May 2009 Archives

Last week, Minnesota became the first state to ban BPA from plastic baby bottles and sippy cups. Wednesday, the Chicago City Council voted to ban the sale of baby bottles and sippy cups containing the chemical BPA.

Bisphenol A hardens plastics and can also be used to line food containers. Experts disagree on whether it poses health risks to humans.

Here's the best part of the release about this: "But the American Chemistry Council says the ban is unwarranted and not based on science."

Well, gosh, American Chemistry Council. That must be a bunch of expert scientists who really know what's going on.

Not so much.

The "council" is actually a trade group of manufacturers who use various plastics and chemicals. Short version: These are the people who make money off of products that use BPA. Why didn't the article mention that.

When you read this column, you know I'm unabashadly green. I have an agenda: To get you to help save the planet. The American Chemistry Council has an agenda too, but the article didn't mention that. It should have said, "BPA and plastics manufacturers say the ban is unwarranted." That would be a lot clearer.

I dropped the ball. "The Future of Food," a great documentary on genetically modified crops, was shown again last week at the Joliet Public Library's main branch. I promised to promote it. I misremembered it as being next week, so I failed to do the right thing.

So I'm posting this early to be certain you don't miss this opportunity.

Vicki Nowicki will present "Life Changes When You Grow Your Own Food" at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Joliet Public Library Black Road Branch, 3395 Black Road in Joliet.

Also, from 1 to 5 p.m., you can take in exhibits on green living and environmental preservation. Before Vicki's presentation, local students will give a live performance. At 2:30 p.m., the band Overman will play live outside the library.

And you could get one of 500 heirloom tomato plants being given away free.

Why head out there, besides the free info, food and music? Vicki is an author, teacher and leader who believes home vegetable gardens are the path to renewal and prosperity for America.

She degrees in horticulture, environmental studies, environmental education and museum studies.

Vicki and her husband Ron own The Land Office in Downers Grove, a design/build firm with "an ecological conscience." Twenty-five years ago, Ron and Vicki founded the CircleGardenFarm, a home/office/demonstration garden that is now being called an example of suburban permaculture. She co-founded The Wild Ones in Illinois, a group devoted to using native plants in the home landscape. She has worked with the Downers Grove Organic Gardening Club for 25 years. She is well-known for her classes on growing vegetables, herbs, heirlooms, vermiculture and now suburban permaculture and has done extensive lecturing at The Morton Arboretum.

In 2008, Vicki launched a new business called Let's Grow. She and her crew plant, maintain and harvest vegetables, herbs and cut flowers for clients who want to learn the rhythms of the gardening season.

She's also been pushing vegetable gardens through the Liberty Gardens movement. Hundreds have posted her signs, showing they will change their lives by growing food at home. (The signs are adorable. We plan to buy and post one.)

My husband and I met Ron Nowicki at a FamilyFarmed.org expo. He's one of those guys you immediately respect, but also the kind of person you'd want to be with if your plane crashed in the remote forest. This is man who could build a shelter and grow food. He also let us try a carrot he'd harvested the day before. It might be the best carrot I've ever had.

Point is, Vicki is ready to tell you something that's worth hearing. Consider heading out for it.

You're not alone. It usually takes a lot of chemicals to turn sports fields and play areas into acres of green velvet. Then, your kids spend quality time with those chemicals.

That's where Illinois Senate Bill 1769 comes in. Passed by the Senate and moving to the House, the law looks to protect kids from coming into contact with lawn care toxins at school and at child care.

The law would:

• put protections in place for child care centers. Current rules apply only to schools.


• notify parents four days before pesticides are applied.


• recomment a pesticide-free program for the schools and child-care centers.


• assign a staff person to oversee the program.


• allow customers and neighbors to receive copies of health and safety information from lawn care product applicators.

I don't see any bad here. Even if you think pesticides are the best thing that could happen to your child, this law's pretty OK. It's just about notification and giving parents time to make choices.

Track the bill's status here on the Illinois General Assembly's Web site.

A vote is expected in the next few weeks. Get contact info for you House representative here if you feel strongly about the bill.

Big Rock is a bit of a hike for some, but bear with me.

If you're into handicrafts, this one's for you. And, as it turns out, if you long for a simpler time, like so many of us greenies, this one's still for you.

Esther's Place in Big Rock specializes in wool felting. This is the hot new trend for folks who knit or folks, like me, who don't have the coordination or patience for knitting. Felting is idiot proof and fairly cheap. Best of all, you get cute results. (The Christmas figurines from Esther's were so cute.) Even kids can do this.

The green part is that Esther's uses localish wool from a co-op. It's not like the yarn you buy that might have been processed in Japan. And Esther's uses a lot of natural dyes.

But, they've expanded their offerings ... or I just didn't realize what a variety they offer.

The "from Me to Ewe classes" got me excited. Essentially, you join their Friends of Esther club ($35 a year or $50 for a family) and you can come to as many as you want. Think you should be able to do the things that seemed to come naturally to your mom, grandma or other generations past? This is the place to learn how from someone who actually does it.

You can learn to make bundt cake, create all-natural bath fizzies and can the summer harvest. And that's all by Aug. 11. Plus, other Friends of Esther members can teach their skills in classes. So if you have an old-school talent, this would be the place to spread teh word.

To quote Billy Mayes, "But wait, there's more."

I hurt everywhere, a sure sign that we had a warm weekend. My husband and I spent what seemed like every waking moment ripping out our old overgrown evergreen bushes and replacing them with smaller, kinder bushes.

Have you ever tried to get rid of something that's been there since Eisenhower was in office? Then, per Plainfield's rules, we had to bundle all of the branches.

I'm burned, and I hurt.

But in related good news, we were gifted some hostas, and we got the rain barrel set up again. The newly moved hostas were showered in rain water, despite the weekend's clear skies.

This is the year for you to have a rain barrel. Get one from The Conservation Foundation in the Will County section of Naperville, or call your town government to see if they're offering them. (Plainfield recently did. Romeoville is, too.)

I just noticed there's a glut of them on Craig's List, too. They're cheaper there, but some of them are, ahem, less attractive, or not fully adapted. You'll want screening to stop mosquitoes, a spigot to attach your hose, etc.

You'll save money on water, you'll keep the rain to work where it fell, and you'll be saving the energy of your local water treatment plant. Why spend energy making water safe for human consumption only to put it on plants?

In Plainfield, we get our water from Lake Michigan. If I pull out the hose, I'm using water pumped from Lake Michigan and treated. Lots of energy involved. If I let the rainwater run off of my roof and into the ground, some of it will be soaked up, but a lot of it will just run off into storm sewers, into the river, into the Mississippi and down into the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, it's going to pick up fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Yuck. Let's just keep it here and use it while it's fresh.