| Butterfly
Farm Has a Mission: Education
By Katie Cline
Tim Pless is a farmer, but he doesn’t
have any seeds to plant or fields to plow. He’s
a butterfly farmer and the only one in North
Carolina.
“We were looking for business opportunities,
and my wife saw butterfly farming over the
internet,” Pless
said. “And I kind of looked at it, and
me being from kind of a male background, a
sports background, said, ‘Honey, I don’t
want to be a butterfly farmer.’”
His company, ‘All-a-flutter’, first
sold butterflies over the internet for special
occasions. Three years ago they started
giving tours of their farm in High Point.
“
We really wanted to educate the community on
butterflies, and that’s why we do the
presentation and give people the opportunity
to feel real close to the butterflies,” Pless
said.
“
Lots of times you go to different places
and you can see them but you can’t
really be up close to them, and I think
this gives
the kids hands on experience,” he
said
People of all ages come during the butterfly
season…from April until October.
“
It’s pretty cool to see a butterfly this
up close,” said six-year-old Braxton Hichey.
“
I think its cool, and I’ve never
caught a butterfly,” said eight-year-old
Carolina Collins.
But for Pless, it’s just another day
on the farm, and it looks like he’s
gotten over his issues with
raising butterflies.
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