The Garden Shedde

After using pesticides for many years on our lawn and in our garden, we have completely changed our approach to lawn and garden care over the last few years and now do not use anything but natural substances. I will admit it is not near as easy as going out and spraying or spreading but after learning what these pesticides are doing to our environment, we felt there was really no choice.

We also don’t know why others have not joined us because the use of these materials are killing thousands of insects and birds every year and polluting the water we drink. I am amazed how many people don’t realize that the ground water that we end up drinking can easily be toxic and full of all kinds of chemicals we are using on our lawns and gardens because they are absorbed into the ground. What is not absorbed is found in the runoff that ends up in our rivers and streams. This water kills butterflies, bees, birds and other small animals and it drank by livestock that ends up in our food system. Living with a few bugs becoames easy once you learn the high cost of pesticides.

I have recently started looking into research on honey bees for a design project at school. Before doing even the slightest bit of research, I knew the decline in bee populations would have an effect on our food supply, I just didn’t know by how much. I was amazed to find out that over eighty percent of cherries rely on bee pollination. It takes about 100 grains of pollen per cherry blossom to produce fruit. Bees carry about 100,000 grains of pollen per load. I also learned that almonds rely completely on bees for pollination. In fact, due to the decline of the hives, many bee keepers are taking their colonies to central California to assist with the almond trees. These are just two examples. There is no doubt countless others.

There are several theories about what is happening to the bees – cell phone tower signals interfering with the bees internal GPS systems, mites, viruses, etc.  This is much more an important issue than I had originally given it credit. Can you imagine what will happen if the decline continues? Food prices would go up tremendously due to simple supply and demand…but what happens when there is no more supply? The bees are a crucial party in the human food chain supply. Even foods that are processed many times start out as something coming from nature. God save the Queens!

I just received an early Christmas present, and I love it!  It’s this birdhouse:

It’s easy to clean, lots of room but a good size for smaller birds.  I have looked at some of these for a while, but this gift was a surprise!  A bird house really was exactly what I needed.

I wonder if it is too late in the season to put it up.  Does anyone know the best time to put a new bird house up?

I recently read a blurb in Country Living Magazine that estimated there are seven million wild birds that are killed every year from the use of residential pesticides.  These are the chemicals we put on our yard and gardens for aesthetic reasons, not to grow our own food.  You can read more about how to save the birds at the National Audubon Society.

Over the last year I have read or seen reports of what the continued dumping of industrial chemicals, old medicine and pesticide runoff is doing to our water supplies here in the U.S.  In some places it is already affecting frogs and other susceptible animals in enormous ways.  There are those who feel that the rise in cancer and cancerous growths are due to a large degree of this same chemical waste.  What we do know is if we continue to dump all this stuff into our environment it will eventually catch up with us.  My question is; is having an aesthetically pleasing lawn worth knowingly killing anything?  I certainly hope not.  The next species just might be us.