Nine Tips for Healthy Green Grilling

Learning how to grill safely (and I’m not talking salmonella) will keep you healthier in the long term.

 

Do you ever have things that you’d like to be good at but can’t be bothered to try?

That’s my relationship with the barbecue. I would like to be good at grilling because I love the taste and the very idea of food cooked outside over a flame. Even better, a propane barbecue is more eco-friendly than the oven and there’s a lot to be said for getting out of the kitchen on a hot summer day.

Eco-friendly summer entertaining

Summer is the season of plastic and disposable dinnerware. I get the practicality of it. With backyard meals, lugging the glass and china out to the deck can feel like a bit of effort and having kids running around the back yard with a cold drink in a breakable glass can be a bit of a worry.

Then there’s the chance that cutlery will get lost in the grass or fall through the cracks in the deck.  If you’re feeding a crowd it just seems easier to use disposable.

Look in any store for outside dishes and the first thing you’ll find are brightly-coloured cups, plates and bowls made of some un-numbered plastic. Disposable dinnerware is often plastic or Styrofoam.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Americans throw out about 113 billion disposable cups, 29 billion disposable plates and 39 billion disposable utensils each year. That’s a lot of landfill, not to mentions the environmental impact of what goes into making them in the first place.

Summer simplicity doesn’t have to mean disposable. Nor are the only options for eating outside plastic. There are lots of great options for picnic and back-deck dishes that are reusable, non-toxic or at the very least, compostable.

Finding a safe and effective sunscreen



Environmental Working Group's guide to safe and effective sunscreen makes sun safety easy.

When it’s cold out I forget all about sunscreen.  

Even though we half froze over the May long weekend, I noticed on the Sunday night that both of my children had sunburned cheeks from an afternoon spent at an ultimate frisbee tournament.  

It’s the kind of thing I kick myself about because I should know better; sunscreen season is year round not just warm sunny days. 

And so it begins, the annual search for sunscreen that’s safe and effective, a sunscreen that does what it needs to do without being loaded with toxic ingredients that scare me more than sunburns.  

Eco-friendly lawn care

If hand-powered tools are too much for you to manage, cordless, Energy Star-certified tools are the next best thing.

Early in the season we’re always gung-ho with the loppers and garden shears. We have been happy to trim shrubs, clip tall weeds beside our stream and cut the high grass growing along the edge of the deck, all by hand using nothing but the most basic tools and elbow grease.

But after years of by-hand gardening in a fairly large yard using shears that never held an edge, left shrubs a little shaggy looking and made my wrists ache, we decided enough is enough and invested in a weed whacker and hedge trimmer.

Elbow grease is of course the greenest route to lawn care, but if it’s too daunting or too much work and you want powered yard tools, the next best choice is cordless instead of gas powered. We switched to a cordless lawn mower three summers ago and have been very pleased with our choice. There is a great variety of cordless tools available, with good battery life, easy recharging and no extension cord to haul around.

Cordless tools are 90% less polluting that the standard two-stroke engine and at least 20% more efficient than a four-stroke engine.  (If you mix oil and gas together to run your lawn mower, it’s a two-stroke engine. If your oil and gas is separate, it’s a four-stroke.)

If you need more convincing to move away from gas-powered lawn care tools (including mowers) consider this: according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a new gas powered mower pollutes as much in an hour of mowing as 8 new cars driving on the highway for an hour (two-stroke engine). And there are ground level emissions that you’re inhaling as you mow or trim. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), one gas mower spews 120 lbs. of CO2 and other pollutants into the air every year. There is no data for other gas-powered lawn care tools. With smaller engines the emissions are lower but add up over the growing season nonetheless.

Another reason to switch from gas-powered: the EPA also estimates that over 17 million gallons of fuel (mostly gasoline) is spilled each year while refueling lawn equipment. These spills work their way into groundwater and also emit volatile organic compounds that are harmful if inhaled.

An often overlooked perk of cordless lawn care equipment is the peace and quiet of yard work. While battery operated equipment isn’t quite early-morning quiet, it is quieter than your regular gas-powered equipment.

If you’re looking for cordless equipment choose Energy Star certified models. To receive the certification, lawn mowers, string trimmers, shears, and other cordless yard care tools must use at least 35% less energy than non-certified models, a requirement set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Our mower is Earthwise brand from Kent and our new trimmers are Ryobi from Home Depot (an Eco Option). Canadian Tire carries a selection of tools as does Home Hardware so you won’t have to go out of your way to make an eco-friendly choice. 

Safe & effective sunscreen

I bet there were a lot of sunburns as a result of our beautiful Victoria Day weekend. Sometimes it takes a few sunny days to get back into the habit of wearing sunscreen and safely enjoying summer-like weather.  We had to dig around for last summer’s sunscreen leftovers and rummage in the basement for sun hats. In the end we had what we needed to safely enjoy the sunny weekend but this week we were back to square one researching sunscreen for this summer.

Fortunately Environmental Working Group (EWG) has just released its latest sunscreen report, making it easy to search out the safest and most effective sunscreens available this year.  

But before you run to the drugstore (or download EWG’s sunscreen app) remember there’s more to sun safety than just wearing sunscreen. The first line of defense is to cover up with wide-brimmed hats and light coloured clothing. Finding shade and staying out of the noontime sun are important too but easier said than done on sunny weekends during our too-short summers.

Sunscreen should be your last line of defense for a couple of reasons. First, it appears that there is no consensus on whether or not sunscreen actually reduces incidences of melanoma, and many sunscreens are much less effective than they claim. That’s no reason to stop using it though, just a reminder that you need to do your research before stocking up for the summer.

Based on its research EWG found that a lot of sunscreens on the shelf exaggerate claims of UV protection and many are unstable, breaking down in sunlight.

As well, there is no evidence that sunscreens with SPF ratings higher than 50 are any more effective but they do carry a higher concentration of chemicals that soak into your skin. The US FDA is considering prohibiting the sale of these products because those who use them tend to stay in the sun longer. They may not burn but their skin is damaged in other ways.

Some sunscreen ingredients react to the sun’s rays, making them more toxic. Retinyl palmitate, a form of vitamin A, can actually promote the development of tumours.  

Based on EWG’s research, mineral-based sunscreens offer the safest and best protection. They are stable in sunlight and don’t penetrate the skin. If you can’t find mineral-based sunscreen or prefer a formula that’s easier to apply EWG recommends choosing sunscreens with avobenzone (3 percent for the best UVA protection) and without the hormone disrupter oxybenzone. Confusing but just remember “oxy” is bad.  

A few more tips:

Avoid spray on or powder sunscreens since they coat your lungs and your skin, and don’t buy sunscreen with added insect repellant. This year we’ll be buying Green Beaver mineral-based sunscreen and Coppertone Kids Pure and Simple (if I can find it). Coppertone Sensitive Skin sunscreens get a good rating as well, but the other Coppertone products don’t.

View the full report at www.ewg.org.

Green grilling: how to be safe and eco-friendly around the barbeque

Marinating your meat and adding herbs & spices are two of the simple ways your can make grilling safer.

My dad enjoyed his role as king of the barbeque. Not that he had any choice. No one else in the family was prepared to go near the gas grill since he always had some part of it jury rigged. In those days I thought that grilling was dangerous because of dad’s booby traps but come to find out there are things more worrisome than flames shooting out of the wrong places.  

It is now well understood that carcinogenic compounds called heterocyclic amines (HCAs) form when meat is cooked at high temperatures and research has connected these compounds with higher rates of colorectal, stomach, lung, pancreatic, breast, and prostate cancers. It isn’t just the charred, crispy bits that are unhealthy. These chemicals form in the fatty juices all over the meat. Hamburgers appear to be the worst. 

As well, the fatty smoke from flare ups coats your meat with another family of carcinogens called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).  

Even though this is more than a bit alarming, there is no reason to give up on grilling. Knowing what you can do to limit the formation of these compounds will make your grilling safer. 

Research has shown that certain herbs and spices can reduce HCAs. In particular, rosemary, tumeric and ginger scored the highest in their ability to somehow inhibit the formation of these compounds. (A 2009 report in the Journal of Food Science found that rosemary extract reduced HCAs by 60 to nearly 80 percent.) 

Marinating your meat can reduce the amount of HCAs that form by as much as 99 per cent according to The American Institute for Cancer Research. Adding rosemary, ginger root or tumeric to the marinade is even better. Basting your meat with barbecue sauce helps too. 

Don’t char your meat, and don’t eat the charred bits, no matter how tempting. 

Cook your meat or fish on foil, on a soaked cedar plank or on indirect heat wrapped in parchment paper. 

Pre-cook your meat so it doesn’t have to spend as long over a flame. Or choose small cuts of meat that cook quickly. 

Cook over indirect heat. (One of my all-time favourite recipes is for chicken cooked on indirect heat. It takes a while but is moist and delicious.) 

Trim visible fat off your meat to avoid flare ups (choosing leaner cuts of meat will help) and keep a spray bottle of water handy to douse any unwanted flames.  

Clean your grill racks well. Soak them overnight in hot water and baking soda. If you’re rushed for time, scrub them on the lawn with a paste made out of baking soda and water. Then hose them down. 

Keep the bottom of your grill clean too (to minimize smoking fat). 

If you like to grill with charcoal choose natural charcoal or wood briquettes. Conventional charcoal is made with coal dust, sodium nitrate, sawdust or petroleum products. And the easy-light stuff is treated with lighter fluid. You don’t want those toxic bi-products coating your food. 

There is no such thing as eco-friendly or “green” fireworks

I noticed recently that one of the local grocery stores has a huge display of fireworks, a sure sign that they’re becoming much more every day when you can pick them up along with your bread and milk.

Fireworks may be pretty on a summer evening but they’re not innocuous. There are a few environmental and health issues associated with fireworks that everyone should be aware of before they set them off in the back yard with friends and family, and especially with children around.

The explosive compounds used in fireworks, the heavy metals used for colour effects, the smoke and particulate matter released when they explode and all of the packaging and debris left behind once they have been fired off combine to create a number of worries you need to know about.

Fireworks often use perchlorates as the explosives (replace old fashioned gunpowder), a family of chemicals known to cause thyroid issues, although there is no research pointing to the concentrations in fireworks being high enough (for your average person) to cause problems. As usual, children are more vulnerable to the effects of these chemicals. Also because fireworks are often set off over water, these chemicals often work their way into our waterways.

The smoke released during a fireworks display is something else to consider, especially if you (or your neighbours) have any breathing issues. The smoke contains particulate matter that leads to a spike in poor air quality for about three hours after the fireworks are set off.

What lasts much longer, in our bodies and in the environment, are the trace heavy metals that create the spectacular colours that leave us all ohing and ahing. Copper, cadmium, barium, aluminum and strontium can all be toxic, or carcinogenic, when concentrations exceed levels that are considered safe. The more often we release these chemicals into the environment to greater the chance that we’ll exceed safe levels.

When it comes to personal health, watching an annual fireworks display likely isn’t going to cause much harm, it’s when they’re used frequently that there is reason for concern. From an environmental perspective the popularity of backyard fireworks displays is something to worry about too, for all of the reasons I just listed.

Less harmful fireworks are being developed, some at the request of Walt Disney Company. Disney is responsible for hundreds of huge fireworks displays each year that were causing problems for park neighbours living downwind. A few years ago Disney created fireworks that use compressed air instead of perchlorates to ignite so burn cleaner than the traditional sort. Other new fireworks use fewer or less toxic chemicals, no heavy metals, and some have biodegradable casings. These alternatives are also more costly so unfortunately are not likely to appear in the fireworks cabinet at the dollar store.

There is no such thing as eco-friendly or “green” fireworks so if you’re not willing to give them up altogether opt for fewer this year. We all know that a holiday weekend doesn’t need fireworks to be memorable.

Seasonal food on the "Dirty Dozen" list

My family is crazy about local berries, so much so that by the end of blueberry season more than half of our freezer space is filled with dozens of bags of strawberries, raspberries and a good 60 pounds of blueberries. We enjoy local berries all year long in smoothies, muffins and galettes.

The challenge with local berries is that it’s nearly impossible to find organic. Farmer Brown’s in Bloomfield has a strawberry and a small raspberry u-pick and at local markets you can often find a few boxes of berries that haven’t been sprayed. Bates U-pick on Belleisle Bay sprays their strawberry plants but they don’t spray once the fruit has started to form so the pesticide residue would be lower than conventionally grown strawberries where the fruit is sprayed for pests and fungus. Organic blueberries are scarce.

Since we go through so many berries we usually buy what we can organic, or at least not sprayed and then top up with conventionally grown berries.

This season we’ll put up fewer blueberries, in favour of more raspberries and strawberries. We love blueberries but have found that domestic blueberries are now in the “Dirty Dozen”, a list of the 12 fruits and vegetables that have the highest pesticide residue. (Strawberries are on the list as well but more naturally grown strawberries are accessible locally).

The “Dirty Dozen” list is compiled annually by Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit organization in the US that researches and reports on environmental issues. For this report EWG analyzes pesticide residue testing data from the US Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration and then ranks the produce accordingly.

To help consumers make sense of the data, EWG has categorized the produce by worst and best. The Dirty Dozen are the 12 fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residue; the Clean 15 are those fruits and vegetables with the lowest pesticide residue.

Here’s the “Dirty Dozen”, beginning with the worst: apples, celery, strawberries, peaches, spinach, nectarines – imported, grapes – imported, sweet bell peppers, potatoes, blueberries – domestic, lettuce, kale/collard greens.

On the bright side, there is a great selection of produce with low pesticide residue. The “Clean 15”, beginning with the lowest in pesticide residue, are: onions, sweet corn, pineapples, avocado, asparagus, sweet peas, mangoes, eggplant, cantaloupe – domestic, kiwi, cabbage, watermelon, sweet potatoes, grapefruit, mushrooms.

The idea is to eat organic (or naturally grown) versions of the dirty dozen and reduce your consumption of this produce when organic isn’t available (like we’ll do with blueberries). Environmental Working Group points out that the health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables outweigh the risks of pesticide exposure so you find the balance that works for your family.

To search organic producers in the province visit the Atlantic Canadian Organic Regional Network at http://www.acornorganic.org/. And at u-picks and farmer’s markets ask growers if they use natural growing practices. You’ll find that many don’t spray.

Eco-friendly picnics and backyard barbeques

Outdoor entertaining, everyday family dinners al fresco and picnics at the beach are some of the great pleasures of summer. There’s something about being outside, among nature, that makes a meal taste better, a gathering more enjoyable, an outing especially memorable.

So why then does all of the outdoor enjoyment often lead to a lot of unnecessary trash and generally eco-unfriendly behaviour?

Companies in the business of making disposable items seem to target summer with gusto. If you so choose, you could buy a whole party worth of items that are completely disposable and at the end of the evening roll up everything but the guests and dump it in the trash, all in the name if simple summer entertaining.

But simple entertaining and outdoor enjoyment in general don’t need to be of the single use variety. You can soak up summer and be green. Here’s how.

To begin, follow this general rule: choose reusable before compostable and compostable before recyclable and avoid anything that is single use.

Use everyday plates, cups and cutlery instead of disposable. Plastic cutlery isn’t recyclable so has to go in the trash. Instead, invest in an inexpensive set of reusable cutlery for picnics and back yard entertaining. Biodegradable cutlery is available but can’t be composted so has to go in the trash and compostable cutlery is usually single use and expensive so the better option is still reusable.

If you’re not comfortable using your regular dishes outside consider investing in few outdoor dishes that can fall off the deck without a worry. Enameled camping-style dishes are indestructible and available at hardware stores. Sturdy plastic plates are a second option. Watch the plastic content though (choose food-grade plastic numbers 1, 2, 4 or 5) and avoid plastic that isn’t graded or is stamped with the numbers four or seven.

If you go with disposable plates choose paper instead of Styrofoam or plastic since they can go in the compost. Also, choose a brand with recycled content (post-consumer recycled is best). Another reason to avoid Styrofoam and plastic: putting hot food straight from the barbeque onto plastic or Styrofoam could leach chemicals into your food.

For cups choose enameled cups, sturdy plastic reusable cups, or compostable cups. The Bio-Life brand at Shoppers Drug Mart is made of vegetable compounds and is compostable.

I concede that paper napkins are a reasonable option for outdoor entertaining but again look for brands that contain recycled content and make sure they go in the compost not the trash.

You can make your food more eco-friendly too. Instead of packaged, processed meat consider buying locally-produced meat (visit http://www.acornorganic.org/ and search farmers or visit Kuinshoeve Meat in Rothesay for naturally raised local meat) and load up on locally grown fruits and vegetables as they come into season.

Since no outdoor meal is complete without a bevy of salads, make your dressing from scratch. Click here for some recipes for my favourite homemade dressings along with a few summer salad recipes like roasted vegetable pasta salad and roasted sweet potato salad with orange vinaigrette.

Growing a garden this year?

Are you a wannabe urban farmer looking for inspiration and a little confidence? A visit to an online seed catalog is all it takes to have faith that this will be a green thumb year.

Check out Hope Seeds' site for a gorgeous variety of heirloom veggies that are naturalized to our New Brunswick climate. Previously based in New Brunswick, Hope Seeds is now putting down roots (so to speak) in Nova Scotia.

Here's hoping for a bumper crop of atomic red carrots and enough Costata romanesca zucchini to feed the neighbourhood.

It’s easy to grow your own garlic

One of the things that irk me to no end is that virtually all fresh garlic available at the grocery store is imported from China. I’m not opposed to importing foods like oranges and bananas, foods that can’t be grown in our climate. But garlic? Anyone with a patch of garden the size of a phone book can plant garlic. It thrives in our climate and is one of my pet examples of how we have become dependant on imported versions of produce that can so easily be grown locally.

Don’t feel that you have to buy imported garlic this time of year. Visit Acorn or Buy Local NB to search for local growers. Another option is Hope Seeds (based in NB but soon moving to NS). They usually offer seed stock for growing but this year are selling what they call “table” stock (for cooking). If you’re into garlic you’ll love this because they offer several varieties of garlic in a sampler.


If you’d like to try growing your own garlic, mid-October is the time to plant. Halifax Seed offers garlic seed stock from Ontario and Nova Scotia and provides a handy sheet with tips for growing and harvesting. The seed stock bulbs look like regular old garlic to me. You can also try planting grocery store garlic or garlic from a local producer (already naturalized to our climate). Choose the largest cloves for planting.


Growing garlic is as easy as planting tulips. To get started at home here are a few tips:

Choose a sunny, well-drained area. (I have friends who plant garlic in among their perennial flowers.) Plant the individual cloves two inches deep and about six inches apart, pointed end up. Cover with a layer of mulch or leaves once the ground freezes.

In early summer watch for coiled flower stalks (resemble silly straws) called scapes that must be snapped off. This directs energy into developing the bulb rather than a flower. The scapes make great pesto and can be added to any dish that calls for garlic. Weed your garlic patch well since garlic doesn’t like competition.

Sometime in early August you’ll notice the leaves turning brown from the bottom up. When the bottom three or four leaves are dead and the top five or six are still green you can lift the bulbs. If you're not sure, dig a bulb and check. According to one grower, a mature bulb is fully swelled, well sized and has some partially decomposed wrappers. Pull the bulbs out gently and tie in bunches to hang for a couple of weeks in a well ventilated area out of direct sun. After they’re well dried, trim the stalks and roots and brush off any loose soil (or you can braid them).

One of the keys to growing garlic that stores well through the winter is to stop watering it 2-3 weeks before harvest and to choose a dry day to pull the bulbs. Store it at room temperature.

Taking care of your compost bin

Our compost cart took a turn for the worse this week, erupting with hundred’s of tiny (really awful) larvae. This is the second outbreak this summer and it suddenly occurred to me that there might be a way to avoid it.

After a bit of research I discovered that we have inadvertently been cultivating the growth of pests in our compost cart. To get out of this nasty cycle, Fundy SWAT recommends the following:

• Crumple newspaper in the bottom of your compost cart to absorb liquid.

• Tightly wrap meat, bones, fish & dairy in newspaper to deter flies. The newspaper will provide a natural carbon filter.

• Include garden clippings, wood chips, evergreen branches, sawdust, leaves, or baking soda in your cart to act as a natural filter.

• Always put your cart out for collection on pick-up day.

• Regularly rinse the cart with a garden hose.

• Make sure that the air vents at the bottom of the compost cart are kept clear. These holes enable the compostable material to receive air, helping to keep it from getting smelly.

• Rub Vicks Vapour Rub or A535 (a muscle ointment) on the air vents on the Compost Cart to mask odours and deter animals.

• Store your compost cart in a ventilated, shaded area.

• If you have a large amount of meat or fish, freeze it until compost pick-up day.

• If you do get bugs in your compost cart, sprinkle garden lime in your cart. (It raises the pH level, creating the wrong environment for the larva to live.) Also try cleaning your cart with a toilet brush using a mixture of warm water and borax (2 T to 1 litre of water)

Don’t let bugs (or other pests) deter you from using your compost. Something as simple as tossing food waste in the bin can cut your household waste – and what goes into the landfill – by as much as 40%.

Eco-friendly mowers

I love the smell of fresh-cut grass but don’t care for all that goes along with it: the noise, the exhaust fumes, the smell of spilled gasoline.

Gas-powered mowers pollute way beyond their worth. An hour of mowing with a traditional gas-powered mower pollutes as much as driving 320 kilometers in a typical car. So throughout the mowing season obsessive mowers could be polluting the equivalent of a 4,000 km road trip while never leaving the yard. Environment Canada estimates emissions from off-road engines (lawn mowers included) make up about 9% of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions. On top of this, millions of gallons of gas are spilled each year by owners refilling their mowers.

I agree that mowing is a necessary evil but there are less evil ways to cut the grass. A goat would be my preferred but for all sorts of practical reasons that solution doesn’t suit our household (or neighbourhood).

For several years we used a reel mower – one of those old-fashioned-looking push mowers. The new versions are much lighter than the tank I recall in the corner of our basement when I was little. A reel mower is great for biceps, and offers a practical solution for nice flat lawns that aren’t too big. They’re quiet enough for early morning mowing and don’t pollute. Ours however became too much work for our large bumpy yard. Based on observation (I don’t mow, I garden) lawn mowing as an athletic workout for my husband lost its charm after five summers of pushing.

Figuring we needed a new, but still eco-friendly, way to mow he did a little research on rechargeable mowers and just this week came home with an Earthwise cordless electric mower. Electric mowers are great for many reasons. They’re quieter than gas-powered mowers, reduce pollution from mowing by about 90% and use only as much power as a toaster. Over the summer an electric mower will use roughly $5 worth of power.

I was inspired to give ours a try and was impressed. What I love about this new mower is that it’s easy to start; you just insert a key and pull a lever (no yanking on a cord). I found it heavy but not too heavy to push comfortably (ours has a 20” cutting path so is on the bigger side). It cut easily through thick grass and mulches the clippings so they’re left to nourish the lawn. Best of all I wasn’t walking through a path of smog that is typical for gas-powered mowers.

The battery lasts an hour, which is about enough mowing for me and recharges overnight. If you’re in the market for a mower there are several cordless options to choose from. We bought ours at Kent Building Supplies but Home Depot carries several brands too. If you’d prefer to try a reel mower they’re easy to find. I have even noticed a few promoted in hardware store flyers recently.

Backyard gardening - it's never too late to start

This spring we turned our front yard into a tomato garden. We had outgrown our backyard vegetable garden and since I have an obsession with tomatoes we decided that reducing the square footage of our lawn was hardly a sacrifice.

As it turns out people all over are getting back to vegetable gardening. It used to be that everyone had a “kitchen garden,” but sometime within the last generation the whole concept went to seed (so to speak) as most people got more dependent on easy access to fruits and vegetables in grocery stores.

Now all that is changing. Last year the number of American households that grew food gardens grew by 10% over the previous year and it’s expected to grow another 20% this year. Sales for seeds are on the rise too. Keep in mind that these projections for 2009 were made before Michelle Obama dug up the South Lawn of the White House to plant an herb and vegetable garden. She has helped to spawn a whole new generation of (well-dressed) gardeners.

I am not an accomplished vegetable gardener. Even so, my meager harvest makes me feel self-sufficient (with herbs and lettuce anyway) and provides me with a connection to the earth that I find very comforting and inspiring. I love that my children have planted our garden by my side and ask daily when they can pull the carrots. My daughter uses the word “harvest” when it’s time to cut salad greens and nibbles chives when she’s playing in the yard. My son finds the plump red radish heads poking out of the soil irresistible.

All of this backyard gardening is providing us with food that is better in many ways: it’s helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (food doesn’t have to be transported long distances), it’s chemical fee, and there is no packaging. Plus it’s reconnecting us with the true source of our food – which is the earth not the grocery store.

If you’d like to try your hand at vegetable gardening it’s not too late to plant your own, in the ground or in containers.

· If you want to sow your own seeds there are several vegetables with a relatively short time to harvest. Leaf lettuce and blends of different greens can take less than a month to go from seed to harvest. Swiss chard can take just a month to yield baby leaves and green beans can take less than two months to start producing.

· You can play catch up by buying mature tomato plants and other vegetable plants that are already growing well. Plant them in well prepared soil for and instant garden that takes less time to reach maturity.

· Plan for next year by getting an herb garden established this summer. Herbs like thyme, chives, sage, mint and oregano are perennial so you can plant them during the summer.

My son has just requested his own pot to grow his own sugar snap peas, which is in and of it’s self one of my greatest gardening successes yet.

Aspire to a truly "green" lawn

I believe that people can get addicted to their lawns. Why else would anyone want to spray chemical concoctions in their yards during the only time of the year that we lounge about on our lawns?

Even walking past a yard posted with chemical spray warnings stresses me out. It’s as bad as secondhand smoke (and possibly worse).

There’s a good reason why the Canadian Cancer Society is a cheerleader for the ban on cosmetic pesticides. There are mountains of data implicating repeated exposure to pesticides in everything from brain and lung cancer, to kidney damage, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, reproductive disorders, and increased rates of childhood leukemia. Dozens of physician’s groups endorse bans, and two provinces have legislated bans. I’m still waiting for my provincial government to make a decision.

Even though my family and I have a relaxed approach to our lawn (that's an understatement), I can appreciate that many people love the look of a lawn that’s lush and green. If you fit into that category, don’t feel that your only option is chemical. You can create a lush beautiful lawn that’s fit for rolling on, using an all-natural regime.
1. Once a year top-dress your lawn with compost and over-seed with hardy grass varieties that thrive in our climate. I’m partial to clover (it’s soft underfoot).
2. Feed your lawn twice a year, and make sure you choose an all-natural fertilizer. There are so many to choose from that you don’t need to resort to petroleum-based chemicals. Read labels (good luck) or visit Halifax Seed for recommendations.
3. Let your lawn nourish itself by leaving grass clippings to compost.
4. To figure out what your lawn needs, have the soil analyzed (or do it yourself with a kit from Halifax Seed). Healthy soil should have a pH of 6 to 7. Adding the right nutrients to the soil will encourage micro-organisms to develop. They help to keep your lawn healthy and ward off pests. Chemical lawn treatments kill off these micro-organisms and leave your lawn more vulnerable.
5. Don’t mow too short. To help your lawn hold moisture be careful not to clip it below 2.5- 3 inches high. This is important to establishing and maintaining deep, healthy roots and will help your lawn squeeze out weeds.
6. During dry periods water your lawn deeply. Water long enough to fill a tuna can (about an inch of water). Water in the early morning or evening to limit evaporation.
7. If you have any bare spots top-dress and over-seed them so weeds don’t get there first.
8. If weeds really bother you dig some of them by hand (or pay the neighbours’ kids to do it for you).

Whether you’re obsessed with your grass or just hope for a half decent lawn each summer, keep in mind that your sanity isn’t the only health issue to consider when it comes to lawn care. Choosing chemical-free alternatives will keep us all a lot healthier.

This blog was previously published in KV Style (www.kvstyle.com)