GreenCAPE is an all volunteer grassroots organization based in West Barnstable and our mission is to encourage nontoxic methods of pest control over the Cape’s sole-source aquifer-its only drinking water supply.

We compile and distribute information about pesticides and their toxicity, provide information on safer alternatives, and work [...]]]> 8/11/2010 11:30 AM at 200 Summer St. Yarmouthport, MA

GreenCAPE is an all volunteer grassroots organization based in West Barnstable and our mission is to encourage nontoxic methods of pest control over the Cape’s sole-source aquifer-its only drinking water supply.

We compile and distribute information about pesticides and their toxicity, provide information on safer alternatives, and work to eliminate the use of dangerous chemicals and their negative impact on our environment and our health.

Our mission rests upon the premise that public awareness is the most effective of all the long-term forces for influencing the health of our environment.

We are joining together here today with other organizations and businesses to urge NSTAR CEO Tom May to abandon NSTAR’s plans to spray pesticides over our aquifer and adopt a no-spray, pesticide free policy for controlling vegetation on Cape Cod.  That method has worked successfully for decades and our sandy soils make the use of herbicides problematic. Mechanical vegetation removal poses fewer risks to our water supply compared to chemical controls.

We are here at this specific location (200 Summer St. Yarmouthport) in the public water supply-wellhead protection areas (aka Zone II’s of Contribution) AND directly under the power lines where NSTAR plans to spray. We are standing right on top of a Zone II, several hundred feet from Dennis Pond, a popular swimming hole. This Cape Cod Commission map also shows this land to be a freshwater recharge area for Dennis Pond.

Heading EAST — the NSTAR power lines pass thru Camp Greenough Boy Scout Camp.

The Zone II that we’re standing on has 11 of Yarmouth’s water supply wells (about HALF of their water supply system).

There is yet another NSTAR easement south of the Mid-Cape Highway that goes thru this same watershed that also supplies these drinking water wells. This is a major source of Yarmouth’s water.

Heading WEST-this power line goes to Barnstable thru Zones of Contribution to 18 public supply wells.

These areas are not unique on Cape Cod. Similar situations exist all up and down the Cape as power lines run along or across the public and private wells, the Rail Trail, homes, and gardens.

Our Cape Cod soils are predominantly sand and gravel. In WATER QUALITY IN THE NEW ENGLAND COASTAL BASINS-the U.S. Geological Survey detected herbicides more frequently in water from public supply wells completed in sand and gravel aquifers (as opposed to bedrock aquifers). 30 percent of 29 wells tested. “This …is because the relatively shallow and permeable sand and gravel aquifers are more susceptible to downward movement of pesticides from the land surface than are the deeper bedrock aquifers.” In this same study the highest pesticide concentration found in ground water was for an herbicide from a public supply well in MA. That herbicide was used to control plant growth in power line and pipeline rights-of-way (ROWs).

As certain as we are that NSTAR’s pesticide plan threatens our health, the safety of our drinking water, and our pristine environment, we are just as certain that the public on Cape Cod is on our side.

We are here today to officially launch a new coalition called Cape Cod for a Truly Green NSTAR.  In addition to statewide environmental groups like Toxics Action Center, MASSPIRG, Environment Massachusetts, and Clean Water Action, Mass Breast Cancer Coalition, Sierra Club-Cape Cod Chapter, Pegasus Foundation AND more than 125 local businesses in 14 Cape Cod towns have signed on in support of a no-spray policy. Over the past two days we caravanned across the Cape reaching out to local residents and talking to them about this threat.  The result was overwhelming – we’ve gathered thousands of petition signatures!!! and well over a hundred business endorsements. Included in these endorsements are bed and breakfasts, auto shops, ice cream stores, real estate companies, and landscapers, among others.

We all agree—Cape residents have a right to clean water, and and we’re asking NSTAR to do the right thing. We are saying “Nay to the Spray” and we hope NSTAR will, too!

on the web:  Cape Cod for a Truly Green NSTAR: http://www.greencape.org/saynay.html

Because NSTAR’s website [...]]]> The KICK-OFF PARTY to stop the spray and to CELEBRATE the 2010 current Spray Delay was a big success. The room was packed with a cross section of citizens, political figures and volunteers working for a permanent end to the use of toxic chemicals
above our water supply!

Because NSTAR’s website boasts of its green commitment, the coalition of groups and citizens has chosen the name Cape Cod for a Truly Green NSTAR.

HELP US STOP THE JOLLY-NOT-SO-GREEN-GIANT!   Toxic persistent pesticides are a dangerous way to manage vegetation!

See the GreenCAPE website for complete details.  http://www.greencape.org

July 15 (Thursday) at 6:30 PM at the Chapel In The Pines (next door to the Eastham Library at 190 Samoset Rd.)

This power point program is a review of organic gardening methods and includes some health concerns around the use of conventional pesticides. I will conclude with [...]]]> “Alternatives to Pesticides: Outsmarting Garden Pests Without Poison.”

July 15 (Thursday) at 6:30 PM at the Chapel In The Pines (next door to the Eastham Library at 190 Samoset Rd.)

This power point program is a review of organic gardening methods and includes some health concerns around the use of conventional pesticides. I will conclude with some Q&A from the audience regarding their garden problems followed by a brief review of beneficial cultural adjustments, soil amendments, and some least toxic pest controls in my garden goodie box which I will bring along for show and tell.

Free and open to the public. See you there!

Over 200 workshops on organic farming, gardening, land care, sustainability and homesteading.

Teen and children’s program, dozens of outdoor exhibits and vendors.

Entertainment including dancing, country fair, live auction. Dorm rooms, camping and wholesome organic meals.

Keynote speakers: Sally Fallon Morrell, founder of Weston A. Price Foundation and author [...]]]> NORTHEAST ORGANIC FARMING ASSOCIATION
36TH ANNUAL SUMMER CONFERENCE
AUGUST 13-15, 2010
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, AMHERST, MA

Over 200 workshops on organic farming, gardening, land care, sustainability and
homesteading.

Teen and children’s program, dozens of outdoor exhibits and vendors.

Entertainment including dancing, country fair, live auction. Dorm
rooms, camping and wholesome organic meals.

Keynote speakers: Sally Fallon Morrell, founder of Weston A. Price
Foundation and author of bestselling book Nourishing Traditions: The
Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet
Dictocrats. Second keynote speaker is Dr. Fernando Funes, of the Cuban
Association of Agronomists and Foresters. Dr. Funes will speak on the
Cuban transition to a sustainable farming system during the Peak Oil
crisis and Soviet withdrawal in the late 1980.

To register visit www.nofasummerconference.org. For more information
contact the NOFA Summer Conference office at (978) 355-2853 or
info@nofasummerconference.org.

Moles are mostly blind, strange looking little guys with BIG front claws that eat grubs and earthworms in lawns. They are carnivores–they NEVER eat plants; but their raised tunnels can make your [...]]]> Moles and voles are hands down the biggest problem our gardeners are confronting early this season. How do you distinguish between these underground pests:

Moles are mostly blind, strange looking little guys with BIG front claws that eat grubs and earthworms in lawns. They are carnivores–they NEVER eat plants; but their raised tunnels can make your lawn look really bumpy.

Voles make lots of little holes in the ground; they look more like mice, but with really long weasel-like snouts. Voles are herbivores; they eat plants, and lots of ‘em. Their favorites foods are tulip bulbs and the roots of plants like hostas.

So, which do YOU have: Mole tunnels or vole holes?

—->If you have tunnels on top of your turf…

The moles doing that digging are eating Japanese beetle and other grubs that ARE devouring your lawn’s roots. The fastest way to wipe out those grubs is to release beneficial nematodes into your lawn when the temperature hits 55 degrees. These microscopic predators only harm pests—like the grubs of Japanese, June and Masked chafer beetles and flea larvae! A kitchen sponge-size package containing ten million nematodes costs around thirty bucks and treats 600 square feet of lawn. Water them in at dusk, and they’ll rid your lawn of grubs within a few weeks. Then, with their food all gone, the moles should pack up and leave.

The organic supply company Gardens Alive! is one of the premier sources for these helpful little microscopic wormies; they’re sold on the web but they can also be purchased at local garden centers. Look for beneficial nematodes and follow the instructions exactly.

For long-term control of Japanese beetle grubs, treat your lawn with “Milky Spore” disease. Yes, this naturally-occurring organism, which has been used against Japanese beetle grubs for the past 50 years, IS a ‘disease’, but a disease that only affects the grubs of Japanese beetles and rose chafers. That’s it. This control is SO specific it doesn’t even harm other kinds of grubs, like those of June beetles. And it’s totally safe for you, your family, pets and wildlife. Available at most garden centers, you apply teaspoon-sized amounts in a checkerboard pattern across your lawn and water it in.

It takes a few years for Milky Spore to become established in warmer regions, and it can take a fairly long time—up to five years—in the Far North of the country. But once it does become established, no grubs will be able to survive in your lawn for the next 15 to 20 years, no matter how many eggs nasty female beetles lay in your turf.

Now, because it does take so long to establish, it won’t do anything to control your grubs (or moles) the first year or so. That’s why releasing nematodes to knock out your current grub population and applying milky spore for long-term future control. They won’t affect each other—in fact, you could apply both on the same day.

Castor Oil May Work Against BOTH Underground Pests
Castor oil definitely sends moles scurrying to do their tunneling in the neighbor’s lawn. And many gardeners report that it chases nasty voles as well! Most garden centers now carry ready-made castor oil repellant products in spray able and granular form ?Mole-Med.

Want to try mixing up your own at home? Just add two tablespoons of castor oil to a sprinkling can filled with a gallon of warm water, add two drops of dishwashing liquid, and sprinkle, stirring constantly, on the infested area.

Whether home-made or store bought, apply when the lawn and weather are dry. If heavy rains hit, repeat a day or two after they end; otherwise, reapply once a month until you see no new tunnels.

Holes=VOLES!!!!
If you have lots of holes in your lawn, you have VOLES—fast-breeding plant-eating pests that are MUCH worse than grub and worm eating moles. Castor oil repellants—home made or store bought—may chase the pests over into your neighbor’s lawn. So might the garlic based sprays that keep mosquitoes out of outdoor areas.

Sorry, but a British gardening magazine tested those battery-powered vibrating devices you stick in the ground, and found that they did not repel underground creatures however some local gardeners still report success with these.

Having outdoor cats on patrol DOES work; save a mouser from a shelter, give them a warm place to sleep and access to the garden, and they’ll do endless good deeds for you. So will Jack Russell terriers and similar breeds of ‘ratting’ dogs. As will hawks and owls if you put a roost in the middle of the infested area. Nothing fancy—just an owl box or platform 6-10 feet off the ground. To protect tulip and crocus bulbs, fill the holes with sharp stones when you plant new Spring bulbs this Fall.

You can also catch voles in mousetraps baited with peanut butter; place the traps underneath big plant leaves; voles don’t like to come out in the open.

And you can protect a veggie garden from ANY burrowing creature with a fence sunk two feet into the ground. Because voles are SO small, however, you’ll need to make it a small gauge fence to begin with, or, even better—a six footer of regular animal fencing whose bottom three feet are reinforced with hardware cloth—no miserable mammal can get through those small openings!