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Discover EcoSMART Natural Insecticides for Safe Treatment of Garden & Home Pests

 

In my neck of the woods it’s still a bit cool and rainy, but the insects are rallying – I can feel it. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m the first one to applaud the beneficial buggies in my gardens, it’s just that I have a hard time with  -- well, mainly with wasps (mosquitoes, too…and aphids…).  So you can imagine my joy when the folks at EcoSMART sent me a box of their safe organic insecticides. The products are made with mint and other plant oils.  These oils have a similar molecular make-up to that of octopamine – an insect’s version of adrenaline.  When EcoSMART products are sprayed on the insect, the oils block the octopamine receptor sites, killing the insect. Mammals, birds, and fish remain completely safe during and after the spraying.

 

EcoSMart’s Wasp and Hornet spray reaches up to 18 feet – a nice distance from which to anger a wasp, don’t you think?  The aroma of the essential oils in these products is really quite pleasing.  Think about how those synthetic chemicals smell – I say you can smell the danger when you use conventional insecticides. And, I’m not willing to risk the use of synthetics with ingredients such as 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), atrazine, and dicamba -- ingredients shown to harm mouse embryos at times equivalent to the first week after conception in humans, according to Erica Glasener of The Green Guide -- not in my kitchen garden, herb garden, nor in my home. Thanks to EcoSMART, there’s a safe way to treat pests. Try their products for garden and home, you wont be disappointed.    You can learn more about the dangers of synthetic chemical use at  HealthyHouseInstitue.com.

 

HAPPY CHICKEN STROLLING THROUGH AN ORGANIC GARDEN (LA FERME DE SOURROU)

Great Green Idea - Vertical Victory Garden !

 

Limited space, not enough sunlight, soil's too cold or it's not supportive for veggie growth?  Check Suzanne Forsling's "Vertical Garden" in Juneau, Alaska.  A wonderful garden idea, a good re-purposing of house gutters, and you dont' have to crawl around the ground !  See more at GreenUpgrader

Rodale, Inc Helps Out With NYC's PS 19 School / Community Garden

 

This week, Rodale Inc announced their support of a new community garden and playground at NYC's P.S. 19, the nation’s largest elementary school, in Corona Queens. Previously a asphalt lot, the new $1M P.S. 19 Community Playground was developed by the Trust for Public Land (TPL) in partnership with NYC's PlaNYC initiative and HANAC Corona Beacon, along with private funding.  “Rodale is honored to work with Mayor Bloomberg, The Trust for Public Land, and others in support of the new garden and playground at P.S. 19,” said Steven Pleshette Murphy, Rodale President and CEO. “We’re proud to bring our commitment to health and wellness to life for the benefit of the vibrant, energetic P.S. 19 community.”   The playground, which includes a community garden, a running track, multi-purpose courts, a water play spray, trees, an amphitheater, benches, play equipment and painted games, will be accessible to the school’s nearly two thousand students, along with families from the surrounding community.

At the playground’s grand opening event on Tuesday, April 21, Rodale’s Organic Gardening team helped some of the school’s 4th & 5th graders plant vegetable seedlings and seeds.  In addition, Organic Gardening is donating gardening books to P.S. 19 to enhance teachers’ lesson plans and bamboo for students to create and build a garden trellis.  Scott Meyer, Exec Editor of Organic Gardening said, “School gardens are an invaluable outdoor classroom that give teachers the opportunity to engage students with practical lessons in math, science, history and geography. And research shows that kids who tend a garden are much more likely to eat healthy foods. That’s a priceless lesson that lasts a lifetime.”

(Photo credit Junius Salazar)

"Gifts From Our Garden" To Help Others

President Obama recently asked Americans to look out for each other in these tough economic times. But how to help others if your income is not even enough for yourself? Here's an wonderful idea; donate the excess fruits & vegetables from your backyard to the needy and get a tax deduction, talk about a win-win situation! One city in the Bay Area of California has already started the "Gifts From Our Garden" movement.  GH readers, please watch the video clip below and spread the word (to local politicians, journalists, friends/neighbors) so this program can expand nationwide !!! And, thanks to video journalist, RichGail.

The Edible Schoolyard in Action

Check out this video clip from edutopia on the Edible Schoolyard campus gardening project - 

and get a tour of the Edible Schoolyard gardens!  Read our Edible Schoolyard (book) post below.

"Edible Schoolyard"; Children Learn to Eat What They Grow

 One of America's most influential chefs, Alice Waters created a revolution in 1971 when she introduced local organic fare at her Berkeley, California restaurant Chez Panisse. Twenty-five years later she and a small group of teachers and volunteers turned over a long-abandoned plot of land at an urban middle school in Berkeley and planted the Edible Schoolyard (from Chronicle Books). The schoolyard has grown into a universal idea of Edible Education which integrates academics with growing, cooking and sharing wholesome delicious food! With inspiring images of the garden and kitchen (photos by David Liittschwager) and their young caretakers, the Edible Schoolyard is a visionary model for sustainable farming and childhood nutrition as well as a call to action for schools across the USA.  

 

Ms Waters is president of the Chez Panisse Foundation and vice president of Slow Food International as well as the recipient of numerous awards. She is the author of many books including the Chez Panisse Cookbooks.  David Liittschwager is an award-winning photographer who has contributed to National Geographic.

Not Everyone Likes the Organic White House Garden !!!

First lady Michelle Obama planted the first fruit & vegetable seedlings in the new White House garden this week!  She was helped by a group of fifth-graders who work on a similar garden at their school.   The first lady is an advocate of eating fresh and healthy food, said they'd be enjoying salads made with lettuce from the garden in about two weeks.   But, The Mid America CropLife Association (MACA), the organization that represents chemical companies that produce pesticides, is angry that  Michelle Obama isn't using chemicals in her organic garden at the White House!  We're not making this up!

In an email they forwarded to their supporters, a MACA spokesman wrote; "While a garden is a great idea, the thought of it being organic made [us] shudder." MACA went on to publish a letter it had sent to the First Lady asking her to consider using chemicals — or what they call "crop protection products" — in her garden.   We feel that Michelle Obama has done the USA a great service by publicizing the importance of nutritious food for kids (she's growing the garden in partnership with a local elementary school class) as well as locally grown produce as an important, environmentally sustainable food source.

If you'd like to tell the chemical companies that you're pleased to see an organic White House garden, visit  CredoAction.com !

Criminalizing Small Farms, With HR 875

     Proposed federal legislation, HR 875, is a major threat to sustainable farming and the local food movement. Supported by the deep pockets and political influence of Monsanto,  this legislation places small farms throughout the country under federal jurisdiction and would give the federal government the authority to appoint
designated "Sadministrators" (lobbyist, consultants, private contractors, etc.) and empower them with the authority to enforce severe penalties for non-compliance.

The wording of this bill is so broad and vague, non-compliance could very well include anything from the use of home-made farm equipment (plows, seeders, etc.), to methods of seed production and the use of organic fertilizers. The bill can also (by its broad definitions) potentially jeopardize your right to cultivate a backyard vegetable garden or establish and maintain a compost bin! Check out Grist.org for more.  Contact your senator and voice your opposition - call them at 202-224-3121 and ask them to oppose HR 875.  Also ask them if they personally have read the legislation and what their position is? If they haven't read the legislation ask them to read it and politely remind them that just because other representitives are not reading the legislation and voting on it does not mean they can do the same.  

Get Involved...

A Midwest Gardener's CookBook

A Midwest Gardener's Cookbook comes highly recommended by the author of the previous post -- Gwen Charles. It's a charming book filled with anecdotes and information; recipes and reminders.
I've ordered it and I can't wait to start reading and learning. Join me?

Natural Herbicide is Safe and Biodegradable

Phydura™ is a non-selective herbicide made from natural, biodegradable ingredients: soybean oil, clove oil and vinegar for herbaceous broadleaf and grass weeds including:

Garlic Mustard
Burdock
Dandelion
Clover
Crabgrass
Queen Ann's Lace
Pigweed
Velvet Leaf
Ragweed
Quack Grass
Leafy Spurge and more!

If you're looking to prepare for more gardens and less lawn, this may be the way to go.
Phydura sells for about $17 per gallon and can be found here and here.