Butterfly Milkweed: Blessing or Curse?

It’s early July. On Heatherhope, we have already had two marvelous harvests of alfalfa, but are still waiting on sheep that will graze here till the stock tanks freeze, and that will give Border Collie Max something other than fetching tennis balls to make his heart race.

So, to make our own hearts race, we listen and watch for birds…and we tend our two patches of prairie-restoration/pollinator plants.

A star of this year’s pollinator crop is butterfly milkweed, whose names are intriguing for many reasons. “Butterfly” sounds grand. “Weed” less so. Colorful butterflies make us ooh and ah, given grand names like “queen” and “monarch,” and are obviously beneficial for propagation of crops like corn. But weeds are our enemies. Chief enemies for Heatherhope are Canadian thistle, bull thistle, giant ragweed, burdock, and evening nightshade.

Alas, common milkweed was on that list when I started farming in 2010 because it is toxic to sheep. But no milkweed, no monarch butterfly, so we encourage it to flourish outside our sheep pastures.

And, funny thing, all the 160 species of milkweed have carried the name genus name “Asclepius” since the day Carl Linneaus named it after the Greek god of healing back in 1753. Butterfly milkweed’s scientific name is Asclepius tuberosa. And, sure enough, though butterfly milkweed can be toxic to people as well as livestock, if ingested in high enough quantities, it has been commonly used for centuries to cure all sorts of human ailments such as diarrhea, bronchitis, and pleurisy. It was so famous for being used by Native Americans for that latter ailment that one of its other names is pleurisy root.

Interesting: Used one way these plants are “beneficial.” Used another they can be deadly.

Many of my Bible loving friends wax eloquent about the “Book of Nature.” They believe it is as inspiring and authoritative as the Bible. It brings us close to God.

But how do we read butterfly milkweed? Blessing or curse? Surely it is in the eye of the beholder. Just like rain. We pray for a good soaking rain these days here in Northern Illinois. We are in a drought and the grass and crops need it to thrive and feed us. But along the Guadalupe River in Texas relentless rain has taken dozens of young girls to early graves.

And the river there is full of snakes. Snakes scare and poison us. But for millennia snakes have also been signs of diplomacy and peace between nations, and signs of healing. After all, they control the rodents that can eat through our grains and can carry the fleas that carry disease. That Greek god Asclepius was always pictured with a snake curled up on his staff.

With the eyes of faith in Jesus Christ the blessing of creation is recognized amid the ambiguities of nature. In Christ life always has the last word over death.

With the eyes of faith in Christ comes humility. At the moment I will continue to spray to kill Canadian thistle. But I will also pray for enough wisdom to make room on the farm and in my heart for weeds that have the surprising power to heal. I cannot play the creator by playing the destroyer. We already have a Creator. We already have a Creation that is always a blessing.