Ibrahim Josam Mnzava

Since most of us are at home quarantining, this weeks challenge is to take a seed from your favorite fruit and plant it. Make sure to take good care of it, and soon enough you will have your favorite fruit fresh in your backyard. If you complete the challenge post what fruit you planted.

I assisted The Friends of Gatineau Park again today. Along with a small group of volunteers, I spent the morning meticulously scouring hundreds of Common Milkweed plants for Monarch Butterflies, their eggs and caterpillars (larva). Our group spotted 3 Monarch Butterflies, a few caterpillars and a few eggs in a transect of land located near the…[Read more]

8/2/18 I have relocated to Gatineau, Quebec, Canada near Ottawa Ontario and I am continuing my participation in citizen science with researchers studying the Eastern Migratory Monarch Butterfly. I now live in a place where Migratory Monarch Butterflies begin and finish their complex migration to and from Mexico. In San Luis Obispo, I was working…[Read more]

I helped my science/garden teacher at school find homes for the plants we grew this year using my seeds. Teachers, students and parents took plants home to plant and take care of this summer. Because my school is being renovated this summer, and our garden is being moved, we needed to give the plants away. After everyone was gone, my mom helped me…[Read more]

Freddy Otte came to my home, where I have been germinating native Asclepias fascicularis (Narrow-leafed Milkweed). We put 300+ into his truck! He took the small plants to “Growing Grounds Nursery” where the city has a contract to grow plants being used by the city of San Luis Obispo for a variety of reasons. Growing grounds will transplant my…[Read more]

I had a successful meeting with our Mayor Heidi Harmon, and our City Biologist, Freddie Otte, on April 25, 2018 to discuss plans for city-wide demonstration gardens and other ways to provide Migratory Monarch butterfly way stations throughout the city of San Luis Obispo. In addition to having native milkweed seeds to donate to this project, I have…[Read more]

I was invited by “Love SLO” to help paint a Monarch Butterfly mural at The SLO Guild Hall’s demonstration pollinator garden by event organizer Scott Cam. This event was part of a city-wide volunteer service day. I had so much fun painting the mural and labeling rocks for plants in the garden!