My Organic Market’s ER

A while back I told you all a story about a little visitor that we had roaming about in my house. Our little visitor, who was named Larry the mouse, terrorized us for weeks, until we finally rid him one night when we baited him into a humane live trap, with some peanut butter and crackers. After releasing him into a park a few miles away, we thought that we could finally rest easy and get on with our lives, not having to worry about pests sneaking their way into our food. Wishful thinking.

About a week or two back, we decided to head into the deep winter months right and get into some serious house cleaning. We went through forgotten closets and cupboards,swept out the cobwebs from the highest reaches, and rounded it out with some food pantry overhaul. We had jars and bags full of grains, flours, mixes, granolas; you name it, we had it. We went about the task of consolidation, when to our horror, we opened up a bag, and some moths flew out. Upon further inspection, we found that moths had infiltrated nearly all of our grains and flowers and forced us to throw them all out and reevaluate how we go about storing our food.

I had really never seen a grain moth before moving into my current home, so I went in for some investigation. I learned that grain moths and clothes moths are not the same. In general, grain moths can be identified from other moths by their quantity and location. Apparently when you have grain moth issues, they are highly evident, if you are paying attention, unlike me, and like to hang out in the kitchen, pantry or your cupboards. The moths pretty small and with brown wings, and are capable of laying eggs in anything and everything it comes in contact with.

So, what can you do about the unwanted pests? You can start with assuring that your grains, rices and flowers are stored in a clean air tight container, such as jars or tupperware containers. Be sure that when you need to get into them, you seal them back up tight, as moths are sneaky little suckers and can find a way in if you’re not careful. There is also some natural ways to either repel the moths or trap them. If you are looking to repel the moths, there are resources that suggest that you place bay leaves either on the shelves or directly in your grains. The moths hate the smell of the bay leaves and will keep them away. If your moths get out of control, or you just want to keep a handle on them, there is a product that MOMs sells that is called Pantry Pest. Pantry Pest is a trap that uses strong pheromones that are specifically made for moths. Placing them in a space away from the moths helps lure them away and into the trap. It is a non-toxic and long-lasting trap that covers 1,000 sq. feet.

I opted for the Pantry Pest product, and since we put them in place and sealed up our grains, the moths are becoming less and less of a problem. I wonder what to expect once the moths are out of the picture? This is a reminder to stay on your toes and not let your guard down.

Have you ever made a new year’s resolution to eat better, exercise more or finally sit down to read those books you bought so long ago? I know that for the last few years I’ve been making the promise to myself to exercise more and to start my day with a good stretch. For one reason or another, I start the year strong and then as quick as I start my resolution, I stop.

I know that for myself, maybe you can relate, I throw out the excuse that I just don’t have enough time or I have too much going on. It’s not as if doing so would take up a considerable chunk of time. We’re talking about 30 minutes to an hour a few days a week. So, how do I motivate myself enough to make time to do this?

I actually had a conversation with someone that I met the other day about exercise and how it can directly relate to the environment. We decided that the more you exercise, the more stress is released. The more stress that is released, the better outlook you may have. The better outlook you have, the bigger impact you may have. You get the idea.

Why wouldn’t I want to exercise? I feel like, for me, exercise clears my mind and untangles all the ideas floating around in my head. If exercise helps to clear that up and give me a clearer outlook, whether that be on work, a relationship or the environment, I’m all for it.

There is something funny about people who complain about being cold and instead of putting on an additional layer of clothes, they choose to crank up the temperature. I had this roommate one time who loved to walk around in her shorts and t-shirt in the house, in the dead of winter. She hated the cold weather and so would crank up the thermostat to nearly eighty two degrees. I would come home and laugh and clinch my teeth at the same time.

Why in the world would someone crank up the heat instead of putting on some more clothes, such as a sweatshirt, maybe some pants, or curling up with a blanket and a hot cup of tea? Temperature inside your home, office or business should be comfortable, but not too hot or too cold, and regulated to the season and temperature outside. I would constantly talk to that roommate and encourage her to put on more clothes and turn the heat down, as we were consuming a lot of energy keeping her bare legs warm.

The next time you find yourself a little too cold, put on a sweater. If you become a bit too warm, put on something to cool you down. Save the energy and regulate your body temperature the good ol’ fashioned way.

I discovered the most alarming thing this weekend while spending time on the shores of Ocean City, NJ. I was walking down the boardwalk, enjoying the sights, sounds, and off season crowds, when I looked out at the beach and saw as far as the eye could see piles of seaweed, trash and other beach “litter”. Being a curious person, I wondered down the steps and onto the beach, to discover that what I was calling other beach “litter” were actually hundreds of dead horseshoe crabs.

After realizing that the lumps in the sand were horseshoe crabs, I stood there in puzzlement. I didn’t know if this was natural or not for the horseshoe crabs. Of course the first finger that I pointed was at the actual trash littering the beach; Pepsi cans, soda bottles, a plastic alligator, styrofoam cups and a bunch of popped balloons. But was this really it? Was there a toxic spill somewhere out in the ocean that killed these crabs? Were they beached and then died? I just didn’t know, and so was bewildered the remainder of the weekend. It’s all that I could talk about. “How was your weekend away?” My response… “I saw the strangest thing…”

Today, when I had a moment, I looked the horseshoe crabs up online to see if I could figure something out. What I found made sense. Apparently one of the largest populations of the crabs are right off the Delaware coast, and what I thought were all dead crabs could have easily been the outer shell from their molting. I think that half of them were really dead though, which could have been from any number of things. The crabs like to crawl up on shore, which leaves them vulnerable to crashing waves, hungry birds or even people interferance.

I may never know for sure why there were so many dead horseshoe crabs up on the beach. I’m sure a lot of it was natural death, but I’m also sure that there was some human induced factors in there as well.

So, I tend to listen to the radio on my way to work in the morning and later in the evening on my way home. I try to pick radio stations with diversity of music, talk and positive outlooks. I found a few great radio stations that offer all these things, and so I thought.

I radio station that I had grown to love so much for their diverse music from the 80’s 90’s and today, went regretably down hill quick when I tuned the radio into a conversation being had over the air between the station and a caller. The conversation was about hybrid vehicles and whether or not they were a good idea. The conversation went something like this:

Station: How do you feel about prius hybrids, good or bad?
Caller: Bad idea. Not only are they way to girly for men, but the environment is doing fine. Let other people worry about it.
Station: There you have it. You’re right, prius hybrids are girly. I would hate to be a sissy.

My two cents: Are you serious? This was actually a conversation? I wasn’t surprised so much that there was someone with the idea that the environment was doing fine, but more surprised by the fact that the station actually agreed with the caller live on air. I feel like, yes, it is a public radio station, however, please don’t let the conversation end there with agreement. Explore both sides of the argument and attempt to have a more educated view because the environment is not doing fine and we all need to worry about it. You have to set the example and, I feel, counter comments like that that may be a mis-informed view. Not only that, but calling the prius girly? No way!

Since hearing this conversation over the air, I’ve been weary of this particular radio station. I know that there are people out there with views that don’t align with my own, and that’s fine, it will always exist. But, when I can turn a dial to tune them out and be in my own reality, I will.

Yesterday, as you all might have noticed if you live in the DC area, was a brillant, sun filled day. I don’t know if it was that it had rained all day Saturday or planets were in alignment or I got too few hours of sleep, but everything looked fresh and crisp. The edges of cars, sidewalks, trees and even blades of grass glistened and shined.

Seeing this as I walked down the sidewalk to get a scone from the corner bakery, I decided that today was the day to visit a pumpkin patch and corn maze. I jumped on the web to check to see which would be my best and closest option. Key elements for me were local farms, short distance, fall activities and organic. What I came up with was a farm in Virginia called the Corn Maze in the Plains. Its about thirty miles from DC that not only was local, but also prided itself on the organic corn maze and activities for children. Sounds like just my cup of tea!

I grabbed a few of my roommates to come along and we set voyage for what promised to be a spectacular maze, filled with lots of turns and dead ends. The view from above showed the maze was cut in the shape of some bats flitting around the moon… that’s some talented corn mowing right there. I am not sure if you have ever been in a corn maze, but you basically wander through a bunch of trails and stare at a view like this for about 40 minutes while trying to track down your friends and giggling with surprised little kids along the way. And let me tell you - it is FUN, especially when you know that you aren’t walking through fields filled with pesticides and synthetic fertilizers!

So, if enjoying the fall harvest organically with local growers sounds good to you, make sure to look up the Corn Maze at the Plains. They boast the first organically grown corn maze in the country, and clearly one of the best.

One night a few weeks ago I was walking into the kitchen under the cover of darkness, when, out of the corner of my eye I caught something moving. First, there was a wrestling of our Middle East Bakery Pita bag, then a small head popped up. I could only see the perpetrators silhouette, but that’s all I needed to know that our house had a guest; a mouse.

After flipping on the lights and adjusting my eyes, I found that the mouse had scrammed. It left behind our fresh pita bread, with the bag chewed through in the corner, and a trail of crumbs. Remarkably enough, my first instinct was to be upset that our new housemate had eaten the pita. (I even had my name on it.)

Growing up in a remote city in the mountains, I was used to mice, bats, lizards and, one time, even a raccoon getting into the house. All we would have to do is make sure that all temptation was removed from it’s tiny little paws. This new housemate was going to be a breeze, right? Wrong.

Our new “friend”, whom we named Larry, continued terrorizing our household for the following weeks, by eating our chips, bread, anything left on the counter while not in the room, and also began visiting us in the bathroom. Larry wore out his mild welcome quickly.

Being an environmentally conscious household, we took it upon ourselves to solve the problem in a friendly manner. We purchased mousetraps that are cruelty free and merily trap the mouse in a nice area where they can munch on their treat while being contained. And so it went for our friend Larry. It took all of three days before the temptation was just too much for Larry and was lured into the trap with a peanut butter smeared saltine cracker.

Our lesson was clear: Even if you put your name on your food, it could still be eaten. Cover your bases.

I was recently having a conversation with my dad about the state of the world and where we are headed in way of sources for energy and fresh water. We talked about everything from wind turbines to the different types of water treatment plants. We came to some startling realizations.

It’s alarming to realize that over 70% of the earth’s surface is covered with water. Of that, 97% of it is too salty to drink, 2% is frozen in glaciers and ice caps, and only 1% is fresh water. 1%!!! This idea really draws big red flags for me. The world’s population is steadily increasing, including in areas where fresh water is relatively scarce. Water quality is also a serious concern with pollution, with an increase in waterborne diseases.

The fact of the matter is that we need water to sustain life. We need fresh water to raise crops and animals for food. My dad and I were specifically talking about this and trying to decide what was next for water. With water becoming more scarce, where or how, are we going to sustain life? Considering that 97% of the world’s water is salt water, the natural choice is going to our oceans and drawing out the salt, leaving us with fresh water.

Desalination plants pump salt water either from pipes dipping right into the ocean or from deep wells along the beaches or seafloors. For every 100 gallons of salt water that are pumped out, there are 15 to 50 gallons of fresh water created. Now, that doesn’t nearly sound very effective, however, I think, with the state that we are headed to, it’s definetly a start.

There are areas of the world that are already using desalination plants to supplement their water shortage. My dad and I have a feeling that these plants will be popping up more and more as time goes on and population goes up. But, then again, we could be wrong. Until then, we’ll continue our water conservation efforts and encourage others to do the same.

Tonight as two of my housemates were preparing dinner, I heard a scream, complete with squeals and stomping about. In fear that there was a wild animal on the loose in the house, I ran downstairs to check out the commotion. They were both huddled over a stalk of corn, looking at, what I thought, was a lovely green caterpillar with little yellow and red spots.

To them, it was a foreign species that was automatically gross. While, yes, the caterpillar was inhabiting the food that they were preparing to eat, and had eaten a good third of the cob, the caterpillar was not going to eat them. It always amazes me that something so small can have such an effect on someone’s behavior. This caterpillar is a creature that moves less then .007 miles per hour, can not jump or fly, and is a vegetarian. Does the scary come from not knowing? OR does society groom us to fear the “creepy crawlies”?

Needless to say, I helped my fear stricken roommates by taking the caterpillar outside so that it may dine on our fine selection of yard weeds. The next time you come across a so-called “creepy crawly”, take a harder look, and you too may see the subtle beauty.

What happened to the good old days when people respected the environment and put trash where it was supposed to go? Did those days ever really exist or is it that packaging, products and consumption has gotten out of control?

I recently moved from a quiet neighborhood in College Park Maryland, to a busy high traffic area of D.C. Everywhere you look there are people, cars, buildings and concrete. There are no unoccupied spaces.

More and more lately I’ve been walking through the neighborhood, past all the shops, cafes and apartment buildings and have been astounded by the amounts of trash littering the sidewalks, small garden plots and gutters. I try to rationalize it in my head, but there is no excuse. Where is it all coming from? Is it blowing out of the tops of dumpsters and garbage trucks? Is it being blown out the windows of cars? Do people just not care and throw it on the ground? I think it’s probably a combination of all these things, and probably more.

So, what do we do about it? To walk around with a garbage bag and help pick up the garbage would be a solution, but only short term. To post signs and provide more trash receptacles is a good way to reach people, but those efforts can only reach so far. I think that we all need to start calling eachother out when you see someone littering. Stopping someone on the street who you see litter and gently, yet firmly, say “I think you dropped something” or “Hey, there’s a trash can right there”, or something of the like, is important. I feel like it may open their eyes and realize that they are being held accountable for their actions and may make them think twice before doing it again. It’s all about raising awareness and speaking up.

In the past few months, I have built up the courage to politely speak to people when I see them littering.  Occasionally I’ll just get blown off, but most times I’ll see people rethink their actions and pick up their trash.  It’s heartening to see that a little communication might help make our neighborhoods a little more pleasant.