Archive for the ‘Ecology’ Category

A Healing Garden – for You and Bees

Monday, February 10th, 2014

by Catherine Haug, February 9, 2014; updated Feb 27,2014 regarding monarch butterflies

Our pollinators, especially bees, are in trouble, dying in great numbers. The situation is getting so severe that growers are concerned their crops will soon lose the ability to to produce seed for future crops, because of the decline in healthy pollinators. This affects almost all vegetables – including squash, tomatoes, greens, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, beets, beans, peas, etc.; and many fruits – including huckleberries and other berries, apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, melons and more.

Update: We are also losing another valuable pollinator to the effects of GMO crops: the Monarch Butterfly. This beautiful animal feeds only upon milkweed in its youth, but the spraying of GMO crops with Roundup and other herbicides is killing off all the milkweed. You can help by growing this flowering plant in your yard or garden. See Monarch Watch: Growing Milkweed.

But there is something you can do – every one of you – to help not only the plight of pollinators and our food supply, but also for the health of your family. (more…)

Kitchen Hint: More Uses for Apple Cider Vinegar

Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014

by Catherine Haug, Jan 22 2014

See also Kitchen Hints for others on this site, including Uses for vinegar from 2012. The EssentiaList: Homemade Apple Cider provides instructions for making your own raw apple cider vinegar.

The following uses for apple cider vinegar are from TakePart.com (1), or other sources as noted. You don’t need to use raw apple cider vinegar unless you ingest it (as in items 1, 3 and 9). Save money and use regular apple cider vinegar if it is not to be ingested. For household uses, you can use white vinegar. (more…)

The problem of plastics pollution

Saturday, January 18th, 2014

Recent Studies State Chemical In Plastic Liquid Containers Contain ToxBy Catherine Haug, Jan 18, 2014

(photo of plastic pop bottles, right, from npr.org (3))

This month (Jan 30, 2014), Citizens for a Better Flathead and Waste Not Project are hosting a movie night/panel discussion on recycling more in the Flathead (see Event Notice: Movie Night on Recycling More in the Flathead, Jan 30. 2014). Attendees are encouraged to bring questions and solution ideas to the panel, and a documentary film: Unwasted: The Future of Business on Planet Earth, available on YouTube (1) may give you some ideas to bring to the event, or inspire you to action in your community. The film was produced in 2011 by Seattle-based, green facility maintenance firm Sage Environmental Services2 in partnership with PorterWorks,3 a sustainable solutions company.

High on the list of things that are difficult to recycle here are plastics. We can currently recycle milk jugs and plastic pop bottles, but that’s about it.Yet plastics pose a great threat to the future of our planet.

From Dr. Mercola’s article on this film and topic (2): (more…)

The grocery bag dilemma

Tuesday, November 5th, 2013
Reusable Grocery Bag

Reusable Grocery Bag

by Catherine Haug, Nov 3, 2013 (photo, right, from This Domestic Life blog)

Do you answer the question, “Paper or plastic” with, “Neither, I’ve brought my own” when you check out at the grocery store? If so, then listen up.

You’ve probably seen some headlines warning about bad microbes lurking in your reusable grocery bag. Is there any truth to this? See Are Reusable Shopping Bags Really a Hazard to Your Health? by Jason Best (1).

Should we go back to having to choose between polluting our planet with plastic bags, or deforesting the planet to make paper bags?

I say “No way.” But there are things we can do to lessen the risk of bad bugs. (more…)

Foster Farms chicken and salmonella outbreak

Saturday, October 19th, 2013

by Catherine Haug, October 19, 2013

It has just come to my attention that rotisserie chicken sold under the Kirkland brand at Costco stores nationwide, and traced to three Foster Farms plants in California, is subject to a major recall after over 300 people nationwide were sickened with an antibiotic-resistant strain of salmonella (1,2,3). Foster Farms brand chickens grown in Washington are sold at many local stores including Bigfork’s Harvest Foods, but are not involved in the recall.

Are these fresh chicken products risky? How do chickens become infected with salmonella? (more…)

Warning: Bee killing pesticides in “bee-friendly” plants

Thursday, August 15th, 2013
Bumblebee with loaded pollen baskets

Bumblebee with loaded pollen baskets

by Catherine Haug, August 15, 2013

(photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)

In my recent post, What is killing bees?, I suggest planting “a variety of non-GMO flowering plants, especially native plants, in your gardens and landscape.” While this is still an excellent recommendation, please be advised to select your plants carefully. A new report by Friends of the Earth (Gardeners Beware: Bee Report) has found that many bee-friendly plants sold at national big-box stores like Home Depot and Lowes are contaminated with bee-killing neonicotenoids (pesticides) in their pollen. How can that be? (more…)