When Laurie Bashaw was walking on the North Country Trail in Marquette recently, she spotted these interesting looking plants along the way. She thought they were pretty cool, so she snapped some photos to share these Milkweed Pods with us. I have to agree with Laurie, they are pretty cool looking...I don’t think I’ve every come across them before.

When in flower, the milkweed plant is very beneficial for Monarch Butterflies, as they cannot survive without milkweed. Their caterpillars only eat Milkweed plants and adult Monarchs need milkweed to lay their eggs. It is recognized as a poisonous plant for humans, containing cardiac glycosides, but when the Monarch Butterflies eat them, they absorb enough of those cardiac glycosides to make them toxic to predatory birds, who quickly learn that these butterflies don’t make a good meal for them. When the fruit pods mature, they turn brown and then burst, releasing the seeds and silky looking fibers, none of which is recommended for human consumption as it can be potentially very dangerous to consume. That’s your Milkweed lesson for today!

With tomorrow being Thanksgiving, when folks gather together for big family meals, I thought today’s video about ‘why the fork was invented’ would be quite appropriate to view. It comes to us from History of Simple Things and the lead-in says: “For most of history, people didn’t use forks at all — just their hands, knives, and spoons. So how did this strange little tool become one of the most important utensils in the world? In this video, we explore the surprising story of the fork — from its royal beginnings and religious backlash to how it quietly reshaped the way we eat today.”

Very cool! It was interesting about the
butterflies. Thanks for sharing these photos,
Laurie, and the info about them, Mary.

Hi
I like the third photo, the way the silky fibers
parallel the line of the stalk.

I have some friends who want to use chopsticks when
we get Chinese food. Sorry, I think the fork is
easier.

Safe travels to everyone. We have light snow
downstate.

Nice set! I always thought
they were some kind of
cocoon filled with bugs.
And I thought forks were
invented for roads.