Women - Grow a Pair, Save Water

Word on the street (and on the internet) is that Budweiser, the King of Beers, is doing their part for the environment by encouraging men to quit shaving to save water. Their slogan is Grow One. Save a Million. And their theory is that if each man decides to grow a beard between now and World Environment Day, that we can save a million gallons of water.

Well, I think women can go one better. Instead of just growing one, we can grow a pair - and do our part to save TWO million gallons.

ST. LOUIS. May 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Budweiser is asking adult men across America to help save one million gallons of water by not shaving in the days and weeks leading up to World Environment Day (June 5). As part of Budweiser's ongoing commitment to water conservation, the Grow One. Save a Million program allows consumers to get involved and save roughly 5 gallons of water for each shave they skip.* 

Consumers 21 years of age and older can visit Budweiser's Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Budweiser) to make a pledge and share the program with Facebook friends. Participants can commit to a range of options, from a few days to multiple weeks. Ladies can get involved by recruiting male friends or family members.   The page also features a daily tracker of the gallons saved to date. 

"Water is a key ingredient in the brewing of Budweiser and all our beers, which is why water conservation is a priority both inside and outside our breweries," said Kathy Casso, vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility at Anheuser-Busch. "In the past three years alone, our 12 U.S. breweries have reduced water use by 34 percent. Additionally, our employees and their families take action by volunteering to participate in local river cleanup projects in communities across the country."

Well as women, I think we can do them one better. After all, we have two legs, don't we? And that adds up to a lot more surface area to shave then men have.

So, I'm calling on the women of the world to unite. Between now and World Environment Day, which is June 5th, I'm encouraging all women of the world to quit shaving! That's right, get hairy for the cause. Don't just grow one. Grow a Pair!!! Sure, it's summer and our legs are out there for the whole world to see. But it's for a good cause.

We'll show them.

P.S. If you would rather do your part for water conservation without looking like a Yeti, visit the Metro DC Lawn and Garden Blog and check out all of our great posts on Water Conservation.

DC Urban Farm Bike Tour - May 21st

This sounds like so much fun, just had to pass it along! It's a bike tour, to some really cool community gardens and farms, followed by a happy hour. What a great way to spend a Saturday!

The 12-mile bike tour will travel between 5 dynamic, urban growing spaces around the nation's capital.

The day begins at 1pm at the Mamie D. Lee community garden (100 Gallatin St., NE) in Fort Totten. By 6pm, we will have made our way by bicycle to the Washington Youth Garden, The Farm at Walker Jones, the Marion Street Intergenerational Garden, and Common Good City Farm for tours, talks, and workshops — all activities are free and open to the public.

Things will wind down with a happy hour at Big Bear Cafe, featuring seasonal cocktails and other tasty goodies. (Note: you'll need to bring a little cash for food and drink at the happy hour.)

Please bring a bike lock, water bottle, and helmet. More details can be found here. For questions, or to RSVP, please contact Ibti.

Read more about A Bikeable Feast here.

Learn to Create Backyard Wildlife Habitat - Webinar - May 19th, 8pm

If you have followed this blog for very long, you know that Wildlife Moves Me! I love having wildlife visit my backyard and I love encouraging other people to garden for wildlife. Birds, butterflies and hummingbirds are some of my favorites, and the more yards that they have to visit, the better chance there is for attracting them to my neighborhood.

As part of May as Wildlife Gardening Month, Eliza Russell, director of Education Programs for the National Wildlife Federation, will be hosting Creating a Wildlife Habitat in Your Backyard, a webinar, on Thursday, May 19th at 8:00 pm EST.  

If you are ready to learn how to green your garden and help wildlife, tune in to this great webinar!

Join National Wildlife Federation's Director of Education, Eliza Russell, and homeowners to learn how you can take the steps to create a more wildlife-friendly garden at your home, in a park, at your church, or at your place of business.  

Creating a wildlife-friendly backyard webinar will discuss:
 

• Creating a site inventory and analysis: What do you already have to work with?
• How to add more wildlife friendly features
• Adding native plants to support wildlife
• Providing the 4 essentials elements for wildlife - food, water, cover, and places to raise young
• Using sustainable gardening practices to help your garden grow

Click here to register: Register Here

Enjoying the Birds and the Bees in Your Own Backyard - Attracting Pollinators

What do flowers, fine chocolates and flavorful coffee have to do with the birds and the bees?

Both chocolate and coffee are two of the 1000+ plants that depend on visits from the birds and the bees, and other pollinators, to help spread the love, or in their case, pollen, from flower to flower. In fact, it is estimated that about 90% of all flowering plants rely on animal pollination (as opposed to wind pollination) and over 200,000 species of animals participate in the pollinating. Without pollinators, many plants would never produce fruit or set seed and many of the foods we eat would no longer be available. As if a world lacking chocolate and coffee wouldn’t be bad enough, wild creatures that rely on pollinated plants for food and shelter could also disappear.

Like so many other species, some pollinators are showing steady population declines. Although the declines in honeybee populations are mainly due to diseases, declines in wild pollinator populations are attributed to habitat loss, competition from invasive species and exposure to pesticides.

Fortunately, we can do our part to correct the problem by inviting the birds and the bees to our own backyards. Simply choosing the right plants and eliminating chemicals in our landscapes will invite more pollinators, which in turn will bring more flowers, more fruit and a new level of enjoyment to a garden filled with colorful, winged wonders.

The most popular pollinators are already some of our favorite garden visitors – butterflies and hummingbirds. Other pollinators include beetles, bees, ants, wasps, moths and even small mammals.

So how do we attract these pollinators? Plant what they love!

To attract more pollinators to your yard, keep these things in mind:

• Choose plants with overlapping bloom times to provide flowers throughout the year
• Select plants with a variety of colors and shapes to attract different pollinators
• Plant in clumps, rather than single plants
• Whenever possible, choose native plants.  Avoid modern hybrids, especially those with “doubled” flowers, as the pollen, nectar, and fragrance is sometimes unwittingly bred out of these plants in exchange for “perfect” blooms
• Include night-blooming flowers for moths and bats.
• Avoid pesticides, even so-called "natural" ones such as Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). If you must use them, use the most selective and least toxic ones and apply them at night when most pollinators aren't active.

Include some  favorite plant choices for pollinators in your garden (see lists below). And then pull up a lawn chair and treat yourself to a little coffee and chocolate while you enjoy the birds and bees in your own back yard.

For more information:

Creating a Wild Backyard – Hummingbirds, Butterflies & Bees – Maryland Department of Natural Resources

Creating a Wild Backyard – Bees – Maryland Department of Natural Resources

U.S. Forest Service – Celebrating Wildflowers: Pollinators – http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/index.shtml

Pollinator Partnership – http://www.pollinator.org/

Pollinator Conservation Resources – Mid-Atlantic Region

Learn More About Pollinators – Chesterfield County, Virginia Cooperative Extension

Rain barrels for DC residents - answers to some of your questions

Yesterday I posted a question  asking why more people don’t use rain barrels. The responses gave me some good food for thought and sent me on a quest to find some more info and possible solutions for our readers.

Here is some great information that I received from Leah Lemoine, Environmental Protection Specialist with the District Department of the Environment:

Many new rain barrel styles have entered the market in the past few years, but choosing one that will perform well can be daunting. There are several design features homeowners should consider before purchasing a rain barrel. I hope to shed light on rain barrels and also assistance for homeowners who may be ready to go ahead and begin capturing their roof runoff for later reuse.

The chances of mosquitoes breeding can be eliminated by choosing a rain barrel carefully and by sealing connections during the installation. Mosquitoes tend to get into the rain barrels from the inlet and around the spigot and overflow.

Use caulk and/or thread tape to seal the connections between the barrel and downspout extension, overflow tubing, and spigot. If the barrel has a screen top the gauge of the screen should be at least as narrow as a window screen. The entire perimeter of the screen should be tacked down with adhesive and also screwed in for added stability.

Other design features to consider are:

1. Overflow: The overflow should be at least 2” in diameter to avoid water spilling out of the barrel near the foundation.

2. Volume: The bigger the better. A typical row house (800 square feet) will have nearly 500 gallons of runoff during a 1” rain storm.

3. Spigot: Spigot no higher than ~3” from bottom of barrel to eliminate dead space.

Installation can be a cinch with the right tools. Homeowners will need downspout extension to connect the barrel and downspout, a hack saw to cut the downspout and drill to fasten the downspout extensions and overflow. The following guide provides step-by-step directions for installing rain barrel: Instructions for Installing a Rain Barrel. If any homeowners need additional assistance, they are welcome to contact me for additional resources.

The District Department of the Environment (DDOE) is committed to facilitating the wide-spread use of rain barrels throughout the DC. DDOE offers two programs- RiverSmart Homes and the Rain Barrel Rebate- which are designed to make rain barrel installation easy and cost effective for homeowners. The RiverSmart Homes program offers homeowners up to two rain barrels for $30 each. The beauty of the RiverSmart Homes program (besides the bargain price of $30) is that our nonprofit partner, DC Greenworks, will install the rain barrels for you. These barrels have a capacity of 130 gallons, are constructed from a durable black recycled plastic, and have a fine filter inside which eliminates any chances of mosquitoes breading in the barrel. Homeowners may enroll in RiverSmart Homes by filling out our online application or by contacting me.

We did have a pause in rain barrel installations over the winter. We apologize to any homeowner who has been waiting for a rain barrel for longer than they were expecting. The rain barrel installations are back in full swing and we hope to eliminate the backlog soon. The Rain Barrel Rebate program is a good option for homeowners who would rather install their own barrel, do not have enough space for the RiverSmart barrel, or do not wait to wait for the stormwater audit that is required through RiverSmart. A list of approved barrels and application materials can be found here: The Rain Barrel Rebate Program.

I hope this helps! Please have your readers contact me at 202.654.6131 or leah.lemoine@dc.gov with any questions they may have. 

Wow!! Rain barrels for $30! That's a price that should make rain barrel believers out of a lot more gardeners!

Benefits of rain barrels

Rain barrels capture and store the rainwater running off your rooftop. The harvested rainwater can be stored for later use,  or used immediately for watering lawns and landscaped areas, filling ponds or fountains, or washing cars. This stored water helps to save money and it really comes in handy during times of mandatory water restrictions.

Rain barrels require little maintenance and—with the rising price of municipal water—are a great way to save money and conserve water as a natural resource.

 By collecting  runoff from rooftops, rain barrels can also prevent stormwater runoff. Stormwater runoff is caused when heavy rains  run directly into streets and storm sewers, carrying it (and the pollutants it collects) directly to the local waterways.
Depending on where you live, you may be able to get a rebate to help cover the purchase price of your rain barrel.  In DC, see the RiverSmart Homes site; In Montgomery County, see Rainscapes Rewards; in Gaithersburg, Rainscapes Rewards; Rockville – Rainscapes Rewards.

Rain barrels are fun and easy to build and there are lots of rain barrel workshops in the area:  Northern Virginia Rain Barrel Registration


 You can build your own, without a workshop: Rain Barrel Assembly (pdf)

Or you can buy one, readymade: Local Rain Barrel Sources

Spring Native Plant Sale - May 14th

The Potowmack Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society will be holding their Spring Native Plant Sale this Saturday, May 14th, from 9 a.m.  to 3 p.m.

More than 40 vendors of rare and unusual plants will be on hand, offering ferns, perennials for sun and shade, trees and shrubs  from the propagation area behind the Horticulture Center at Green Spring Gardens.

All money raised supports the chapter's educational and conservation efforts!

Green Spring Gardens is located at 4603 Green Spring Road – Alexandria, Virginia 22312

For directions: www.greenspring.org

10 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Honey Bees

Ahhhh, there is nothing quite like a little bit of coffee and chocolate to brighten the day!

As I sip and nibble, delighting in the heady aroma and sweet, savory flavors, my mind always wanders to the birds and the bees. Why? Because both chocolate and coffee are two of the 1000+ plants that depend on visits from the birds and the bees (and other pollinators) to help spread the love, or in their case, pollen, from flower to flower.

I love wandering through my garden and hearing the buzz of the visiting bees. But bees have many more talents that just pollinating our plants.

Here is a list of 10 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Honey Bees, which I collected from the Health Benefits of Honey Blog:

1) Bees tongues can help sniff out bombs – A company called Inscentinel Ltd. has developed Vapor Detection Instrumentation, which is scientific speak for a couple of bees taped to a piece of foam. The bees stick out their tongues when they smell an odor they have been trained to detect.

2) Honey bees can recognize faces – the honey bee, with a brain barely bigger than a pin head, can remember human faces for days after seeing them.

3) Bees are the only insects that produce edible food for humans (did you know that honey is actually bee puke? Ugh)

4) Some working bees can lift (in addition to their own bodies) 100% of their body weight.

5) Bees have been around (100 million years) much longer than humans (7 million years).

6) The queen bee lives up to 40 times longer than a worker bee.

7) The ONLY purpose in life, for the male bee, is to "service" the queen bee — and then he dies.

8) 3400 honey bees were taken on a NASA space flight.

9) Honey bees only use their stinger on vertebrates. When the bees are up against an invertebrate (such as a wasp) the worker bees will cluster around the insect and literally flex their muscles until the resulting heat kills the intruder. And if the heat doesn’t kill them, the lack of oxygen surely will.

10) The origin of the word honeymoon – In days of old, newlyweds were given a month’s worth of mead – a honey based booze – which they were to drink daily. The tradition was believed to promote matrimonial happiness and pregnancy… both things alcohol is very good at. We’ve been honeymooning ever since.

Stop back by on Monday when we'll have a post on How to Attract Pollinators to Your Garden

Here's a sharp idea! Get your garden tools in shape for the season - May 14th

Keeping your lawn mower blade sharpened is good for your lawn and good for the planet. According to experts at the Virginia Cooperative Extension, "The quickest way to improve lawn quality AND turf health is to clip it with a sharp blade, and a sharp blade will also improve fuel-use efficiency and extend engine life."

Sharpened blades are especially important during mid to late Spring, when cool-season grasses in the area form tough seedheads. Tall fescue, perennial ryegrass, Kentucky bluegrass and the fine-leaf fescues are all producing flowers and seed during this time of year in response to temperature, day length, and moisture. These tough seedhead stalks are designed for support and are much tougher to mow.

Clipping grass with a dull mower usually results in turf that initially has a ‘whitish’ cast (from the shredded leaf and seedhead tips) that ultimately becomes a ‘brown or tan’ cast as the damaged tissues slowly age and die. So, one way to immediately improve quality for most is to simply sharpen the blades. How often should one sharpen the blades? On average, most homeowners in Virginia should plan on sharpening their blades at least 3 times during the growing season.

With that in mind, I wanted to pass along this message I saw on a local gardening message board:

Back By Popular Demand - Saturday Morning John Vecciarrelli Will Offer Sharpening Services Next to Takoma DC Branch Library - 6900 Block of 5th St. N.W.

John Vecciarrelli's father Tony made his living sharpening knives, lawnmower blades, handmower blades and other tools all around the city. When John retired a few years ago, he began driving his dad's workshop in an old green step van to events around town, offering the same sharpening services.

Responding to requests from folks who couldn't come to last month's visit, this Saturday, May 14, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., John will again be parked on the 6900 block of 5th Street NW, between Cedar and Butternut, next to the Takoma DC branch library. If your mower hasn't been sharpened in years, or you've never known the joys of digging with a sharpened spade or trowel, you may want to come on over.

For more information, contact Dodie Butler, 202-643-6343.

Anacostia Watershed Tree Planting Event - May 14th

On Saturday, May 14, 2011, The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments  DEP is hosting a tree planting with the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission – Prince George’s County, in Riverdale, MD from 9:00 A.M. to Noon.

We have 150 trees to plant and mulch and could use your assistance.  This is an especially great opportunity for students to gain community service credit hours while learning about the environment in their region.

Come and get some exercise to start your Saturday and learn about the Anacostia Watershed and Chesapeake Bay Restoration efforts.

The planting site is located off Oglethorpe Street in the M-NCPPC  Riverside Neighborhood Park, next to the Northeast Branch.

To RSVP and for more information, contact Aubin Maynard, (202) 962-3233