The best thing about having chickens in my yard is they eat so many bugs and grubs. The next best thing-eggs. And since a dozen of them did a good job, this spring we have a new flock of 30. What to do with all of those eggs? FOOD&WINE has some great ideas.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency released the results of surveys of pollutants in 11 lakes and 4 streams. Antibiotics, blood pressure medication, antidepressants, and oral diabetes medicine were frequently found. They were found even in relatively remote areas.
Their conclusion: The chemistry of modern life is winding up in our water. One simple step can make a difference-don’t dispose of pharmaceuticals down the toilet or the drain.

Best way to dispose of unwanted drugs: The National Drug Take-back initiative has drop off boxes at many police stations. Find one near you by asking at your local police station or at the DEA website.

We all want our children outside this spring and summer to stretch their legs and lift their hearts. Investigating nature first hand by finding frogs and dragonflies, looking at birds, and smelling flowers, powers our children’s imagination. And most of us have our first brush with science watching a Monarch Butterfly emerge from a cocoon, tadpoles grow into frogs, or seeds that we planted grow into food.
But bites from ticks and mosquitoes can be more than an itchy nuisance. Tick bites can spread many diseases including Lyme disease, and mosquitoes can harbor West Nile and other viruses. Pesticides are designed to kill bugs, but we now know that they can hurt people in surprisingly small amounts, especially children. They can interfere with the hormones that regulate everything from neurologic development to growth and metabolism, and everything else in our bodies, too.

So here are some tips to keep those bugs off your children, without using stuff that can hurt them.

1. Make your yard unattractive to ticks. Mulch leaves into the lawn or compost them. This is a two-fold whammy to the ticks. They dry out and die on mowed grass without the leaves to shelter them, and mice that carry ticks won’t have leaves to burrow under, so they will go elsewhere. Don’t spray your yard for ticks. An ongoing CDC study shows it does decrease tick numbers somewhat, but doesn’t decrease Lyme disease.

2. Mosquitoes breed in water. Don’t leave buckets, kiddie pools or other standing water around. If you have a pond add fish to it (our County gives fish away to encourage homeowners to do this). Add Bti, bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, to ponds and streams. This is a naturally occurring bacteria that produces a toxin that kills blackfly and mosquito larvae, but is otherwise harmless. It is available at garden stores in small discs.

3. Grow lots of plants that are natural to your area. This will attract dragonflies, birds, and bats that control pesky insects naturally. One dragonfly can eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes a day! Don’t kill the good bugs and birds with pesticides. Also, plant herbs like lemon balm, catnip, or rosemary near where you plan to sit outside, they will keep bugs away.

4. Don’t go where and when the bugs are worst! Avoid dawn and dusk, tall grass and brush, and swampy areas. If you have to, cover up.

5. Citronella is an effective herbal repellant, but needs to be applied every two hours. DEET is effective and lasts five hours. But, DEET meddles with nerve transmission in causing fireflies to light up, and people’s lips to go numb. There is evidence it may also muck with hormones, too. So use it only when you really need it, and on top of clothing. Do a thorough tick check when you come in, and wash and dry your clothing. Washing gets the repellant off, and drying kills the ticks and bugs.

If they are welcome in your neighborhood, consider keeping chickens, too. They eat a lot of bugs, and give you fresh eggs every morning!

University of California at Santa Cruz researchers have found that a bacteria that occurs naturally on some bats may be helpful in controlling the fungal disease, White Nose syndrome, responsible for massive bat die-offs across the country.
The bacteria inhibited the fungus in the laboratory. They are now testing live bats, and if that works they will start a field trial.
Let’s hope they are successful. In the meantime, give bats a chance to stay healthy and cut down on the mosquito population by not using pesticides and either planting trees like shag bark hickory where they can live under the bark, or putting up bat houses. Pesticides weaken them and make them more susceptible to diseases. Bats are important pollinators, too.

Today, May 27th, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy along with Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy announced a rule to clarify protection of streams and wetlands under the Clean Water Act.
This rule clarification is necessary to keep waters that drain into larger streams that serve as drinking water clean. Because if the streams draining in carry contaminants, they will be in the clearly regulated stream. The Clean Water Act protects “navigable waters,” waters you can put a canoe or kayak on and get from one place to another. But to protect those waters, tributaries and wetlands that drain into the streams need to be protected, too. And that was not always the case because local laws and enforcement varied across the nation.
Farmers are concerned about this rule, but the current exemptions for agriculture remain.
With severe droughts and flooding across the country, the importance of water has never been more clear.
An EPA press release said that climate change makes protecting our water even more essential. According to the EPA, one in three Americans is drinking water from drinking water that lacked clear protection.
Fittingly, the press conference was held on the Anacostia River that flows from Maryland into the Potomac River in Washington DC. Despite recent strides to protect the river, the Anacostia has been plagued with pollution from sewage and urban runoff, as well as PCB’s from the Washington Navy Yard.
This is good news for all of us who drink water, fish, swim in lakes and streams, boat, and eat fish. Because clean water upstream means clean water downstream. And protecting water is less expensive and more effective than trying to take contaminants out.

The timing couldn’t have been better. Memorial Day morning our family came down for breakfast to find the scent of lilacs enveloping us. The tiny, icicle shaped buds had opened overnight, and butterflies and dragonflies were enjoying the sun drenched flowers. The peonies have just begun opening, too. And unsurprisingly, many have ants on them. But no need to worry if your peonies have ants, too.
Ants eat the nectar on peony buds, and may even help the buds open. And its not just peonies, ants are helpful in the garden in many ways. An article in Fine Gardening says that they keep herbivores away from the peonies by eating the nectar. They also spread seed including seeds of bleeding hearts and trout lilies.
But how to avoid ants at the dinner table when you bring in flowers? Cut the peonies when they are buds and just flick the ants off. They will last a teeny bit longer that way, too.

I was thrilled to speak to the RCDS 6th Graders who are studying water all year. The students were so knowledgeable and motivated. After our talk they were headed with faculty to work at two wetland areas near the school to improve habitat and water quality. What a great program their faculty have developed!
If your school doesn’t have a water themed program, here are some tips to teach your children about water at MindBodyGreen.

An article in The Guardian today says the European Union has dropped plans to regulate chemicals including many pesticides that disrupt hormones because of pressure from the US over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The US push for impact assessments has pushed the proposed regulation of 31 chemicals back till at least 2016.
An EU study showing that diseases caused by these chemicals cost Europeans at least 150 billion pounds per year and lead to increases in diseases including cancer, abnormal neurologic development and infertility gave initial strong support to the proposed ban.
Canada and Brazil also lobbied against the proposed bans.
According to the article a Commission spokesperson said:

“A common theme in the lobby missives was the need to set thresholds for safe exposure to endocrines, even though a growing body of scientific results suggests that linear threshold models – in which higher doses create greater effects – do not apply to endocrine disruptors.

“The human endocrine system is regulated by hormones and the hormone receptors are sensitive to low doses,” said Hans Muilerman, PAN Europe’s chemicals coordinator. “In animal toxicity studies, effects are seen from low doses [of endocrines] that disappear with higher ones. But in the regulatory arena, lower doses are not tested for.”

We need to change our perspective!

This site is a great way to watch the Monarch migration unfold. It also gives tips to help distinguish between Monarchs and look-a-likes like Viceroy butterflies. Wind and cold weather are pushing back the migration this year, but some have already been seen in New York and many other places across the country.

Great New York Times article today on federal proposals to bolster bees. A three pronged approach: decrease pesticide usage, make more federal land bee friendly, and spend more money on research. The same measures will help Monarch butterflies, too.
White House science advisor John Holdren says beekeepers lost 40% of their hives last year. He calls for making 7 million acres of federal land bee friendly habitat in the next five years with bee friendly plants.
Backyard gardeners are part of the solution, too! If we all stop using pesticides and plant native plants, that’s a lot of pollinator friendly habitat. It is also children friendly and clean water friendly habitat!