Every year I wait to see who will buy into the “Chemical Truck” logic of taking care of lawns. TruGreen passes by my neighborhood every summer, and I just cringe every time I see it go by our house. When I see them pass, I wonder if they will stop. If they do not stop, I breathe a sigh of relief, literally! It seems it goes in cycles and people on my block get tired of them and eventually wise up but mostly because they find they make their lawns worse. I let my guard down and thought these trucks would become extinct butttt….. They’re back!!!! It stopped at a neighbor’s house on my street just the other day.
I wanted to run over and tell them these companies are not safe + will contribute to health problems for yourself, family members, animals and our pollinators in the long run. You may not see the problems for years, but they eventually will surface and by that time, the damage is done. There seems to be this “new approach” that lawn chem-trucks are trying to sell people, and it is we are “greener” now! They are claiming to be “organic” and reducing their “toxic chemicals“. I like all my neighbors. I just wish they would realize this stuff is not good for their health.People want perfect green lawns and will sacrifice the health of us all, to achieve a perfect lawn. Grass is such a waste of our energy. Enough said. I won’t be crossing the street to warn them of the harmful toxins because they know; I don’t use any toxic chemicals on my lawn. That is my choice, and that is their choice.
True Green in the past few years has been suffering from a decline in business. GOOD! I was seeing less of these trucks in my neighborhood until yesterday. I noticed they changed the logo from a cute dalmatian to a new green logo. “In the past year TruGreen hired an army of TKO Graphics technicians to paint the sad dalmatian off most of its trucks nationwide in favor of a “Go Greener” tagline. Consumers, however, clearly aren’t buying into the obvious greenwash. They’re smart enough to know that when the shiny new door opens where the dog used to scowl, it’s the same old poison inside the truck”
Do they think we are stupid?
check out their site and read what it says…..
TruGreen takes Go Greener® to the streets
“Helping lawns grow healthy, green and thick has always been TruGreen’s No.1 goal. And it still is. But while TruGreen is revolutionizing the way lawns are cared for, the company is also taking its pledge to help grass grow greener beyond its customers’ front yards.
In just the last few years, TruGreen has implemented a number of initiatives to help preserve and protect the earth beneath all Americans’ feet:
- AdvantEDGE Certified: All TruGreen lawn care specialists are now AdvantEDGE certified, a specialized training in environmentally-friendly lawn care practices.
- Targeted Lawn Care: Lawn care products are carefully applied only where needed to prevent runoff and unnecessary use of chemicals.
- Knowledge Leadership: In Florida, TruGreen is training agricultural and government agencies in responsible lawn care practices.
- Responsible Vehicle Management: TruGreen is replacing its old, oversized trucks with the Lawn Shark, a new fleet of vehicles with an electric operating system and automatic engine shutoff. These trucks are designed to save 320 gallons of fuel per truck per year, equating to a 272-ton carbon load reduction each year.
- Natural Reserve Preservation: In Ohio, TruGreen has helped restore the Fernald Preserve, a 1,000-acre wetland and green space that was once a uranium processing site.
- Forest Protection: TruGreen is helping protect forests and reserves from the Asian longhorn beetle, a predator that threatens poplar, elm, willow and maple trees, and from the Emerald Ash Bore, which threatens ash trees.
- Green Space Creation: To get America’s youth involved in Earth-friendly causes, TruGreen helped school children plant trees, flowers and grass at urban Los Angeles schools.
- Lobbying For Change: In Illinois, TruGreen is working with lawmakers to pass a statewide standardization for the use of fertilizer, a step to help curtail its misuse and over-application.
TruGreen takes its position as an industry front-runner seriously, knowing that true environmental policy change takes leadership and commitment. Choosing TruGreen today means you’ll not only get a healthier lawn, but you’ll also lend a hand to the greater, greener good” ad for TruGreen on the internet”
“Helping lawns grow healthy, green and thick has always been TruGreen’s No.1 goal”
Really? ( but at what cost to the health of us all)???
$29.95 is still 30.00 dollars so why not just bend down + pluck your weed out + save 30 dollars!
This is their new approach to get us to believe that we “need” this sort of stuff on our lawns. I don’t buy it, do you? I will never trust these companies( long sigh)..They were not honest before….
“New York State has fined TruGreen, the world’s largest professional lawn and landscape company, half a million dollars for numerous violations for misapplying pesticides and inaccurate recordkeeping, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) consent order filed last week. In related news, the unlikely sponsorship agreement between TruGreen and Earth Day Network has finally been dropped” (Beyond Pesticides, March 22, 2010)
Well, it seems TruGreen is trying to change its image of toxic chemicals, and it fooled Earth Day in 2010. TruGreen was sued and eventually dropped by Earth Day after they were found to be providing misleading records.I am not buying this “new green” approach in 2014 either, I feel the fewer things we spray on our lawns, the better off us +nature will be. We need to wake up and realize we don’t need these perfect green lawns that do not provide food for ourselves or nature. We have native bees on the decline now due to toxic chemicals we use on our planet. What will it take before we all wake up and realize we don’t need “perfection” in our lawns.
I like some green grass on my city lot but I don’t fuss over it being perfect. There are A LOT more important things to worry about in life today. I don’t need a wasteland of water-guzzling grass, I prefer to carve some space out for nature + grow food. If I have “grass” imperfection problem( this even sounds silly writing it), I just go outside and “pull” IT out of the grass.To fertilize, I just rework my yard waste back into my grass and build soil. How simple can it be! That is my “green” lawn care.
Check out Beyond Pesticides website and learn about how putting these chemicals on your lawn is hurting you and your environment. Don’t buy into the “green” approach by these companies. Keep your city lot free of chemicals. Grow flowers, herbs + vegetables chemical free and help our native pollinators flourish. We all need to wake up and care about what we are doing to our environment. Okay, now I will get off my soap box. I just have to speak out for those that can’t…I hope you do,too. Remember Actions speak LOUDER than words!
ADD ON: since I got this comment from the Great Fran aka Narf….
I have been fortunate to meet Fran/Narf through reading two other great blogs by Wendy + Pauline and look what happens when you
meet great people over the cyber fence…you get a comment like this…
I feel we need a leader and so I choose The Great Fran aka Narf to be our Green Movement Leader….she knows her subject!
+ Robbie will be a side kick with a clown suit, bike and new green nose!
She will make you laugh and care!!!
A great big fat pile of greenwash if ever I saw it! I just had to wade through an enormous pile of hogwash greenery as part of my course in media. It would seem that we all have to learn about “the environment” as part of every course BUT what “we” had to study was paper mills and we had to watch their propaganda films highlighting how very green they are… HOGWASH! I picked their propaganda film apart. I instituted research from my own hard slog (in other words I went hunting and didn’t just believe the hype) and found out that the paper company that was tooting its own horn loudly and apparently greenly (if you would believe the hype) had lost its forestry accreditation due to telling big fibs about where it sourced its “sustainable timber” from. Old growth forests? Sustainable? I think NOT. I will hereby, with my newfound knowledge of all things greenwash, attempt to break down that list… (I am also a horticulturalist so I KNOW what they are using…)
1. Certified shmertified. You do what you do to get that bit of paper. Who is ensuring that the people that have that bit of paper operate within the boundaries of the regulations? Lawn “care” men are the most careless uneducated mob of lunatics I know. I have seen them spraying their toxic chemicals from a 4 wheel drive motorbike wearing no protection on a very windy day…
2. Targeted lawn care? Do they use cloches to contain their chemicals? Tiny little biosphere’s to protect everyone else from the results of their “targeted lawn care?”
3. “Knowledge Leadership” is what every company has to do. Training is part of their operational requirements and if you can wax lyrical about “educating government agencies” (i.e. you work for them and spray their lawns) you can manipulate it around to work in your favour and cut down on your publicity budget. It’s all about the folding green at the end of the day…
4. Responsible vehicle management = “our old fleet consisted of fuel guzzling trucks that were starting to cost us money. We can offset the purchase of new trucks and save money as well as hold ourselves up as shining lights in the greenwash world AND fudge it on our taxes…” WIN for TruGreen
5. Natural Reserve Preservation and THIS is what makes me grind my teeth. Looks all lovey dovey on the outside “what a GREAT company, caring for the environment and putting their money where it counts…” GREENWASH! They are offsetting their carbon by buying credits to make themselves look better while they are going about their nefarious ways. “We are SO green!” No you aren’t!
6. Forest protection? Encouraging people to cut down trees and plant lawns? Forest “protection”?! Methinks NOT greenwashers!…another case of cashing in on carbon credits in order to make customers think that they are SO amazing when it all comes back to the bottom line…”profits”. By the way just how are they protecting forests and reserves from the beetles? They are poisoning them that’s how with dangerous chemicals! I know all about how the horticultural world treat insects and borers require chemical plugs in trees…sigh…
7. Oh puLEEZE! “the children require green spaces…” they also require a future and chemical spraying isn’t going to deliver that future. What a huge pile of hogwash!
8. Lobbying and this is where it gets really nefarious, a whole LOT of chemical poisoners get together and rationalise how to make themselves look better. They all know that people are suspicious of them and their chemical ways so they need to pretend that they are doing something about it when they are actually trying to go into damage control. The price of guano is going through the roof (phosphate) thanks to it being mined almost out of existence and THAT is what is driving them to pass a “state-wide standardisation” for the use of fertiliser, back when it was cheap they would hurl it about like it was snow at Christmas time. Now it is expensive they would like their customers to know how green they are by using less? Nope, they want to save a lot of money and having a huge lobby group gets what they want rammed through the legislative process without delay…
What a huge pile of hog/greenwash
Maybe you should get that clown suit and bike out of mothballs and head out trawling your REAL organic lawn care Ms Robbie? I reckon you will get heaps of customers in no time (and you can do kids parties and bar mitzvah’s at the same time, multi-tasking! 😉 )
Immunity Gardens 
A great big fat pile of greenwash if ever I saw it! I just had to wade through an enormous pile of hogwash greenery as part of my course in media. It would seem that we all have to learn about “the environment” as part of every course BUT what “we” had to study was paper mills and we had to watch their propaganda films highlighting how very green they are… HOGWASH! I picked their propaganda film apart. I instituted research from my own hard slog (in other words I went hunting and didn’t just believe the hype) and found out that the paper company that was tooting its own horn loudly and apparently greenly (if you would believe the hype) had lost its forestry accreditation due to telling big fibs about where it sourced its “sustainable timber” from. Old growth forests? Sustainable? I think NOT. I will hereby, with my newfound knowledge of all things greenwash, attempt to break down that list… (I am also a horticulturalist so I KNOW what they are using…)
1. Certified shmertified. You do what you do to get that bit of paper. Who is ensuring that the people that have that bit of paper operate within the boundaries of the regulations? Lawn “care” men are the most careless uneducated mob of lunatics I know. I have seen them spraying their toxic chemicals from a 4 wheel drive motorbike wearing no protection on a very windy day…
2. Targeted lawn care? Do they use cloches to contain their chemicals? Tiny little biosphere’s to protect everyone else from the results of their “targeted lawn care?”
3. “Knowledge Leadership” is what every company has to do. Training is part of their operational requirements and if you can wax lyrical about “educating government agencies” (i.e. you work for them and spray their lawns) you can manipulate it around to work in your favour and cut down on your publicity budget. It’s all about the folding green at the end of the day…
4. Responsible vehicle management = “our old fleet consisted of fuel guzzling trucks that were starting to cost us money. We can offset the purchase of new trucks and save money as well as hold ourselves up as shining lights in the greenwash world AND fudge it on our taxes…” WIN for TruGreen
5. Natural Reserve Preservation and THIS is what makes me grind my teeth. Looks all lovey dovey on the outside “what a GREAT company, caring for the environment and putting their money where it counts…” GREENWASH! They are offsetting their carbon by buying credits to make themselves look better while they are going about their nefarious ways. “We are SO green!” No you aren’t!
6. Forest protection? Encouraging people to cut down trees and plant lawns? Forest “protection”?! Methinks NOT greenwashers!…another case of cashing in on carbon credits in order to make customers think that they are SO amazing when it all comes back to the bottom line…”profits”. By the way just how are they protecting forests and reserves from the beetles? They are poisoning them that’s how with dangerous chemicals! I know all about how the horticultural world treat insects and borers require chemical plugs in trees…sigh…
7. Oh puLEEZE! “the children require green spaces…” they also require a future and chemical spraying isn’t going to deliver that future. What a huge pile of hogwash!
8. Lobbying and this is where it gets really nefarious, a whole LOT of chemical poisoners get together and rationalise how to make themselves look better. They all know that people are suspicious of them and their chemical ways so they need to pretend that they are doing something about it when they are actually trying to go into damage control. The price of guano is going through the roof (phosphate) thanks to it being mined almost out of existence and THAT is what is driving them to pass a “state-wide standardisation” for the use of fertiliser, back when it was cheap they would hurl it about like it was snow at Christmas time. Now it is expensive they would like their customers to know how green they are by using less? Nope, they want to save a lot of money and having a huge lobby group gets what they want rammed through the legislative process without delay…
What a huge pile of hog/greenwash
Maybe you should get that clown suit and bike out of mothballs and head out trawling your REAL organic lawn care Ms Robbie? I reckon you will get heaps of customers in no time (and you can do kids parties and bar mitzvah’s at the same time, multi-tasking! 😉 )
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Fran aka Narf! You forgot my horn!!! I will blast them away…LOL- I had to pick myself up off the floor from laughing so hard from your “GREAT” comment. I read it to my husband and he was laughing as I read the entire comment to him—- Great Writer you are, I really appreciate this comment:-) It provided the perfect exclamation to my post!!!!I am putting your comment at the end of my blog post because it is says it all…you are the “gifted” leader of our green movement!!! I will follow you all over the globe with clown suit + HORN blaring behind you! I will be there with my clown suit on my bike with my horn + I want to add a GREEN nose to remind us that THIS is all a great big fat pile of “greenwash if ever I saw it!….”Certified shmertified” priceless!
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🙂 Not bad for before 6am on a Saturday methinks… my amusement job for the day…TICK! 😉 Love the green nose idea. Little boys will love it as it will remind them of nasal secretions and as everyone knows, nasal secretions are little boys favourite things. You could teach the greenwashers a thing or two about value adding Ms Robbie ;). We all have to speak up about this greenwashing pile of bunkum that the big companies are trying to rain down on us. Don’t they realise that we are educated people?! We have the power of the internet to expose their lies and we WILL. Green noses unite and we will continue to stick our green noses into these piles of (hog/)greenwash and expose the smelly bits underneath the hype. Long live green noses! 🙂
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methinks you are right! You are a stitch in the early morning-lol Little boys and my green nose-funny!! Green NOses UNITE!!!!
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I put your comment at the end of my post! It was so great!!!! You are now the “mother” of our movement….I’m looking for a green nose + a clownsuit with vegetables all over it instead of big spots!!!
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Hee-hee “The mother of the movement” I can think of much worse things that people have called me in the past. I think I like it! 😉
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LOL…too funny!!!
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No green trucks for me 🙂
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I am so glad you feel the same way:-) The fewer we see the better for us all!!!
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I don’t think we have such companies here – but then we are not hooked on the perfect lawn like suburban Americans are -thank heavens! Robbie, I imagine most of your readers are converts to the green way anyway.
I understand your frustration with seeing a neighbour using the company and not knowing or understanding the health risks involved and yet there is nothing can be done unless that person has questions and is open to change.
I wonder how you can influence [from the positive stance] this particular person?
Remembering that where we put our attention is what we get more of it is important to stand clearly behind the outcome you want rather than the outcome you don’t want …. I hope that thought makes sense to you …. Mother Teresa was once asked to take part in an ‘anti-war rally’. She declined saying “When you have a ‘march for peace’ I will come.” In other words – pick the focus of your fight!
Your garden and gardening practises must stand out in your neighbourhood. Could you maybe have an open day where people can come by and look and ask questions and learn why you do what you do – overcoming cancer is a powerful example of the health-giving properties of your garden to start……. Just some thoughts that have risen up with reading this post dear Robbie – I hope you don’t mind me sharing them. xoxo
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aww Pauline:-) You are one bright + wise soul:-) Yes, I have talked to them about it and they suffer from many health problems which I have discussed with them in the past. They went to a natural doctor but felt it was silly.I was talking to them one day outside about using no chemicals on my lawn + they sprinkled some chemicals on a plant in front of me. I said, in a very nice voice. “you know that stuff is not too good for you”..they just chuckled. I know they see the imperfections of my grass ( our lawn one two awards from the city for landscaping and we use no chemicals) but they just want their perfect grass. I like them but I can’t push them to believe the way, I do. I worry about them because they have so many health problems and they won’t change. You just have to let them do what they do. I thought about growing more veggies in the front last year, but had to reconsider since they + others use chemicals on their lawns. Some of my neighbors that, are my friends, kid me about organic lawn stuff + I don’t take it personally. They just never have had health scares that are the result of chemicals in their environment…or have had to change their lifestyle due to illness:-) I will continue to be an example of “no chemicals” and hope some day they see it is okay not to have perfect lawns:-)
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It is what it is as they say! People won’t change unless there is an impetus to do so – you and I are both examples of that 😀 We all walk our own path and no-one is better or worse ….. just different. You HAVE tried – and been kinder than I would have been I’m sure, I have a neighbour in the back flat, so we share a section, and he uses chemical sprays, nearly killed poor Orlando recently, and he obviously thinks I’m nuts because I don’t want him to and I want him to let me know when he is spraying so I can keep the cat inside. He doesn’t believe it is his sprays that makes poor O so ill And he believes he is helping me by spraying my weeds 🙂 We have vastly different belief systems 🙂 Luckily for me there is a tiny portion of my garden I can use without him interfering! I focus on that and it keeps me happy!
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You are so right Pauline:-) People don’t change unless they are forced to change. I can’t change them so I have to learn to accept….I am glad, I had to change for I believe, I will have better “health” than they are having at thier age right now-they are 11+ years older:-) I feel pretty good with all the good food we grow and eat! Not too many health issues now:-)
I can totally relate to this:-) I am a bit higher up in the back of my house but the neighbors behind don’t bother me, my city lot sits above theirs and they don’t use lawn service behind us. The one to the left had a lawn service a few years ago and I would run around to shut all the windows, if I was home when they sprayed. It was awful smelling:-( Poor Orlando:-( I bet you are worried about your little guy now! The gal behind me had to block off some of her area with her dogs due to the man behind spraying near her fence. Her dogs got very sick when he would spray. I gave her some extra bricks and edging I had from my lot so she could block some of where he sprayed. He has nothing growing on his lot but dead weeds he sprayed. She has a nice yard but has to live next store to him. We have to live near people so we have to learn to live with them….with “vastly different belief systems”-you are so right! I try as you to focus on what I can live with and change and try to ignore the rest for it would drive me batty-lol
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Why are people obsessed with ‘perfect lawns? How I love to read a good rant. Ride on Robbie (and Fran aka Narf):)
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LOL….I know it does sound really silly but they are so obsessed they will spend gobs of money on their lawns! It is a blade of grass just multiplied or densely planted:-) I will ride on all over the block..getting my native plants/nectar loving seed bombs ready for my weekly bike ride next spring! I need to attach a horn to my bike after each time I throw a pollinator seed bomb! Rant on Robbie:-) maybe that should be my aka-lol
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Great post and photos! Love all the butterflies and pollen-dusted bee 🙂 It is amazing that companies get away with greenwashing. But I think folks are wising up. The internet helps a lot to disperse the truth.
I would love to see a pic of you in the clown suit 😉 It really is a great idea, to go to schools and events/festivals to spread the word about taking care of the environment. Clowns are non-threatening (unless you suffer from Coulrophobia). 😉
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lol…Eliza you just made me laugh and it is late at night here in zone 5:-) I am checking my blog before I head off to bed. Too funny but you are right:-) I am looking for my vegetable print clown suit + green nose! I have the bike and just need a horn! I had no idea there was “Coulrophobia”…fear of clowns! I knew people were afraid of clowns but did not know it was a syndrome. Maybe I need to rethink the clown thingy!!!
p.s. look for your seeds next week, I dried everything and will package them next week + mail them:-)
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Thank you! So exciting to have a piece of your garden growing in mine. 🙂 Nice!
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Is there anything else you want before I package it up?:-)
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Well…since you asked…I have admired your tithonia covered with butterflies 🙂 Maybe half a dozen seeds to try next year and see how they do? Thanks a million!
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You bet:-) I’ll check my seed stash-lol:-) I’ll stick some in there for you:-)
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🙂 TY!
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Nobody on this planet discusses issues the way Fran does, do they? She is utterly gloriously hearted woman and a smart one! but it doesn’t matter what she is talking about and how serious she is she makes me laugh. Her vocabulary is so meticulous it’s funny.
I haven’t seen anything like that company here, thank god, I would cringe too but given that we live opposite a vineyard that gets sprayed every two weeks for the next few months it just seems there is no escaping the use of chemicals wherever you live, town or country. A sad thing that people just don’t realise or don’t want to know.
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You are so right! Her humor just brightens my day when I read her posts. I am glad I met her over the cyber fence through you all:-) What a joy every week to visit you, Pauline + Fran. She is a “witty” gal and I don’t know how she does it, I get tired reading her posts-lol. She reminds me of an energizer bunny:-) I even like her made up words!Priceless!!
I wonder what is wrong with our country when we spray the crap out of our food in the fields so much that we have destroyed the monarchs “host” plant which use to be every where + also too many pesticides that they are showing up in the honey + our native bees are now starting to suffer( another post another day) to decline,too….( breathless-that was long winded!…. You would think people would wake up and listen and be a bit more suspicious but they don’t. I put in 7 little dwarf apple trees for that reason. It cost TOO MUCH for “organic” apples so we put in our own trees. It costs about 15.00 for just a few apples if they are organic. I don’t mind all the imperfections in my apples. We need to as a culture demand less perfections:-) Life isn’t perfect!Your country seems a bit smarter about all these chemcicals..shoot all of Europe is wiser about food pesticide use etc.
I use to buy chemical free apples at the Farmers Market and he used only “neem oil” which is one way they could go…but you know that they are not going to be “perfect” looking. I agree with you we can’t escape it all the time. It can get you in different places!
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I know for me Robbie for many years I expected and took for granted that our governments and health authorities acted in the interests of PEOPLE, that we could trust them to make all the right decisions on our behalf. How naive 😦 So many still have this mindset “If it were so dangerous they wouldn’t be allowed to use it” I remember hearing a news item on the radio around 17 years ago that breast milk had been tested of thousands of new mothers and over 200 chemicals from personal and household products were found to be in it. That made me stop and think! I was utterly horrified new generations of babies were starting life in this way. No-one thinks of people and consequences on our behalf, they think of money only.
Have you seen the new movement of “ugly fruit” and supermarkets etc selling it cheaper because it’s ugly. Love it 🙂
Fran is such a character and yes, her made up words have me in fits of giggles sometimes. I love a clever mind and she most definately has one 🙂
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I am like that now myself with our government…have been voting as an independent for too many years to count. You are not alone being naive-me too!!! I am not proud of myself that I have this attitude since I usually want to believe the best of people that aspire to that calling..but not with Illinois government and how they have messed up our state pensions! For a decade or more they never put in their share of the money for the workers that gave 9.4 of their salary every year to their system. The state took their money and used it in other places and want to now “not” put it back:-(
My attitude of government is tainted for good….
I used a lot of stuff around my kids when they were younger that I was “naive” about and I regret doing it but now there is nothing I can do but try to spread the word.. Breast milk should be safe!
No, I have not seen the new movement of “ugly fruit” is that heirloom fruit? that is crazy! But if it is heirloom than they are giving us a bargin for we know “ugly” heirloom tomatoes are the best for their green shoulders are where the flavor gene is!
I agree Fran= cleaver mind!
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Feez, that is awful and that is not ok 😦 Are people doing anything about it?
We were all naive. Gosh I remember sitting up in bed in the maternity ward feeding my new babies and smoking Robbie 😦
The ugly fruit and veg are ones that would’ve been thrown out by producers in the past because consumers like their food to look nice. The new movement brings it to stores/markets now to sell cheaper with the knowledge it still tastes the same…but not necessarily organic or heirloom, just not consumer perfect – in actual fact what our food looks like most of the time 🙂
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Well the whole thing is in court still have to wait and see what they do:-( but I
have faith it will work out:-)
Me too— I ate a lot of stuff pregnant, I should not of eaten( aspertame pop since they told me it was just two amino acids!)
or fed my kids “junk” when they were young-oh well, they survived and so have I but boy I was “naive.”
I have heard of people in New York that raid the dumpsters behind grocery stores and collect pretty good food that they throw out and is still good!
Not a bad idea to sell “ugly fruit!”
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Two amino acids, that’s a good one lol. Well we live and learn and the internet is great for informing one’s self and it’s a good thing because we need to.
Dumpster diving is not something I could do myself, too OCD about hygiene but good on those who do!
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Yep, she told me aspertame was found by a scientist that licked his finger in the lab one day + and found two amino acids tasted sweet-well, there you go…that meant they put it in every thing we eat now! It is not good for us + I believed the “stupid nutritionist” that told me that when I was pregnant with my first-DUMB ME!! My son had a seizure from that stuff—not good! That stuff if it gets warm turns to Formaldehyde! Yep warm diet pop = formaldehyde!It is posion in a can… But the companies won’t take it off the market because it is “big money” and no one is listening, so we have to be smart about what we do or have around us. I am no longer NAIVE:-)
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Wow! Crazy…no, me neither!
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+ it helps to have wise people, I know over the cyber fence as you ,Wendy that post “information” about this sort of stuff to keep us all healthy. You offer a lot of homemade stuff for us to use instead:-)
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I just copy off everyone else Robbie 🙂 🙂
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:-)but you add your own special twist!
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Lol Uh-huh!!
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I don’t think anyone in our neighbourhood is that fussy about their lawns. However, I was driving through a retirement complex today which had immaculate lawns; chemically induced I am sure. Many lawn lovers in NZ use diazinon on their lawns. I admit I used to use it to control grass grub. But I stopped when I got a dog. My grass seems to have survived quite well on its own for 7 years. 🙂
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I wish I lived a place where they were not that fussy!I must admit before I got sick, I use to believe in no weeds but now that I have greened up, I am finding I eat MANY veggies considered weeds-lol:-) Our health, pets or children do change our use of chemicals in our daily life:-) I just did what others did around me when I became a home owner-now I know better:-) I have not used anything on mine either and it looks just fine, too:-)
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I am quite horrified by some of the things I used to do. 😦
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You are not alone in that arena…me, too:-) but now we are educated + that makes a difference:-)
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U go, true green girl!!!
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lol..all us green girls go!:-)
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Robbie, I’ve said before that I moved into a development 6 years ago that has a beloved Home Owners Assoc. (blah!) I found out real quick how THAT works! First thing I did was took out the long strip of lawn on the side of house. I got an email (from the ‘secret’ patrol) saying I had 48 hours to take out the drought-resistant shrubs I planted and to replace the lawn. We maintain it with no chemicals and push mower. No True Green-ever! (Love your photos!)
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Mandy you are a rebel at heart!!! HOA’s are not for me- “Blah” is correct!!!! I have watched my parents go through ALL that + you are right, they are THE “secret patrol”…these people need something else to do with their life, for example, a hobby-lol. You have a tougher road than I do with standing up to those people. In our town, we don’t have HOA’s since it is an older town and people do what they want on their own property..that can be good + bad-lol. The newer developments are having HOA’s now as part of thier agreement to keep the houses looking all alike—-I would never fit I have my own mind-lol
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I saw one such truck for the very first time just a week or so ago at our neighbor’s house. I had to ask my husband what it was. It made me sad. Not only were they paying money for a lawn that was honestly the worst looking one on the street, they were hurting the water, the bees and the butterflies, all the little crawlers and flyers, and they are right next door.
Our lawn (much too large as it still is due to non-existent free time still) gets a little water, and a lot of neglect, and is lush, thick, and happy. The weed, feed, water, scalp pattern so many employ is so alien to the natural growth that no wonder it doesn’t work.
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I bet your place will be beautiful when you get it all done! You will provide a safe haven for all those critters that need our help. I was sad, too when I noticed them spraying + right across the street from my house. My house there were butterflies, bees and birds flitting around from the asters, liatris, zinnias, cosmos, single flower mums, herbs, etc. At least I am providing the pollinators with what they need. They can escape to my place. When you set yours up they will have a place to survive!
You have a little one + it is hard to get it all done at once. You will get it done one day but I envy you starting out:-) Best part the process! Clean slate to create! If all of us live on a block and provide a safe haven, then it makes up for all the people that drench their yards with poison! I have hope:-)
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Sigh, I wish all consumers were as savvy as you Robbie! I wish all consumers realized the power they have – if you don’t buy it, it will not be supported and will diminish. Spend your money wisely! I often pass up deals and pay more because I believe in supporting the company and/or product. I was in the grocery store one day, and a woman kindly pointed out to me the bargain ketchup 2 for 1 and I kindly said thank you and proceeded to put certified organic ketchup into my cart which of course, was more expensive. She gave me a strange look that I’ve come to expect, but I live true to myself. I just attended a Doug Tallamy lecture which I hope to share in a post soon – he sure made me think about lawns! It wasn’t mute on me even though I am already a lawn hater. I love the clover in my ever shrinking lawn more than the grass and you know, they used to sell seed with clover in it for lawns. Only recently has clover been declared a weed – marketing! I think you should display a shovel, or some sort of cool weeding tool, with a sign on it in your front garden: Really Green Lawn Care, Best Price Around. I always just dig up the crab grass and plantains from my lawn – takes so little time and very effective. I love your passion Robbie!
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:-)+ I love your passion too, Kathy-You are a kindred spirit:-) I had read that before about the clover in the lawn and it really was in the grass seed they sold many years ago. Isn’t that crazy! Here we are, in 2014 obsessed with this perfect lawn without one weed! I actually love the clover as you! I found the bunnies leave my veggies alone when the clover comes in my grass! I even pulled the clover last summer to put around my egg plant in my container. I read a test field with egg plants were planted in clover + ALL predators left the young eggplants alone! A year ago,I pulled clover from my grass and placed it around my white casper egg plants— I had no pests that year!!! Clover is useful:-) I look forward to reading your post about Doug Tallamy lecture:-)
I am the same way with “organic” products. I support organic producers:-) I even order from companies not in my grocery store for they don’t have some of the products I want, so I totally can relate to your ketchup story. Go us for demanding products we can believe in + I will continue to support farmers, that do the right thing-well worth the price!
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I have read about the American obsession with lawns and lawn care in a Michael Pollan book I have. Thank goodness we don’ t have the equivalent here.
In London they have a different problem though. In the past decades two thirds of front gardens in London have been paved over, either because people can’ t be bothered to look after them or to give them a parking place. This means an enormous loss of green spaces equivalent to 22 Hyde Parks. It also increases flooding risk because there is no ground to soak up rainwater.
Paved front gardens and lawns are equally sterile environments but I suppose paved areas don’ t need chemicals. Anyway which ever way you look at it, there are far too many people out there who just don’ t care about the environment. Maybe they will when it is too late.
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You are so right- they are both harmful to the environment:-( And chemicals are a bit more toxic.We live in an area called the”Quad” Cities. The 4 major towns are divided by the Great Mississippi River. Two in Iowa and Two in Illinois. The one on the Iowa side, cemented over too much of their town and now they have a flooding problem, not only from the Mississippi in the spring, but ANY heavy rain. The water has no where to go. People don’t want to buy homes there for it always floods, and the sewer system can’t handle the run off.
I am surprised this happened in London. When we all our ancestors came to America, we brought our European love for gardening. Something got lost along the way! You are right ,it is an obsession. Maybe it should become a medical syndrome for it is chronic with some people. As I write this reply, my neighbor with the chem-lawn truck is out mowing!!! She actually has a lovely green lawn, if she would stop cutting the heck out of it-lol. If it is 100 degrees she cuts it in the middle of a 100+ day. She cuts it too short and it always browns up EVERY year like clock work. It is cooler today,so she is okay cutting the fall grass-lol. One year she came across the street, to tell me my son and his friends were making her lawn brown from their cars and walking on it. They hardly ever parked there and it was not enough to do any damage. They parked outside my house and my grass was green and healhty. I had to hold my breath, for I knew it was not from them. She is not a gardener so It would make no difference to tell her, “you are cutting your lawn too often etc”…your killing your grass. The next year they all went to college + she still complained about her brown grass. It is her obsession with mowing,too. She is not healthy so the chemicals are not good for her ,but you have to let people do what they do.
I am not the only neighbor that notices her OCD with grass + we all do feel sorry for her:-( It must be hard living with that chronic needless worry.
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