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Christmas Cheer from Behind the Steel Curtain
For the past few years I have had the pleasure of working with my long time friend Henry Hilton and Karen Richards. What they do day after day most people would never consider doing for a minute. They are in charge of the Plant Science Department at the Monroe Township correctional facility near Jamesburg New Jersey.
Henry and Karen are dedicated people intent on showing their students that horticulture can provide them with a comfortable and rewarding living. In order to show their students the many facets of horticulture they continuously introduce new ideas into their program Bonsai, mass propagations, entering flower shows, even the raising of butterflies and public speaking, hence my relationship with their department. The students have really taken to butterflies and we are all proud of just how much the students have learned and how easily they handle them. Best of all, they have developed an appreciation for butterflies and would never consider harming one.
To expand the programs and introduce new things, the Plant Science department needs to fund itself in order to do so. If we lay stagnant so does the program. So the staff and the students are always trying to come up with new ideas to generate funding. In the past the students have produced butterfly hatching kits for Rutgers University Home Gardening School and the Display Garden’s Mothers Day festival so that others can enjoy rearing butterflies at home. Last year they constructed and sold Christmas angel ornaments from pinecones, dried milkweed pods, golf tees and acorns. The guys had a ball making them.
Well this holiday season, besides producing masses of poinsettias, they have come up with some of the coolest tree ornaments yet. The class started by first constructing full size butterfly garden houses to sell. But during the process it was decided to scale some down to Christmas tree hanging size. And don’t you know they became the coolest Christmas tree ornaments that would be perfect for the butterfly lover in your family.
Please consider reaching over the steel chain link curtain and purchasing either the Butterfly Garden Houses or tree ornaments to help support our Horticultural program. It will not only make our students fell like a million bucks because their product sold, but it will also help to better the program for them. Help us help the students to realize that they have not only created something to beautify your garden or your Christmas tree but they do have talents they have just not realized yet.
The hands painted Christmas tree ornaments are 1½” X 1½” X 3” high. They are available in any primary color you would like or all white or with holly or a special Christmas butterfly hand painted by the students. They are only $5.00 each plus shipping.
The Butterfly Garden Houses are available in heights of either 18 “or 30 “ and are 6½ wide by 7½ deep. You have your choice of either pine or cedar and they are available in their natural finish or hand painted in primary color to compliment your garden. They are also available in white with hand painted greens vines.
The 18” Pine is $21.95 - The 18” Cedar is $24.95 - The 30” Pine or Cedar is $29.95 Prices do not include shipping.
To reach through the curtain and help the Horticultural Department by placing an order for one of these very unique items please contact me at butrfly@epix.net or by calling 570-459-1327
Thanks,
Rick Mikula