Around & About – Happenings Around the Peninsula February 2022

A Western Monarch butterfly feasts on watermelon at the Poulin home.

Peninsula Girl Scouts learn about Monarch Butterflies from Kirsten Poulin, whose home has been designated a Monarch Butterfly Waystation. Photos courtesy of the Poulin family.

+ A waystation for butterflies

Kirsten Poulin began raising Western Monarch butterflies at the start of the COVID pandemic. Since then, she  has released over 500 monarchs and her Peninsula home has been designated a Monarch Butterfly Waystation. She has also enlisted neighbors to breed the endangered butterflies.

Poulin was prompted to begin raising Monarchs after learning their population dropped by 97 percent between 1980 and 2010. During the winter of  2018–2019, the population plummeted to fewer than 30,000. Loss of habitat and widespread use of pesticides are blamed for their decline. 

Poulin began by planting milkweed to attract the butterflies, but soon learned only three to five percent of monarch eggs survive in the outdoors. So she decided to nurture the eggs inside her home. The eggs are the size of a pinhead, and hatch after about four days. Then, over a period of two weeks, they increase in size by 2000 percent, before transforming into a chrysalis. 

Caterpillars need fresh, healthy Milkweed daily. It is the only plant monarch caterpillars eat. 

“It may not make much of a dent on the population as a whole, but it’s definitely been a positive thing to focus on lately,” Poulin said.

 

Small Pony Champion Lauren Padilla, of Palos Verdes. Photo by Megan Padilla

+ Palos Verdes’ Padilla wins equestrian championships

Lauren Padilla, 12, trains at Palos Verdes Stables and competes in equestrian show jumping. Last year, she finished fourth in the country in the Pacific Coast, Small Pony Hunter Championships. She also qualified for the National competition at the Capital Challenge Horse Show in Maryland, where she was named Small Pony Champion and Grand Pony Hunter Champion. She was also awarded Best Pony Hunter Rider at the show. Then she went to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where she won the  Reserve Champion in the Medium Pony Division. She finished up the year at the Las Vegas National Horse Show, where she again won Grand Pony Champion honors. 

 

Farmers & Merchants Bank Rolling Hills Estates branch manager Roy Almeida, The Jester & Pharley Phund’s Amy Hastings, Barbara Saltzman, and Tiffany Roberts, and Redondo Beach Farmers & Merchants branch manager Faisal Hashmi.  Photo courtesy of Farmers & Merchants Bank

+ Farmers & Merchants Phunds Jester & Pharley 

“The Jester has Lost His Jingle,” a New York Times best seller, was written by Peninsula resident David Saltzman as his senior project at Yale University shortly before his death from Hodgkin’s Disease in 1990. His desire was to write an upbeat story for children facing serious challenges. Since its publication, the Jester & Pharley Phund has distributed Saltzman’s book to hospitalized children, nationwide, at no charge. 

Last month, Farmers & Merchants branches in Rolling Hills Estates and Redondo Beach made a significant contribution to the Jester & Pharley Phund for republication of the bilingual edition of “The Jester has Lost His Jingle.”

For more information about the Phund, visit thejester.org. Pen

 

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