Andy and I gave a butterfly presentation for a Merritt College class yesterday. One of the people there, Tora, liked it so much that she asked it to do it over again for her employees. The first picture is some of the people who attended the second class for people who work for the City of Oakland. After the class, we went for a walk in the garden. That is Andy and Kelly under the silk floss tree in full bloom. Kelly works in administration, but she loves raising caterpillars, so she came to the class to learn more. The garden was full of butterflies, including Red Admirables, Cabbage Whites and Monarchs. I got pictures of a skipper, a lady and a checkered skipper. Tora gave Andy some Monarch eggs, so he is going to be rearing for awhile.
As an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, I studied Conservation of Natural Resources. I took a couple of entomology classes and became very interested in insects. After I graduated, I held several jobs working with bugs: in the fields of central California, the forests of Connecticut and Idaho, and the labs of Berkeley. Then I went to grad school and studied entomology at UC Riverside and UC Berkeley (back in the olden days when UCB had an entomology department). When my kids were little, I wanted to share my love of insects with them, so I started a butterfly garden before butterfly gardens were popular. Then of course, their teachers asked me to bring caterpillars into the classroom and I started doing classroom presentations. I do presentations in elementary schools, provide teacher trainings, teach adult school classes, and bring live insect specimens to garden fairs. My book is perfect for helping elementary school kids learn about butterflies.
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