On my "lawn kick" again. Maybe it's because 'lawn season' is in full swing. Or spiral. Downward spiral if you're a chemi-synthet-o-phile about your pwecious widdle gwass plants. Yeeuch!
I can't seem to get through a garden column, garden blog, garden forum, nursery, garden lecture....wherever gardens and all-things-horticultural are being discussed or written about, without the ubiquitous Lawn Possessed Person rising to complain about their browned out, burned out, depressingly bare-spotted and generally sickly patch of what used to be "green".
"I don't know what's the problem". they'll moan through toxic tears. " I watered every day. I fed it fifteen-gazillion times. I gave it half a bazillion treatments of fungicide/herbicide/pesticide/anycide and everycide. I applied every known Scotts et. al. lawn killer (er...lawn treament) put out by their little lab-coated snuffers of all things living in the grounds around our homes. And then I applied some more."
That's pretty much (with a little poetic license) what I'll hear or read. They water every day, too. Every day. You mean the way I see my neighbor's sprinklers ratchet on for 1/2 hour each and every morning. Rain or shine. Or the way I see oscillating sprinklers going for 30 minutes around noon or mid afternoon? Can anyone say: "Not watering long enough and yet, watering too often? " And is anyone familiar with the term: Evaporation? Gaack.
Adding insult to injury, these same overusers and abusers of synthetic fertilizers and chemicals, don't even know how to spell what they're using. I read this just this evening. A guy grabbed a bag of SevEn (that'd be SevIn folks) instead of Weed-O-No-More or Be Gone or some such other defoliant. These people can't spell what they 're using and can't differentiate one bag of poison from another. Ignorance is bliss? Ignorance is running rampant on what's left of America's lawns. Ignorance is wildly careening down the aisles past the foul, acrid stench of - primarily - Scotts chemical buffet at the nearest Big Box stores. And these people never stop to think their lawns are living things. Or at least they're trying to be. They're living things crying out to "Leave Me The Hell Alone!!! Back off from all that crap your dousing me with and give me a freaking chance to breathe and get some alive, beneficial organisms back in me to at least put me on life support before you come along with another bag of Kill-Em-Off". Geesh.
I don't think I'd want to have dinner at the home of one of these synthetic/chemical mental midgets. Boxes of rat poison could easily be mistaken for Sweet N'Low. Then again...isn't Sweet N'Low rat poison?
June 27, 2008
Lawns And The Men Who Love Them
I am more than ever convinced that the quest for the almighty perfect lawn is predominantly a male domain. Oh, I'm sure there are many females as enamored of their nice blue-green, totally-weed-free, chemically-saturated lawns. But after inculcating myself into the chemical-laden vortex of Lawndom at a major [Scotts] lawn [Scotts] chemical [Scotts] forum, I was astounded at the inordinate number of males extolling the virtues of chemically-enhanced lawns and slavishly avowing their whore-ish devotion to their chemical pimps [Scotts]. ("They poison me, man, but I know they really love me"). I'm certain that if physically possible, they would gladly have sexual relations with their sod, which might explain some of those 'gopher holes' one often sees in even in their perfect, synthetically-enhanced lawns. Hmmmm? Could be those stains in the front yard really aren't from the dog?
As high school boys compare genitalia or boorishly boast falsehoods of conquered girls, so too does that verbose, chest thumping accompany many into adulthood where comparisons of lawns and boorish boasting of weedless, bugless, and (thanks to chemicals) - lifeless - lawns still persists. After all, what respectable earthworm could live with all that accumulated salt from four-times-a-year Scotts weed, feed & bleed toxic concoctions?
The fact is that size never really matters since it's not how big your lawn, but what you do with it. That huge, perfect grass carpet, if attained with synthetic fertilizers, chemical herbicides and pesticides, is not as impressive as that slightly-dandelion-dotted, naturally-green hued grass maintained by nothing more than conscientious mowing, irrigation left to Mother Nature, compost additions or twice-yearly applications of corn gluten meal for weed control and a healthy green color. Any person - male or female - who would skew their priorities so drastically by putting the health and safety of their family and pets at risk for the sole sake of their gazillion little grass plants, is in a word: A dope. Well. Two words.
To suggest, however, that these lawn jockeys consider alternative lawn care practices, or God forbid ratchet back their instant gratification-perfectionist expectations, is tantamount to spiting on the American flag. (An analogy to which they allude quite often as in: "It's American to want a perfect lawn!") In this day and age of all manner of horrors, exploitations and terrorism, I can think of a great many other things that a true American might want, And a perfect lawn isn't one of them. Or at least, it shouldn't be.
'Talk to the hand' is an attitude I've encountered before. It's hard to penetrate a wall of thick,synthetic-mindsets. Even amongst organic gardeners, there are stoic differences of opinion and approach. But most are at least willing to listen or read or research. Why, we even occasionally delve into the dens of ChemicalLand and keep our compost-tinged ears open to chemical drivel from Scotts or Monsanto junkies if for no other reason than to remain updated on The Darkside. It helps enable a cogent, viable argument if you know what "the other side" is thinking when some macho lawn dude pontificates his chemical mantra.
Perfection is in the eye of the beholder; as are priorities, and 'means' do not always justify the end. Sadly, even if the ability to comprehend alternatives is there amongst the Scott's groupies, the willingness to even consider such alternatives was long ago eradicated by copious applications of RoundUp**.
**RoundUp: A non-selective herbicide apparently capable of wiping out brain cells and common sense as well as weeds and several other once functioning, living organisms.**
As high school boys compare genitalia or boorishly boast falsehoods of conquered girls, so too does that verbose, chest thumping accompany many into adulthood where comparisons of lawns and boorish boasting of weedless, bugless, and (thanks to chemicals) - lifeless - lawns still persists. After all, what respectable earthworm could live with all that accumulated salt from four-times-a-year Scotts weed, feed & bleed toxic concoctions?
The fact is that size never really matters since it's not how big your lawn, but what you do with it. That huge, perfect grass carpet, if attained with synthetic fertilizers, chemical herbicides and pesticides, is not as impressive as that slightly-dandelion-dotted, naturally-green hued grass maintained by nothing more than conscientious mowing, irrigation left to Mother Nature, compost additions or twice-yearly applications of corn gluten meal for weed control and a healthy green color. Any person - male or female - who would skew their priorities so drastically by putting the health and safety of their family and pets at risk for the sole sake of their gazillion little grass plants, is in a word: A dope. Well. Two words.
To suggest, however, that these lawn jockeys consider alternative lawn care practices, or God forbid ratchet back their instant gratification-perfectionist expectations, is tantamount to spiting on the American flag. (An analogy to which they allude quite often as in: "It's American to want a perfect lawn!") In this day and age of all manner of horrors, exploitations and terrorism, I can think of a great many other things that a true American might want, And a perfect lawn isn't one of them. Or at least, it shouldn't be.
'Talk to the hand' is an attitude I've encountered before. It's hard to penetrate a wall of thick,synthetic-mindsets. Even amongst organic gardeners, there are stoic differences of opinion and approach. But most are at least willing to listen or read or research. Why, we even occasionally delve into the dens of ChemicalLand and keep our compost-tinged ears open to chemical drivel from Scotts or Monsanto junkies if for no other reason than to remain updated on The Darkside. It helps enable a cogent, viable argument if you know what "the other side" is thinking when some macho lawn dude pontificates his chemical mantra.
Perfection is in the eye of the beholder; as are priorities, and 'means' do not always justify the end. Sadly, even if the ability to comprehend alternatives is there amongst the Scott's groupies, the willingness to even consider such alternatives was long ago eradicated by copious applications of RoundUp**.
**RoundUp: A non-selective herbicide apparently capable of wiping out brain cells and common sense as well as weeds and several other once functioning, living organisms.**
June 20, 2008
USDA Ceases Researching & Reporting On Pesticides & Herbicides
Been a long time since I made an entry here, so much to say and always too little time. So I thought I kick this blog back into gear with a quote from the former Republican poster boy, Charleton "You'll have to pry this gun out of my cold, dead hands" Heston. as he pounded the beach near Lady Liberty's crowned head jutting out from the sand dune: "They've finally gone and done it!" Read all about it:HERE
Our beloved administration in its continuing environmentally-sound wisdom (Huh?) has gone and eviscerated the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), which is responsible for researching, reporting and compiling annual data on various pesticides and herbicides used in farm production. The absence of that data leaves the barn door wide open for MegaMonsanto to have (no pun) a field day w/any new toxic introductions which will wind up in our systems, our air, our earth, our water and eventually, trickle down those products for use in chemically-inclined backyard gardens.
Many groups like Greenpeace, National Research Defense Council (NRDC), the Organic Center and the WWF as well as big-buck corps like Del Monte Foods, the American Soybean Association and - yes - even Syngenta Crop Protection have signed letters to the administration pleading with them to reconsider. The irony in corps like Syngenta signing the letter is this: With no one watching the hen house of pesticides & herbicide possible toxicity, that leaves them [Syngenta, et al] open to criticism and claims by anti-chem venues which Syngenta, et al can't refute by citing stats from the NASS. Get it?
Oddly, one name was glaringly missing from the signatories on that letter: Monsanto, and it typifies to me their: I-don't-give-a-$hit attitude. "Stats? Reports? Research? Claims? Complaints? Feh. Who cares? We'll do whatever the hell we want, spray whatever the hell we want and kill whatever and whoever we want. So there!"
Anyway, Monsanto aside (which isn't easy to do or say), the fact that there will be no official research gathering and reporting on any new pesticide or herbicide out of the chemical labs and onto our crops is to say the least, rather frightening. It's the cherry on the chemical and environmental cake that has been baked, served and shoved down our throats for the last 8 years.
I can't wait to throw up in November.
Our beloved administration in its continuing environmentally-sound wisdom (Huh?) has gone and eviscerated the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), which is responsible for researching, reporting and compiling annual data on various pesticides and herbicides used in farm production. The absence of that data leaves the barn door wide open for MegaMonsanto to have (no pun) a field day w/any new toxic introductions which will wind up in our systems, our air, our earth, our water and eventually, trickle down those products for use in chemically-inclined backyard gardens.
Many groups like Greenpeace, National Research Defense Council (NRDC), the Organic Center and the WWF as well as big-buck corps like Del Monte Foods, the American Soybean Association and - yes - even Syngenta Crop Protection have signed letters to the administration pleading with them to reconsider. The irony in corps like Syngenta signing the letter is this: With no one watching the hen house of pesticides & herbicide possible toxicity, that leaves them [Syngenta, et al] open to criticism and claims by anti-chem venues which Syngenta, et al can't refute by citing stats from the NASS. Get it?
Oddly, one name was glaringly missing from the signatories on that letter: Monsanto, and it typifies to me their: I-don't-give-a-$hit attitude. "Stats? Reports? Research? Claims? Complaints? Feh. Who cares? We'll do whatever the hell we want, spray whatever the hell we want and kill whatever and whoever we want. So there!"
Anyway, Monsanto aside (which isn't easy to do or say), the fact that there will be no official research gathering and reporting on any new pesticide or herbicide out of the chemical labs and onto our crops is to say the least, rather frightening. It's the cherry on the chemical and environmental cake that has been baked, served and shoved down our throats for the last 8 years.
I can't wait to throw up in November.
September 26, 2007
I'll Have A Side Order Of Earwigs With That, Please?
Bugs in your broccoli or worms in your watercress may not be what you'd expect on your dinner plate in a chic eatery. But organically-grown produce presents a good news/bad news scenario appearing on plates in haute cuisine restaurants or treehugger bistros which pride their green selves in serving up all-organic foods. Some patrons may still prefer a pre-spritz of malathion on their greens if it means keeping their meal free of departed beetle carcasses .
Most customers, however, who are equally willing to jump on the green-wagon, are willing to over look - and eat around - any of nature's remains knowing the former creepy crawlies succumbed to either boiling cooking water, freezer temperatures or prolonged whirlpool baths of clean water ather than trace their deaths to the uses of any chemical pesticides or herbicides.
It still takes some getting used to digging into your mesculin salad and coming eye to eyes with a bug who equally enjoyed your salad in the field a few days before but never quite left his comfy home under that ruffled arugula leaf.
Most customers, however, who are equally willing to jump on the green-wagon, are willing to over look - and eat around - any of nature's remains knowing the former creepy crawlies succumbed to either boiling cooking water, freezer temperatures or prolonged whirlpool baths of clean water ather than trace their deaths to the uses of any chemical pesticides or herbicides.
It still takes some getting used to digging into your mesculin salad and coming eye to eyes with a bug who equally enjoyed your salad in the field a few days before but never quite left his comfy home under that ruffled arugula leaf.
September 3, 2007
Ornamental Grass For Termite Control
Nothing pleases a gardener more than combining Beauty with Function. Now, research has proven what our ancestors have known for centuries about the insecticidal attributes of an ornamental grass.
Vetiver Grass has been used for centuries inside the home to repel clothes moths, cockroaches and ants as well as outdoors for tick, weevil, nematode and mole cricket prevention.
Dr. Gregg Henderson of Louisiana Agriculture Center has recently released studies which prove the grass is also a deterrent against the formidable nemesis of many southern states: the Formosan subterranean termite.
Because these termites are destructible foes in many states, those landscapes may begin to include more of these ornamental grasses, not just for their form and beauty, but for their functional abilities as well.
Vetiver Grass has been used for centuries inside the home to repel clothes moths, cockroaches and ants as well as outdoors for tick, weevil, nematode and mole cricket prevention.
Dr. Gregg Henderson of Louisiana Agriculture Center has recently released studies which prove the grass is also a deterrent against the formidable nemesis of many southern states: the Formosan subterranean termite.
Because these termites are destructible foes in many states, those landscapes may begin to include more of these ornamental grasses, not just for their form and beauty, but for their functional abilities as well.
August 7, 2007
The Earth's Liver
If you consider the Earth as a living thing, then having "organs" with which to survive and cleanse its body of toxins isn't all that far fetched a reality. This article from The San Francisco Chronicle makes an interesting analogy between a human and an earthly cleansing organ.
The growing repository of Earth's human, horticultural and industrial waste lies in the digestive gut of the burgeoning compost industry. Recycling and processing of various and sundry wastes into viable properties. Much the same as the liver does for humans.
While this increased endeavor toward sustainability is laudable, the "liver" or composting facilities are also filtering all manner of toxins, pharmaceuticals and possible carcinogenic herbicides and pesticides. Is the Earth heading for cirrhosis or can we call an "intervention" on what we're putting into Earth's body and act preventatively? Is there any way to assist the Earth in its cleansing our castoffs?
The growing repository of Earth's human, horticultural and industrial waste lies in the digestive gut of the burgeoning compost industry. Recycling and processing of various and sundry wastes into viable properties. Much the same as the liver does for humans.
While this increased endeavor toward sustainability is laudable, the "liver" or composting facilities are also filtering all manner of toxins, pharmaceuticals and possible carcinogenic herbicides and pesticides. Is the Earth heading for cirrhosis or can we call an "intervention" on what we're putting into Earth's body and act preventatively? Is there any way to assist the Earth in its cleansing our castoffs?
August 2, 2007
Caught With Their Pesticides Down!
The EPA in a rare instance of actually doing its job by enforcing hazardous violations, has fined Perfect Expressions, a garden store in Ely, Nevada, $14,000 for selling banned insecticides. The products, Green Light's Dursban Granules and Ortho's Dursban and Dursban Lawn Insect Spray were ordered off the market and out of production by the EPA several years ago due to the reported connection between harmful exposure of Dursban's active ingredient, chlorpyrifos, to children.
Apparently, "Perfect Expressions" weren't so "perfect" after all.
Apparently, "Perfect Expressions" weren't so "perfect" after all.
Organic Battle Lines Being Drawn
"NIMBY" may very well be the new slogan for organic lawn care advocates. Those homeowners who chemically treat their lawns may hear "Not In My Back Yard" mantras echoing over neighbors' fences... of those who've chosen a more earth-friendly, environmentally safer organic alternative to lawn care. This story in the Wall Street Journal includes a video clip of one woman who went over to the Dark Side (her neighbor's compost pile) and found there's life after pesticides and herbicides.
Lots of life.
Lots of life.
March 19, 2007
"Food" For Thought
The latest spate of pet food recalls from Menu Foods (see above) is major, of course. But by comparison to the overall horror caused by pet food companies on a routine, daily basis...it pales in comparison.
Purina, Eukanuba and Iams are all under the Proctor & Gamble umbrella which is in major part supplied and funded by Menu Foods Income Fund. (The subject of the recent recall.) Nestle makes Friskies, Whiskas and some others and also receives supplies from Menu. Believe me that the least of the problems w/any of these foods is this latest recall.
Some people reading this may not want to view any of the following video clips from these links, but even if you see a few seconds of either of them, I can assure you that you may never plunk down another red cent for any of the aforementioned foods.
Animals Suffer For Menu Foods
Iams Cruelty
Pet food companies that purport to be in business for the "sake and health" of companion animals are no different from many other businesses: they are in it for the money and don't give a rat's ass --- or a dog or cat's life --- how they make their almighty freaking buck.
I've tossed my Purina One and am currently using the remainder of a bag of Flint River I've had and will be purchasing more from my vet.
Sorry if what's contained in those links is disturbing to some. Sometimes visions such as these are necessary to open people's eyes to the sad, horrible truth.
Bear in mind that the issues with these pet food companies are not about the ingredients in the foods. Many - hopefully most pet people know by now the disgusting and potentially unhealthy ingredients that go into some pet foods and how imperative is it to read labels and know what each ingredient really means. This story has to do with how the companies that proffer such concern for animals by their touted "need to feed and care for our animals with good foods"...it has to deal with how these companies treat the animals which they keep at their testing facilities where they feed them their foods. And it's not just a matter of this dog or this cat in that cage or in those restraints doesn't "like" a new ingredient. It's how they keep them, how they force feed them and they experiment on them to see how their food is digested or not.
An informed public is an empowered public. Be informed. Don't turn a blind eye. Otherwise, you'll never see "It" coming.
Purina, Eukanuba and Iams are all under the Proctor & Gamble umbrella which is in major part supplied and funded by Menu Foods Income Fund. (The subject of the recent recall.) Nestle makes Friskies, Whiskas and some others and also receives supplies from Menu. Believe me that the least of the problems w/any of these foods is this latest recall.
Some people reading this may not want to view any of the following video clips from these links, but even if you see a few seconds of either of them, I can assure you that you may never plunk down another red cent for any of the aforementioned foods.
Animals Suffer For Menu Foods
Iams Cruelty
Pet food companies that purport to be in business for the "sake and health" of companion animals are no different from many other businesses: they are in it for the money and don't give a rat's ass --- or a dog or cat's life --- how they make their almighty freaking buck.
I've tossed my Purina One and am currently using the remainder of a bag of Flint River I've had and will be purchasing more from my vet.
Sorry if what's contained in those links is disturbing to some. Sometimes visions such as these are necessary to open people's eyes to the sad, horrible truth.
Bear in mind that the issues with these pet food companies are not about the ingredients in the foods. Many - hopefully most pet people know by now the disgusting and potentially unhealthy ingredients that go into some pet foods and how imperative is it to read labels and know what each ingredient really means. This story has to do with how the companies that proffer such concern for animals by their touted "need to feed and care for our animals with good foods"...it has to deal with how these companies treat the animals which they keep at their testing facilities where they feed them their foods. And it's not just a matter of this dog or this cat in that cage or in those restraints doesn't "like" a new ingredient. It's how they keep them, how they force feed them and they experiment on them to see how their food is digested or not.
An informed public is an empowered public. Be informed. Don't turn a blind eye. Otherwise, you'll never see "It" coming.
March 17, 2007
Recall Of Major Store-Brand Canned Dog & Cat Food
Menu Foods, a major manufacturer of wet dog and cat foods who distributes under varied name brands and for a variety of pet food outlets and supermarkets is under serious scrutiny by the FDA and others for releasing tainted foods that are being linked to the deaths of (so far) 10 dogs and serious kidney and liver failures of other dogs and cats.
Read The Article Here & Brand Names as well as the The FDA's Release.
Go to Menu Foods' website for a complete listing of those canned foods affected. Thankfully, many stores weren't holding their breath waiting for complete notification from Menu and have already removed all Menu products from their shelves.
Read The Article Here & Brand Names as well as the The FDA's Release.
Go to Menu Foods' website for a complete listing of those canned foods affected. Thankfully, many stores weren't holding their breath waiting for complete notification from Menu and have already removed all Menu products from their shelves.
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