

Donna Thompson 23:53
loose 3,000 

Kayla Deickman 23:54
plants. So 

Donna Thompson 23:55
it was either we throw them or we rip them. So yeah, they came over and, and you can't, one of you came with a big tote, put it on the table. 

Donna Haley 24:03
So we didn't have 

Donna Thompson 24:04
to bend over 

Donna Haley 24:05
and 3,000 

Donna Thompson 24:08
plants. Now the problem was the footprints bigger. So now instead 

Donna Haley 24:12
instead 

Donna Thompson 24:12
of 

Donna Haley 24:12
of getting 

Donna Thompson 24:12
getting, I don't say hypothetically, 

Donna Haley 24:14
100 

Donna Thompson 24:16
on a rack. Now I can only get 

Donna Haley 24:18
plants 

Donna Thompson 24:18
60 

Donna Haley 24:19
because, because the pots are bigger. 

Rich Bennett 24:23
So 

Kayla Deickman 24:24
what 

Donna Haley 24:24
we started doing is we then 

Donna Thompson 24:26
built, built racks, 4x8 racks with chicken wire over them and casters, and then I got PVC pipe and I 

Donna Haley 24:33
a 

Donna Thompson 24:33
made 

Donna Haley 24:33
big frame for the lights to hang so we could see how it snow bowling. 

Kayla Deickman 24:39
So 

Donna Haley 24:39
it's rolling around the basement and then we had the plumber. We don't 

Donna Thompson 24:42
have to have an ejection pump. We don't have anything in our basement. 

Donna Haley 24:46
So we had the plumber come and 

Donna Thompson 24:49
he, 

Donna Haley 24:49
put, 

Donna Thompson 24:50
he, he installed a sink for me and put my drain into the sun pump. So if I had too much water, it would drain into the sun pump and pump it out. And then we put a garden hose in the basement. It, it, it just, 

Kayla Deickman 25:03
it really got, it really got it. What the hell are they teaching you in 

Donna Haley 25:05
school? 

Kayla Deickman 25:05
nursing 

Donna Haley 25:05
Yeah, well, well, well, we were, 

Kayla Deickman 25:10
but, but, Mark 

Donna Haley 25:10
and Donna 

Donna Thompson 25:12
and, um, there's another girl, 

Donna Haley 25:14
her 

Donna Thompson 25:14
Chris and 

Donna Haley 25:14
husband came down to 

Donna Thompson 25:15
help, and another friend 

Donna Haley 25:17
and Tasha and her daughter Eva came. 

Donna Thompson 25:20
So it was really 

Donna Haley 25:22
neat that the people in 

Kayla Deickman 25:24
the community 

Donna Thompson 25:24
that we're joining 

Donna Haley 25:25
our group saw what we were 

Donna Thompson 25:28
doing 

Donna Haley 25:28
and they volunteered to come 

Rich Bennett 25:30
help. But, 

Donna Haley 25:31
you already had the Facebook when you saw Stars. So, yeah, that's how she met me. So, no, I didn't have a Facebook group at all. 

Donna Thompson 25:38
so, 

Donna Haley 25:38
So what had happened was, 

Donna Thompson 25:40
I had joined 

Donna Haley 25:41
because I was clueless. 

Kayla Deickman 25:42
I 

Donna Thompson 25:43
joined other Facebook groups. And I encountered so many 

Donna Haley 25:49
people who were rude. 

Donna Thompson 25:50
And, 

Donna Haley 25:51
you know, they're just condescending or what have you. 

Kayla Deickman 25:56
Welcome to social media. 

Donna Thompson 25:58
And, and I had started noticing some things, some techniques that I wanted to share. And one of them 

Kayla Deickman 26:04
Yeah. 

Donna Thompson 26:04
was the views, 

Donna Haley 26:05
use of the 

Donna Thompson 26:06
proper 

Donna Haley 26:06
habitat. 

Rich Bennett 26:07
Right. 

Donna Thompson 26:08
and it was a lesson I learned the hard way, but butterflies have tarcell claws on their feet 

Kayla Deickman 26:12
And, 

Donna Thompson 26:13
and they need to be able to grip and 

Donna Haley 26:14
And, 

Donna Thompson 26:15
climb. 

Rich Bennett 26:15
that's what 

Donna Haley 26:15
and I, 

Rich Bennett 26:15
was tickling my news, that's 

Donna Thompson 26:16
right. 

Donna Haley 26:17
So, we used to glass 

Donna Thompson 26:19
aquarium because I was clueless and one 

Donna Haley 26:22
fell and it 

Donna Thompson 26:23
sat there on the bottom looking at me and its wings were all dried crumpled up like a 

Donna Haley 26:27
backpack. And, I had to use an ice to butterfly. And, then I learned, 

Donna Thompson 26:32
oh my gosh, 

Donna Haley 26:33
if the 

Donna Thompson 26:34
sides were mesh, it would have been able to climb back up, gravity would have pulled its wings down. And, belly would have pumped all that 

Donna Haley 26:41
have flew into the wings 

Donna Thompson 26:43
flu and 

Donna Haley 26:43
and it 

Donna Thompson 26:43
it would 

Donna Haley 26:43
would have been fine. 

Donna Thompson 26:45
So, 

Donna Haley 26:45
so, I tried sharing this information in other Facebook groups and I just. 

Donna Thompson 26:50
Well, I've been using a critter keeper for 10 years and I've never had a problem, and on and why use a mason jar, I use an upside down wine glass. And, I'm sitting there thinking this is 

Donna Haley 27:00
And, it's 

Donna Thompson 27:01
ridiculous 

Donna Haley 27:01
ridiculous. 

Donna Thompson 27:01
that where are the administrators in this group that are not sharing 

Donna Haley 27:06
proper, proper technique and 

Donna Thompson 27:08
safe practice. 

Donna Haley 27:08
practice if you want to help these butterflies and all I got 

Donna Thompson 27:11
So, there was 

Donna Haley 27:11
was just 

Donna Thompson 27:12
just 

Donna Haley 27:12
respect and push back. 

Donna Thompson 27:13
so I left every butterfly group out there and I just did my own 

Donna Haley 27:17
thing 

Donna Thompson 27:17
was 

Donna Haley 27:17
and I just 

Donna Thompson 27:18
not involved 

Donna Haley 27:19
at all. 

Rich Bennett 27:20
And as I had you- 

Donna Haley 27:21
habitat. They're 

Donna Thompson 27:23
Just 

Donna Haley 27:23
just mesh 

Donna Thompson 27:23
mesh 

Donna Haley 27:24
habitats, but that was a lesson 

Donna Thompson 27:25
I learned the 

Donna Haley 27:25
used 

Donna Thompson 27:25
hard 

Donna Haley 27:26
the Qtab 

Donna Thompson 27:26
way. 

Donna Haley 27:26
because 

Donna Thompson 27:27
So 

Donna Haley 27:27
I 

Donna Thompson 27:27
I 

Donna Haley 27:27
used to glass aquarium, so I tried to share, you know, do it, you know, what do you say you wanna learn if the hard 

Donna Thompson 27:33
way or 

Donna Haley 27:33
if you rather just listen to somebody else- Exactly. So, but I had 

Donna Thompson 27:41
2000 

Donna Haley 27:42
I didn't know what to do with them. 

Donna Thompson 27:44
plants 

Donna Haley 27:44
I 

Donna Thompson 27:44
but 

Donna Haley 27:44
didn't have anybody to buy them, 

Donna Thompson 27:46
so so I just started giving people 

Donna Haley 27:48
milkweed, 

Donna Thompson 27:48
so I literally 

Donna Haley 27:50
was, this 

Donna Thompson 27:50
this 

Donna Haley 27:50
was, this was the year before when I donated 2000 plants, So I went to work and I just go in every and I just take all these plants, and here, take 'em, milkweed. 

Donna Thompson 28:01
take 'em, 

Rich Bennett 28:01
take 'em, 

Donna Haley 28:02
And they're just looking at me, just 

Donna Thompson 28:03
take 'em, 

Donna Haley 28:03
plant 

Donna Thompson 28:03
plant 

Donna Haley 28:03
milkweed, it's for the butterflies. 

Donna Thompson 28:05
So then my daughter said, I said I've got to be able to 

Donna Haley 28:09
communicate with people. 

Kayla Deickman 28:10
And 

Donna Thompson 28:10
I can't be on the phone all day 

Donna Haley 28:12
talking to everybody, I need to be able to do it. Where 

Donna Thompson 28:15
I can just share information 

Donna Haley 28:17
group, 

Donna Thompson 28:17
to a 

Donna Haley 28:18
so she said make a Facebook group. 

Donna Thompson 28:20
what I call it, well she said your 

Donna Haley 28:23
Well, 

Donna Thompson 28:24
name is Donna and they know Donna gave them the milkweed and you know it's for monarchs to call it Donna's monarchs and your garden is like a sanctuary. 

Donna Haley 28:31
So, 

Donna Thompson 28:31
she named it Donna's Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary, just for the people in Hartford County that I gave milkweed to, so I could explain 

Donna Haley 28:40
and it 

Donna Thompson 28:40
this 

Donna Haley 28:40
was 

Donna Thompson 28:40
is what you do with it. 

Kayla Deickman 28:41
And now, it's fluted. 

Donna Thompson 28:42
And then, it's like 

Kayla Deickman 28:43
them hairy 

Donna Haley 28:44
That's 

Kayla Deickman 28:44
balls. 

Donna Haley 28:44
right. So then the next year is when we started the Facebook 

Kayla Deickman 28:52
group, 

Donna Thompson 28:53
and 

Donna Haley 28:54
I went online and I said 

Donna Thompson 28:56
I said I've got milkweed if anybody 

Donna Haley 28:57
And tell them about how you found out about your daughter. Yeah, my daughter saw it on Facebook because they're always on social 

Kayla Deickman 29:07
wants 

Donna Haley 29:07
media. 

Kayla Deickman 29:07
it. 

Donna Haley 29:19
And I said, I'm in Jared's, she goes, I'm in church, so I said I'll be right there. 

Kayla Deickman 29:26
didn't realize you were local. 

Donna Thompson 29:28
I 

Kayla Deickman 29:29
I had no idea because of 

Donna Haley 29:31
how, how, 

Kayla Deickman 29:32
started digging into it. 

Rich Bennett 29:33
And I said, oh, 

Donna Haley 29:34
So we're 

Kayla Deickman 29:34
she's here. 

Donna Haley 29:36
international 

Donna Thompson 29:36
now. So we've got 

Rich Bennett 29:39
50, 

Donna Haley 29:40
13, no, no, 

Donna Thompson 29:41
we 

Donna Haley 29:41
no, no, no, no, we just 

Donna Thompson 29:41
just 

Donna Haley 29:41
hit 

Donna Thompson 29:42
hit 

Donna Haley 29:42
13,000 

Donna Thompson 29:42
in the other night. But there's, there's 413,000 but there's also, it says you 

Donna Haley 29:49
have, you have 

Donna Thompson 29:50
members, members, and then you have visitors, 

Rich Bennett 29:52
right. 

Donna Thompson 29:52
So it says 13,000 members, but there's 4,000 visitors. 

but we have 

Donna Haley 30:01
So, 

Donna Thompson 30:01
people from New Zealand 

Donna Haley 30:02
and 

Donna Thompson 30:03
and 

Donna Haley 30:03
Australian, 

Donna Thompson 30:03
Australia and interesting, our season's ending and theirs is going to start. So our winters, their summer, their summer is our winters. Did I say that right? So, 

Donna Haley 30:12
so at the other, 

Donna Thompson 30:14
you know, 

Donna Haley 30:15
really, I'm 

Donna Thompson 30:15
I'm 

Donna Haley 30:16
not good 

Donna Thompson 30:16
not good 

Donna Haley 30:16
at my 

Donna Thompson 30:16
at my, 

Donna Haley 30:17
geography, 

Donna Thompson 30:17
but wherever 

Donna Haley 30:18
Australia is. 

Donna Thompson 30:20
when we're starting summer, they're starting winter. 

Donna Haley 30:22
So 

Donna Thompson 30:22
So we're ending and they're, 

Donna Haley 30:24
they're, 

Donna Thompson 30:24
they're, 

Kayla Deickman 30:24
they're, 

Donna Thompson 30:24
they're garing up 

Donna Haley 30:25
for their monarchs. 

Kayla Deickman 30:26
Alright, 

Donna Haley 30:26
scary question for you 

Kayla Deickman 30:28
because 

Donna Haley 30:29
I'm 

Kayla Deickman 30:29
I'm 

Donna Haley 30:29
just 

Kayla Deickman 30:29
just about, 

Donna Haley 30:30
about all this milkweed 

Kayla Deickman 30:31
that you're growing. So in a winter time, what do you do moving all back into 

Donna Thompson 30:36
No, 

Kayla Deickman 30:36
that? 

Donna Thompson 30:36
they're annual, 

Donna Haley 30:38
they're, 

Donna Thompson 30:38
they're annuals, they get tossed and we start fresh every 

Donna Haley 30:40
spring. So that's 

Donna Thompson 30:41
what's, so that's what's bringing me to, so there's 

Donna Haley 30:44
controversy, controversy over this. 

Donna Thompson 30:46
So remember, I 

Kayla Deickman 30:48
followed what 

Donna Haley 30:49
the science said 

Donna Thompson 30:51
for four years, 

Donna Haley 30:52
100% native garden, 

Donna Thompson 30:54
because I didn't know any better and I'm trying to follow the 

Donna Haley 30:56
instructions and we had no 

Donna Thompson 30:58
success with monarchs. So then we added 

Donna Haley 31:01
tropical milkweed and 

Donna Thompson 31:02
hairy balls milkweed, tropical milkweed is 

Donna Haley 31:05
native to 

Donna Thompson 31:06
Mexico, hairy balls is 

Donna Haley 31:08
to 

Donna Thompson 31:09
native 

Donna Haley 31:09
Africa, but 

Donna Thompson 31:10
hairy 

Donna Haley 31:10
is 

Donna Thompson 31:11
balls 

Donna Haley 31:11
all over New 

Donna Thompson 31:12
Zealand and Australia and it's in 

Donna Haley 31:14
Hawaii. 

Donna Thompson 31:15
And there's no issues with it there. 

Donna Haley 31:17
The people of 

Donna Thompson 31:18
Australia, New Zealand call it 

Donna Haley 31:19
swan 

Donna Thompson 31:20
plant. So just FYI, and I'm just going 

Donna Haley 31:22
use these two, confo carp is flasso 

Donna Thompson 31:25
to 

Donna Haley 31:25
carve is hairy balls. 

So 

Donna Thompson 31:30
they're like brother and sister, they plant looks very 

Donna Haley 31:33
the 

Donna Thompson 31:34
similar to 

Donna Haley 31:34
seed pods are the seed pods are distinctly different, 

Donna Thompson 31:36
and I actually have that explanation on the 

Donna Haley 31:38
front of this. 

Donna Thompson 31:38
So if somebody calls Harry Balls Swan Plant, it's not. 

Rich Bennett 31:42
Thank 

Donna Thompson 31:42
That's-that's 

Rich Bennett 31:42
you. 

Donna Thompson 31:42
incorrect terminology. So I just noticed that we had a 

Donna Haley 31:48
success 

Donna Thompson 31:49
and 

Donna Haley 31:50
yet I have no success 

Donna Thompson 31:51
with the natives 

Donna Haley 31:52
and now remember a native 

Donna Thompson 31:54
as a perennial. 

Donna Haley 31:54
plant 

Donna Thompson 31:55
So it's 

Donna Haley 31:55
is 

Donna Thompson 31:55
going 

Donna Haley 31:55
going to 

Donna Thompson 31:55
to 

Donna Haley 31:55
come 

Donna Thompson 31:55
come back every year. So whatever's above the surface, you can run your lawnmower over it. The roots are 

Donna Haley 32:00
in the ground. 

Donna Thompson 32:00
And next year, it's going to sprout and you're going to have your plant come back. But Harry Balls and Tropical Milk Beer annuals. 

Rich Bennett 32:08
So there's you can just put in the pots and plant outside. 

Donna Thompson 32:11
That's exactly right. Now they are non-natives which gets us to many master gardeners or all about native, native, native. You've got to plant your natives. And I 

Donna Haley 32:21
respect that. 

Donna Thompson 32:22
And I understand what they're saying but I did it and it didn't work. So I 

Donna Haley 32:28
out 

Donna Thompson 32:28
reached 

Donna Haley 32:28
to a 

Donna Thompson 32:32
professor, and I will not use his name, but there's a professor who is all about native, native, native. You've got to plant the native. And you shouldn't be helping the monarchs and you shouldn't be doing anything that we're doing as far as helping them and you should be hands off. So they believe 

Donna Haley 32:54
that 

Donna Thompson 32:55
they theorize that what we are doing is harming the butterflies instead of helping the butterfly. 

Exactly. So in 

Kayla Deickman 33:09
the wild, 

Donna Thompson 33:11
there is a 3-10% chance of survival. So each female can lay 300-500 eggs. So if she just let's use 100 

Donna Haley 33:20
or 

Donna Thompson 33:21
you know, to make it simple. So if she lay 100 eggs, you're going to have 3-10 

Donna Haley 33:27
and make it 

Donna Thompson 33:27
to a butterfly. So 90% die. You have 10% survival rate. So you also have spiders and ants that eat the eggs. Once they become a caterpillar, you have stink bugs and it's gross, but they have this long thing that sticks out and they literally like, they're drawing the contents of the caterpillar. 

Donna Haley 33:50
like, we've 

Donna Thompson 33:51
Yeah, 

Donna Haley 33:52
seen it like 

Donna Thompson 33:53
like, 

Donna Haley 33:53
yesterday. Like you did yesterday, 

Kayla Deickman 33:55
like, 

Donna Thompson 33:56
you're drawing the contents of that caterpillar like you're drinking a milkshake and it's just completely deflates. So it's absolutely disgusting. 

Donna Haley 34:05
we have, we have, wow, this is not a hornet that got that one. We 

Kayla Deickman 34:08
So 

Donna Thompson 34:10
we 

Donna Haley 34:11
have hornets, 

Donna Thompson 34:11
have, 

Donna Haley 34:12
stink bugs, 

Donna Thompson 34:16
praying mantis. There's just 

Donna Haley 34:18
there's just many, 

Donna Thompson 34:19
many, 

Donna Haley 34:19
there's just many different predators are

Donna Thompson 34:20
out there. Lizards if you're in an area that has a lot of lizards, lizards get 

Kayla Deickman 34:24
them. 

Donna Thompson 34:24
So then 

Kayla Deickman 34:25
up. I 

Donna Thompson 34:25
flared 

Kayla Deickman 34:26
didn't think about that, especially because we are wearing here, we have the skinks. 

Donna Thompson 34:31
Yeah, I've never seen them in my garden. So then we, so we have the spiders and ants eat in the eggs and then we have all these different predators are killing the caterpillars. 

Kayla Deickman 34:42
Then we 

Donna Thompson 34:42
have the parasitic insects. So you have the tacked midfly and then there's other ones. Some of these terms are hard for me to pronounce. So I'm just gonna say there's a variety 

Kayla Deickman 34:53
watts. 

Donna Thompson 34:54
of 

Rich Bennett 34:55
Yeah. 

Donna Thompson 34:55
will fly around and they lay their eggs on the back of the caterpillar. It's like, somebody coming up and you stab in you in the back. So that egg hatches and boars into the caterpillar and 

Kayla Deickman 35:05
That

Donna Thompson 35:06
then now that that maggot is going to eat the insides of that caterpillar, you're going to end up with a dead chrysalis or a dead caterpillar. White strings maggots come out and it's just so 

Donna Haley 35:20
each female 

Donna Thompson 35:21
male can lay 100 

Donna Haley 35:22
eggs. 

Donna Thompson 35:22
So just 

Donna Haley 35:23
to 

Donna Thompson 35:24
just up, we've got spiders and ants eat the eggs and you 

Donna Haley 35:27
back 

Donna Thompson 35:27
have predators eating the caterpillars and you have the parasitic 

Donna Haley 35:31
insects that lay eggs on the caterpillars 

Donna Thompson 35:33
then they hatch and then they 

Kayla Deickman 35:35
and 

Donna Thompson 35:35
they use the caterpillar as the host for those 

Kayla Deickman 35:38
insects. So there's 

Donna Thompson 35:40
also 

Donna Haley 35:41
so inorganisms, so you've 

Donna Thompson 35:42
got bacterial 

Donna Haley 35:43
infections and a 

Donna Thompson 35:44
lot of times the 

Donna Haley 35:45
bacteria is pseudo-monus. 

Donna Thompson 35:46
insect's 

Donna Haley 35:46
Then you have NPV, it's all 

Donna Thompson 35:49
very long term. It's short, the NPV is short for a virus. NP something virus, nuclear something 

Kayla Deickman 35:56
virus. 

Donna Thompson 35:57
there are things out there in nature that can affect them on barks as well. But the biggest shoe is in Florida, there's an organism called 

Donna Haley 36:07
So 

Donna Thompson 36:07
OE and it's very long if you look at this handout one page four right in the middle, literally right in the middle, you're going to see OE And I'm not even going to try to pronounce that because I'm just going to butcher it. 

Donna Haley 36:23
But a very 

Donna Thompson 36:25
quick overview. OE is a 

Donna Haley 36:29
parasite. 

Donna Thompson 36:31
And it is on the body of the butterflies. And as 

Donna Haley 36:34
the butterfly flies around, imagine if you were 

Donna Thompson 36:38
scattering fairy dust 

Donna Haley 36:40
glitter or if you had powdered sugar shaker where 

Donna Thompson 36:43
or 

Donna Haley 36:44
somebody had 

Donna Thompson 36:44
fly, a dandruff on their shoulder. As she's 

Donna Haley 36:46
their teeth 

Donna Thompson 36:47
flying around, the spores that are on her 

Donna Haley 36:50
body 

Donna Thompson 36:51
are going through the air and they'll land on the milkweed. So 

Donna Haley 36:57
OE is spread 

Donna Thompson 36:59
by 

Rich Bennett 37:01
butterflies. 

Donna Thompson 37:02
So in Florida, their butterflies, a great number of the butterflies in Florida do not migrate. So they're year round. So if you 

Donna Haley 37:14
were to take 

Donna Thompson 37:17
milkweed of Florida 

Donna Haley 37:18
the 

Donna Thompson 37:18
that survives 

Donna Haley 37:19
winter 

Donna Thompson 37:19
the 

Donna Haley 37:20
and wild 

Donna Thompson 37:23
temperatures. If the butterfly visited that plant and she scattered OE spores on the 

Kayla Deickman 37:29
plant, 

Donna Thompson 37:31
time a female comes around and lays eggs, when the 

Donna Haley 37:34
every 

Donna Thompson 37:34
caterpillar eats the foliage, it's going to ingest the spores and become infected. 

So the problem is 

Donna Haley 37:44
in Florida the plants don't die 

Donna Thompson 37:47
because the winter is 

Donna Haley 37:48
mild. 

Donna Thompson 37:50
if the plant 

Donna Haley 37:51
So 

Donna Thompson 37:51
survives so 

Donna Haley 37:52
spores. 

Donna Thompson 37:52
do the 

So some in the 

Donna Haley 37:56
scientific community believe that the 

Donna Thompson 37:58
spread of 

Donna Haley 37:59
OE 

Donna Thompson 38:00
is blamed on tropical milkweed. 

Donna Haley 38:03
So 

Donna Thompson 38:04
if you 

Donna Haley 38:04
go to journey North, if you go to Zersus 

Donna Thompson 38:06
Society one and what's 

Donna Haley 38:08
the 

Donna Thompson 38:08
the 

Donna Haley 38:08
other 

Donna Thompson 38:08
other one, Journey North, 

Donna Haley 38:10
Zersus 

Donna Thompson 38:10
there's 

Donna Haley 38:11
Society 

Donna Thompson 38:11
another one, 

Donna Haley 38:13
I'm not sure. 

Donna Thompson 38:15
So if you look up tropical 

Donna Haley 38:16
milkweed on the internet or to do a group 

Donna Thompson 38:18
of Google search, you're going to see a picture of it with a circle and a line through 

Donna Haley 38:22
it, 

Donna Thompson 38:22
rip it out, 

Donna Haley 38:23
you 

Donna Thompson 38:23
you 

Donna Haley 38:23
should 

Donna Thompson 38:23
shouldn't 

Kayla Deickman 38:24
use it. So 

Donna Haley 38:25
there are a 

Donna Thompson 38:26
select group of 

Donna Haley 38:27
people. 

Donna Thompson 38:28
The blame the spread of OE in Florida on tropical milkweed. So because of that there's a lot of people that will argue you shouldn't be doing what you're doing, you're hurting the butterflies. You're going to cause the butterfly to have deformed wings. So Donna and Mark are biologists and have high 

Donna Haley 38:52
powdered 

Donna Thompson 38:53
microscopes and Denise and I have a microscope and Denise has a microscope 

Donna Haley 38:58
and we test our butterflies 

Donna Thompson 39:01
by you take a piece of tape, you touch it to the belly, 

Rich Bennett 39:04
you 

Donna Haley 39:05
put 

Donna Thompson 39:05
tape 

Donna Haley 39:05
the 

Donna Thompson 39:06
on a piece of white paper or an index card and you examine it under the microscope and you look 

Donna Haley 39:11
for OE spores in 

Donna Thompson 39:14
2023, 

Donna Haley 39:15
so 

Donna Thompson 39:15
2024 and 

Donna Haley 39:16
far 

Donna Thompson 39:16
in 2025, all three of us have never 

Donna Haley 39:19
found a single 

Donna Thompson 39:20
case of OE. 

Donna Haley 39:20
not 

Donna Thompson 39:23
It's 

Donna Haley 39:23
here. 

Donna Thompson 39:24
And if it's here 

Donna Haley 39:26
it 

Donna Thompson 39:27
might be, 

Donna Haley 39:29
very rare. 

Donna Thompson 39:30
it's So for people in the community and the scientific community to make this blanket statement 

Donna Haley 39:37
that no one 

Donna Thompson 39:38
should 

Kayla Deickman 39:39
plant tropical 

Donna Thompson 39:40
milkweed because 

Donna Haley 39:41
of 

Donna Thompson 39:43
disease, 

Donna Haley 39:45
I 

Donna Thompson 39:46
respectfully 

Donna Haley 39:47
disagree with it. I've 

Donna Thompson 39:48
read the research, I've read the 

Donna Haley 39:50
articles yet, 

Donna Thompson 39:51
article. 

Donna Haley 39:51
what Donna 

Donna Thompson 39:52
I've read Donna 

Donna Haley 39:52
and and 

Donna Thompson 39:53
Denise do and so many others in the 

Donna Haley 39:55
group, 

Donna Thompson 39:57
none of us have 

Donna Haley 39:57
ever had a 

Donna Thompson 39:58
case of 

Donna Haley 39:58
single 

Donna Thompson 39:58
OE and if somebody ends up with a deformed butterfly, we ask them to touch a piece of tape to the 

Donna Haley 40:03
abdomen, put it in a card, 

Donna Thompson 40:05
it to us and we'll 

Donna Haley 40:06
give 

Donna Thompson 40:07
test it. 

Donna Haley 40:07
If we have people 

Donna Thompson 40:09
samples 

Donna Haley 40:09
mailing 

Donna Thompson 40:12
from other 

Donna Haley 40:13
parts of the country and 

Donna Thompson 40:15
I've 

Kayla Deickman 40:15
still never 

Donna Thompson 40:16
OE. 

Donna Haley 40:16
had a 

Donna Thompson 40:18
So I don't understand this push 

Kayla Deickman 40:20
case 

Donna Thompson 40:21
because 

Kayla Deickman 40:21
of 

Donna Thompson 40:21
what we see in the 

Donna Haley 40:23
scientific research does not match what we see here. 

Donna Thompson 40:29
And you go from 100% native 

Donna Haley 40:31
with no butterflies 

Donna Thompson 40:34
to adding two non-native milkweed and having 

Donna Haley 40:38
butterflies, as a matter of fact, 

Donna Thompson 40:41
ago I had a gentleman 

Donna Haley 40:42
three 

Donna Thompson 40:42
visit our guard's 

Donna Haley 40:42
years 

Donna Thompson 40:43
name, his Kurt 

Donna Haley 40:43
Jacobson, he's 

Donna Thompson 40:44
from Mother Earth News magazine. 

Donna Haley 40:47
He told 

Donna Thompson 40:47
me that he's from Colorado and he "I have been in butterfly gardens all over the country." 

Donna Haley 40:53
And 

Donna Thompson 40:53
he came to the garden and I just stood there and I let him 

Donna Haley 40:56
him just observe, 

Donna Thompson 40:56
observe, I 

Donna Haley 40:56
I 

Donna Thompson 40:56
let 

Donna Haley 40:57
walked away so he would have 

And then he turned and looked at me and said, 'I 

Donna Thompson 41:02
have been in Butterfly 

Donna Haley 41:03
Gardens all over the 

Donna Thompson 41:04
country. I have never seen anything like this.' 

Rich Bennett 41:06
In a good way. 

Donna Thompson 41:07
In a good way. 

Rich Bennett 41:08
Wow. 

Donna Thompson 41:08
Because we don't have a screen over us. He said you've got monarchs everywhere. I said, 'I know.' And that's what I'm 

Kayla Deickman 41:15
trying to 

Donna Thompson 41:16
convey is that if we're having a problem with the monarchs, 

why is it 

Donna Haley 41:26
that people won't 

Donna Thompson 41:26
be open-minded and 

Rich Bennett 41:28
them? 

Donna Thompson 41:28
listen to 

Rich Bennett 41:28
Right. 

Donna Haley 41:28
So then we 

Donna Thompson 41:29
question, 

Donna Haley 41:29
ask the 

Donna Thompson 41:29
what is the 

Donna Haley 41:30
problem with the monarchs? Why is there a problem with the monarchs? So we honestly 

Kayla Deickman 41:34
haven't even 

Donna Thompson 41:35
discussed, we haven't even gotten there. So, in the 

Kayla Deickman 41:40
springtime, we ask 

Donna Thompson 41:41
yourself, were 

Donna Haley 41:42
butterfly come from? 

Kayla Deickman 41:43
that 

Donna Haley 41:43
You'll 

Donna Thompson 41:43
see a butterfly, you see the tiger swallows. And we just in nature, 

Kayla Deickman 41:46
we are, 

Donna Haley 41:47
oh, it's butterfly, but we don't really think about it. 

Donna Thompson 41:50
So those butterflies have been out in your garden 

Donna Haley 41:53
all winter. So 

Donna Thompson 41:54
they develop their chisels, 

Donna Haley 41:57
not the monarchs. The swallotale. All the other 

Kayla Deickman 42:01
butterflies. 

Donna Thompson 42:02
So 

Donna Haley 42:02
all the butterflies 

Donna Thompson 42:03
that you see in the springtime flying around in your garden have been there all winter. 

Donna Haley 42:09
And there's many 

Donna Thompson 42:10
types of swallotales too. 

Donna Haley 42:12
Exactly. So there's different types of butterflies, but in the 

Donna Thompson 42:18
fall, when they form their chrysalis, they go, 'You know what? It's getting a little chilly, I think I'll see you next spring.' So they basically go to sleep for the winter. And then in the springtime, when the temperatures rise, then they end up in trouble. And then they end up coming out of the chrysalis. And 

Donna Haley 42:33
now we have butterflies. So 

Donna Thompson 42:34
they mate, 

Donna Haley 42:36
into a caterpillar. 

Donna Thompson 42:39
lay eggs. 

Donna Haley 42:39
Now 

Donna Thompson 42:39
Now, chrysalis turn 

Donna Haley 42:39
chrysalis, butterfly comes out, they 

Donna Thompson 42:42
fly around, they mate, 

Donna Haley 42:43
lay eggs and the process keeps continuing. 

Donna Thompson 42:46
And then the fall, when the temperatures 

Donna Haley 42:49
drop, they say, 'See 

Donna Thompson 42:50
next spring, 

Donna Haley 42:51
see next spring.' The monarchs are the only 

Donna Thompson 42:53
ones that want to do that. Monarchs migrate 

Donna Haley 42:57
to Mexico. 

Donna Thompson 42:59
And when I learned about this, and the monarchs are in trouble, what do you mean they're in 

Donna Haley 43:03
trouble? 

Donna Thompson 43:04
Well, they go to Mexico, they spend the whole winter, roosting 

Donna Haley 43:10
the 

Donna Thompson 43:10
together, 

Donna Haley 43:11
trees to stay warm, 

Donna Thompson 43:12
and 

Donna Haley 43:12
and in 

Donna Thompson 43:12
in 

Donna Haley 43:13
March, they head north, 

Donna Thompson 43:14
they mate, and what are they looking for? They're 

Donna Haley 43:17
looking 

Donna Thompson 43:18
from milkweed 

Kayla Deickman 43:18
for milkweed, 

Donna Thompson 43:18
to 

Donna Haley 43:19
later eggs. 

Donna Thompson 43:21
They can't find milkweed. So we have land 

Donna Haley 43:25
development. We have parking lots. 

Donna Thompson 43:29
we have wallmarts and K-marts and housing developments. 

Donna Haley 43:34
So 

Donna Thompson 43:34
So they're habitats being destroyed. In addition to that, 

Donna Haley 43:39
farms, when they're 

Donna Thompson 43:41
growing, they're cropping their crops and you have your 

Donna Haley 43:42
GMOs, your 

Donna Thompson 43:43
genetically modified organisms, the farmers will spray the whole field. 

Donna Haley 43:49
now they're using drones to spray their fields. And 

Donna Thompson 43:52
And 

Donna Haley 43:53
they have a field right in front of them, tell them what you saw. Like an eight-foot drone in front of our house. I've walked out the front door and there's this drone just hovering, and I'm like, oh no, because our garden's over there. And they're spraying the corn. And I'm like, oh my gosh. Did they hit our garden? But Mark seems to think. Well, it has such a wing 

Donna Thompson 44:17
span. It has to 

Kayla Deickman 44:19
The forces it's straight down. 

Rich Bennett 44:21
slide. Okay. 

Kayla Deickman 44:21
I didn't see any over 

Donna Haley 44:22
source. 

Mark Haley 44:23
They're all

Kayla Deickman 44:23
around. 

Donna Haley 44:24
Yeah, our caterpillars were fine, but we were concerned. But then there's also milkweed in some of the terrace of the fields that 

Donna Thompson 44:35
they don't plan corn. 

Donna Haley 44:36
That's where a lot of the milkweed grows. And if they're spraying the whole field, they're hitting that area with the pesticides. The 

Kayla Deickman 44:44
rainwater 

Donna Haley 44:44
needs more than the water. The fields are gathered somewhere. It goes to our wells. Yeah. Yeah, we're all on 

Donna Thompson 44:52
So 

Donna Haley 44:52
well. 

Donna Thompson 44:53
the farmers are spraying their fields, and they are using Roundup, which kills the 

Donna Haley 44:59
weeds. 

Donna Thompson 45:00
Milkweed. 

Kayla Deickman 45:02
All 

Donna Thompson 45:02
right. So we're losing the milkweed with herbicides, herbicides, 

Donna Haley 45:07
pesticides, herbicides, 

Donna Thompson 45:08
herbicides, right? 

Donna Haley 45:10
So the plants. Roundups 

Donna Thompson 45:12
are for the plants. So you've got 

Donna Haley 45:14
land development, 

Donna Thompson 45:15
loss 

Donna Haley 45:15
of habitat. 

Donna Thompson 45:17
Plus people that are 

Donna Haley 45:18
spraying these 

Donna Thompson 45:19
fields, they're killing off all the milkweed. So now here's the other issue. I say, hey, Rich, would you like to plant some milkweed 

Donna Haley 45:25
in your 

Donna Thompson 45:26
garden? Sure, I'd love to help the butterflies. Oh, by the way, the common spreads by rhizomes and it'll take over your garden. go under your sidewalk and it'll end up in your lawn. Most people go, "I don't want that stuff in my garden. No thanks." And when you have tuberosa, which is low in cardinolide, and swamp milkweed, which is very finicky, and the leaves turn red. 

Donna Haley 45:47
And then 

Donna Thompson 45:48
they don't do anything with it. 

Kayla Deickman 45:49
common 

Donna Thompson 45:49
And spreads 

Kayla Deickman 45:50
milkweed 

Donna Thompson 45:51
by rhizomes 

Donna Haley 45:52
and nobody wants to plant it. 

Donna Thompson 45:54
How are we going to restore this habitat? So our mission, and our primary focus, 

Donna Haley 46:01
is conservation 

Donna Thompson 46:01
and restoration, and restoring the habitat, 

Donna Haley 46:03
we need to plant 

Donna Thompson 46:04
milkweed. 

Donna Haley 46:05
And the 

Donna Thompson 46:06
issue is nobody wants to plant common milkweed in their guards. Maybe if you've got a corn field or something behind your 

Donna Haley 46:12
house. 

Donna Thompson 46:12
But most people live in a townhouse. You don't want common milkweed spreading all over your lawn. And going under your fence and into 

Donna Haley 46:19
your neighbors lawn, people don't 

Kayla Deickman 46:20
that. 

Donna Haley 46:20
want 

Donna Thompson 46:21
For the most part, people want things if I plant it here. I want it to stay here. They don't want to plant. It's 

Kayla Deickman 46:25
got a 

Donna Haley 46:25
its 

Kayla Deickman 46:26
mind of

Donna Haley 46:26
own. 

Donna Thompson 46:27
So 

Donna Haley 46:28
tropical milkweed and hairy balls, 

Donna Thompson 46:30
milkweed, or both annuals, they die in the fall. We rip them out. We put new into the spring. It's like planting a bagonia. They're gorgeous. They're beautiful 

Donna Haley 46:40
plants, and

Donna Thompson 46:40
the monarchs love them. 

Rich Bennett 46:42
People that know me know that I love going to richards and farms. Not just the store, but even when we do weddings at the barn. The place is amazing. So with the store, whether you're grabbing fresh produce, stocking up on groceries, or indulging in their hot food and deli, this family owned gym has been a staple of marijuana for generations. And let me tell you, the food. Oh, incredible. I cannot get enough of their smoked barbecue beef brisket. It's tender, flavorful, and just melting your mouth. Pair that with some of their homemade sides. And you've got a meal that'll leave you coming back for more. And it's not just about the barbecue. Richardson farms has fresh, never frozen poultry, daily deli specials, and produce straight from their fields. So whether you're meal plan and for the week, you need catering, or look if you're something amazing for dinner tonight, stop by Richardson farms. They're open 80m to 6pm daily, and trust me, your taste buds will thank you. The find out more. Just go to RichardsonFarms. net. Again, that's RichardsonFarms. net. 

Kayla Deickman 48:01
It's 

Donna Thompson 48:02
the 

Donna Haley 48:03
best time it's Mother's Day. 

Rich Bennett 48:04
Mother's 

Donna Thompson 48:04
Day. Yeah, and if you're not local for Maryland, 

Donna Haley 48:07
and we always want to plant after the 

Donna Thompson 48:10
last the last threat 

Donna Haley 48:10
of frost. 

Donna Thompson 48:12
So for us in zone, 

Kayla Deickman 48:13
which is hard to tell in Maryland, a couple 

Donna Thompson 48:16
years 

Kayla Deickman 48:16
of 

Donna Thompson 48:16
ago, we Mother's Day and a week later, we had frost. 

Donna Haley 48:19
And you remember that? That was that was terrible. We 

Donna Thompson 48:22
put frost blankets outside. But depending on where somebody is, what region is, they've 

Donna Haley 48:27
got to know 

Donna Thompson 48:28
when is my last threat of frost. 

Kayla Deickman 48:31
So over the summertime, how big will the tropical and the hairy balls get? 

Donna Thompson 48:38
tropical milkweed will be about the size of a rosebrush. If you're standing 

Kayla Deickman 48:42
So 

Donna Thompson 48:42
for an adult, it'll be maybe up to your hips. For hairy balls milkweed, if it's in really good soil and it's real happy, it can be six feet tall. 

Kayla Deickman 48:51
How long does it take for the plant to reach maturity? 

Donna Thompson 48:54
A couple months. Yeah, they grow pretty quickly. 

So 

Rich Bennett 48:59
if I put them 

Donna Haley 48:59
in parts, I better get 

Kayla Deickman 49:00
bigger parts is what you're 

Rich Bennett 49:02
telling me. 

Donna Thompson 49:02
Yeah, well, 

Donna Haley 49:03
well, well, depending on, 

Donna Thompson 49:05
So we, when we, when we try to feed our butterflies, we put milkweed in the ground, but 

Donna Haley 49:12
it's 

Donna Thompson 49:12
then we also 

Donna Haley 49:13
awesome. 

Donna Thompson 49:13
use two gallon pots for the tropical 

Donna Haley 49:17
if we 

Donna Thompson 49:18
because 

Donna Haley 49:18
harvest 

Donna Thompson 49:18
eggs and we bring eggs in, I can just put 

Donna Haley 49:20
the whole pot in plant, just like you 

Rich Bennett 49:22
right 

Donna Thompson 49:22
see 

Rich Bennett 49:23
there. Right. 

Donna Haley 49:23
There's a whole pot of plant 

Donna Thompson 49:24
and that habitat caterpillars are sitting there eating it and it just makes life easy, or you can go out what we're doing, 

Donna Haley 49:31
which is crazy 

Donna Thompson 49:32
two weeks, 

Donna Haley 49:33
that we wouldn't be 

Donna Thompson 49:34
accomplishing what we're If 

Donna Haley 49:35
it wasn't for Mark and Donah, you know, I don't 

Kayla Deickman 49:37
feel so bad 

Donna Haley 49:38
I 

Kayla Deickman 49:38
now. 

Donna Haley 49:39
told you, I told you that I got the swamp 

Kayla Deickman 49:41
and it. I left it in the pot and it's dying. I use that 

Donna Haley 49:46
plant. 

Kayla Deickman 49:47
know if it's infected or it's dying 

Rich Bennett 49:48
I don't 

Kayla Deickman 49:49
and like, yeah, I know feel so bad. Yeah, I know what to get next time, 

Donna Haley 49:52
well, 

Kayla Deickman 49:52
a 

Donna Haley 49:52
it's 

Kayla Deickman 49:53
thing. I kill plants. I can't say anything. 

Donna Thompson 49:57
just swamp, 

Donna Haley 49:58
No, 

Donna Thompson 49:58
but remember, they have their clock and they know when the season is coming to an end, the temperature 

Donna Haley 50:04
Which 

Donna Thompson 50:04
starts. 

Donna Haley 50:05
is the whole garden showing stress because it's that time of year. And another thing when you plant tropical in the spring, if you clip them down or prune them down, they'll split. So you're getting double the plant, double the leads of what the monarch's eat. Yeah, 

Kayla Deickman 50:26
I'm 

Donna Haley 50:28
going to need some more. We drive around, it's like, well, there's more if we don't get there. Then we go on the internet. Okay, who owns that property? We've got to call them. Yeah, they're knocking on people's doors. Lady was out in her lawnmower. They pulled 

Donna Thompson 50:42
in her driveway. Can you, can we cut some of your no-weed? 

Donna Haley 50:45
She's like sure. 

Kayla Deickman 50:47
All right, so we have 

Rich Bennett 50:48
Kayla. 

Kayla Deickman 50:49
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 50:50
As much as you 

Kayla Deickman 50:50
love monarchs and you don't have anything growing for them to eat. I can't even grow grass in my yard. 

Donna Thompson 51:01
Seriously, 

Kayla Deickman 51:01
seriously, so I kill 

Donna Thompson 51:02
So 

Kayla Deickman 51:02
everything. 

Donna Thompson 51:02
getting 

Kayla Deickman 51:03
into my house. 

Donna Haley 51:05
So getting 

Donna Thompson 51:05
back to the 

Donna Haley 51:06
whole 

Donna Thompson 51:08
Concept of what we can do to help monarchs, again, just to reiterate our focus on is 

Donna Haley 51:13
is 

Donna Thompson 51:13
on 

Donna Haley 51:13
on. 

Donna Thompson 51:15
conservation. Please, please, please, please, please, please don't spray. 

Donna Haley 51:19
Please don't cut down the move. 

Donna Thompson 51:21
If you're going to cut your field, can you just cut around those stalks because there's caterpillars out there laying 

Rich Bennett 51:27
eggs. 

Donna Thompson 51:28
But now they've got a three to 10% survival rate. 

Donna Haley 51:32
So, the odds are against them 

Donna Thompson 51:34
and then There's an organization called monarchwatch. 

Donna Haley 51:38
and then watch. 

Donna Thompson 51:39
org their 

Donna Haley 51:40
and 

Donna Thompson 51:41
what they do is I don't know how they measure. But the land in Mexico is measured in hectares. 

Donna Haley 51:48
Yeah, 

Donna Thompson 51:50
and I would assume it's some kind of aerial photography and they have the pictures of the monarchs roosting 

Donna Haley 51:57
roosting 

in the trees. So this is the monarch's roosting 

Donna Thompson 52:01
the 

Donna Haley 52:02
in 

Donna Thompson 52:02
trees in Mexico. 

Donna Haley 52:04
you see it? Did 

Kayla Deickman 52:06
Did 

you see 

Donna Haley 52:09
it? Yeah, 

Donna Thompson 52:11
that's 

Donna Haley 52:11
such a 

Donna Thompson 52:12
a 

Donna Haley 52:12
short 

Donna Thompson 52:12
short. 

Donna Haley 52:12
video 

Kayla Deickman 52:13
There 

Donna Haley 52:13
there 

Kayla Deickman 52:13
was 

Donna Haley 52:13
was 

Donna Thompson 52:13
so there was so much more that he could have added to that in spring. The 

Donna Haley 52:16
roost breaks 

Donna Thompson 52:17
up and 

Donna Haley 52:18
then and then they head north they stop at 

Donna Thompson 52:20
flower flowers and they're going to get nectar 

Rich Bennett 52:22
right. 

Donna Thompson 52:23
So, think about, you know, we 

Donna Haley 52:24
gas 

Donna Thompson 52:25
go to the 

Donna Haley 52:25
station for fuel for a 

Donna Thompson 52:26
vehicle 

Donna Haley 52:27
nectar and flowers is their fuel. So then they're 

Donna Thompson 52:32
going to stop 

Donna Haley 52:32
and they're and the provost is going to go 

Donna Thompson 52:34
and draw 

Donna Haley 52:34
the nectar out of the flowers. I can tell that's a male by those dots right there. 

Kayla Deickman 52:39
Yeah, 

Donna Thompson 52:39
that's to Barossa. 

Kayla Deickman 52:41
This is 

Donna Thompson 52:41
an orange butterfly 

Donna Haley 52:43
butterfly we this is what you find at home depot and lows 

Donna Thompson 52:47
also 

Donna Haley 52:47
problem 

Donna Thompson 52:48
when you buy milk weed at big box stores. 

Donna Haley 52:50
is 

Donna Thompson 52:51
Sometimes they've been 

Donna Haley 52:51
sprayed. 

Kayla Deickman 52:52
Yeah, 

Donna Thompson 52:52
so you bring it home. You 

Kayla Deickman 52:53
feed catapillaries 

Donna Haley 52:54
pillars and all the caterpillars die swamp milk e comes in white and pink what the white. This is ascolapius in 

Donna Thompson 53:00
in car 

Donna Haley 53:01
carnada and this is either ice ballet or Cinderella. 

Donna Thompson 53:05
This is showy milk weed and 

Donna Haley 53:06
now this is what 

Donna Thompson 53:08
common milk we will do 

Kayla Deickman 53:09
common 

Donna Thompson 53:09
is it'll spread 

Donna Haley 53:10
bread. I mean literally 

Donna Thompson 53:11
it's like you have a 

Kayla Deickman 53:14
rope. 

Donna Haley 53:14
And we have Harry balls in the garden and we've got common on the side but when we went looking for the common milk weed and we found a nice patch of it there we might've pulled three caterpillars off that common milkweed and it was like six buckets And we only had three three caterpillars on it and maybe four or five eggs. But in our garden it exploded. I mean there were eggs everywhere there's my monarchs flying all around the swallow tails were all around it was like within the last two weeks it was like here they are. 

Rich Bennett 53:58
In milk weed. Is 

Kayla Deickman 53:59
there 

Rich Bennett 54:00
anything you should not plan it next to or around? 

Donna Haley 54:03
It's just a beautiful flower. The tropical flowers. I mean we walk through the garden now the aphids are really starting to destroy the garden. But I mean with the red the red it comes red flowers yellow orange. It's just. Oh yeah. Oh, I love them too. Yeah. 

Donna Thompson 54:22
so 

Donna Haley 54:22
So, 

Donna Thompson 54:22
this is this, this lady um planted common milk weed and didn't realize what it would do but it's literally like bamboo. 

Donna Haley 54:30
Completely, completely takes over your 

Donna Thompson 54:32
garden 

Donna Haley 54:32
very 

Donna Thompson 54:32
and it's 

Donna Haley 54:32
hard to get rid of. 

Donna Thompson 54:34
The rhizomes are allowed are a horizontal 

Donna Haley 54:36
root system that's 

Donna Thompson 54:37
a 

Donna Haley 54:37
like 

Donna Thompson 54:37
snake going across the top of your surface and then there's your tropical which is 

Donna Haley 54:42
orange, and then you got. Isn't it pretty gorgeous. It actually looks very much like land. here's the difference between 

Donna Thompson 54:50
your hairy balls you see how it's round and your swan 

Rich Bennett 54:54
plant. Oh my god. 

Donna Haley 54:56
You see the brown ones. They're ready to collect your seeds. 

Donna Thompson 55:02
I 

Kayla Deickman 55:02
did it realize they 

Rich Bennett 55:04
actually look 

Donna Haley 55:05
like 

Donna Thompson 55:06
hairy balls. 

Kayla Deickman 55:10
Forget what I said 

Donna Haley 55:12
in the back, I 

Donna Thompson 55:17
mean just Google hairy 

Rich Bennett 55:21
balls milkweed 

Donna Haley 55:23
in here, and you never know what's gonna come up on the other pages. 

Rich Bennett 55:29
I've waited for all the 

Donna Haley 55:30
comments. 

Rich Bennett 55:33
Man's scape, there's that name milkweed. 

Donna Haley 55:36
just want people to plant more milkweed and more plants that they can actually pollinate. 

Kayla Deickman 55:44
We 

Donna Haley 55:45
Especially this time of year 'cause everything's dying, so you know, if you had some flowers in your garden, the joke highway, um, the Mexican. So 

Kayla Deickman 55:55
she 

Donna Haley 55:55
what 

Donna Thompson 55:55
And 

Kayla Deickman 55:55
say. 

Donna Thompson 55:56
also, here's another aspect that I feel like the scientific 

Kayla Deickman 56:00
community 

Donna Thompson 56:02
missing on this is an opportunity to 

Donna Haley 56:04
is 

Donna Thompson 56:04
promote. So, remember we go 

Kayla Deickman 56:07
back to 

Donna Haley 56:08
they mate, in March, they head 

Donna Thompson 56:10
Mexico, 

Donna Haley 56:10
more, they mate late age, and die. 

Donna Thompson 56:14
The age catches? Caterpillar 

Donna Haley 56:16
uczelist 

Donna Thompson 56:17
splutter fly, 

Donna Haley 56:17
and they 

Donna Thompson 56:17
they 

Donna Haley 56:18
had 

Donna Thompson 56:18
had more. 

Donna Haley 56:18
So it's a relay. Exactly. So how do the, how do those babies know where they go? It's not like that. Caterpillar that came from the north and went to Mexico and it's been come back north. It's a relay. It is. It's exactly what it is. It takes four generations, 

Donna Thompson 56:34
from Mexico to Canada and the 4th 

Donna Haley 56:38
generation flies 

Donna Thompson 56:39
2000 

Donna Haley 56:39
miles and lives nine months versus four to 

Kayla Deickman 56:42
drink. 

Donna Haley 56:42
six weeks. 

Kayla Deickman 56:43
Alright, sir, 

Rich Bennett 56:43
For 

Kayla Deickman 56:43
if we're 

Rich Bennett 56:43
good 

Kayla Deickman 56:43
good, 

Rich Bennett 56:44
to 

Kayla Deickman 56:44
the chicken, first the age, 

Donna Haley 56:47
that's right, you wonder. 

Donna Thompson 56:49
So 

Donna Haley 56:50
anyway, 

Kayla Deickman 56:51
it sounds like one of your biggest goals is education, 

Donna Thompson 56:55
absolutely, absolutely, trying to 

Donna Haley 56:57
raise 

Donna Thompson 56:58
awareness. 

Kayla Deickman 56:59
Actually, do you feel, 

Donna Haley 57:00
are 

Kayla Deickman 57:00
are people 

Donna Haley 57:00
people at 

Kayla Deickman 57:01
at 

Donna Haley 57:01
the 

Kayla Deickman 57:01
the do 

Donna Haley 57:01
do 

Kayla Deickman 57:01
feel, 

Donna Thompson 57:01
Oh, absolutely, 

Rich Bennett 57:02
feel, 

Donna Thompson 57:02
we 

Kayla Deickman 57:02
just 

Donna Thompson 57:02
just 

Rich Bennett 57:02
really? 

Donna Thompson 57:03
had, we 

Kayla Deickman 57:03
had one, 

Donna Haley 57:03
we had a homeschool, 

Donna Thompson 57:04
school group on Wednesday. 

Kayla Deickman 57:05
Have you, 

Donna Haley 57:07
from 

Kayla Deickman 57:08
my expertise, 

Donna Haley 57:09
you 

Kayla Deickman 57:11
know what, should you, 

Donna Haley 57:13
you 

Kayla Deickman 57:13
about the hairy ball? My expertise is I work with children, I'm a children's book author and illustrator. Have you ever considered creating a book that talks about all of this? 

Donna Thompson 57:27
We've actually attempted what, putty thing 

Kayla Deickman 57:29
is. Hi. And I'm open for contracts right now. Isn't 

Donna Haley 57:37
that crazy? This 

Kayla Deickman 57:37
can work. 

Donna Thompson 57:38
is how 

Donna Haley 57:38
he 

Kayla Deickman 57:39
Yes, I 

Donna Haley 57:40
mean. That would be wonderful. 

Kayla Deickman 57:41
I mean look, changing 

Donna Haley 57:44
information isn't it, isn't it interesting? 

Donna Thompson 57:45
How, how God puts each other 

Donna Haley 57:48
other. 

Donna Thompson 57:48
in each 

Donna Haley 57:49
But anyway, getting back to this, so, 

Donna Thompson 57:51
so don't, 

Donna Haley 57:51
and I'm just gonna ask you, please, track of my thoughts, 

Donna Thompson 57:54
so the scientists don't think that we should be using non-native milkweed. 

Donna Haley 57:58
one, 

Donna Thompson 57:58
And 

Donna Haley 57:59
one of the we, 

Kayla Deickman 57:59
reasons, 

Donna Thompson 58:00
reasons what 

Donna Haley 58:00
we just talked 

Kayla Deickman 58:01
about 

Donna Thompson 58:01
without, 

Donna Haley 58:02
you just said your swamp is starting to look, 

Kayla Deickman 58:04
as 

Donna Thompson 58:05
exactly, 

Donna Haley 58:06
Okay, 

Donna Thompson 58:06
okay. 

Donna Haley 58:07
leather. Right, 

Donna Thompson 58:08
perennial milkweed is going to die off at a certain time every year. Our 

Donna Haley 58:13
our, 

Donna Thompson 58:13
non-natives, 

Donna Haley 58:14
will, will be beautiful into November, except the eighth issue they've already done a number on that. 

Donna Thompson 58:20
Some of the scientists 

Donna Haley 58:21
just realized that if we use non-native milkweed, it will replace 

Donna Thompson 58:27
the female to hang around and continue to lay eggs. And we don't want that. We want them to leave. We want you to go, get out of here. And the reason we 

Donna Haley 58:38
want them to go 

Donna Thompson 58:39
is because they're flying 2,000 miles to 

Kayla Deickman 58:42
Mexico. 

Donna Thompson 58:43
They need to 

Kayla Deickman 58:44
stop, the way, 

Donna Haley 58:45
nectar, 

Donna Thompson 58:46
the later they leave, the less 

Donna Haley 58:49
nectar, 

Donna Thompson 58:49
exactly. The less nectar sources, there's gonna be available to them. So they're 

Donna Haley 58:54
going to run out of fuel and they're going to splutter on the side of the 

Donna Thompson 58:57
road. They're going to die, starve to death, 

Donna Haley 58:59
and they'll never make 

Donna Thompson 59:00
to 

Donna Haley 59:00
it 

Donna Thompson 59:00
demand 

Kayla Deickman 59:01
it. 

Donna Thompson 59:02
one of the big issues is not so much that we're worried about this or that. The 

Donna Haley 59:07
So, 

Donna Thompson 59:08
overwintering number is 

Kayla Deickman 59:10
essential, because that's the maximum energy. 

Donna Thompson 59:12
crucial. It's not 

Kayla Deickman 59:12
One is hungry, one of, okay. 

Donna Haley 59:14
[BLANK_AUDIO] 

Donna Thompson 59:15
Why doesn't anybody talk about the importance of planting late blooming nectar sources, to help fuel the South Found Migration? 

Oh, I never hear anybody 

Donna Haley 59:28
talk about the importance of that, 

Donna Thompson 59:31
we have Mexican and it's crucial. We have 

Kayla Deickman 59:32
Mexican, 

Donna Haley 59:32
but Flowing 

Kayla Deickman 59:33
Mexican, 

Donna Thompson 59:33
Sun 

Donna Haley 59:33
Flower, the other name port is Tathonia; and I'll go 

Donna Thompson 59:38
outside their 

Donna Haley 59:38
7-8 Monarchs on it. 

Donna Thompson 59:40
It is different varieties; it's Arendaritskelo; 

Donna Haley 59:43
it can be a shorter version or the tall version. Tall versions fabulous except the wind knocks it over. You gotta stake it if you're gonna have a tall one. But I believe our mission of conservation and preservation and restoring habitat also has to 

Donna Thompson 1:00:00
include adding 

Donna Haley 1:00:01
late blooming sources of nectar to 

Donna Thompson 1:00:05
fuel the South 

Donna Haley 1:00:05
Migration Migration. 

Donna Thompson 1:00:05
Found 

Donna Haley 1:00:07
If 

Donna Thompson 1:00:07
we could 

Donna Haley 1:00:08
get people all up and down the East Coast 

Donna Thompson 1:00:11
to plant late blooming nectar sources, it's gonna help the monarch get the Mexican. 

Kayla Deickman 1:00:16
I 

Donna Thompson 1:00:18
never hear 

Kayla Deickman 1:00:19
anybody 

Rich Bennett 1:00:19
about it. Is 

Kayla Deickman 1:00:19
talk 

Rich Bennett 1:00:19
when did they start migrating 

Donna Thompson 1:00:20
right now? 

Donna Haley 1:00:21
Now. 

They're on their way. They're on their way. 

Donna Thompson 1:00:26
That's 

Donna Haley 1:00:27
fifty. So long, like, right, so they do 

Kayla Deickman 1:00:30
two about 

Donna Haley 1:00:30
about 50 to 100 miles a day. They go up, they flop, flop, flop, flop, and they coast. 

Donna Thompson 1:00:36
So they glide. 

Kayla Deickman 1:00:37
Okay. 

Donna Thompson 1:00:38
Yeah. 

Kayla Deickman 1:00:39
So you 

Donna Haley 1:00:39
in ten days, they can go 

Donna Thompson 1:00:41
figure 

Donna Haley 1:00:41
700 miles and 

Donna Thompson 1:00:43
got to get them out of here and 

Donna Haley 1:00:44
we've 

Kayla Deickman 1:00:44
we've got to get them 

Donna Thompson 1:00:45
from South. So 

Donna Haley 1:00:47
that, 

Donna Thompson 1:00:48
it's warmer in the South. 

Kayla Deickman 1:00:49
remember, 

Donna Thompson 1:00:49
So there 

Donna Haley 1:00:50
are flowers 

Donna Thompson 1:00:51
are going to 

Donna Haley 1:00:52
bloom longer than ours, right? Temperatures, right, so our flowers are gonna die off. So if we could at 

Donna Thompson 1:00:58
least just get them 

Donna Haley 1:00:59
least at 

Donna Thompson 1:00:59
down to South Carolina, North 

Donna Haley 1:01:01
Carolina, 

Donna Thompson 1:01:01
the southern states, then hopefully 

Donna Haley 1:01:04
they have enough 

Donna Thompson 1:01:05
nectar down there that can 

Donna Haley 1:01:06
get them to Mexico. 

Kayla Deickman 1:01:09
So 

Donna Thompson 1:01:09
we need to ask people to please avoid using herbicides and pesticides. We need 

Kayla Deickman 1:01:15
to ask 

Donna Thompson 1:01:15
people to please. 

Donna Haley 1:01:16
please plant milkweed and yes, plant native milkweed, which is to 

Donna Thompson 1:01:20
Please, 

Donna Haley 1:01:20
your area, but 

Donna Thompson 1:01:21
also 

Donna Haley 1:01:21
so we believe in supplementing our natives with non-native hairy balls and tropical, and if you were to 

Kayla Deickman 1:01:27
see 

Donna Haley 1:01:28
the numbers 

Kayla Deickman 1:01:29
on this 

Donna Thompson 1:01:29
study study, that measures the levels of cardinal 

Donna Haley 1:01:31
idonite 

Kayla Deickman 1:01:32
in these types of types of the weed. 

Donna Haley 1:01:33
And 

Donna Thompson 1:01:34
then if you were to 

Kayla Deickman 1:01:34
see 

Donna Haley 1:01:35
the 

Donna Thompson 1:01:36
butterfly activity in our 

Donna Haley 1:01:38
garden, 

Donna Thompson 1:01:38
speaks for itself. 

Kayla Deickman 1:01:39
Do you have this 

Donna Haley 1:01:40
in 

Kayla Deickman 1:01:41
like a PDF format? I to 

Donna Haley 1:01:45
want 

Kayla Deickman 1:01:45
put that into the scherners, 

Donna Haley 1:01:48
that way people have it. I'll 

Donna Thompson 1:01:51
get it to you. So of 

Donna Haley 1:01:54
course I authored that, 

Donna Thompson 1:01:55
but it's 

Donna Haley 1:01:56
all a 

Donna Thompson 1:01:56
compilation of things that I've 

Donna Haley 1:01:58
read. 

Donna Thompson 1:01:59
It's all studies. Right. And then we have a list 

Kayla Deickman 1:02:02
of 

Donna Haley 1:02:02
all the flowers that we 

Donna Thompson 1:02:03
have in our garden. 

Donna Haley 1:02:07
So 

Donna Thompson 1:02:07
people can actually 

Donna Haley 1:02:08
come to you 

Kayla Deickman 1:02:08
get 

Donna Haley 1:02:09
and 

Kayla Deickman 1:02:09
plants. 

Donna Haley 1:02:10
back to 

Donna Thompson 1:02:11
Getting 

disaster. Wasn't a disaster, but it 

Donna Haley 1:02:15
the 

Donna Thompson 1:02:16
was a 

Donna Haley 1:02:16
disaster. 

3 of us think it was a disaster. It was a disaster. It was a disaster. 

Donna Thompson 1:02:22
It wasn't 

Donna Haley 1:02:22
three 

Donna Thompson 1:02:23
that 

Donna Haley 1:02:23
thousand days in our basement, 

Donna Thompson 1:02:25
$400 

Donna Haley 1:02:26
or $100 a month 

Donna Thompson 1:02:27
electric bill. 

Donna Haley 1:02:28
A thousand dollars to have the electrician put out that's 

Donna Thompson 1:02:31
in. The plumber put in the 

Donna Haley 1:02:33
hose. 

Donna Thompson 1:02:38
It was going in the humidity. This is dumb. 

Donna Haley 1:02:44
This is, this is dumb. This is not working hard, not what does they say work. 

Kayla Deickman 1:02:48
The card are not smart. While 

Donna Haley 1:02:52
I'm not 

Donna Thompson 1:02:52
working real 

Donna Haley 1:02:53
smart, because this is killing me. 

Donna Thompson 1:02:55
So thank 

Donna Haley 1:02:55
god, thank the Lord. 

Donna Thompson 1:02:58
That's a funny thing. I contacted a grower and I left a message. Gentleman's omniscience. 

Donna Haley 1:03:05
They don't 

Donna Thompson 1:03:06
have phones that they're, you know, they have 

Donna Haley 1:03:08
certain periods. 

Donna Thompson 1:03:09
You 

Kayla Deickman 1:03:10
guys send the home. 

Donna Haley 1:03:12
Exactly. And the 

Donna Thompson 1:03:14
Funny. 

Donna Haley 1:03:14
funny thing is I reached out and left 

Donna Thompson 1:03:16
of voice message and I said, this is my name. We're in Maryland and we're trying to 

Donna Haley 1:03:23
help the monars and I need help. 

Donna Thompson 1:03:26
When he returned my call, the sweetest, sweetest guy, he said, this is very interesting. I have just 

Donna Haley 1:03:32
telling 

Donna Thompson 1:03:32
been 

Donna Haley 1:03:33
my wife 

Donna Thompson 1:03:33
want to do something to help the monarchs. 

Rich Bennett 1:03:35
that I 

Donna Thompson 1:03:36
And 

Donna Haley 1:03:36
the 

Donna Thompson 1:03:36
one grower that I called is interested in helping butterflies. I said, you've got to be kidding 

Kayla Deickman 1:03:43
very 

Donna Thompson 1:03:43
me. 

Kayla Deickman 1:03:44
good. 

Donna Haley 1:03:44
Good odds. And think how good the Amish are in growing things. 

Donna Thompson 1:03:49
So we scheduled a meeting and I walked up, I've never been there before and I look in the back and there's this Amish gentleman in the back of this green house. He's walking toward me with a clipboard and he held 

Donna Haley 1:04:02
up this 

Donna Thompson 1:04:03
Mother Earth news 

Donna Haley 1:04:04
magazine 

Donna Thompson 1:04:05
and said, is this you? It's 

Donna Haley 1:04:09
actually 

Donna Thompson 1:04:12
we have 

Donna Haley 1:04:13
developed such a wonderful 

Donna Thompson 1:04:14
friendship and he helps out of times because a lot of people 

Donna Haley 1:04:20
us 

Donna Thompson 1:04:20
you know times are tight. Money 

Kayla Deickman 1:04:22
is big. 

Donna Thompson 1:04:22
So he helps us get 

Donna Haley 1:04:25
people. 

Donna Thompson 1:04:27
So we will 

Donna Haley 1:04:28
then bring milk we down out of Pennsylvania and around Mother's 

Donna Thompson 1:04:31
bring money 

Donna Haley 1:04:31
Day and 

Donna Thompson 1:04:31
and 

Donna Haley 1:04:31
then we've also the creeping Lantana and some other things that we know the monarch really like. So we help people we're asking people to please plant butterfly gardens to 

Donna Thompson 1:04:42
up 

Donna Haley 1:04:42
help 

Donna Thompson 1:04:42
the 

Donna Haley 1:04:42
them 

Donna Thompson 1:04:42
monarchs. 

Kayla Deickman 1:04:43
Let 

Donna Haley 1:04:43
want 

Kayla Deickman 1:04:43
me you 

Donna Haley 1:04:44
plants who are selling 

Donna Thompson 1:04:46
Well, 

Donna Haley 1:04:46
the 

Donna Thompson 1:04:46
I just have to cover the cost. I just cover the cost to the plants 

Donna Haley 1:04:50
plant. 

Donna Thompson 1:04:50
and then I think a couple 25 cents. 

I'd love to I just I don't 

Donna Haley 1:05:00
know because 

Donna Thompson 1:05:02
because because literally 

Donna Haley 1:05:03
we're in. We're in the hole. 

Donna Thompson 1:05:07
we're and But, you know, I 

Donna Haley 1:05:10
say 

Donna Thompson 1:05:12
There's 

Donna Haley 1:05:12
there's 

Donna Thompson 1:05:12
a 

Donna Haley 1:05:12
a 

Donna Thompson 1:05:12
quote 

Donna Haley 1:05:12
quote. 

Donna Thompson 1:05:13
and I actually want to quote Doc Evans. I 

Donna Haley 1:05:17
I have 

Donna Thompson 1:05:17
have 

Donna Haley 1:05:17
never 

Donna Thompson 1:05:17
never 

Donna Haley 1:05:18
been a scholarly person. 

Donna Thompson 1:05:19
But I did graduate and 

Donna Haley 1:05:23
I 

Donna Thompson 1:05:23
I just didn't. 

Donna Haley 1:05:25
had to work very hard to earn those grades. 

Donna Thompson 1:05:29
And in this class one day 

Donna Haley 1:05:31
Oh, 

Donna Thompson 1:05:31
doc 

Donna Haley 1:05:32
and just 

Donna Thompson 1:05:32
just 

Donna Haley 1:05:33
such 

Donna Thompson 1:05:33
such. 

Donna Haley 1:05:33
a 

Donna Thompson 1:05:34
class act. Looked at this class and said if I gave you my money my wealth, whatever wealth I 

Donna Haley 1:05:43
have, you 

Donna Thompson 1:05:44
would become richer. But me poor. But if I share with you my knowledge, whatever knowledge I have, you will become richer and me richer. 

Donna Haley 1:05:55
And that is really 

Donna Thompson 1:05:56
what guides me and that knowing at the end of my life, if I did something positive, 

Donna Haley 1:06:03
if I helped 

Donna Thompson 1:06:03
somebody, if I made a difference. 

Donna Haley 1:06:06
And 

Donna Thompson 1:06:08
that's really what my motivation is. 

Donna Haley 1:06:10
There is 

Kayla Deickman 1:06:10
a lot of 

Donna Haley 1:06:11
people. 

Donna Thompson 1:06:12
had a lady come to me. She had lost her daughter, and she was raising her grandchildren. 

Donna Haley 1:06:17
And I 

Donna Thompson 1:06:18
And her husband is now ill, and she 

Donna Haley 1:06:22
handed 

Donna Thompson 1:06:23
rock from a, 

Donna Haley 1:06:24
me a 

Donna Thompson 1:06:25
like a gift shop. And it had a verse that goes with it. And she gives out these things and memory of her daughter. And so she came to get milkweed 

Donna Haley 1:06:34
and called me less than 24 

Donna Thompson 1:06:37
hours later and said there is a monarch outside. 

This is unbelievable. 

Donna Haley 1:06:45
It is kind of like it is. There are so many 

Donna Thompson 1:06:50
stories like that that it's 

Donna Haley 1:06:54
really hard to even describe. 

Donna Thompson 1:06:55
But literally the woman 

Donna Haley 1:06:57
said I have not seen a monarch in years, 

Donna Thompson 1:06:59
in years and she came to our home and less than 24 hours had one out. She said it's outside my kitchen window. 

Kayla Deickman 1:07:08
To me, I believe they are the prettiest butterfly 

Donna Thompson 1:07:13
out 

Kayla Deickman 1:07:15
there. Actually, why do you have a monarch tattoo? 

I, at the time, had this tattoo for about 8-9-10 years, something like that. And me and my best friend, and then our non-best friend anymore, decided we wanted to all go get a tattoo with each other. And we all had very in colors that represented us. And I was like why don't we go get butterflies because we're all free thinkers here. And we thought they were, it would be a good representation. My current, like my, my, my still best friend, she has the purple one. But we had the same design. So they're all the design. 

Donna Haley 1:08:12
But they're in different 

Kayla Deickman 1:08:15
colors. 

No, I just, um, I prefer, I'm autistic, so I prefer things to 

Donna Haley 1:08:25
their 

Kayla Deickman 1:08:25
be in 

Donna Haley 1:08:26
boxes. 

Kayla Deickman 1:08:28
And I wanted the one that was the box. So, fun and I paint. 

And I'm a great person to hang out with. 

Donna Haley 1:08:50
your not pink 

Kayla Deickman 1:08:50
on 

Donna Haley 1:08:51
Friday's on 

Kayla Deickman 1:08:51
some 

Donna Haley 1:08:51
some 

Kayla Deickman 1:08:51
of 

Donna Haley 1:08:51
of your not pink Friday's on some of your hair. 

Kayla Deickman 1:08:53
One time. And it was for the children. 

Alright, so very important. 

Donna Haley 1:09:07
They 

Donna Thompson 1:09:07
can go to our Facebook group, Donna's Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary. And I will just preface this by saying we've been cloned 

Donna Haley 1:09:14
twice. Facebook does absolutely nothing. 

Donna Thompson 1:09:18
They 

Donna Haley 1:09:18
stole our 

Donna Thompson 1:09:19
cover photo, they stole the name of our group. 

Donna Haley 1:09:22
So there's three of us. It's not me, it's us. This is our group. It's not my group. But look for the one 

Donna Thompson 1:09:30
that 

Donna Haley 1:09:30
that 

Donna Thompson 1:09:30
over 

Donna Haley 1:09:30
has over 

Donna Thompson 1:09:30
13,000 

Donna Haley 1:09:31
1000 

Donna Thompson 1:09:31
members. 

Donna Haley 1:09:31
members. 

Donna Thompson 1:09:31
And you'll 

Donna Haley 1:09:32
You'll 

Donna Thompson 1:09:32
know 

Donna Haley 1:09:32
know 

Donna Thompson 1:09:32
that you're in the right group. And 

Donna Haley 1:09:33
also we just 

Donna Thompson 1:09:34
created an email. Donna's Monarchs@AOL.com. 

Donna Haley 1:09:39
What? I know I'm dating me. I'm old. It's okay. It works for me. Gmail. Just I just 

Donna Thompson 1:09:46
could not maneuver Gmail. 

Donna Haley 1:09:48
Don't tell me you 

Kayla Deickman 1:09:49
They still 

Donna Haley 1:09:49
still 

Kayla Deickman 1:09:49
have 

Donna Haley 1:09:49
have 

Kayla Deickman 1:09:49
the 

Donna Haley 1:09:49
the ALLC 

Kayla Deickman 1:09:50
LED. 

Donna Haley 1:09:50
day. 

Donna Thompson 1:09:51
Now I don't have 

Kayla Deickman 1:09:52
I 

Donna Thompson 1:09:52
the. 

Donna Haley 1:09:52
Do 

Kayla Deickman 1:09:52
do? I need to steal. 

Donna Haley 1:09:53
Where is the thing where you 

Donna Thompson 1:09:55
got mail? 

No, but I had Gmail and it just 

Kayla Deickman 1:10:00
it just. Confusing. 

Donna Haley 1:10:01
Yeah, yeah. What 

Kayla Deickman 1:10:02
you getting 

Donna Haley 1:10:02
to. 

Kayla Deickman 1:10:03
used 

Donna Haley 1:10:03
It works for me. So why not? 

Kayla Deickman 1:10:04
I didn't realize a well dot com man was still around. 

Donna Haley 1:10:08
I didn't either 

Kayla Deickman 1:10:09
give a website. 

Donna Thompson 1:10:11
We have a domain. We purchased the domain. 

Kayla Deickman 1:10:15
talk. 

Donna Haley 1:10:16
We'll I'm 

Kayla Deickman 1:10:19
too busy. My my husband's a marketing 

Donna Haley 1:10:22
graphic 

Kayla Deickman 1:10:22
and 

Donna Haley 1:10:22
design. 

Kayla Deickman 1:10:23
He does he build websites for people. So we got homework. 

Donna Thompson 1:10:28
Yeah, we've got the domain. 

Donna Haley 1:10:29
But somebody was going to help me 

Donna Thompson 1:10:31
and never helped me. 

Donna Haley 1:10:33
But 

Kayla Deickman 1:10:33
put you in touch 

Donna Haley 1:10:34
with somebody. 

Kayla Deickman 1:10:35
You can become a five and one see three. 

Donna Haley 1:10:36
Which I believe 

Kayla Deickman 1:10:37
is very important because you're putting out money at was too because you keep 

Donna Haley 1:10:42
getting your base. You know, you know, this new electricity and everything. Next thing you know, you're going to have a soul field out there because you're running everything. 

Kayla Deickman 1:10:56
An illustrator 

Donna Haley 1:10:57
with your 

Kayla Deickman 1:10:57
already got because 

Donna Haley 1:10:58
you already did the book. Are you working on the book? Yeah, we 

Donna Thompson 1:11:01
pretty much have the book. 

Donna Haley 1:11:02
want 

Donna Thompson 1:11:02
What we 

Donna Haley 1:11:02
to do. The web 

Kayla Deickman 1:11:03
site. Next single 

Donna Haley 1:11:05
prime. This thing will probably be 

Kayla Deickman 1:11:06
a 

Donna Haley 1:11:07
podcast the video series. 

Kayla Deickman 1:11:09
And the 

Donna Haley 1:11:11
shirts 

Kayla Deickman 1:11:11
shirts because you definitely got to get that 

Donna Haley 1:11:13
shirts 

Kayla Deickman 1:11:13
shirt. Made up. It says. How are your 

Donna Haley 1:11:16
your hairy 

Kayla Deickman 1:11:16
balls and 

Donna Haley 1:11:17
hats? 

Kayla Deickman 1:11:21
So please make sure you include a butterfly on that shirt. 

Donna Haley 1:11:27
People have 

Donna Thompson 1:11:28
suggested that before but I don't ever want to come across as I'm not doing it for profit. 

Kayla Deickman 1:11:36
And once you become the nonprofit those things will help fund, exactly what you're doing nonprofit is awesome and nonprofit doesn't mean that you're not allowed to take any 

Donna Haley 1:11:46
profits. 

Kayla Deickman 1:11:47
put into the nonprofit. That's not what 

Donna Thompson 1:11:49
I 

Kayla Deickman 1:11:49
that. 

Donna Thompson 1:11:50
don't even 

Kayla Deickman 1:11:52
Yeah, a nonprofit is essentially a business that's there to help others. 

Donna Haley 1:11:56
That's what you see, right? 

Kayla Deickman 1:11:57
Or with a cost? Well, your nonprofits will have a staff 

Donna Haley 1:12:01
staff. 

Kayla Deickman 1:12:01
of 

Donna Haley 1:12:02
But it's still 

Kayla Deickman 1:12:02
each 

Donna Haley 1:12:02
a nonprofit. 

Kayla Deickman 1:12:05
But now it's free 

Donna Haley 1:12:11
amazing. 

Donna Thompson 1:12:12
But I could 

Donna Haley 1:12:14
show anyway. We're 10 years into this. 

Donna Thompson 1:12:16
And we've got 13,000 

Donna Haley 1:12:19
wonderful friends, 2,000 people in the group. And we've made some wonderful friends. 

Kayla Deickman 1:12:22
And you're retired from nursing. I 

Donna Haley 1:12:24
just did all this April 2nd this year. 

Kayla Deickman 1:12:26
Okay. 

Donna Haley 1:12:27
Yeah, full 

Kayla Deickman 1:12:31
oh, that's that's. 

Donna Thompson 1:12:33
the plug. We don't. It's 

Kayla Deickman 1:12:34
Oh, right. 

Donna Haley 1:12:37
So I I asked 

Donna Thompson 1:12:39
asked 

Donna Haley 1:12:39
him 

Donna Thompson 1:12:39
him. 

Donna Haley 1:12:39
about. I've never done a problem 

Donna Thompson 1:12:42
before. I said, are we just 

Donna Haley 1:12:43
I was just winging 

Kayla Deickman 1:12:43
waiting? 

Donna Haley 1:12:43
it and 

Kayla Deickman 1:12:44
Yes. 

Donna Haley 1:12:44
he said I like the pun. I didn't even think. I thought you were joking. 

Kayla Deickman 1:12:51
You said you were on the piece where 

Donna Haley 1:12:52
we just got away. 

Kayla Deickman 1:12:53
I thought she was being 

Donna Haley 1:12:54
punished and she was being punished. 

That's funny because when he said I 

Kayla Deickman 1:13:00
like it. 

No it is 

Donna Haley 1:13:06
And then I realized. Now 

Kayla Deickman 1:13:08
a 

Donna Haley 1:13:10
I get 

Kayla Deickman 1:13:12
pun though. No it is. Oh my goodness. 

Donna Haley 1:13:14
it. 

What? I 

Kayla Deickman 1:13:23
saw what you did. 

Donna Haley 1:13:25
So this is what 

Donna Thompson 1:13:25
the eggs do to these poor little caterpillars. 

Kayla Deickman 1:13:28
The 

Donna Thompson 1:13:30
fact that it flies lay the eggs. It is a shame. 

Donna Haley 1:13:32
We don't have video. 

Donna Thompson 1:13:36
Video. Somebody could see 

Donna Haley 1:13:37
that. When 

Kayla Deickman 1:13:38
you get sent me to 

Donna Haley 1:13:39
photos, 

Kayla Deickman 1:13:39
me 

Donna Haley 1:13:39
send 

Kayla Deickman 1:13:39
to photos. Because I can always add them to. 

Donna Thompson 1:13:42
And see the strings, 

Donna Haley 1:13:43
see the caterpillar 

Donna Thompson 1:13:44
hanging. So 

Donna Haley 1:13:45
the maggots are inside the caterpillar and 

Donna Thompson 1:13:48
you 

Donna Haley 1:13:49
see how it is just deflated. 

They 

Donna Thompson 1:13:56
just 

Donna Haley 1:13:58
feed off 

Donna Thompson 1:13:58
of the other 

Donna Haley 1:14:00
of the other of the other 

Donna Thompson 1:14:02
host. We 

Donna Haley 1:14:03
the take 

Donna Thompson 1:14:04
don't 

Donna Haley 1:14:05
anything that we 

Donna Thompson 1:14:06
do lightly. 

Kayla Deickman 1:14:08
I mean, I do see that you come super prepared with a binder. 

Donna Haley 1:14:15
And I put it together. 

Donna Thompson 1:14:19
And I made it through. I made it through. 

Kayla Deickman 1:14:24
I've 

Donna Thompson 1:14:24
got a bachelor. 

Donna Haley 1:14:25
But 

Donna Thompson 1:14:26
I'm not one 

Donna Haley 1:14:26
that could just sit there and listen to three hours. 

Donna Thompson 1:14:30
Remember 

Donna Haley 1:14:30
everything that I 

Kayla Deickman 1:14:31
have 

Donna Thompson 1:14:32
to take 

Donna Haley 1:14:32
really good notes. 

Donna Thompson 1:14:33
But I do think 

Donna Haley 1:14:35
things. I try to do things very 

Donna Thompson 1:14:37
organized. 

It's 

Donna Haley 1:14:43
supposed to just 

Donna Thompson 1:14:43
jump in all over the 

Kayla Deickman 1:14:44
place. 

You should do... children's education. 

Tiny ones helps the bigger ones especially getting involved at home. Maybe even sending a milkweed plant home with a child because then the parents feel guilty and have to plant them. Who has a pine tree and their yard from some for 30 years? I do. 

Donna Haley 1:15:19
My grandmother did. We just had a homeschool 

Donna Thompson 1:15:22
group came on Wednesday. And I have to be honest with you, it was the best group of children. The most well behaved. And again, when you 

Donna Haley 1:15:32
talk about how God 

Donna Thompson 1:15:33
puts his hand, 

before I 

Kayla Deickman 1:15:37
tell you that, 

Donna Thompson 1:15:37
I got a call from a lady at assisted living back in February. She learned 

Donna Haley 1:15:44
about what we do. So she was 

Donna Thompson 1:15:45
planning for the summer and asked do we do anything like going places and doing presentations. And I did. And she said, let's pick a day. What do you think is July 3rd? And I said, "Sure." So I put July 3rd 

Donna Haley 1:15:58
on the calendar back in February. 

Donna Thompson 1:16:01
And July 2nd, closed. The 

Donna Haley 1:16:07
two butterflies, 

Donna Thompson 1:16:07
terminology, 

Donna Haley 1:16:07
he 

Donna Thompson 1:16:07
the terminology is in egg hatches. 

Kayla Deickman 1:16:11
And 

Donna Haley 1:16:11
the 

Donna Thompson 1:16:12
emcloses 

Donna Haley 1:16:12
butterfly when 

Donna Thompson 1:16:14
it comes out of the chrysalis. So 

Donna Haley 1:16:16
I don't understand the word 

Donna Thompson 1:16:18
why they just can't say it emerged. Emerged makes more sense. Monarchs typically don't get here 

Donna Haley 1:16:24
ever 12 rounds in July 15th, 

Donna Thompson 1:16:26
but yet they start to trickle in a little 

Donna Haley 1:16:29
Why? 

Donna Thompson 1:16:30
'Cause they're headed 

Donna Haley 1:16:31
north, and sometimes when 

Donna Thompson 1:16:33
pushes 

Donna Haley 1:16:33
north, 

Donna Thompson 1:16:33
them 

Donna Haley 1:16:34
they're typically there. Before they're typically here, but they 

Donna Thompson 1:16:37
get here around July 15th, 

Donna Haley 1:16:39
and 

Donna Thompson 1:16:39
and they're 

Donna Haley 1:16:39
they're heavy 

Donna Thompson 1:16:40
heavy, 

Donna Haley 1:16:40
until about 

Donna Thompson 1:16:41
now, 

Donna Haley 1:16:41
down. And they're starting to slow 

Donna Thompson 1:16:43
slowed 

Donna Haley 1:16:43
down now, but we've got 

Donna Thompson 1:16:44
six-week 

Donna Haley 1:16:44
about a 

Donna Thompson 1:16:45
period 

Donna Haley 1:16:45
in narrow. 

Donna Thompson 1:16:47
We're going to 

Donna Haley 1:16:47
have heavy monored 

Donna Thompson 1:16:49
activity. 

Donna Haley 1:16:51
So 

Donna Thompson 1:16:52
anyway, 

Donna Haley 1:16:53
I went down and we went down, we did a presentation, and at the 

Donna Thompson 1:16:56
end 

Donna Haley 1:16:56
said 

Donna Thompson 1:16:57
I 

Donna Haley 1:16:57
down, if 

Kayla Deickman 1:16:59
anybody were to go 

Donna Haley 1:17:00
outside and release some butterfly, they had no idea 

Donna Thompson 1:17:03
that I had two 

Donna Haley 1:17:03
butterflies. What 

Donna Thompson 1:17:05
I had said to my 

Kayla Deickman 1:17:06
host, 

Donna Haley 1:17:07
the chance, one of the chances of back in February, we picked July 

Donna Thompson 1:17:11
3rd, 

Donna Haley 1:17:13
just random 

Kayla Deickman 1:17:13
day. 

Donna Haley 1:17:14
and on July, 

Donna Thompson 1:17:16
I'm going to have two butterflies. 

Donna Haley 1:17:17
thing is, come out. 

Donna Thompson 1:17:18
The 

Donna Haley 1:17:19
Typically, 

Donna Thompson 1:17:19
don't even get here to 

Donna Haley 1:17:20
live in July 15. There's no 

Kayla Deickman 1:17:23
thing 

Donna Haley 1:17:24
such 

Kayla Deickman 1:17:24
as school 

Donna Haley 1:17:24
incidents. It's all planned. It's 

Donna Thompson 1:17:28
is. 

Donna Haley 1:17:28
just 

Donna Thompson 1:17:28
It's just 

Donna Haley 1:17:29
amazing. So anyway, 

Donna Thompson 1:17:30
this home school group, 

Donna Haley 1:17:31
no, no, no, talent who got to release that butterfly. 

Donna Thompson 1:17:35
So before we went outside and I was leaning against this 

Donna Haley 1:17:39
column, 

Donna Thompson 1:17:40
and I 

Donna Haley 1:17:41
said, no, does anybody here would like to release these in memory of someone in honor of someone who is a special occasion? They said, well, Audrey just turned 105 one Monday. 

Kayla Deickman 1:17:52
105? 

Donna Haley 1:17:54
105, 

Donna Thompson 1:17:54
105? 

Donna Haley 1:17:55
she was alert and oriented walking with her walker, completely 

Donna Thompson 1:17:59
with its sharpest attack at 105, 

Donna Haley 1:18:02
105. 

You need nothing 

Kayla Deickman 1:18:04
but it. No, no, 

Donna Haley 1:18:04
no. 

No, 

Donna Thompson 1:18:05
no. 

So 

Donna Haley 1:18:07
Audrey. 

Yes, so the lady Audrey, really, 

Donna Thompson 1:18:10
is two butterflies. 

Kayla Deickman 1:18:12
That is, I actually had a lady on 

Donna Haley 1:18:14
101 years 

Donna Thompson 1:18:15
old. 

Donna Haley 1:18:16
Virtually. 

Rich Bennett 1:18:16
Virtually. 

Donna Haley 1:18:18
And 

Kayla Deickman 1:18:19
she was still 

Donna Haley 1:18:21
using her trainer. And 

Kayla Deickman 1:18:23
getting ready to write another book. 

Donna Haley 1:18:25
101. 

Can you imagine what she has witnessed over 

Kayla Deickman 1:18:29
years 

Donna Haley 1:18:29
101 

Kayla Deickman 1:18:29
ago? 

Oh, and she remembered that because me, 

Donna Thompson 1:18:32
We, 

Kayla Deickman 1:18:32
my 

Donna Thompson 1:18:32
my other 

Kayla Deickman 1:18:33
other 

Donna Thompson 1:18:33
crew, 

Kayla Deickman 1:18:33
crew, 

Donna Thompson 1:18:33
who 

Kayla Deickman 1:18:33
who swung, 

Donna Thompson 1:18:33
swung, 

Kayla Deickman 1:18:33
you 

Donna Thompson 1:18:33
you 

Kayla Deickman 1:18:33
were 

Donna Thompson 1:18:33
were 

Kayla Deickman 1:18:34
asking? 

Donna Thompson 1:18:34
asking her these questions. 

Kayla Deickman 1:18:37
amazing. Because I 

Donna Thompson 1:18:38
It's 

Kayla Deickman 1:18:38
always say, my goal is to hit at least 100. And I'll still 

Donna Thompson 1:18:41
this. 

Kayla Deickman 1:18:41
be doing 

Donna Haley 1:18:42
Wow. 

Rich Bennett 1:18:45
So 

Donna Haley 1:18:46
anyway, recently, you were asking when we planned the milk. Yes, we put some in the 

Donna Thompson 1:18:51
ground. And then we also have 

Kayla Deickman 1:18:53
some in the pots. 

Donna Thompson 1:18:54
And we haven't really 

Donna Haley 1:18:55
even talked about what we do with these butterflies, 

Donna Thompson 1:18:59
as 

Donna Haley 1:18:59
as 

Donna Thompson 1:18:59
far 

Donna Haley 1:18:59
we help them along. 

Donna Thompson 1:19:02
So 

Donna Haley 1:19:02
when we go into the garden, because they have a 3% 

Donna Thompson 1:19:06
to 10% 

Donna Haley 1:19:06
rate, 

Donna Thompson 1:19:06
survival we'll 

Donna Haley 1:19:09
go out and if we find some 

Donna Thompson 1:19:11
eggs, 

Donna Haley 1:19:12
we bring the eggs 

Kayla Deickman 1:19:13
to 

Donna Haley 1:19:13
in, we 

Kayla Deickman 1:19:14
help 

Donna Haley 1:19:14
keep them in a container. 

Donna Thompson 1:19:16
So now our survival rate goes from 3% to 10% to 90%.

Donna Haley 1:19:19
Would you 

Kayla Deickman 1:19:20
keep the eggs on the leaf? 

Donna Haley 1:19:22
Just like you saw right? So we keep the eggs 

Donna Thompson 1:19:24
on the leaf and then with the 

Donna Haley 1:19:25
caterpillar hatches, 

Donna Thompson 1:19:26
as we transfer 

Donna Haley 1:19:27
pot 

Donna Thompson 1:19:27
it 

Donna Haley 1:19:27
and we'll 

Donna Thompson 1:19:27
on, 

Donna Haley 1:19:27
pot it plant and put 

Donna Thompson 1:19:28
we put 

Donna Haley 1:19:28
it 

Donna Thompson 1:19:28
it 

Donna Haley 1:19:28
in 

Donna Thompson 1:19:28
in 

Donna Haley 1:19:28
a 

Donna Thompson 1:19:28
a 

Donna Haley 1:19:29
habitat. 

Then you can forget about it for a couple of weeks, because you saw how tiny those caterpillars are. And then all the sudden a couple of weeks later, looking, they're like, "Oh, there are big caterpillars in there."

Kayla Deickman 1:19:41
You, I, too, I saw that little black line moving, I had no 

Donna Haley 1:19:45
So you don't know why you 

Kayla Deickman 1:19:46
idea. 

Donna Haley 1:19:46
have that thing. 

Kayla Deickman 1:19:48
Tiny little. 

Donna Thompson 1:19:48
They're about 2 millimeters when 

Donna Haley 1:19:50
they hatch. And they'll go from 2 millimeters to what, what do you think that length is in millimeters, either a centimeter. 

It's probably 2 centimeters. 

Yeah, 2 inches. 

But this time of year, if you look at the chrysalis in the spring time, it's a lot smaller. Now that the migrators are in the chrysalis, they're doubled in size. They're big, so you know when that butterfly comes out, it's ready. It's ready to move. 

Yes, they're referred to as the super 

Donna Thompson 1:20:19
generation. 

Donna Haley 1:20:20
So the first four generations, remember they leave Mexico or head north, 

Donna Thompson 1:20:24
like 

Donna Haley 1:20:24
mate, 

Donna Thompson 1:20:24
eight legs, die, 

Donna Haley 1:20:25
caterpillar, and that whole thing. So one, two, three, four. 

Donna Thompson 1:20:28
And the fourth 

Donna Haley 1:20:29
generation 

Donna Thompson 1:20:30
flies 

Donna Haley 1:20:31
Thousand miles back to Mexico and spends the winter high top 

Donna Thompson 1:20:34
2000. 

Donna Haley 1:20:34
the trees in Mexico. 

And then they start all over again. 

And they live six days, months, nine months, well you know. 

Kayla Deickman 1:20:42
Yeah. 

Donna Haley 1:20:42
Yeah. 

So 

Donna Thompson 1:20:44
that generation, the migrators are called the super generation, because they live for an 

Donna Haley 1:20:48
extent. 

So that's what we have right now out in the garden. We have the super generation ready to go. And they know it's not like they're going to hang around in. 

Kayla Deickman 1:20:56
Yeah. 

Donna Haley 1:20:56
And mate, they don't. They turn that off and they just had south. They know that that's their job to get to Mexico. 

Kayla Deickman 1:21:03
How often do groups, or do you guys even go 

Donna Thompson 1:21:07
to groups? 

Kayla Deickman 1:21:08
Let 

Donna Haley 1:21:09
them use the butterflies. Because to me, 

Kayla Deickman 1:21:12
we can, sorry. 

know, I was able to 

Donna Haley 1:21:15
You 

Kayla Deickman 1:21:15
do 

Rich Bennett 1:21:15
you. 

Kayla Deickman 1:21:15
it for 

Rich Bennett 1:21:16
For you guys here. 

Donna Haley 1:21:17
What do you mean 

Kayla Deickman 1:21:17
that? 

That is 

Rich Bennett 1:21:18
good 

Donna Haley 1:21:18
there. 

Kayla Deickman 1:21:19
And we all 

Donna Haley 1:21:20
know 

Kayla Deickman 1:21:21
the way Medo-El 

Donna Haley 1:21:22
and The Wellness is, 

Kayla Deickman 1:21:24
this is something that a lot of people can use. 

Donna Thompson 1:21:26
And when I say this, I'm not saying this to be facetious or anything. 

Donna Haley 1:21:32
The 

Donna Thompson 1:21:33
group that we have built in the friendships 

Donna Haley 1:21:36
camaraderie, 

Donna Thompson 1:21:36
in the the community, we have taken people from depression. It gives them a 

Donna Haley 1:21:43
purpose. People 

Donna Thompson 1:21:45
that are empty nesters, I feel like they 

Donna Haley 1:21:47
have no purpose in their lives anymore. Summer, whatever. 

Donna Thompson 1:21:51
this 

Donna Haley 1:21:51
Right. 

Donna Thompson 1:21:51
is the, you know, 

Donna Haley 1:21:53
the, but these are people that are actually working with the butterflies. Right. Right. Right. People that have 

Donna Thompson 1:21:58
started in our group, 

Donna Haley 1:21:59
it's very therapeutic. Just like you said, the issue, the issue is to the point that I was just getting ready to make. 

Donna Thompson 1:22:07
If I say, hey, man, why are you going to go into labor? Nobody knows when they're going to 

Donna Haley 1:22:12
go 

Donna Thompson 1:22:12
into labor. So. 

Kayla Deickman 1:22:13
and you don't know when a 

Donna Haley 1:22:14
So, 

Kayla Deickman 1:22:15
butterfly is going 

Donna Haley 1:22:15
I'm 

Kayla Deickman 1:22:15
to. 

Donna Haley 1:22:16
exactly. 

Donna Thompson 1:22:16
So, 

Donna Haley 1:22:16
So, I can't call and say, 

Donna Thompson 1:22:18
hey, I'll be there on the 15th if you want to release butterflies, because I have no idea we'll have butterflies. 

Kayla Deickman 1:22:23
Right. 

Donna Haley 1:22:24
Right. Because we don't know if there will be your legs. And if we find the eggs, will they hatch? And 

Donna Thompson 1:22:29
will they be diseased? Well, you know, 

Donna Haley 1:22:31
you see there's just too 

Donna Thompson 1:22:32
many variables. 

Donna Haley 1:22:33
But the 

Donna Thompson 1:22:34
interesting thing when I 

Donna Haley 1:22:35
talk about about 

Donna Thompson 1:22:36
God putting 

Donna Haley 1:22:36
hand 

Donna Thompson 1:22:36
his 

Donna Haley 1:22:38
on. 

Donna Thompson 1:22:38
On our mission. So, I 

Donna Haley 1:22:40
met when we talk about the migrators, we're not promoting 

Donna Thompson 1:22:46
people to go out and collect eggs and and do this. And they discourage mass rearing and on and on and on. However, 

Donna Haley 1:22:54
with the three to 

Donna Thompson 1:22:55
10% 

Donna Haley 1:22:56
survival rate and the numbers so critically low that 

Donna Thompson 1:22:59
they almost 

Kayla Deickman 1:22:59
them. 

Donna Thompson 1:22:59
put on 

Kayla Deickman 1:23:00
Species 

Donna Thompson 1:23:01
Species 

Kayla Deickman 1:23:02
list. 

Donna Thompson 1:23:02
list. 

Donna Haley 1:23:02
fact 

Donna Thompson 1:23:02
And the 

Donna Haley 1:23:03
that the migrators are what's going to 

Donna Thompson 1:23:05
next year's term in 

Donna Haley 1:23:06
determine 

Donna Thompson 1:23:06
next year's numbers. 

Donna Haley 1:23:08
we have, this is critical. So, 

Donna Thompson 1:23:11
If 

Donna Haley 1:23:11
if we have eggs out that you 

Donna Thompson 1:23:12
darn right, 

Donna Haley 1:23:13
going to bring them in 

Kayla Deickman 1:23:14
we're 

Donna Haley 1:23:14
and you 

Donna Thompson 1:23:14
darn right, we're going to 

Donna Haley 1:23:15
trying 

Donna Thompson 1:23:15
we're going to 

Donna Haley 1:23:16
to 

Donna Thompson 1:23:16
protect 

Donna Haley 1:23:16
protect those because 

Donna Thompson 1:23:17
we're 

Donna Haley 1:23:17
we're trying to get as many migrators 

Donna Thompson 1:23:19
to Mexico as we can. 

Kayla Deickman 1:23:22
Exactly. 

Donna Haley 1:23:24
So, we had 

Donna Thompson 1:23:25
put a post down 

Donna Haley 1:23:27
and it went all over heart for counting these different groups. Does anybody have milkweed because we're running out 

Donna Thompson 1:23:34
because 

Donna Haley 1:23:34
we bring them the caterpillars 

Donna Thompson 1:23:36
present and they strip the plants. So, 

Donna Haley 1:23:39
a real sweet girl replied to me, yes, I 

Donna Thompson 1:23:41
so, 

Donna Haley 1:23:42
have milkweed. 

Donna Thompson 1:23:42
we went to her house very close to our home. She didn't realize what we do. She 

Donna Haley 1:23:48
She 

Donna Thompson 1:23:49
is 

Donna Haley 1:23:49
is 

Donna Thompson 1:23:49
so excited. She brought a homeschool group on 

Donna Haley 1:23:52
Wednesday. I don't know if it was a 10 or 

Donna Thompson 1:23:54
15 

Kayla Deickman 1:23:54
children children. 

Donna Haley 1:23:56
But, 

Donna Thompson 1:23:58
we picked today, okay, come on Wednesday. Wednesday morning, I 

Donna Haley 1:24:01
had had 25 

Kayla Deickman 1:24:03
Oh 

Donna Haley 1:24:03
butterflies. 

Kayla Deickman 1:24:04
wow. 

Donna Thompson 1:24:04
I 

Donna Haley 1:24:04
I had, I had, I had an egg that just hatched. 

Donna Thompson 1:24:06
had, 

Donna Haley 1:24:06
I had a J, 

Donna Thompson 1:24:07
J hanging caterpillar in this one habitat. I had chrysalides that were not out yet. And the children got to see an 

Donna Haley 1:24:16
egg that hatched, 

Donna Thompson 1:24:17
big caterpillars, the small caterpillars, the 

Donna Haley 1:24:20
J, J hanging shed its skin and pew paid and a butterfly come out of its chrysalides 

Donna Thompson 1:24:24
to listen. And then we released 25 butterflies. 

Kayla Deickman 1:24:26
That is awesome. 

Donna Haley 1:24:27
That made their date, made the mom stay too. Right. But the point 

Donna Thompson 1:24:33
of that is, I can't 

Donna Haley 1:24:35
plan that. 

Donna Thompson 1:24:37
I, I can't 

say, say, this 

Donna Haley 1:24:43
is on Wednesday and we'll release 

Kayla Deickman 1:24:44
butterflies. Have you ever 

Donna Thompson 1:24:45
saw 

Kayla Deickman 1:24:46
about putting a 

camera in to do time-lapse laps videos 

Donna Haley 1:24:53
Do 

Kayla Deickman 1:24:54
and then using. 

Donna Haley 1:24:55
you have 

Kayla Deickman 1:24:56
to advertise for. 

Donna Haley 1:24:58
I 

Donna Thompson 1:25:00
have not thought 

Donna Haley 1:25:01
of that. 

Mark Haley 1:25:02
Is it fine to. 

Donna Thompson 1:25:04
Yeah. 

Kayla Deickman 1:25:05
But there's also ways to do it where it's 

Donna Haley 1:25:07
where it's 

Kayla Deickman 1:25:09
it's. So, 

Donna Haley 1:25:09
where it's where it's 

Kayla Deickman 1:25:11
then you can have people that tune in that are waiting to see these butterflies. These 

Donna Haley 1:25:14
where 

Kayla Deickman 1:25:15
butterflies emerge. 

Donna Haley 1:25:18
Right, the ego's nest is what came to. 

Kayla Deickman 1:25:21
And people watch them. 

Donna Haley 1:25:24
Yeah. 

Donna Thompson 1:25:25
But I, I mean, I'm, you know, I was in healthcare for, for 30 years and, and I'm not computer 

Kayla Deickman 1:25:32
I 

Donna Thompson 1:25:32
savvy and 

Donna Haley 1:25:33
don't know 

Kayla Deickman 1:25:33
build. 

Donna Haley 1:25:33
how 

Kayla Deickman 1:25:33
That's 

Donna Haley 1:25:33
to 

Kayla Deickman 1:25:34
why you build your communities so that other people can then step in. It's not. 

Donna Haley 1:25:40
You 

Kayla Deickman 1:25:40
Scouts, 

Donna Haley 1:25:40
look at. 

Kayla Deickman 1:25:41
leave stuff like that. They're always looking for volunteer program. 

Donna Haley 1:25:44
It has. 

Kayla Deickman 1:25:45
Kayla always. Kayla does not always. 

Donna Haley 1:25:50
That's a good idea. Think of the young people. 

Kayla Deickman 1:25:53
They're 

Donna Haley 1:25:54
I mean, well, if somebody even encouraged me 

Donna Thompson 1:25:57
to get a 

Donna Haley 1:25:58
YouTube 

Kayla Deickman 1:25:59
Thank you, 

Donna Thompson 1:26:00
chat, 

Kayla Deickman 1:26:00
thank you. Uh-huh, 

Donna Haley 1:26:02
talk. 

Kayla Deickman 1:26:02
yeah, I'm one of those that are gonna encourage you to do that because I'm, I'm 29, uhm, that's how I bring in basically what I do. I speak about mental health, I work with children and I do all of those kinds of advocacy types of things. And TikTok would be a great way to promote it, even if you're doing something silly. So there's a lady, I don't know what her handle is, she's, I, I love her. She's an older 

Donna Haley 1:26:30
woman 

Kayla Deickman 1:26:30
who uses her roller skates and uses a butterfly type of 

Donna Haley 1:26:36
costume. 

Kayla Deickman 1:26:37
Not a costume but it's like, 

Donna Haley 1:26:38
uhm, 

Kayla Deickman 1:26:38
I, 

Donna Haley 1:26:39
those wings. 

Kayla Deickman 1:26:40
Yeah, like those little wing flaggy thing. 

Donna Haley 1:26:42
Yeah. 

Kayla Deickman 1:26:43
And she's got millions followers and that's all she does. And sometimes 

Donna Haley 1:26:49
in 

Kayla Deickman 1:26:49
she 

Donna Haley 1:26:49
different areas. I mean, that's what she does. 

Kayla Deickman 1:26:52
adds 

Donna Haley 1:26:53
But my sister and cousin just 

Kayla Deickman 1:26:55
started studying. My sister's what, '66? and my cousin's right around, they 

Donna Haley 1:27:01
They 

Kayla Deickman 1:27:01
just 

Donna Haley 1:27:01
just 

Kayla Deickman 1:27:01
started a TikTok, the 

Donna Thompson 1:27:02
started 

Kayla Deickman 1:27:02
TikToking 

Donna Thompson 1:27:02
talking, 

Kayla Deickman 1:27:03
grandma's. Love that. Love that so much. Oh god, they do stupid things. My 

Donna Haley 1:27:10
son, 

Kayla Deickman 1:27:11
money, actually makes 

Donna Thompson 1:27:12
TikTok. 

Kayla Deickman 1:27:12
money 

Donna Haley 1:27:12
my son's 

Donna Thompson 1:27:13
Talk 

Donna Haley 1:27:13
from 

Donna Thompson 1:27:13
about 

Kayla Deickman 1:27:14
Talk about it. Talk about stupid things. 

Donna Thompson 1:27:15
it. 

Kayla Deickman 1:27:15
But this is 

Donna Haley 1:27:16
nice. 

Rich Bennett 1:27:16
Stupid 

Donna Haley 1:27:17
things. 

Kayla Deickman 1:27:17
And people would be interested in it. They would be interested. It definitely, you, well, you're already doing Facebook for the years, right? Sometimes. Yeah. I definitely think that there's room starting a YouTube channel. Educating and making sure that it's geared towards education for all age groups. Not just directly towards the adults. 

Donna Thompson 1:27:36
Well, the 

Donna Haley 1:27:37
thing is, there's already, there's already, yeah, 

Donna Thompson 1:27:38
there, 

Donna Haley 1:27:38
there, 

Donna Thompson 1:27:39
there, 

Kayla Deickman 1:27:39
what 

Donna Thompson 1:27:39
so, 

Donna Haley 1:27:39
it's not done is 

Donna Thompson 1:27:42
sweet. 

Kayla Deickman 1:27:44
not. 

Donna Thompson 1:27:44
Yeah. 

Donna Haley 1:27:45
You know the funny thing, it's 

No, crags think it, oh my gosh, it's gonna snowball in another direction. Somebody came to the house the other day 

Rich Bennett 1:27:55
and paid me a 

Donna Haley 1:27:56
compliment, and I don't handle 

Donna Thompson 1:27:57
compliment, 

Donna Haley 1:27:58
compliments 

Donna Thompson 1:27:58
a 

Donna Haley 1:27:58
real well. I get 

Donna Thompson 1:27:59
embarrassed. say, and 

Donna Haley 1:28:01
And 

Donna Thompson 1:28:01
I 

Donna Haley 1:28:01
I 

Donna Thompson 1:28:01
say, you, 

Donna Haley 1:28:01
you see 

Donna Thompson 1:28:02
this growing at 500 a week. 

Donna Haley 1:28:05
She said it's because of you. 

Donna Thompson 1:28:08
said, don't 

Donna Haley 1:28:09
She 

Donna Thompson 1:28:10
you not realize it's because of 

Donna Haley 1:28:12
And 

Donna Thompson 1:28:12
you. 

Donna Haley 1:28:13
she went 

Kayla Deickman 1:28:13
on. 

Donna Haley 1:28:16
So I have a philosophy, I will never correct publicly, I praise publicly and I'll send a private message for a correction because I don't ever want 

Donna Thompson 1:28:24
some people, 

Donna Haley 1:28:24
to embarrass 

Donna Thompson 1:28:24
humiliate somebody in front of 

Donna Haley 1:28:26
other 

Kayla Deickman 1:28:26
Right. 

Donna Haley 1:28:26
people. 

Donna Thompson 1:28:27
And, 

Donna Haley 1:28:27
Right. 

Donna Thompson 1:28:28
and I 

Donna Haley 1:28:29
try to use the words, you know, for therapeutic communication. If I may make a 

Donna Thompson 1:28:34
suggestion, hey, 

Donna Haley 1:28:35
hey, I found this to be really, this really worked for 

Donna Thompson 1:28:38
me. I 

Donna Haley 1:28:39
You know, you may, you may find 

Donna Thompson 1:28:40
need 

Donna Haley 1:28:40
this 

Donna Thompson 1:28:40
to 

Donna Haley 1:28:40
to 

Donna Thompson 1:28:40
be 

Donna Haley 1:28:40
be 

Donna Thompson 1:28:41
useful. 

Donna Haley 1:28:41
useful 

Kayla Deickman 1:28:41
you were. 

Donna Haley 1:28:41
as 

Donna Thompson 1:28:41
Instead 

Donna Haley 1:28:42
of, you need to do this, you need to, you shouldn't do that. Why would you do that? 

Kayla Deickman 1:28:48
Exactly. There's ways to communicate to people to get your point across without being nasty. 

Donna Haley 1:28:51
Yes, exactly. And, we have group rules and 

Donna Thompson 1:28:57
one of our group 

Donna Haley 1:28:58
rules is because of that group. I was telling you about 

Donna Thompson 1:29:01
with, with the followers, who think 

Donna Haley 1:29:03
that what we think that what we're doing, we shouldn't 

Donna Thompson 1:29:05
be doing, that this person publicly goes 

Donna Haley 1:29:08
into his group and asks 

Donna Thompson 1:29:09
join, so people 

Donna Haley 1:29:09
people 

Donna Thompson 1:29:09
to 

Donna Haley 1:29:10
to 

Donna Thompson 1:29:10
join our 

Donna Haley 1:29:10
group. To quote, try to 

Donna Thompson 1:29:12
talk some sense into me. They call me stupid. 

Donna Haley 1:29:15
me all these 

Donna Thompson 1:29:16
This other 

Donna Haley 1:29:16
other names. She said she's a 

Donna Thompson 1:29:18
nurse, 

Donna Haley 1:29:18
nurse, 

Donna Thompson 1:29:18
but she 

Donna Haley 1:29:18
but she doesn't 

Donna Thompson 1:29:18
told 

Donna Haley 1:29:19
follow the 

Donna Thompson 1:29:20
science. 

Donna Haley 1:29:20
I'm 

Donna Thompson 1:29:20
I'm, 

Donna Haley 1:29:21
doing my own science. Your science is says this, but we're in our garden 

Donna Thompson 1:29:25
seeing, and 

Donna Haley 1:29:25
and what 

Donna Thompson 1:29:25
what 

Donna Haley 1:29:25
we're 

Donna Thompson 1:29:25
we're seeing does not 

Rich Bennett 1:29:27
match. Right. 

Donna Haley 1:29:28
What you're claiming does not match what we're seeing. We have no 

Donna Thompson 1:29:32
OE here, 

Donna Haley 1:29:33
no, it might be somewhere, 

Donna Thompson 1:29:34
but 

Donna Haley 1:29:34
but it 

Donna Thompson 1:29:35
it 

Donna Haley 1:29:35
ain't 

Donna Thompson 1:29:35
ain't, 

Donna Haley 1:29:35
in our gardens. And I 

Donna Thompson 1:29:36
don't use that word 

Donna Haley 1:29:37
ain't, ain't, but it's, you know, we are 

Donna Thompson 1:29:40
doing it. We're 

Donna Haley 1:29:41
with a, we're 

Donna Thompson 1:29:42
checking 

Donna Haley 1:29:42
checking the, 

Donna Thompson 1:29:43
we're 

Donna Haley 1:29:43
with a microscope. We're checking these butterflies. We're 

Donna Thompson 1:29:44
not 

Donna Haley 1:29:44
not, 

Donna Thompson 1:29:44
releasing butterflies. 

Donna Haley 1:29:45
supplies that are unhealthy. 

Donna Thompson 1:29:47
So 

Donna Haley 1:29:47
So we're, 

Donna Thompson 1:29:47
we're, these are biologists 

Rich Bennett 1:29:49
yeah, 

Donna Thompson 1:29:49
on, 

Rich Bennett 1:29:49
we're 

Donna Haley 1:29:51
doing this haphazardly and yet to 

Donna Thompson 1:29:53
not 

Donna Haley 1:29:53
attack 

Kayla Deickman 1:29:54
me. 

Donna Thompson 1:29:55
So I had to 

Donna Haley 1:29:56
put 

Donna Thompson 1:29:58
rules 

Donna Haley 1:29:58
we 

Donna Thompson 1:29:58
in 

Donna Haley 1:29:58
are 

Donna Thompson 1:29:58
our 

Donna Haley 1:29:58
a group, 

Donna Thompson 1:29:59
group, 

Donna Haley 1:29:59
we will not debate the use of non-native milkweed in our group. 

This is our position. This is our stance. We support it. We're proponents of it. And if you're opposed to that, 

Rich Bennett 1:30:12
then you're, 

Kayla Deickman 1:30:13
then you're in the wrong 

Donna Thompson 1:30:13
group. Then you're in the wrong 

Donna Haley 1:30:14
but I say it 

Kayla Deickman 1:30:15
group. 

Donna Haley 1:30:15
respectfully. 

Kayla Deickman 1:30:15
Yeah, 

Donna Haley 1:30:16
This 

Donna Thompson 1:30:16
it's 

Donna Haley 1:30:16
is our 

Donna Thompson 1:30:16
our, 

Donna Haley 1:30:17
position. 

Donna Thompson 1:30:18
And if you, 

Donna Haley 1:30:18
you're going to continue to try to argue, you 

Donna Thompson 1:30:21
will, you will be banned 

Donna Haley 1:30:22
from the group. 

Kayla Deickman 1:30:23
So, 

Donna Thompson 1:30:24
then, 

Donna Haley 1:30:24
and 

Donna Thompson 1:30:24
if the 

Donna Haley 1:30:25
please 

Donna Thompson 1:30:25
person is. 

Donna Haley 1:30:25
watch your tone. Please be helpful. Please be respectful. Never speak to somebody condescending. 

Donna Thompson 1:30:31
you. 

Donna Haley 1:30:31
At 

Donna Thompson 1:30:31
And I hear all the 

Donna Haley 1:30:32
the 

Donna Thompson 1:30:32
time, 

Donna Haley 1:30:32
time, keep, 

Donna Thompson 1:30:33
people, thank, thank 

Donna Haley 1:30:34
thank 

Donna Thompson 1:30:34
you for giving me a group that I can, 

Donna Haley 1:30:37
that I can feel safe and not be attacked. So the fact that we have established the group that, 

Donna Thompson 1:30:44
no disrespect, no debating, 

Donna Haley 1:30:46
this is our, 

Donna Thompson 1:30:46
no 

Donna Haley 1:30:46
this 

Donna Thompson 1:30:46
this, 

Donna Haley 1:30:47
is our position 

Donna Thompson 1:30:48
and we enforce it. So, 

Donna Haley 1:30:50
so if somebody's going to be rude, they treated right out of their group. 

Kayla Deickman 1:30:58
That's 

Donna Thompson 1:31:00
the 

Donna Haley 1:31:00
feedback that I'm doing. 

Kayla Deickman 1:31:02
Talking with you today has been absolutely 

Donna Haley 1:31:05
one. We have. 

Kayla Deickman 1:31:07
And I'm really glad that we were able to talk about Donas monarch butterfly sanctuary on Rich's podcast. 

She did the job. 

Rich, on that note, friends. 

Rich Bennett 1:31:28
I, I want to thank you. 

Donna Haley 1:31:31
I, yeah, I 

do. 

Donna Thompson 1:31:39
Well, you know, 

Donna Haley 1:31:40
no, everybody, nobody 

Donna Thompson 1:31:42
wants to floundarn. Everybody wants to succeed. Hope that when they get invited to do something that they do it well, 

Rich Bennett 1:31:48
you did well. 

Donna Haley 1:31:51
learned 

Rich Bennett 1:31:52
I 

Donna Haley 1:31:52
a lot and I 

Kayla Deickman 1:31:53
also 

Rich Bennett 1:31:54
know now that 

Kayla Deickman 1:31:55
with that that baseman, since you don't have all these 

Rich Bennett 1:31:57
plants in there, 

Kayla Deickman 1:31:59
and 

Donna Haley 1:32:00
craves 

Kayla Deickman 1:32:01
you tired. Now he's going to turn it into a studio so you do social media. 

Rich Bennett 1:32:06
Videos and everything. And it means like, Rich. Shut 

Kayla Deickman 1:32:10
that. 

Rich Bennett 1:32:13
I don't know. 

Donna Haley 1:32:15
I 

Rich Bennett 1:32:16
want to 

Donna Haley 1:32:17
thank you. 

Rich Bennett 1:32:18
Everybody listening. Look for the Facebook group and keep your eyes because 

hopefully this is going to be coming non-profit. We're still definitely going to 

Donna Thompson 1:32:31
in. 

Rich Bennett 1:32:31
put you 

Donna Haley 1:32:32
push you in the 

Kayla Deickman 1:32:32
Yeah, 

Donna Haley 1:32:32
right direction. 

Rich Bennett 1:32:33
Yeah. Yeah, because I. 

Kayla Deickman 1:32:39
And guys, if you see a butterfly in the garden, think of Donna's Monarch butterfly, thanks to Larry. Oh, I don't think of you either. 

Rich Bennett 1:32:53
know, at least I 

Donna Haley 1:32:53
You

Rich Bennett 1:32:53
was able to get the butterflies crawling on me. 

Rich Bennett 1:32:56
Thank you for listening to the conversations with Rich Bennett. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and learned something from it as I did. If you'd like to hear more conversations like this, be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss any episode. And if you have a moment, I'd love it if you can leave a review. It helps us reach more listeners and share more incredible stories. Don't forget to connect with us on social media or visit our website at Conversations with Rich Bennett dot com for updates, giveaways and more. Until next time, take care, be kind, and keep the conversations going. You know, it takes a lot to put a podcast together, together. And my sponsors help add a lot, but I also have some supporters that actually help me when it comes to the editing software, the hosting, and so forth. There's a lot that goes into putting this together. So I want to thank them. And if you can, please, please visit their websites, visit their businesses, support them however you can. So please visit the following Full full circle boards. Nobody does charcuterie like full circle boards. Visit them at fullcircleboards.com Sincerely, Sincerely, sincerely, so your photography. Live in the moment. They'll capture it. Visit them at sincerelysoyer.com.