Journal

Avignon's Butterfly and Herb Garden

Hi, my name is Avignon. I am a five year old pot-bellied pig living in Central Florida, whose life was very precarious. When I was a baby, I was cute and cuddly and my owners loved me very much. But as I got older, much to their surprise, I became very large. They decided that I was too big to stay in the house, and they were afraid that if they kept me outside, I would dig up their grass and eat all their plants. Before I knew what was happening , I was taken out of my home and placed in a shelter where I was caged for six months. I was very unhappy and depressed, thinking that this was my fate. Finally, I was adopted and now I live in a big fenced-in yard and I am very happy. I was fortunate because most pigs that are in shelters and are full grown never get adopted.

In the yard that I live in, there are dozens of varieties of plants. I've noticed that several types of butterflies are attracted to many of these plants. I have found this most fascinating and have made studying butterflies my hobby. I can relate to butterflies because they too are misunderstood and are being shoved out of their environment by over-developing land sites, pollution and pesticides. Butterflies are significant plant pollinators and they also give us a good indication of our ecological quality in our environment. They are also very important in the food chain. Besides, most of the butterflies don't compete for the plants that I like to eat.

Now I want to share with you some of the butterflies that I have in my yard and the plants that they like, as well as the herbs that I have in my garden. Note: all photo's were taken from my yard.

Some of the information was obtained from the following books: