Earth Day and Science

Today is Earth Day. 


There is also a march for science happening, as people feel that science is being threatened by the current government. Along with the big march in Washington, there have been marches in cities all over the country. People are pointing out how science as helped us and how badly needed it is. 

One quote going around is: 

“The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.”

                                                                          ~Neil deGrasse Tyson

My personal response to that is this statement, that I posted on Facebook:

Science helps us explore the universe and our own back yards. It gives us a systematic way to observe and test what's around us. Science really isn't true or false, it helps us discover what is true or false about the physical world. It is highly important that we have people well educated in scientific method and aware of what has been learned and discovered in the past. Science and science education need to be supported. 

Science isn't something to be "believed in." It's a process (or a set of processes) which help us to learn many things. It has it's limits. It changes over time.

Put it in the context of Earth Day. Climate change is a big issue. It would be hard to say based on scientific evidence that global warming isn't real. It would also be difficult to argue that it isn't human driven. But scientists don't claim to have found out everything about this phenomenon. They are still studying, seeking causes and remedies, refining theories. Views on the specifics change all the time and vary from scientist to scientist. Also, no scientists studies all aspects of it. Some study the greenhouse effect, others melting glaciers, others the connection to increased severe weather events.

Here's another thing. Science doesn't tell us how to behave. Scientific discoveries can show us what the consequences of certain actions will be, but it doesn't offer moral evaluation. It's not meant to do that.

Science also isn't either good evil. It is how it is used that determines that. Remember scientists  have brought us both the cure for polio and the atomic bomb. Healing and destruction.

Personally, I believe that God gave us the inquiring and curious minds that have lead to the development of science. His Word can also give guidance in how to use it, to build the Kingdom of God rather than tear people down. 

Judeo- Christian culture historically supported science and allowed it to flourish. Check out more on that here: Are Christianity and Science Compatible?  There have been many clashes between science and the church, but really theology and science, if each is rightly understood can be complementary. 

One final response to Mr. Tyson's statement: 

God is real and alive and good, whether you believe in him or not. 

And that doesn't change the fact that science is important.

Song for Sunday: Spring

Spring actuallty began weeks ago, but now it's beginning to feel like Spring. Maybe that's because I have been planting seeds and spreading compost. Spring is the time of beginnings in the natural world.

Today's Song for Sunday is  the Spring movement from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. A rare departure for me from songs with lyrics.

I used this once in a music and movement class. I had the students begin sitting cross-legged and curled over, then open up and grow, juggling scarves as they stood up. It represented those beginnings.



May this link be a blessing to you!

Mosquitos vs. Sumithrin

I have an organic garden.

Or perhaps I had one.


My town contracts for truck -based aerosol spraying of Anvil, a pesticide formulation containing sumithrin, PBO, and white mineral oil (a petroleum based solvent.)

Sumithrin is considered "slightly toxic" and both PBO and white mineral oil are minor carcinogens.

For more information:

The New York State Department of Health's information sheet on Anvil

This stuff was sprayed on my street, near my garden, the night before I intended to harvest green beans. AAARRRGGGHHHH!! I had been watching the newspaper and hadn't seen an announcement of the spraying.

I waited 24 hours before harvesting the green beans and washed them thoroughly. But I really don't want this stuff on my food. How well does it wash off?

After doing a little research, I spoke to the company contracted to do the spraying. I hear that sumithrin breaks down quickly in sunlight (but my garden doesn't get sunlight until midday.)

I learned that Sumithrin persists in soil for up to sixteen weeks. My contact agreed that to be true but said that it adheres to the soil and doesn't go anywhere for that time. Umm....except under my nails. And it's in the soil on any root vegetables or vegetables that touch the dirt in that time.

The kicker? I asked if the spraying was effective, since mosquito borne illnesses are a threat, too, after all. I got the following evasive answer. "Well, it's truck spraying. It's not aerial spraying. That would be effective, but it's politically and environmentally prohibited in [this state.]" So it sounds like these sumithrin applications aren't all that helpful.

Non-pesticide mosquito control measures include eliminating standing water on property, keeping pools clean and chlorinated, and maintaining bat houses. People can also avoid bites by staying in during peak mosquitos hours, covering up if they do go out and judiciously using repellants.

My town's board of health wanted to talk about eliminating the spraying, apparently, but the board of selectmen refused to discuss it. I guess I need to get politically active.

I have excluded my property from all mosquito spraying and town-wide pesticide applications, so by next year my garden will be fully organic again.

What are your thoughts on mosquito spraying?
Do you have any other resources on this topic?




 

Eco-Friendly? Take a Close Look!

I was at a shop the other day and a display of gardening supplies caught my eye.

Amidst the pesticides there was a bottle labeled, along with it's brand name, "Earth Options." It was a pale green color and was decorated with pictures of  flowers, while the others of the same brand were black or red and sported an aggressive stream of liquid and a dead bug. It proudly declared that it's active ingredient was derived from chrysanthemum flowers and that it was suitable for indoor and outdoor use.

Enough to intrigue an organic gardener, which appears to be its intended audience.

Look close though. In the small print, the label informs you that the product is potentially hazardous to humans and can be absorbed through the skin. It is toxic to aquatic life and so must not get into runoff. It may, according to the label, enter run off "for weeks." It is toxic to bees and special precautions must be taken not to spray it when they are around.

This doesn't sound very environmentally healthy.

Of course, nowhere on the label does it say that's "organic," "eco-friendly," or even "safe for children and pets." But I am pretty sure it was meant to look that way.

So keep a close watch on your products!

What deceptive labels have you seen?

Pesticides, Lawns and Pride

I got into a conversation the other day and almost (thankfully only almost) violated all the principles I was encouraging people toward in my recent post on Respect.

The topic was pesticides, something I feel rather strongly about. I mean really strongly about. I think the various weed and insect killers we put on our lawns are pretty horrifying things. Unhealthy, bad for the environment, poisonous.

The man I was talking to actually applies pesticides for a living. He feels strongly, too. Sparks came near to flying, but we did both manage self-control.

Here's the thing, This guy needs to feed his family, so he treats other peoples lawns. He told me that 48 hours is a good safety margin for going back on the lawn after treatment, as long things as dry. He doesn't fertilize his lawn at home at all though. He keeps pesticides out of his truck by using a trailer, wears protective clothing and gets tested for cancer every year. Apparently, the man he bought the business from is having serious health problems related to the chemicals. But the man insisted that the lawns are safe.

I disagree. Studies have shown ill effects from treated lawns. One, in 1987, showed that children who live in houses with treated lawns are 6.5 times more likely to develop leukemia than other kids.


One thing is true. This man is not the enemy.


We have a culture that values perfect lawns. Many people like theirs to look like the gorgeous pictures they see in home and garden magazines. They want to keep up with their neighbors. They want compliments. Manicured lawns are considered the epitome of outddoor beauty in many areas. I know that I am working to have a presentable, even pretty, lawn.

This drive toward maintaining beautiful lawns goes back to one thing: the deadly sin of pride. The desire to prove ourselves better than others. Many other things are rooted there, not just lawns, and it is one of the more pervasive iniquities.

But one result is pesticides, which lead to soil destruction, ill health and a host of other ills. I need to look at how my actions contribute to the overall understanding of what makes a home "beautiful." Perhaps, in order to reduce pesticide use, we as a culture need to redefine the "perfect lawn."

Somehow, we need to conquer pride. Jesus offers us a different path, if we are willing to follow.



What are your thoughts on pesticides?
How do you combat pride in your life?

Trees

135 years ago, J Sterling Morton came up with the idea of setting aside a day to plant trees.

National Arbor Day is the last Friday in April -- today. For a while, having not heard of it since elementary school, I thought it had "morphed" into Earth Day but it's still around.


Trees are beautiful, useful, a wonderful part of the created order. Appreciate them! Hug one if you want. Plant one if you can.


Did you learn Joyce Kilmer's poem in school? It seems perfect for today:

Trees

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree. 

 

We are going to read this outside at a picnic lunch and then plant a bed of wildflowers. We'll rub our hands over the bark of our backyard trees and offer a prayer of thanks to God that trees are part of our landscape.

 

How will you commemorate Arbor Day?

Spring Gardening

Next week, I plant seeds indoors so that I can have a fruitful garden this year. Usually, I am late with this step and I aim not to be this time around.

Last year, I grew tomatos, green beans, strawberries, nasturtiums, sunflowers, basil and marjoram. All organic.

I hope to add peppers this year. I also planted garlic last Fall, which I hope will come up. We should get actual strawberries to eat this year, too.

Starting the seeds for the gardens reminds me that Spring is around the corner. While I love winter, I look forward to the new life, the flowers, the baby birds and the bunnies. I feel very blessed to live in a place where God has ordained four definite seasons. The variety is wonderful!

What are your thoughts about the coming of Spring?


 

Abundance

There is a frost warning in our area for tonight so today we harvested our garden. We added more than a dozen nasturtium flowers to our salad at lunch and I hung up some basil and marjoram to dry.

It was the tomatoes, though, that shocked me. 

We have one tomato plant. It is a big one, having spread out late in the summer. Today, it still had some flower buds alongside some green and some ripe tomatoes. There were some rotten tomatos, too. 

I picked a large colander full of cherry tomatos and kept picking. In the end, the colander was overflowing and I had sent bags of tomatos home with the chess Moms visiting my house. I was overwhelmed by a sense of God's provision. 

"A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap." -- Luke 6:38

When have you found God to provide in abundance?

My blog site is currently a "work in progress." I am playing with the look, reducing the amount of advertising and consolidating the labels so that things are easier to find. Comments and suggestions welcome. Look for changes over the next few weeks.

This is my twelfth post for the October 2012 Ultimate Blog Challenge. I'm trying for 31 posts in 31 days, plus commenting on two posts by other people every day. (This has been the longest I have stayed on track in any UBC I have attempted!!)

What I Came Home To........

So we went away to CYC for two weeks and came home to some interesting stuff....


An Exploded Garden...

When we left we had one struggling tomato plant with about six mini-tomatos, a few tall sunflowers that showed no sign of budding, some nasturtium plants that were all leaves and a few healthy green bean and herb plants.

Upon our return, our eyes widened. The garden looked like to had exploded. The tomato plant was now HUGE and had about 50 tomatos and many, many flowers. (A week later, the tomatos are starting to ripen.)

The sunflowers had shot up about 1 1/2 feet and there was an open flower. We headed back to OP for a wedding after a few days and we returned the next night from that trip there were six flowers open and several buds.

The nasturtium plants had more than a dozen flowers.

The green beans yielded a big harvest and the spices had gotten bigger.

Jordan wants to plant more and go away for two weeks again. But that isn't all we came home to. There was also

Notice of Jury Duty

The federal government wants me to serve. I have been called for state jury duty before, but never assigned a case. In the federal government's case, I will be "on-call" for 15 days. Since I homeschool, that means moving in with a friend for at least part of the time, so that Jordan will have supervision and education if I am unavailable.  But, hey, I like New Bedford...

As inconvenient as it may be, I am OK with serving the court system. It might even be interesting to get on a case as long as it isn't too extensive and doesn't deal with a horrible crime. We also came home to, well,

Home

You know, clean showers, a comfortable bed, private time with the family and ........

an intense longing to go back!!

There, that'll do. What did you come home to, after your vacation?

Garden

I planted a vegetable garden for the first time this year. Some of the plants are doing well, others not so well. Good thing we like green beans.

My garden also has some plants I can't identify. Most likely, many of them are weeds, but I can't tell them apart from some of the plants I direct sowed into the garden. Every time someone who knows about gardening comes over, I ask them to look at my beds and tell me what they think are weeds. But I am afraid to pull too much up, in case I remove something that might produce good food.

It reminds me of the parable of the weeds in Matthew 13. Somewhat. Of course, an enemy didn't sow in my garden. And the farmer in the parable didn't pull the weeds because he didn't want to uproot the wheat, not because he didn't know which plants were weeds.

God knows who the good and evil people are. This parable seems to tell us that, at least in some cases, he is letting evil people be so as not to uproot or harm good people. It's an interesting idea to get our heads around, especially when we hear of shootings and dictators.

It makes me wonder, and meditate and pray.

God has said "Vengeance is mine, I will repay." So when we face evil we are to return it with good. God assures us that in the end the "wheat" will be gathered in and the "weeds" cast out. Of course, the analogy only goes so far. Weeds can't turn into wheat, but through Christ evil people can be turned to the good. I pray that it will be so.



This is my 21st post for the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

Lead in Garden Hoses, Who Knew?

This is a re-post. I am working on my garden, turning on the hose today, and thought of this. So here it is again.


I have been working on my yard and garden. As I was looking into things, I read that typical garden hoses leach lead and are, therefor unsafe to drink from. Or water vegetables with.



Well, I've never planned on drinking from my garden hose, though I suppose my son and his friends might. But I don't want to be adding lead to my garden. I had simply never thought of this.



I checked out some hoses. Most warned people not to drink from them because "all hoses are likely to have come in contact with pesticides" and "germs may have grown in the hose." OK.



None of the packages said that the hoses contained lead. But look a little closer. Several packages said "Not labeled for sale in California." Really? Why not? California has stricter rules about the disclosure of lead and other toxins than most states.



There were two hoses -- one for organic gardening and one for marine used -- marked "lead-free" and "drinking water safe". I bought one of those. Not the cheapest but not the most expensive either.



I wonder, though, why hoses don't have to be marked that they contain lead. It would seem a no-brainer to keep extra lead away from plants being grown for food.





For more information, try these links.

http://www.leadprevention.org/web/uploads//ConsumerReports.org%20-%20Get%20the%20lead%20out%20of%20the%20garden%20hose%205_03.pdf

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_blog/2012/05/garden-hose-phthalates-lead.html

Calling Dig Safe

It's one of those things that appeared to be much harder than it actually was.

When I was planning my garden and landscaping project, my husband suggested that we dig out the beds instead of doing raised beds, then use that loam to grade by the house.  I explained that that would involve calling Dig Safe, which is required whenever you disturb the soil.

I got into the project more, though and found that going up as high as I wanted to wasn't going to be practical. So I bit the bullet and made the call.

I was expecting a bureaucratic nightmare and a hefty fee. I got something altogether different.

I dialed 811, spoke to someone in under a minute, got good information. I marked the dig spot as directed, called back and had my ticket in less than 5 minutes. Then I just had to wait 72 hours so the utilities could mark where there lines and pipes were. Easy -peasy.

Guess what? It was free. Absolutely free.

So ... if you are digging, call Dig Safe.

And when you are facing something that seems complicated and difficult, remember: it might not actually be so hard.

Have a blessed day!!

Native Plant Garden

I am considering turning the rock garden alongside the house into a native plant garden.

Yes, I know that most "native plants" as understood in this context are usually considerd weeds. There are quite a lot of these growing between the rocks. A few are ugly and need to be pulled. But most of them are quite pretty. I think if I rake out the dead leaves from the area, pull the ugly plants and tend things so it doesn't get unruly I could make it into an attractive space. The college I attended has a native plant garden started by a biology professor (someone I went to school with) and it looks nice.

I have heard that such an area can attract butterflies and beneficial bugs. I might add a couple of "butterfly weeds" next spring. It could be fun to observe the butterflies, moths, etc. When, I get my vegetable garden growing next year, these insects could help pollinate it.

Has anyone tried such a project? What were the results? Any recommendations?