Snapped this nice picture of a Monarch butterfly with the BQ barn in the background. This guy should be one of the "super-generation" that will make the incredible flight from here to Mexico to overwinter. Most generations of Monarchs only live for one month, but this one will live up to 8 months! He'll flutter 50 miles a day to reach Mexico, and no one knows exactly how he performs the navigational feat. Monarchs are on the decline, possibly because of the decline of the one plant they can lay their eggs on- milkweed. Milkweed produces a bitter sap that the Monarch caterpillar eats, which makes them taste bitter and discourages predators.
The BjornQorn barn has a one acre field that we only mow once a year, so that it can become a field of wildflowers and support pollinators like the monarch, instead of a sorta-pointless grass lawn.