“INERTIA: 1. Physics: the tendency of
matter to remain at rest if at rest, or, if moving, to keep moving in the same
direction, unless affected by some outside force. 2. A tendency to remain in a
fixed condition without change; a disinclination to move or act.”
Webster’s New World College Dictionary
*****
...from a member-no-more |
Anyway. The
news briefs are heavy on social media updates, suggestions for boosting one’s
income via Facebook and Twitter, the continuing flaps over copyrights vis-á-vis e-books and the death of conventional publishing, nifty software for those who don’t have the time or
desire to learn how to write, and various bloggers’ takes on how to write more
effectively. More often than not, I scan
the headlines then delete the whole thing. Once in a while, however, I read a
whole piece.
A recent
article about the saturation of the blogosphere and its attendant diminishing
returns grabbed my attention. There are in excess of a million bloggers out
there, it said, all screaming for somebody, anybody, to pay attention to them. Tim,
for example, follows three or four painters’ blogs. Some mornings he spends
more than an hour clicking the “Next blog” tab, which takes him to some awful
places. Once he ended up on a site promoting an astoundingly self-involved
“artiste” who would be staging the imminent birth of her child (the poor, poor
thing) as an art installation at the same gallery where she re-enacted the loss
of her virginity—as an art installation. (Who attends these things?) Having
twice given birth myself, I can testify there’s nothing remotely artsy about
it. It’s bloody, it hurts, it’s not the bit least dignified for the two
principal participants, and is an intensely private matter allegedly focused on
the safe delivery of a healthy child. Does that fit any sane person’s
description of a work of "art"?
Be that as it
may. There have to be tens of thousands of gardening blogs competing for
readers. Some are quite popular, like Garden Rant, although, to my knowledge,
none of those ladies have felt it necessary to air their most private linen so
far. Gardening Gone Wild, a blog I actually follow, seems to be by garden
writers for garden writers: unfortunately, the writing’s not that great. Most,
I’ve found, want to sell you something, or to get a cut of anything you buy
that you saw advertised on their sites. In general, the actual writing seems to be ancillary.
This
distresses me. I’m toying with the idea of throwing in the blog-towel.
*****
Sorry about
the extended hiatus. I wrote the above for an October 10 post, immediately
following which a serious bout of inertia settled in. In case you were
wondering, that’s where I’ve been.
In the
interim, I collected some interesting news about commercial compost to share.
Ever wonder
what’s really in that bag of compost
you picked up at Lowe’s or Home Depot? Not to worry—the U.S. Composting Council
is on the case. Their Consumer Compost Use Program has designed “easily
interpreted icons… reflect[ing] the compost’s use (or uses).” The catch is,
only compost producers participating in the voluntary Seal of Testing Assurance
program (STA) can incorporate the symbols reproduced below into their packaging
and literature.
Consumer Compost Use STA labels |
Still, I
wonder: since compost adds organic matter to the soil, what difference does it make if you spread it around trees
and shrubs, flower and vegetable gardens, or lawns? I guess the safest approach
would be to seek out products labeled for all three. For people in my
neighborhood, the Composting Council website’s
locator map lists Seaside Mulch of Wilmington and Castle Hayne, NC, and Conway,
SC, as the closest local source of STA-certified material.
Click on this link for the dirt on industrial sludge |
Exhibit A |
Organic Gardening illustration worth a thousand words |
Countering with a move
cementing their unshakeable belief in personal profit over ethics and the
environment, DuPont and the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company announced plans to
develop and market a combination lawn fertilizer/Imprelis-type herbicide to
homeowners (pyridine-based products are only available to licensed pesticide
applicators at present). So there.
In July,
parties in Pennsylvania and Indiana filed a class-action lawsuit against the “Better
Living Through Chemistry” company, charging negligence or recklessness in
rushing its latest herbicide to market. The plaintiffs contend Imprelis-contaminated compost is killing
trees, shrubs and perennials across the nation. According to the July 19, 2011
New York Times, DuPont responded by professing confidence “… that this
purported class-action lawsuit is unfounded," and to "oppose it vigorously.”
What evil lurks inside this community compost pile? |
Still, contaminated
grass clippings and dead plants continue to enter the compost stream, raising
red flags at agricultural agencies. Plus, there is no indication DuPont plans
to stop marketing its four other pyridine-based products (Perspective,
Plainview, Streamline and Viewpoint).
Dan Sullivan
ends his Organic Gardening article on
this note: “ ‘The industry’s rush to put products on the market before they are
thoroughly tested has often resulted in unanticipated disaster,’ states Eric
Vinje, founder of the gardening supply company PlanetNatural. ‘As with similar products, there are no “safe application”
standards; no way to keep these products from moving beyond their point of
application.’ Other than not using them in the first place.”
My advice to
you? Make your own compost from material you know the provenance of, or seek
out STA products. Find out exactly what your lawn guy’s putting on your grass,
and ask him to stop if it contains pyridine. Or ask him to stop applying
chemicals, full stop. There are worse things in life than lawn weeds.
Thanks for
your patience while I wallowed in inertia, and for dropping by now. See you in
a week or so.
Kathy
Danged glad you've broken free from the inertia! While I would never call myself a writer, I recognize fine writing skills. Don't lose the need to write about gardening, please!
ReplyDeleteGood books. It's startling to me how similar my personal gardening library is to yours.
hugs and fresh compost, karenc
Karen--
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the kind and heartening words. I truly appreciate you taking the time to comment.
My little bouts of self-pity rarely last very long. Tim and I are doing a presentation for the Coastal Garden Club on the Plant a Row for the Hungry program tomorrow, so I spent the weekend steeped in hunger statistics. Life on NE 13th Street, Oak Island, looks pretty darn good after that.
Reciprocal hugs and fresh compost to you too!
Warmest regards, K