Flood Clean Up

Still in the middle of flood clean up here in North East PA. We are luckier than most - only a damaged basement. We had to put in two new furnaces and a hot water heater. I am in the process of listing all the contents that were damaged in the basement and the garage. A daunting task, but the end result is I will receive reimbursement from the flood insurance company, less the deductible. I would urge any who lives in flood prone areas to invest in flood insurance, I can't tell you how valuable a resource it is.

I have managed to write a bit, the following is a short article that was published in the last issue of Waterman Words, our local conservation center.

I, MILKWEED

By: Mary Ellen Carmody

Hi Folks – I’m Asclepias syriaca otherwise known as the Common Milkweed along with couple other aliases, Butterfly Flower, Silkweed, Silky Swallow-wort and Virginia Silkweed. Most of my varieties are toxic to vertebrate herbivores. Just in case you are having a brain fade, a vertebrate herbivore is an animal with a backbone that only eats plants. Sheep, cattle, rabbits, zebras, donkeys and goats are some examples. I am also a perennial herb and I grow from a deep rhizome. Wow, that’s a mouthful isn’t it? But I bet there are a few more things you didn’t know about me.

I can be a pretty plant as I have blooms that range from faded light pink to reddish purple and the scent of my flowers is quite pleasing. My height will range from two to six feet on a central stem. From this central stem my dull green leaves grow.

Also I’m not just another weed. Without me the Monarch Butterfly cannot exist. That my friends, is because the Monarch lays and attaches its egg to the underside of one of my leaves whIn about 3 to 5 days the tiny wormlike larva emerges. The Monarch caterpillar (after it hatches from its egg) eats my leaves which is its sole source of food other than when it molts it eats its old skin. As it eats my leaves is ingests the toxins in my leaves and stems. This makes the larvae and adult butterflies toxic to many predators. The caterpillar completes the transformation to a beautiful butterfly in about two weeks. As you can see the Monarch butterfly cannot survive without me. Now the sad part of this is that across the United States I am being cut down to make way for modern stuff, like parking lots and apartment buildings which is why I encourage you to plant me and let me spread.

My family name is Asclepiadaceae, from Asklepios, the Greek god medicine and healing. And along with being the sole food for the Monarch Butterfly I have been used in many other ways. For example, my tough fibers that can be used for making cords and ropes and weaving coarse cloth. Early Americans used my young shoots, flower buds, immature fruits and roots for a vegetable after they boiled them. Although I understand I tasted quite bland.

Medicinally the Cherokee, Iroquois and Rappahannock used my sap for warts, ringworm and bee stings along with many other ailments.

But that’s only part of my story. Google me and you will see that my family is spread all over the states east of the Rockies.