Just Say No to Weed Man

Our yard is over-run with robins at the moment. They are having twitter fests in the trees and hopping around the lawn, enthusiastically pulling out reluctant worms. It's a happy little vignette but one that could hide a horror.

Last week, there was a knock at our door. It was a socially-distanced representative from Weed Man Lawn Care services. The 20-something gentleman was offering a FREE! lawn care estimate. I paused briefly and then said "No, thank you". But it's FREE he said with some desperation. They have a variety of lawn services and there was no obligation on our part to accept any of the services offered. He said we could just take the flyer and then toss it in the recycling if we didn't want any of them. I thought it over and again said "No, thank you". I don't think he was pleased with me... and walked away with a slump to his shoulders. I'm sure he looked at our moss-ridden front lawn and thought that we really, really needed some lawn care!

Maybe it could do with some aeration... or some fertilizer... or even some broad-leaf herbicides. We are, after all, a bit over-run with dandelions which are starting to burst into flower. Not to mention quack grass and a few other nameless weeds. But we aren't really "lawn people". We don't really care if it's a smoothly manicured sheet of uniform green or not.

Here's the thing. Let's say we were to say "yes" to some moss killer or even weed killer. The operative word in there is "killer". An herbicide is really a biocide. It is poison. There's a reason why Weed Man tells you to keep children and pets off of the lawn after it has been treated with "herbicide". There's a reason why you should cover up all skin surfaces and wear a serious respiration mask (not just a paper mask) when you are using any biocide. This stuff can make you seriously ill and/or kill smaller creatures.

We had some next door neighbours who moved here from the Okanagan a couple of years ago. The husband was in Stage 4 kidney failure and was hoping for a kidney transplant. He had worked for a landscaping company... spraying herbicides and pesticides and other biocides. Remember the Monsanto court case in California a few years ago? A couple sued Monsanto for millions and won. Monsanto, by the way, makes one of the most popular weed killers... Roundup... deadly stuff.

So, no... we don't want herbicides and pesticides and any other biocides in our yard. Poison that gets sprayed on the grass and then soaks into the soil where the worms eat it... and then the birds eat the worms... or feed the worms to their young. And then the birds die and get eaten by the cat who then gets sick. Nope... not interested.

It might seem a small thing to spray some Roundup on the weeds in the driveway but... each small step leads to another small step in a cascading series of small steps. Just say No to biocides.

P.S. It appears that Weed Man has been getting into trouble in the past few years with some shady sales practices. Never say "Yes" to a "FREE" quote... Just say "No!".

A biocide by any other name still kills as bitterly...

A couple of years ago, we had some new neighbours move into the rental next door. A young couple with two children and the grandmother. They had moved to the Island from the Okanagan because the husband was on the list for a kidney transplant. Yup, he was in Stage 4 kidney failure. And only in his mid-30s. What the heck? Turns out, he was a landscaper by trade and for years had been spraying pesticides and herbicides as part of his job.

In case you missed it, Monsanto, the makers of Roundup, have a lost a series of court cases in recent years. In 2019, they were ordered to pay over $2,000,000,000 to a couple you contracted non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (cancer) after using Roundup for over 30 years. And they aren't the only ones... there are thousands of court cases coming down the pipeline. **Breaking News*** On June 25, 2020, Bayer (the owner of Monsanto) agreed to pay almost $11,000,000,000 to settle cancer claims against its weedkillers.

Now, this isn't a "beatup Roundup" blog but a general diatribe against all biocides - herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and pesticides. Call them what you will... they are deadly... not just to humans but also to every living thing in the immediate vicinity of their path.

Dandelions in the lawn? Just spray Roundup... kill the dandelion and... what else? Worms, beetles, bees, and who knows how many other little critters that live in the soil. For example, Roundup kills beneficial microbes that fix nitrogen in the soil. Kill those microbes and any plants that try to get established will struggle because they aren't getting the nitrogen they need... and, in their weakened state, they are more susceptible to plant pathogens that occur naturally in the soil. Because, while we might like to think that the herbicide is just going to affect the plant... it doesn't. Poison is poison... whether it be for plants or insects. And if the earthworms get sick because of some herbicide... what does that then do to the robins who eat the earthworms? Or to any bird that eats an insect...

Our entire ecosystem is built on dirt/soil/earth, but we tend to treat it with casual disregard... and no wonder.

None of those three words bring up "good" associations... dirty magazines... the dog soiled the carpet... their earthy humour (i.e. vulgar). We might value forests and oceans and bears and salmon... but who values the soil?

And yet without healthy soil... we are toast. Seriously. And yet... every day, millions of litres of biocides are sprayed on agricultural crops and house lawns. Seeping into the soil, wreaking havoc on the life in the soil and then washing into storm drains and streams before continuing their destructive path to our lakes and oceans.

If you're interested in reading about the entire destructive path, The Marin Post has a link to a 2016 scientific study that looked at The Unintended Consequences of Using Glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup).

It's the same thing with insecticides... even if they say they are specific to a certain insect (e.g. ants, aphids, cabbage worms)... they are poison and there will be other repercussions... One gardener used an insecticide in his garden and then wondered why there were dead honeybees everywhere. Read the fine print on any of those insecticide containers and see what they say about other dangers. Even the "organic" insecticides... Insects include butterflies, bees, ladybugs, etc.

We are avid gardeners and we fight a never-ending battle with weeds in the driveway, slugs in the radish patch, aphids on the kale and wasps under the deck.

When we moved into our house, the previous owner had left some containers of Roundup, perhaps thinking that we would have a use for them. We emailed her and asked her to pick them up and take them with her.

We have made a conscious choice not to spray poison in our little queendom. The bees, birds, beetles, earthworms thank us... As for the slugs... we need to get ourselves a six-pack of beer and invite them to a little drinking party...

A few years ago, I read Silent Spring, the 1960s classic by Rachel Carson. If you haven't read it... or read it recently, I highly recommend it.