SPECIAL OPENING, 2008 BUTTERFLY FESTIVAL
October 10, 11 & 12, 10AM to 3PM
Open House, Butterfly tagging, Opportunity drawings, Kids fun activities,
Items for sale,
Master Gardeners' diagnostics booth
AND - Special Scheduled "KIDERPILLAR" group tours
2008 Regular Season is now closed.
2009 Regular Season Reopening in the Spring. Watch for the date!
Located
in Navarre Park on Hwy. 98 at the foot of the Navarre bridge
larger versions of most images
are available by clicking on the image
We are always looking for volunteers to help out at the Panhandle Butterfly
House. Below is some information on types of activities we do and a contact
email for that skill. Please consider volunteering your services to a great
cause. We are very motivated to enlighten and educate folks about the benefit
and beauty of butterflies in our environment and YOU CAN HELP!! The primary
prerequisite is a willingness to help. Contact us soon.
Docents
Docents are trained volunteers whose
major responsibility is to help people who visit the Panhandle Butterfly
House achieve a better understanding of butterflies and of the natural
habitat in which butterflies thrive. Panhandle Butterfly House Docents
are ambassadors for our natural world. They monitor the facility, greet
the public, provide research based information and answer questions.
Docent is derived from the Latin word docere meaning to teach. We have
a training course for our Docents so you aren't getting into this position
without help and guidance.
Group Tour Guides
Group tours are scheduled in advance
and usually on the days that the Panhandle Butterfly House is NOT
open to the general public. We like to know in advance how many folks,
and the general average age of the group that will be attending.
We have materials that have been developed to aid in sharing information
with our touring groups. Most of our tours involve children, though
we also give adult tours to local groups. We
have several presentations, with different scripts, according
to the ages of our visitors.
We try to combine education with
fun, teaching about butterflies and their importance to our environment
as pollinators - second only to bees. We talk about how our
visitors and their families can help provide a habitat for these
wonderful creatures by planting a butterfly garden. We
talk about food plants for the caterpillars and nectar plants for the
adult butterfly. They are taught about the life cycle of
the butterfly, and with the children we read books or play games
of being butterflies - this all according to the age of the group.
After that part of the program,
we go into the butterfly sanctuary to see the wonder: butterflies
in action feeding, flying, puddling etc. The "Nursery" is
a big hit with everyone and particularly the children as they see the
caterpillars and the chrysalis, the pupa stage of the life cycle. If
we are lucky we will even find an egg or two to show them.
It is delightful to see their enthusiasm and respect, gentleness, and
patience around these beauties.
Gardeners
In the early Spring we need lots of
folks to help us get the inside and outside gardens in shape for the
new season. During the months we have visitors in the gardens we keep
the gardens fresh with new plants, rotating plants, pruning and preening
our garden. There is always weeding, mulching,
dead heading, all the things a garden requires to be done. Willingness
to help is more important than the greenness of your thumb. Come and
join us. This is such a worthwhile effort!
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