health4earth

Autumnal Exquinox

The trees turn a little bit red/orange every day — The trees turn a little more red/orange every day

There are many warm wonderful things about every season!

Superior Views/ Autumnal equinox
Two adult eagles talk and screech most of the day, and we still hear the unique calls of the loons and sandhill cranes.

Fall is a magnificent season, but why does it make all us northerners just a little sad? There are too many good byes. Our days have become noticeable shorter stimulating many of the changes we see.
Good-bye to many of the things I love until next spring:

Good bye to the magnificent monarch butterflies as they journey south to Mexico.

Good-bye to the ruby-throat hummingbirds that bring such energetic joy,and the song birds that serenade me daily.

Good-bye to the bright pollinator plants that bring in butterflies and bees and birds to our yard.
Good-bye to the lush green forests that surround Lake Superior and the north country, and to wonderful outdoor meals on the banks of the big lake.

And it is sad to see our long long days of light disappear into darkness. Here is the Gershwin song Summertime to get you to the next equinox on March 20-21, 2016: http://song.mymp3file.com/download/208449033/summertime-gershwin-hayward.html

This is well-written blog about autumn by a young woman from Canada: https://sherinaspeaks.wordpress.com/2015/09/23/the-arrival-of-autumn/

Fall Gardening is for the Birds

Dried up cone flowers are a gift to the birds but not to the human eye. I took this picture in July — Dried up cone flowers are a gift to the birds. I took this picture in July

As I write this the goldfinch are eating seeds from dried up purple cone flowers, and hummingbirds are still flitting around for nectar. Below is an excellent article on fall gardening by writer Val Cunningham. My suggestions follow.

“As they fly around your neighborhood, birds won’t be attracted by gardens with flower stalks cut neatly to the ground and plant debris raked up and removed.” V Cunningham .http://www.startribune.com/leaving-your-garden-a-little-untidy-this-winter-helps-birds/327498161/

My additional suggestions for fall gardening are:
*Pull out all the invasive and bad plants
*Plan for next year. What worked and what didn’t work? How can you add more native

Hummingbirds and bees love this red menardia nardia — Hummingbirds and bees love this red
menardia

plants ? (My favorites are milkweed, Liatris, cone flowers, bee balm hyssop, wild geranium and asters)
*Plan where you can add a rain garden next year to capture the rain from your house, driveway or yard. http://bluethumb.org/raingardens/

Birds love driveways with seeds and leaves, but please keep our waterways clean by sweeping sidewalks, driveways and street from leaves and debris.

An Amazing Story of Migration

Monarchs love liatitis (blazing star) — Monarchs love Liatris (blazing star). They need nectar sources as they migrate

Monarch eggs hatch into caterpillars, then into a chrysalis. 3 or 4 times in a summer this happens!

chrysallis turns into a monarch — chrysalis turns into a monarch butterfly. 3 or 4 times as they come north.

When I learned about native plants and pollinators my gardening focus completely changed. By planting milkweed, liatris, purple cone flowers and many others, the butterflies, and other pollinators come to my yard giving us enormous enjoyment, but now in September these incredible monarchs start their journey to Mexico. These butterflies are the 4th generation of the monarchs(Their great-grand parents) that traveled south last fall.
Fascinating things I have just learned about monarch butterflies:
** These August/September monarchs are the longest lived, Maybe living 6 to 9 months. They do not lay eggs until early next spring when they have returned to Texas from Mexico
** They can fly 265 miles a day to their resting winter ground in Mexico, about 2500 miles.
** After resting for a few months they head back from Mexico to Texas where they finally lay their eggs on milkweed, and the next generation begins. Each new crop of monarchs lays eggs and continues the migration back to Missouri/Minnesota/Wisconsin/Iowa and Canada.

All the chemicals we use have destroyed monarch habitat! What are you doing to make sure they survive?

http://features.newsy.com/saving-the-migration/watch/

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/index.html

http://www.cablemuseum.org

I am Thankful for California!

Round up kills the plants bees and butterflies love!

A Big Reason to be Thankful for California!

I was shopping for a vegetable peeler the other day. The label said, “This product is known to cause cancer according to the California EPA. Be sure you wash your hands after use” Yikes, who would buy such a product? Why would a company manufacture such a product? Below is more watchdog work by California’s EPA:

Big news! California EPA Moves to Label Monsanto’s Roundup ‘Carcinogenic’ http://ow.ly/RQOdP #BanRoundup

In a first for the country, California’s Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) has issued plans to list glyphosate—the toxic active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide—as known to cause cancer. http://ecowatch.com/2015/09/08/california-becomes-first-state-to-label-monsantos-roundup-as-a-carcinogen/?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=4a984bb080-Top_News_9_9_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-4a984bb080-85912169

Superior Views, August 2015

Life on Lake Superior

Hummingbirds and bees love this garden on Lake Superior(background lake) — Hummingbirds and bees love this garden on Lake Superior

Bee balm, hyssop, golden rod, wide leaf aster, cardinal-flower and purple cone flower bring joy!

Bees love golden rod and it is everywhere.

Eagles screech and talk to me as I work in my yard. Hummingbirds are everywhere, and some of the migrating birds crossing the lake are the Nashville Warbler, thrushes, and white throated sparrow.

GMO labeling, Consumers want Information!

A GMO free protein source to add to stirfry or meatless spaghetti — A non-GMO protein source perfect for meatless Monday!

The letter below was in the Minneapolis Star Tribune today. As a person with many food intolerances labeling is important, and I applaud the many that are asking for better transparency. My shortened version of this letter:

To the editor: Whether genetically modified foods are safe or not, is beside the point. Consumers should have all of the information they need to make a decision. That is an aspect of the free market that many sellers tend to forget.

Many people are allergic to peanuts. Should products that contain peanuts as a minor ingredient be labeled with that information? Many people don’t wish to eat certain foods for the variety of health or ethical reasons. If they are opposed to factory farming, should farmers who engage in sustainable practices be prevented from labeling their products?

Sellers want to know all they can about their buyers, but don’t want buyers to know much about them other than their brand name. Melvyn Magree

One more thing I have to add. Organic products do NOT have GMOs

http://www.startribune.com/

Why are bees dying at an alarming rate?

Add plants bees love to your yard! — Add plants bees and butterflies love to your yard!

Bees have been a worry to me all summer. They haven’t been feeding on the plants that are usually loaded with bees. Wild geranium, Culver’s Root, chives and a flowering maple they usually are passionate about have been lacking bees.

Bees love bee balm and anise hysopp, but this year not so many bees. — Bees love bee balm and hyssop, but this year not so many bees.

In August with the blooming hyssop, cone flowers and golden rod the bees are here, but not in the typical numbers for this time of year.

We must do better to make sure our yards have flowers pollinators love and avoid all chemicals. It frightens me that some of the plants we purchase are still laden with heavy chemicals and neonicotinoids. I wonder how all these chemicals are going to affect human health? How is neonicotinoid farm run-off going to affect aquatic life?

A study below by the US Geological Survey finds neonicotinoids in our water ways. Here is the link: http://m.ktvz.com/news/Insecticide-found-in-half-of-sampled-U-S-streams/34779418

MINNEAPOLIS TAKES ACTION TO PROTECT POLLINATORS AS A POLLINATOR-FRIENDLY CITY

The City of Minneapolis urges all Minneapolis property owners, residents, businesses, institutions and neighborhoods to become more pollinator friendly by adopting practices including:

Committing to not use pesticides, including insecticides that stay in the plant, on their properties.
Avoiding planting flowering plants that are treated with insecticides that stay in the plant.
Discontinuing the sale of pesticides and plants that are treated with insecticides that stay in the plant.
Planting more pollinator forage on their property and using organic or chemical-free lawn and landscaping practices.

Here is the link: http://www.minneapolismn.gov/news/WCMS1P-147750 Unfortunately, Minnesota has ridiculous preemption laws, and a city can’t make rules stronger than existing state legislation

Morning Earth Healing Images 8.28.2015

Golden rod picture by John Cady — Golden Rod picture by John Cady

So far, 2015 smashes 2014 records

January 2015 through June 2015 have been the warmest first 6 months on record. 2014 was the warmest year on record. What is scary to me is that over 90% of this heat ends up in the oceans!

This video explains it all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhhtvm1pcio

Where are you on this map? What have you observed this year?

Businesses and Better Recycling

Have you ever thought of how strange it is that businesses, that dislike government, also depend on government to pick up their waste? Plastic bottles and packaging are a perfect example of this. Businesses should be responsible for all the waste they generate. I was thrilled to be at a park in Michigan this weekend to see these recycling containers. We need more of this! Coca-Cola also has recycle containers, but they are stingy with them. I have tried to place them in quick stop convenience stores and gas stations without much luck! All convenience stores in Duluth, Minnesota offer recycle containers because of a government program. It is a fabulous program, but it should be the responsibility of business.

Sick, Unhealthy Lakes

Buffer strips along lakes protect water quality.

Minnesota is home to over 10,000 lakes. We love our lakes. Unfortunately, we don’t take personal responsibility for protecting the beauty and health of our precious lakes. One of the most popular lakes is covered with trash, and it has become impossible to educate anglers (Are they listening?) of the invasive species their boats carry from lake to lake.
In late June, I was biking through southern Minnesota and was appalled to see algae and milfoil covered lakes. Sometimes they look weedy in August, but this was June?

The largest Minnesota newspaper published an opinion piece about what is happening to our lakes. The authors think the lakes of southern Minnesota are a lost cause, but they think more should be done to keep northern lakes clean. I think with tougher rules and strict enforcement all lakes can be kept healthy and usable. It is a matter of political will and setting priorities. With tougher rules and strict enforcement all lakes can be kept healthy and usable. At the bottom of this post there is a list of things I do on my lake property to protect water quality.

Unfortunately, agriculture was given a pass on the Clean Water Act and they should be better regulated. Agricultural run off is a real problem, but everyone needs to do better. This is the only water we will ever have and we should respect and value every water body.

Brian Peterson • Star Tribune If 75 percent of lakeshore remains mainly forested, the chance of maintaining lake quality is good, said Peter Jacobson of the state’s Department of Natural Resources. But when natural cover falls below 60 percent, lakes begin to deteriorate.

The opinion article: “There is no mystery about what is needed: a built environment that harmonize with nature rather than defying it” http://www.startribune.com/from-runoff-to-ruin-the-undoing-of-minnesota-s-lakes/321099071/

Requirements all lake shore/stream property owners should follow:

*Buffer strips of plants and trees along the shoreline. Absolutely no mowing down to the water.

*If there is no sewer available, lake shore properties should be required to maintain a sewage holding tank.

*Wash boats and equipment with hot water before entering a new lake with your boat.

*Reduce or eliminate the chemicals you use in your home, yard and water.

*Recycle, pick up trash and never litter.

*Never never burn garbage.

Two letters from the editor on the same topic: http://www.startribune.com/readers-write-aug-16-minnesota-s-lakes-planned-parenthood-payday-lending/321926671/