The BAS Bird-Friendly Vegetable Garden Chronicle
For People, Birds and A Sustainable Environment
A Project of the Master Gardeners of Westchester, Cornell Cooperative Extension
"The Chronicle"
Final Issue for 2009
Pursuing The Possible Without
Pesticides
Thanks to all who attended the B–F VG
"Bountiful
Backyard Celebration!"
And to the dedicated volunteers and staff who made it happen!
I've formed quite a strong attachment to Bedford Audubon and
Bylane Farm over the months, so it was a special treat last Saturday to chat
with Foxie Parker. Mr. Parker is the son of Mary Welsh Parker who donated the
property to BAS in 2001. Mr. Parker spent his boyhood at Bylane, back when his
house was perhaps the only one on Todd Road.
Mr. Parker and his wife reminisced about the ultra–bountiful
harvests from his mother's humongous vegetable and berry bush gardens. He
remembered aloud how the root cellar was used to store the garden's bounty
during the cold months. Clearly, cutting the lawn with a scythe during the
oil-rationing years of World War II was not his most treasured memory;
however, this listener was delighted to hear an example of 1940's
"living
green!"
We volunteers and staff enjoyed showing off the Garden and
other features of Bylane Farm last Saturday. We remembered having started out
last winter with Jim Nordgren's notion of pesticide-free vegetable gardening to
benefit people, birds, and the environment. Education, science,
community-building were to be critical components of the project. And we made it
happen!
Largely because of their absence from our Garden, I've been
thinking lately about pesticides. I've pondered: why is there so much pesticide
use in Westchester and beyond given the mass of scientific data about dangers
associated with these toxic products? What can we do about it?
During World War II, a huge American nitrogen industry
developed to supply a key ingredient for bomb-making. Later, when a new
peace-time use was needed for the material, the idea took hold to switch to
manufacture of nitrogen fertilizer. The stage was set for growth of the lawn and
landscape industries. But it didn't necessarily follow that this was good for
consumers and certainly not for the environment. The story of the kestrel's
demise in Westchester illustrates this point.
Although the smallest North American falcon, the kestrel is
said to be the most colorful, with a striking mixture of rust red back feathers
and grey-blue wings and head for the male (the female has less blue and a more
uniform rust coloration.) Wings are also speckled with black and the face is
beautifully detailed with white and black stripes.
In typical raptor fashion, the kestrel swoops down to capture
its prey, which consists largely of grasshoppers. Sadly, since the introduction
of pesticides into the Westchester landscape, the toxins have move up the food
chain from insect to bird. As a result the kestrel has been all but wiped out
here.
On Saturday, October 3, Jim Nordgren, Vi Patek, Freddy the
Falcon, and I represented Bedford Audubon at Stone Barns Center's fall festival.
Freddy is a stuffed kestrel and a gifted educator; he tells this cautionary tale
of pesticide use very effectively.
At Stone Barns, children and adults who stopped by our table
were instantly drawn to Freddy. It's encouraging that children, particularly,
are being educated about the disastrous links between pesticides and the health
of the environment—which includes, of course, birds
and people.
I don't think that was the case for the previous generation—my
generation. Rather, many of us grew up in blissful ignorance of the problem of
environmental pollution, having been raised only with the image of the
"perfect
lawn."
(Actually, my experience was different. I grew up, not in the
suburbs, which were a mystery to me, but in New York City. My summers were spent
in a rustic Hudson Valley community. I only encountered the so–called perfect
lawn up close on moving to Katonah in the mid 1990s. Maybe that's why I don't
mind clover or even some dandelions in the turf. To me, tall grass is beautiful.
And, as I've learned from Bedford Audubon, Bobolinks would no doubt agree: Mow
your broad lawn in spring and you risk decapitating baby bobolinks there.)
One lesson we B–F VG gardeners have learned is how worthwhile
it can be to push the envelope of what seems possible. We can decide what's
possible by simply doing it. We can create a vegetable garden without
pesticides. Does it work? Our crops suffered a minimum of chewing insect damage
this summer at the same time that we had lots of birds. Draw your own
conclusion!
What we still need is for the critical mass of homeowners to
reject the notion of the chemical-laced lawn and garden. That way we can have
yards where the soil biology flourishes, promoting vigorous plants. Insects are
numerous, including harmful ones that become food for birds and helpful ones
that pollinate tomato, bean, and other flowers.
Let's be sure to teach our children well so as adults they'll
gaze over their garden fence at neighbors also gardening without pesticides.
Maybe they'll even see a kestrel swoop down to catch a juicy grasshopper meal!
It's been a pleasure sharing our gardening experiences and
thoughts with you. Within a month we'll put the B-F VG to bed for the winter.
With this issue the Chronicle goes dormant. Both are set to return in early
2010!
Regards,
Cathy Clare
catmint@optonline.net (914) 874-4519 (cell)
To see previous columns, click here and then click on the date you want
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