Maureen Wise

What did you do with last night’s leftovers? How about the uneaten casseroles and desserts from Sunday’s church potluck? What happened to it? Food waste is a bigger problem than many people expect.
Consider this staggering statistic: if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest producer of greenhouse gasses, only behind China and the United States. Food waste—those leftovers plus all the other food that never gets eaten—produces a lot of greenhouse gas emissions, which is what’...

What did you do with last night’s leftovers? How about the uneaten casseroles and desserts from Sunday’s church potluck? What happened to it? Food waste is a bigger problem than many people expect.
Consider this staggering statistic: if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest producer of greenhouse gasses, only behind China and the United States.

If you’re an Organic Lawn Care customer, it’s a safe bet that you care about what goes into your soil and local waterways. You’re protecting your family, pets (and yourself!) from common toxins in traditional lawn care systems. So if you’re considering what you put on your lawn, we bet you’re also considering what you put into and onto your body. We’ve been using the YUKA app to help consider what we’re feeding our families and putting on our bodies and we want to recommend it to you.

Many of us planted bulbs in the Fall – either last Fall or years in the past – to enjoy Spring daffodils, tulips, crocuses, hyacinths, allium, and more. Planting bulbs in your garden takes some commitment and investment in the future. Bulbs don’t give us instant gratification like annual blooms. We have to wait for them to emerge in the Spring, months after we’ve planted them.

When we talk about Clover as a weed in lawns, we’re generally referring to White Clover (Trifolium repens), which is sometimes called Dutch Clover. While there are many varieties of Clover, they all have similar tendencies. White Clover is not native to the United States, but is originally from Asia and Europe.

We see Dollar Spot throughout the entire growing season: late Spring into the Fall or even early Winter. It manifests as lesions of dead, straw-colored spots in the middle of grass blades with black to dark red edges. In larger infected areas of grass, spots join together and look like larger brown areas or spots the size of silver dollars. The spots will get larger, the longer the disease is not treated.

In the Midwest, we have both evergreen conifer trees and broadleaf deciduous trees. We expect the leaves of deciduous trees to change to beautiful fiery shades in Autumn, and drop to the ground before Winter to create a mulch for plants and nests for overwintering animals and insects. In fact, we celebrate and enjoy this process just as much as we enjoy new growth in the Spring. Autumn leaves are beautiful!

Back in the spring, I wrote that “small actions (mustard seeds) can add up to mountains.” This biblical wisdom applies when approaching creation care. We all have different motivations and different actions we can take in response to those motivations. For one church, the motivation might be local, in response to environmental impacts in its community.

Sometimes when a dog urinates on the grass, the lawn gets damaged. There are two varieties of dog damage. The more severe damage causes spots of yellowed areas of dead grass, with darker grass surrounding it. The yellowed spot is where the grass was directly urinated on. Grass can be affected in as little as 24 hours in hot, dry weather. The central yellowed area is usually 3–6 inches, with the darker green patch surrounding it 6–12 inches.

Fairy Rings are rings or arcs (an unclosed ring or a C) of mismatched grass caused by fungus in the soil. There are three types of Fairy Rings. Type I is the least common: rings of dead grass due to the fungus causing the soil and thatch to repel water and not allow the water to infiltrate the ground. Type II Fairy Rings are the most common: darker green, faster-growing grass forming a ring. Type III Fairy Rings often occur with one of the other two: a circle of mushroom...

When you make the decision to start a clean slate with your lawn, you have two options: you can either lay down sod on top of the soil or plant grass seed. Both options have drawbacks and benefits.

Plastic is everywhere. What are you reading this article on? It definitely contains plastic. Look around your home and try to find a room that doesn’t contain plastic. It surrounds us. The material has changed the way we live. It has lots of sanitary benefits for the medical and food industry, but we’ve overused it.

Chewing gum: We munch on it to freshen our breath, to reduce boredom, or reduce cravings. Whether you’re a gum-snapper, a bubble-blower, or a more reserved gum-chewer, you’re probably chewing on a material that’s polluting our landscapes and waterways. That’s right, most chewing gum contains plastic.

Whether you’re vacationing, on a school break, or just kicking back in the yard, warm weather and a good book go hand-in-hand. We’ve rounded up a dozen Earth-focused books that offer instruction, inspiration, and engaging stories to add to your summer reading list.

Boxwoods are common landscaping shrubs. They require very little maintenance, stay green all year, and can be shaped into attractive silhouettes. It is believed they arrived in the United States with European settlers in the 1600s. They also thrive in both shade and full sun. However, boxwoods are susceptible to many pests and diseases including Boxwood Blight (Calonectria pseudonaviculata), Boxwood Psyllids (Psylla buxi), and Boxwood Spider mites (Eurytetranychus buxi).