Protecting Pollinators At Home And Afield

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Ann Lovejoy
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More Ways To Safeguard The Food Chain

Bee friendly gardening is gaining momentum as awareness of pollinator problems becomes more widespread. The good news is that even a small patch of wholesome food and safe habitat can be of service to a surprising number of pollinators, especially if there are other hospitable patches nearby. On any scale, the basics are the same: don’t use toxic pesticides, do use safe, organically certified materials and products as needed, don’t plant anything that’s been treated with neonics, and do find sources for bee-safe plants and seeds.

These days, many independent nurseries can tell you with assurance whether their suppliers do or don’t use neonics and other toxic treatments. Box stores are another matter (see below), and caveat emptor most certainly applies. This applies both to plants and to supplies, since both pony-pack plants and weed-and-feed products are not always labeled in ways that make their contents plain.

Warnings That Look Like Reassurance

Home Depot is now asking suppliers to tag all plants treated with neonics (which are systemic, so every part of the plant is affected). The new tags say “This plant is protected from problematic aphids, white flies, beetles, mealy bugs and other unwanted pests by Neonicotinoids.” Ummm. What the new tags do NOT say is “This plant is potentially deadly to bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.” In plants grown from neo-nic-treated seeds and in some ‘simply’ treated with neonics, the neonics are even expressed in pollen and nectar, and thus their harmful effects do in fact impact visiting insects as well as hummingbirds, frogs that happen to alight on a leaf (where even more neonics are expressed), etc., etc., etc.

Again, it’s not news that gardeners can help create safe havens for bees and their buddies by not using toxic chemicals. The problem is that it’s not easy to know what’s in that spray bottle. For one thing, most pesticides available to homeowners are far more concentrated (as much as 120 times) than those allowed to farmers, making them that much more damaging. Because neonic products come in many guises and the chemicals come under many formulations, thus names, it’s not always clear that these toxins are included. Many lists of dangerous products exist (see the Xerces Society website below for a good starter guide).

Know The Enemy (And The Friends)

One way we can avoid at least some of this confusion is to buy plants only from sources that can assure you the plants are not treated with neo-nics. This goes for seeds too, since neo-nic damage continues even beyond the use of sprayed pesticides. Field exposure to the dust from agricultural use of treated seeds proves fatal or seriously damaging to bees and other pollinators, as well as to other beneficial insects that become by-kill. Since nearly all 90 million acres of US grown corn is from neo-nic treated seed, that’s not a minor issue. The EPA has developed new warning labels and procedures that could reduce risks and damage if followed, but there is no reliable way to make sure the new protocols are actually practiced.

Another way to keep our homes and gardens safe is to only use garden products that are OMRI certified. OMRI stands for Organic Materials Review Institute, an international nonprofit based in Eugene, Oregon. Producers of organic products pay to have products reviewed by OMRI’s team of experts. If the product is deemed eligible, the producer can use the OMRI seal of approval on all packaging, and consumers can trust that the product is safe.

So What Can I Doooooo????

How else can we help? For starters, support organic farming at farmers’ markets, in grocery stores, and by attending land use planning meetings when zoning issues threaten small farms with extinction. Join a land trust, support the American Farmland Trust, and/or local farm protection groups like PCC Farmland Trust here in the Northwest. Choose organic products of all kinds whenever possible. Voting with our wallets has always been the consumers’ most effective tool for making change.

Doubt that? Just check out the proliferation of organic foods and products in grocery stores and even pharmacies as well as nurseries and hardware stores. Not just boutique companies but even the huge corporations are getting onboard, albeit slowly. This sea change did not come about because some corporate department head decided it would be good for the planet. It happened because you and I made our values clear in the market place.

But Wait, There’s More!

Want to know more? For more practical, small-scale ideas that we as homeowners and gardeners can apply, check out these websites:

http://www.xerces.org/wings-magazine/neonicotinoids-in-your-garden/

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/

Of especially interest is Beyond Pesticide’s info link to help you find local pest services that offer safe alternatives to deadly pesticides and/or to manage the problem yourself using safe techniques:

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/programs/center-for-community-pesticide-and-alternatives-information/have-a-pest-problem

http://ecowatch.com/2014/04/01/15-plants-to-help-save-bees/

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/5-ways-to-help-our-disappearing-bees

Need some help with follow through? Take the pledge and join others in doing all we can to keep bees and other pollinators safe: http://www.honeybeehaven.org/content/take-pledge

Upcoming EPA Webinar

The EPA will present a risk assessment of pesticide use (specifically for imidacloprid, the most heavily used systemic neo-nic worldwide) in a webinar on February 18th between 1:00 pm and 2:30 PM EST and you can catch it here:

http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/preliminary-imidacloprid-pollinator-risk-assessment-technical-briefing-webinar-slated

For more information on what our government is doing to protect bees and other pollinators, check out the EPA’s website at http://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection

Posted in Nutrition, pests and pesticides, Pollinators, Soil, Sustainable Gardening, Sustainable Living | Leave a comment

Vegetable Love

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Ann Lovejoy
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Planting To Eat

The minute it stops freezing at night, it feels like spring to me, and spring means planting time. Since my planting space is limited, I only plant things I love to eat fresh and use every day. Though I love it raw, as a kid, I used to hate cooked cabbage, largely because of the way it got cooked. When I learned to cook for myself, cabbage became a staple, appearing in many guises through the week. I shred it into slaws, dressed with homemade vinegars or herbed yogurt dressings. I tuck it into sandwiches and wraps, add it to soups and stir fries, and best of all, I roast it in thick wedges that turn buttery and tender in the oven.

Because I am often cooking for one, I usually plant smaller cabbages like Mini Super Red 80, a ruddy little ball head with crisp texture and a peppery flavor, or Golden Acre, a compact, tender little thing that is among the earliest to head up. Savoy cabbage, with its netted texture, is idea for capturing salad dressing or sauces, and I especially like an early variety called Mini Alcosa Savoy, which heads up at 2-4 pounds. An excellent flathead cabbage called Tendersweet can be grown in waves from early spring into fall and is lovely in salads and stir fries.

Crazy For Rocket

Arugula is a cabbage cousin that packs a lot of nutrients into its fine-textured foliage. An easy to grow cool season crop, arugula is of course lovely in salads, where its peppery bite adds snap and savor to buttery spinach and tender lettuce. It’s also surprisingly good as a cooked green, wilted quickly in a little oil with garlic and fennel seeds, or tossed into a stir fry at the last minute. You can easily grow arugula as a microgreen indoors or sow it in large outdoor pots placed right out the kitchen door for daily harvest.

There are lots of heritage types, many of them wild forms that have been collected for centuries. Most have serrated or lacy leaves, but some forms are smooth leaved, such as the Italian olive leaf form called Rucola Selvatica A Foglia di Oliva. Most are annuals, but perennial forms can sometimes be found as well (these have denser foliage with a stronger flavor than the annuals). Perennial arugula can be roasted along with kale or sweet potatoes and tart cherries (in season). Yum!

Vegan Veggie Bangers

I love pretty much any roasted vegetables, especially when paired with the spiciness and chewy texture of sausages. Some meatless versions are pretty meh, but the Seattle-based Field Roast varieties are both tasty and toothsome (and vegan, though not gluten-free). There’s an Italian kind, with eggplant, fennel, and lots of garlic (terrific in pasta sauce and lasagna), a Smoked Apple Sage one with Yukon Gold potatoes, Granny Smith apples, sage and ginger (try this one with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes with caramelized onions), and a lively Mexican Chipotle type that’s terrific in tacos, chili, bean soups, and wraps or omelets.

Any or all are satisfying accompaniments to roasted vegetables, from potatoes and leeks to carrots and cauliflower. All they really need is a little sea salt, but a few toppings can make this simple dish fabulous. My go-to is plain Nancy’s yogurt with chopped fresh herbs, a scattering of seeds or chopped nuts, and a squeeze of citrus. If you don’t do dairy, try a splash of vinaigrette instead, using a lemon- or vanilla-infused vinegar and buttery avocado or olive oil.

Cabbage And Sausage Roast

1 tablespoon avocado or any high temp oil
1 medium head green or red cabbage, cored and quartered
4 cups halved, trimmed Brussels sprouts
2 sweet potatoes, thinly sliced in coins
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup raw cranberries (frozen work fine)
4 veggie sausages (Field Roast Italian or any)
1 cup plain yogurt OR 1/4 cup vinaigrette
1/2 cup cilantro
1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
1 lime, in wedges

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put oil in two rimmed baking sheets and rub to coat. Press both cut sides of each cabbage quarter into the oil and place on a baking sheet. Place sprouts cut-side-down and tuck in sweet potato coins so all is in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Add cranberries and peeled whole sausages and return to oven for 10-15 minutes, turning sausages several times. Divide everything between 4 plates, topping each portion with yogurt or vinaigrette and a scattering of cilantro and pumpkin seeds. Squeeze lime juice over each serving just before eating. Serves 4.

Posted in Early Crops, Garden Prep, Nutrition, Recipes, Sustainable Gardening, Sustainable Living | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Eating To Mitigate Climate Change

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Ann Lovejoy
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The Climaterian Diet and Network

A friend sent me a link to Climates, a social network that was started in the UK to connect people who want to live lives that reduce the impacts of climate change. The founders hope to get people thinking and experimenting and sharing carbon footprint-reducing ideas that are practical for anyone anywhere.

It’s easy for first-worlders to feel removed from drastic climate change. However, those of us who live on islands, as I do, have to think about rising sea levels, and all of us will soon be thinking more and more about food sourcing, among other things. Once you’ve dusted off your bicycle and changed your light-bulbs and made all the other simple fixes, what’s next? Well, something had better be next: Those of us in first world countries enjoy unprecedented choice and abundance, yet the uncomfortable truth is, the more abundance we enjoy and the more we spend, the greater our carbon footprint is likely to be.

Eat That The World May Live

Here’s something to think about: The average footprint for people in United States is 20.40 metric tons.
The average for the industrial nations is about 11 metric tons.
The average worldwide carbon footprint is about 4 metric tons.
Wow, right?
Not sure you believe me? Here’s the source: http://calculator.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx?tab=8

Wherever we reside on that sliding scale, the quickest way to shrink our carbon footprint is to make a climaterian change of our own. If all meat eaters simply switched from beef and lamb to pork and poultry, each person would shrink a ton a year off their footprint. Food production creates up to a third of all greenhouse gasses, and the bulk of that comes from raising beef. Over half of crops grown worldwide are used for meat animal feed, again mostly for beef.

How Now Dead Cow?

Leonard DiCaprio has made a film that is inspiring protests against global destruction caused by beef raising practices. Here’s a horrifying, action-inspiring glimpse of what lies behind beef production: http://www.cowspiracy.com/about/

Less Meat Or Meatless

Obviously, enjoying lower-impact meats and reducing the amount of beef and lamb each family eats is a good start. If your family is novelty-averse, the first step might be to cook pork and poultry in recipes where you might ordinarily use beef, such as stew. Instead of making a pork stew that doesn’t taste familiar, use your usual beef-based recipe but substitute pork (and don’t say anything about it unless somebody asks). Next, try it with turkey or chicken or duck to see which variation is most pleasing to those you love to feed.

A good next step might be to begin serving sustainably harvested fish weekly. Salmon burgers are a good start for many kids; not only are they delicious, but once you put enough ketchup on the bun, the patty flavor is less important. Fish and chips, grilled salmon, fish tacos and fish sticks are all good ways to nudge the family meal pattern away from meat.

The Green Shift

Changing slowly over to an increasingly vegetarian diet can shrink your carbon footprint by half. If you already eat a meatless meal once a week, try having a weekly meatless day. If you get push back, instead of announcing the new trend, just do it. Experiment to find tasty, intriguing vegetarian recipes the whole family enjoys and simply serve them without comment. (Many people won’t notice there’s no meat unless you point it out.)

Short of not using a car, few other changes we can make offer as much positive impact. One that does is of course to grow at least some of our own food, using organic methods. Small changes are easier to make than huge ones, but many small shifts can add up to very large and positive results! Here’s my current favorite tantalizing recipe to inspire you to create your own taste sensations:

Spunky, Chewy, Zingy Tacos

Chewy, organic yellow corn tortillas make this simple dish especially toothsome. For the most intriguing texture, fry the tortillas on both until they bubble, using just a slick of avocado oil. Add your favorite cheese and salsa to make this high-satiety meal even more satisfying. Have all ingredients prepped so you can serve (or eat) these amazing treats straight from the pan.

Avocado Lime Tacos

8-10 6-inch yellow corn tortillas (organic if possible)
1-2 teaspoons avocado oil (or any high-temp oil)
1/2 cup salsa
2-3 ounces extra sharp cheddar or any cheese
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped sweet peppers (saladini or any)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
2-3 ripe avocados, thickly sliced
few grans sea salt
1-2 fresh limes, in wedges

Brush a heavy frying pan with oil and place over medium high heat for 1 minute. Fry a tortilla on both sides until it bubbles, then spoon a little salsa on half and a slice of cheese on the other half. Put some raw onion and peppers on the salsa side and cilantro on the cheese side, then add avocado slices to the salsa side and sprinkle with salt. Squeeze lime juice generously over it all, fold in half and eat at once. Serves at least one.

More Info:

http://www.climatesnetwork.com/splash.php

https://www.carbonfund.org/reduce

http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/shrink-your-food-footprint

http://www.greeneatz.com/foods-carbon-footprint.html

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25795-going-vegetarian-halves-co2-emissions-from-your-food/

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Commemorative Plantings

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Ann Lovejoy
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Welcoming Baby Lovejoy

Yesterday, my beautiful granddaughter was born at her home, surrounded by loving family and friends. I could not help but contrast this joyful event with the gathering to celebrate the passing of my mother, also at home and so very recently. Home births and home deaths have become rare in this country, yet both are among life’s most profoundly moving experiences and none of us truly get to skip either one, that’s for sure. As Kate tended and bathed our newest baby at her first homecoming, I remembered how lovingly Kate and I bathed and dressed Mom for her last home leaving.

So often these tender duties are carried out not by family members but by nurses. Kind and attentive as they may be (and usually are), something is missing from a life that does not willingly include the gritty realities of birth and death. I assume that the attendant unpleasantnesses are off-putting to many and I get that (the laundry alone is daunting even to an enthusiast), but I also suspect that even more folks let others do those first and last bathings and dressings because they are worried that they might not know what to do or just how to do it. A tiny baby seems so fragile, and the newly dead are so empty of life. Both states can certainly be intimidating to the uninitiated, though both are a normal part of every life. The good news is that both are simple, peaceful, earthy tasks that are really quite straight forward while also having an aspect of holiness to them.

Celebrating Comings And Goings 

Mom would have been thrilled to meet her second great-grandchild, perhaps especially because she is an adorable girl child (our family runs heavily to delightful boys). I am absolutely thrilled myself that my darling O has a baby sister, not least because I know how lovingly and respectfully and wisely she will be parented. Every child deserves such raising and what a world we would share if each of them/us received the equivalent. It’s such an honor and such a deep, abiding pleasure to be part of the raising of these children and I love imagining what remarkable adults they will be.

In our family, both births and deaths (of dear people and dear pets) are often celebrated by planting something. For beloved critters, I sometimes plant rosemary for remembrance, choosing hardy, enduring varieties like Arp, which can live for decades. For people, I may plant a favorite tree (my dad has a Japanese maple, while. It’s important to choose a species that is well adapted to the environment you can offer, because losing a memorial tree can feel dreadful.

Long Lived And Sustainable

I learned this lesson the hard way, since both my dad and Bud loved Japanese maples and both of their first memorial trees were lost to verticillium. Thus, I now always pick hardy, vigorous, and disease resistant trees that will (probably) thrive in the memorial site. (Bud now has a lovely Purple Prince crabapple and Dad has a weeping sequoia, which he would admire for its sinuous slenderness.) Sometimes long lived shrubs are a better choice: For my mom, I planted my favorite winter flowering witch hazel, Hamamalis x intermedia Pallida, with glowing, deep yellow flowers that send their deliciously penetrating fragrance throughout the garden on still, warm winter days. I’ve planted memorial roses as well as camellias and rhododendrons, and even a gorgeous Midwinter Fire twiggy dogwood, now the size of a small tree.

To celebrate births, I usually choose something with a sweet association; my son Andrew was also born in January and our native Scouler willows are always in catkin bloom for his birthday, as are tiny Tete a Tete daffodils, so I’ve planted that combo in several of my gardens. My other son likes lilies, and I plant those in his honor as well as deep purple lilacs, which were blooming when he was born. For O, I planted Cotinus x Grace, a superb smoke bush with fantastic color from early spring into late fall, as well as a lovely coral orange rose from the grocery store. These little roses are dwarfed in their pots, but often prove very hardy when planted in the garden, usually achieving around 3 feet in height and girth.

Blooming And Fruiting

O has a pretty little pear tree planted in his honor at his own home, and his sister will have a lovely, ruffled pink camellia in the back yard as well. I’m planting another one for her in my own garden, called (regrettably) Pink-A-Boo, a handsome, shapely winter bloomer with open, anemone-like flowers of rosy pink centered with fluffy golden stamens. It’s a sport of Yuletide, one of my favorite winter bloomers and a very good, long lived garden performer. Our newest darling will also get a rose, though I’m not sure yet which one. However, hers will most likely be a rich coral pink and fragrant.

An informal poll of gardening friends showed that, give the choice of our own memorial trees, nearly all of us would chose species that offered both flowers and fruit for people and/or birds and other wild things. I myself am very fond of crabapples, especially the newer disease-resistant varieties. Among the healthiest is Golden Raindrops, a cutleaf form with pink buds and white flowers followed by profuse bright yellow fruit that lingers well into winter. It reaches 10-15 feet in time, so where space is limited, I often use compact Tina (Malus toringo ssp. sargentii Tina), a lovely little tree with a perfect canopy and daintily spreading branches. Often called Sargent Tina, this shrub-like tree tops out at around 6-8 feet if grated and 8-12 feet on its own roots, offering the usual rosy bud and white flowers as well as red fruit and warm fall color.

Top Pick?

For myself, I think I’d opt for a handsome, compact crabapple called Centennial, or perhaps a Yuletide camellia. Or maybe a Blue Ice Arizona cypress. Or…whatever my dear family decides will quite certainly be just fine by me!

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