We've seen dozens of monarchs this year at our Stonehurst showroom in Vernon, Vermont. It's exciting because last year we saw only a handful. On this World Nature Conservation Day it's nice to report that things are on the upswing.It's Working!
Nature nuts and monarch lovers: your hard work of planting milkweed & nectar flowers is paying off. Butterfly populations seem to be bouncing back this year after decades of decline. It's too soon to declare victory but many encouraging signs are out there. We'll have to wait for the official reports from Monarch Joint Venture but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Last summer we sponsored the Save the Monarchs Tour of New England last summer. Our small business brought FFM (Forests for Monarchs) founder, Jose Luis Alvarez up from Mexico to teach about monarch migration at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Museum of Science-Boston, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, ECHO-Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Yale's Marsh Botanical Gardens, Audubon Greenwich and the Philadelphia Zoo. It was an exciting accomplishment.Forests For Monarchs is Flourishing
Forests for Monarchs FFM, our favorite monarch conservation charity is bouncing back too! We have a new President of the Board, Michael Hamm, who is a total superstar. Megan Fulton (former Vermont Woods Studios Marketing Coordinator) is now their Executive Director (although we hated to lose Megan, we're thrilled to see her talents being applied to such a wonderful cause). I've been appointed Vice President of the Board of Directors and am serving alongside a distinguished team of renowned conservationists who specialize in monarchs. FFM's goal is to plant 1 million trees/year in the monarch's over-wintering habitat and we're on track for 2017-- no small achievement! We are always looking for new grants and donations, if you're interested in supporting the cause.
Being wood furniture makers, we have a strong commitment to forest conservation. Our customers' concern for sustainability and provenance has enabled us to plant 50,000 trees in vulnerable forests like the one where monarch butterflies over-winter in Mexico.Vermont Woods Studios Is Blooming Too
Last year was a challenging one for Vermont Woods Studios as well as the monarchs. We suffered a negative SEO attack by a competitor and learned a lot about that sort of thing. But I'm happy to report that we survived and are now thriving more than ever. We look forward to accelerating our work of "furnishing a greener world" as we move into the second half of 2017. Thanks for your support for our small business and our favorite charity, Forests for Monarchs.
