Local insectarium makes conservation accessible

LOUISVILLE — More than just a place to view both exotic bugs and native butterflies and moths, Idlewild, the only insectarium in Louisville, works to make conservation practices and knowledge accessible to the community.

When the business was started in 2009 by Blair Leano-Helvey, it wasn’t yet an insectarium and butterfly farm.

“I started, actually, with beneficial insects and working with commercial growers and seeking out greenhouse and nursery growers and getting them off insecticides and onto bugs that eat other bugs. So it is a true science,” Leano-Helvey said.

Leano-Helvey studied entomology and insect physiology at the University of Kentucky, where she learned the science behind beneficial insects and raising bugs.

The business grew to include butterfly farming when Leano-Helvey was looking for something else insect-related that would provide work at the end of greenhouse season in May.

“So I was raising butterflies, and I would make little butterfly kits and take them to [Douglass Loop Farmers] market to see if they would sell, and I would sell out,” she said.

The butterfly farm growing around her home was the catalyst for finding a building and becoming the only insectarium in the city.

In 2015, Idlewild opened a brick-and-mortar location at 1100 Logan Street. There, Leano-Helvey continued raising butterflies for zoos, botanical gardens, and conservatories in the country.

Idlewild opened its storefront on Logan Street in 2015, four years before Logan Street Market. The bug mural on the outside of the building was completed by muralist Miss Birdy.

Idlewild’s team also creates the content for their exhibits and develops the insect programming. The programming includes information on why insects and invertebrates are important for the ecosystem and human survival as well as the effect of climate change on invertebrates and insects.

Their contract with Louisville Zoo was integral to keeping Idlewild afloat in the first few years since the storefront opened. Of the 1,500 to 3,500 butterflies Idlewild sells per week, 400 of them go to the Louisville Zoo.

Because Leano-Helvey was trodding down an unbeaten path in terms of running an insectarium and butterfly farm in Louisville, the opening of the storefront came with a lot of experimentation in terms of expanding the business.

“When I opened Idlewild, because we're so niche, my thought process was, we're just gonna throw it all at the wall and see what sticks,” Leano-Helvey said.

This included the building of a containment room, which allows Idlewild to handle and breed exotic bugs as it meets certain standards to prevent the bugs from escaping the room.

When Leano-Helvey first started her business, she primarily focused on rural areas but eventually switched her focus to providing conservation solutions to people in the city.

“When I was a little kid, my mom was from Eastern Kentucky, and I would spend my summers there, and just loved it, because of all the bugs on the farm and animals, and we can have that here too,” she said, “We don’t have to go far to find creatures.”

Idlewild is raising the native Carolina Mantis to release their egg cases into designated areas in the community.

The insectarium’s presence in the city has allowed the community to learn more about conservation and how to incorporate it into their yards.

When customers come to the store looking for advice on attracting pollinators, Leano-Helvey always recommends starting small.

The idea of creating a garden can be overwhelming, even for bug experts like Leano-Helvey, but by choosing one small section of a yard to plant native plants and not treat with chemicals, anyone can start to create a pollinator habitat in their backyard.

While the pollinators might not come immediately, Leano-Helvey said, they will come.

Along with aiding individual community members in pollinator conservation, Idlewild partners with larger groups in Louisville, such as Cave Hill Cemetery & Arboretum.

The cemetery was inspired to engage more in permaculture after fostering a relationship with Idlewild, according to a report written by Cave Hill’s horticulture manager, Sarah Schaffner. In partnership, Idlewild helps the cemetery with controlled releases of insects and public engagement opportunities.

In addition to the new ventures that have helped Idlewild become Louisville’s self-proclaimed Bug Church, it has also continued offering biological alternatives to pesticides. Slug saloons and pollinator-friendly mosquito control can be purchased at the Idlewild gift shops. Beneficial insects can also be bought from Idlewild based on seasonal availability.

Idlewild further involves itself in the community by supporting small business artists.

From the beautiful mural adorning the Logan Street building completed by muralist Miss Birdy to the jewelry and artwork sold inside the gift shop, Leano-Helvey ensures her business contributes to the artistic community.

Some of Idlewild’s contributions include hosting the Parts and Pieces event, an open call to artists to purchase specimens, native and exotic, that had died naturally and were filling the lab’s morgue.

In addition, Idlewild hosts butterfly and moth pining classes hosted by Kevin Mudd, owner of Atelier Insecta.

“We have artists that we send wings to that we turn around and buy their jewelry. So it’s kind of like an insect recycling center,” Leano-Helvey said.

Insectarium tours are available for customers by appointment at IdlewildButterflyFarm.com. Field trips and educational programs can also be scheduled by contacting Idlewild.

Idlewild will have a variety of seasonal job openings at the end of February and beginning of March.