By Jacquelyn Walsh   jwalsh@dnronline.com

Brooklyn High, 6, of Timberville collects eggs from her backyard, and tends to them as they turn into larvae, then pupa, then butterflies. “She’s really good about caring for stuff,” says Brooklyn’s mom, Sandy High. “She’s all about animals.” Photo by Nikki Fox

Brooklyn High stares into a clear box, holding it up to her face. She peers into the top where two monarch butterfly pupa hang. One butterfly larva that looks like a big worm is hanging there too, forming a J shape in preparation to become a pupa, explains Brooklyn.

Although she’s only 6 years old, Brooklyn, an upcoming first grader at Plains Elementary School, understands the concept of how a butterfly is born.

At age 3, her neighbor, a kindergarten teacher, introduced her to the stages of butterfly development, showing her eggs, which turn into larvae, then pupa and finally butterflies.

Brooklyn finds her eggs or pupa under milkweed leaves in her front yard in Timberville. The milkweed leaves are also what she feeds them daily, breaking off the leaves and keeping them in her refrigerator to provide them the milky substance from the stem.

Brooklyn says she likes growing butterflies because “the worms are cute and the butterflies are pretty.” Her favorite part is when the butterflies first exit their cocoons. Because they’re wet it can take up to an hour for them to be able to fly away. It’s at this point that the butterflies crawl around on Brooklyn while they “dry off,” says mom, Sandy High.

“We take them with us everywhere we go. She doesn’t want to miss a thing in case something happens,” says Sandy. “I’ve even carried them in my purse. She’s crazy about them.”

Brooklyn has taken her eggs and worms as far away as Virginia Beach and Myrtle Beach, where two butterflies exited their cocoons.

Sandy says her favorite part of the experience is when the butterflies emerge. “I’m not a big fan of when they’re worms,” she says.

Brooklyn, who has told her mother she wants to be a farmer when she grows up, has a passion for all animals. She feeds the family’s two dogs, two cats, two frogs, hamster, guinea pig, rabbit and fish daily, along with her butterfly larvae.

“She’s really good about caring for stuff,” says Sandy. “She’s all about animals.”

Brooklyn sees about 20 eggs or worms turn into butterflies each summer. She’s waiting on her first group of the summer to transform in a few weeks.