Following the lead of Quebec, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and hopefully, soon, British Columbia, New Brunswick is taking first steps toward banning use of cosmetic pesticides. The Daily Gleaner is reporting that 4,000 signatures were collected this past year by Tracy Glynn, forest campaigner for the Conservation Council of New Brunswick. In the article, Glynn said a Health Canada review of glyphosate- th ...

Our free-market society conditions us to think we need to purchase products for everything — and this is especially true in gardening and lawn care. Having been raised by a family of dairy farmers, I fondly remember growing vegetable and flower gardens with nothing more for fertilizer than cow manure and manure "tea." Here's an excerpt from my book, The Organic Lawn Care Manual, that reviews some of the bes ...

Think you still have lots of choices when it comes to seeds? Not so. An article published by Natural News explains how the seed industry has changed over the last decades. Besides farmers who are signing the genetically-modified pledge and effectively losing the ability to use any other seed, the biotech industry has been buying up seed companies faster than you can say, "Goodbye, Heirloom". According to Pr ...

In a case that has potentially profound implications for not only farmers, but homeowners bothered by pesticide applications, a Minnesota court has ruled in favor of organic farmers whose livelihood has been impacted by pesticide drift. Here's a review of the case by our friends at Beyond Pesticides: http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/ ...

Over the weekend, hundreds of dead fish appeared along the banks of the Trout and Big Pierre Jacques Rivers in Prince Edward Island. The Star is reporting that Rosanne MacFarlane, a biologist working with the Environment Department, is looking into pesticide run-off as the possible cause. Although about 200 fish have been collected, MacFarlane said that it was likely thousands more died, but predators and r ...

The local Indiana Fox affiliate is reporting that some Purdue agronomy professors are advising lawn care professionals to stay away from Imprellis. The Purdue professors join a number of scientists and landscape professionals who've warned about the broadleaf herbicide's toxic effect on evergreens and ornamentals. The Purdue-based Indiana State Chemist has received 150 complaints against the product, made b ...

The Minnesota state Court of Appeals ruled today that pesticide drifting from its intended farm onto an adjacent Stearns County organic farm could be considered a trespassing violation by the company that sprayed the pesticide. The appellate court ruling reinstates a lawsuit filed by Oluf and Debra Johnson against Paynesville Farmers Union Oil Company. In the suit, the Johnsons claimed that chemical drift d ...

July 24 Give them an inch, they'll take your yard The best way to minimize backyard pests is to have the most naturally healthy lawn and garden you can. By Ray Routhier rrouthier@mainetoday.com Staff Writer, The Portland Press Herald There's a reason your backyard is full of pests. Lots of reasons, actually. If you know when beetles lay their eggs, you can avoid population explosions the next year. Slugs ar ...

When we checked our in-box this morning after several days out of the office at the end of last week, we found the requisite questions about the heat (don't mow! water deeply once a week if you water at all! the lawn will do dormant, but won't die!). We also found lots of questions about what I've been up to, since my posting here has been scarce (launching our next major campaign behind the scenes, which w ...

The Guardian is reporting that scientists from Canada and Norway have discovered via air measurements that persistent organic pollutants (POPS), banned under the 2004 Stockholm Convention, are seeping out from Arctic ice as global temperatures rise. The researchers warn that the amount of the poisons in the polar region is unknown and their release could "undermine global efforts to reduce environmental and ...