Organic Gardens-Landscapes And Political Chatter

Buy Raw Unfiltered, Unheated Honey right from the farm in it's natural state at New England Natural.com in Vermont

2011-11-18T11:46:00.000-05:00

Buy Raw Unfiltered, Unheated Honey right from the farm in it's natural state at New England Natural.com in Vermont

Seasonal Gifts at Dirt Works

2010-12-15T14:03:00.000-05:00

Dirt Works and New England Natural Have Gift Ideas for Any Occasion

Order now and get everything wrapped and ready in time. Call 877-213-3828 or have us send your gift direct!

We sorted through hundreds of items and picked out a few things from New England Natural.com and Dirt Works that we think will make very nice gifts. Just click on the pictures or the blue text and you'll go right to the page where the proucts are listed. Order by phone or use the shopping cart. Green Gifts from Dirt Works will please everyone. Happy Holidays All and thanks for sticking with us through these difficult times!

Vermont Apple Gift Box Fresh healthy food is always a hit. Hard to go wrong giving away something so good.	Caramel Sauce(Farm Fresh) Made with Organic Goat's Milk. Vermont Made!	Cheese Making Kits	Farm Style Honey Right from the bees in Vermont to you.
Natural Food Gifts Pancakes Soups Muffins & Scones	Family Board Games with Nature Themes Give a unique gift you're not likely to find anywhere else.	Hand Crafted Toys Vermont Made	Hydroponic Harden Kits
Natural Scented Candles Crafted in Vermont	Organic Dog Treats Three delicious Flavors & made with organic ingredients, by the pound or 12 ounce resealable packs.	Organic Fertilizer For all the gardeners on your list we always have something they need. Call if you need a recommendation.	Adjustable, High Efficiency Flourescent Grow Lights with Stand
Delicious Natural Mustards Made in Vermont from Natural Ingredients. Great on sandwiches and for dipping while you're watching animal planet.	Natural Salves On Sale!	Natural Soaps	Vermont Maple Syrup An old time favorite.

Bed Bugs

2010-08-25T12:51:00.000-04:00

Things to keep in mind when treating bed bugs or any other type of home invasion.
At Dirt Works we started out selling diatomaceous earth primarily for flea and tick infestations. It works really well for that too. It didn't take long before people figured out it works for lice, ants, bed bugs and just about every other type of annoying biting bug that invades your life. We have hundreds of customers in all the major cities of the US and overseas now using it to rid themselves of bed bugs. We can barely keep it in stock it works so well.
The important thing to remember when fighting any pest is, they have survived everything we've thrown at them for thousands of years and they're still with us. Even the toxic chemicals of the last century failed to rid us of these pests and that's for good reason. Mother nature knows that one person's pest is another animals food and all creatures great and small have a necessary role to play here on earth, even if we haven't figured out what it is yet. Nature doesn't make mistakes.
So, when dealing with bed bugs and bugs in general keep in mind that you're never done. There is no one thing or multiple things you can do once to rid yourself of them forever. What you can do is maintain good practice and treat your living space and public spaces with nontoxic diatomaceous earth on a regular basis.
When appplying DE to your abode do it up completely. Don't skimp on the recipe to save money. If money is tight buy a larger amount with neighbors and friends and save on the product and the shipping. It's perfectly safe to handle so you can break up the portions when it gets to you easily.
Apply the product everywhere and always have some around to apply when the problem comes back. We live in a mobile world now and people come in contact with bed bugs without even knowing it and they travel all over the place everyday.
We ship world wide everyday. http://www.dirtworks.net
http://www.newenglandnatural.com

Other Products sold at Dirt Works and New England Natural.com to Help with Fleas, Ticks and Bed Bugs

Sharp Shooter
Nematodes
Neem Oil
Natural Pet Soap
Powder Bottles
Puffer Bottles
Hand Dusters

Our Vets

2010-03-05T11:34:00.000-05:00

As you know, the Post-9/11 GI Bill is an incredible educational benefit, a keystone in building the next greatest generation, but there have been many problems implementing this benefit.

Since August, when the bill took affect, we’ve heard from countless veterans about the difficulties they’ve had in accessing the bill. Jason Hansman, an Iraq veteran and IAVA staffer who runs our online community, has been hearing these complaints daily, “the whole process is frustrating. With all the stresses of the classroom, veterans shouldn’t have to worry about whether the VA will fulfill its duty and get veterans their hard-earned benefits.” We agree, and IAVA has been relentless in amplifying the voices of these veterans facing problems. We’ve testified dozens of times, and held countless meetings in Congress and with the VA. In the past few weeks, we’ve seen two big changes that are victories for veterans nationwide.

First, after attention was brought to the fact that 90% of calls did not connect to the GI Bill help hotline, the hotline will now be open five days a week. This is an increase from three days, and crucial for vets looking for answers during the complicated application process.

Second, the VA has announced that they will soon launch a national ad campaign to ensure vets know about their educational benefits. Up until a few months ago, the VA did limited outreach. Many vets didn’t know what they were entitled to. There was a huge information gap and organizations like ours and many others stepped up to fill that void. This new outreach campaign will help close that gap and ensure that all vets know their options. As Don Gomez, an Iraq veteran and Post-9/11 GI Bill recipient attending the City College of New York, says, “It’s about time the VA became more visible about this. The GI Bill has opened so many doors for veterans like me, but many veterans still aren’t aware of what they have earned.”

These are two big wins. But there’s still work to be done. Some of the improvements and upgrades we are calling for this year are: expanding benefits to those who served in the National Guard, in distance learning programs or attending vocational schools.

Updates on the GI Bill are coming fast, and we’re tracking on them daily. As always, you can get the most up-to-date information at IAVA’s one-stop-shop for the new GI Bill – NewGIBill.org which now includes an updated F.A.Q. for the new semester. And if you’re on Twitter, you can now follow along for live updates at www.Twitter.com/NewGIBill.

My Take: It makes no sense to me that any of this should be so difficult. GW and his crew had no trouble sending our troops off to be shot at without proper equipment or planning and they had no plan at all it seems to take care of these people when they came back home. Here we are 7+ years after the fact and we still don't have our act together and we would be even further off the mark were it not for private organizations like IAVA.
Just this week a bean-counter in the central office of the VA, not in the hospital and not someone concerned with vets healthcare, has ordered any and all funding from the VA to Veterans Sustainable Agriculture Training (VSAT) to stop immediately. VSAT is what it says. It's a program that uses agricultural training as a way to help returning Vets decompress and make a gradual, healthy return to daily life after coming home.
If you'd like to know more or offer some assistance contact:
Colin Archipley
CEO/ President
760.751.4380 office
760.670.5489 mobile
760.751.4389 fax
archisacres.comes.com
www.archisacres.com

Clover Compostables. Compostable Food Serviceware

2010-03-03T10:25:00.001-05:00

Clover Compostables. Compostable Food Serviceware

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Bray for Vermont

2010-03-03T10:08:00.001-05:00

Bray for Vermont

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Five of the Fastest Growing Green Jobs

2010-01-27T00:24:00.001-05:00

Five of the Fastest Growing Green Jobs

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Lawns May Contribute to Global Warming - Yahoo! News

2010-01-26T11:41:00.001-05:00

Lawns May Contribute to Global Warming - Yahoo! News

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Composting-Movies

2010-01-22T13:49:00.001-05:00

Composting-Movies

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Millions Against Monsanto

2010-01-10T23:45:00.001-05:00

Millions Against Monsanto

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Buy Organic Heirloom Vegetable Seeds

2010-01-09T20:29:00.001-05:00

Buy Organic Heirloom Vegetable Seeds

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Growing Power: Urban Aquaponics, Vermiculture and Sustainable Agriculture : TreeHugger

2010-01-07T10:27:00.001-05:00

Growing Power: Urban Aquaponics, Vermiculture and Sustainable Agriculture : TreeHugger

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EPA Seeking Public Comment on Pesticide Labels (Reported by Jessica Rae Patton)

2009-12-30T09:56:00.001-05:00

EPA Seeking Public Comment on Pesticide Labels (Reported by Jessica Rae Patton)

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Arianna Huffington: Move Your Money: A New Year's Resolution

2009-12-29T23:28:00.001-05:00

Arianna Huffington: Move Your Money: A New Year's Resolution

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Archis Acres

2009-12-21T14:30:00.003-05:00

Check out Archis Acres. A great way to help our vets and integrate organic agriculture into a truly necessary program.

Health Care Reform

2009-07-27T10:10:00.001-04:00

This is the part of the latest health care bill that will hold this thing up.

"And all but the smallest businesses would be required either to provide their employees with insurance, or to pay fees that help cover the cost of subsidies — subsidies that would make insurance affordable for lower-income American families"

This is a job killer. If you want to continue with this jobless recovery do this very thing. Keep making businesses pay the cost of their employees health care. Any way you structure an employer based health care system it's a loser. Making it more expensive to hire and retain employees is one sure way to make sure hiring is kept to a minimum. It's the kind of thing that has nearly wiped out our manufacturing sector. Businesses aren't the parents of the american population. It's not our job to take care of everyone. It's our job to create jobs and pay people a living wage or better when we can and it's each of our responsibilities to get health care for ourselves and to take care of ourselves too. We had an employee at my dad's now defunked business that used to come in our office once a week, smoking a cigaret demanding that we provide her with health care. She was 50 pounds over weight too.
Why do the democrats think they can shift the cost of things onto businesses without consequence. I guess I've discovered that I'm a Blue Dog because I want health care reform, I don't presently have any myself and I own a business, but this bill, as structured will damage our economy even further. I know it will make me think twice anytime I have to hire some one. We're actually trying to think about how to down size and do this with no employees. This bill will only hasten that process.

Greed

2009-02-13T17:53:00.002-05:00

The big problem with our present economic decline is greed. Ever hear of it? The whole idea of hoarding goods and making lines on maps and creating deeds and thinking that we actually "own" something when in fact we're all just passing through this life is flawed thinking. Our problems all stem from a flawed initial premise so is no surprise that we've wound up at this cross roads, presented with choices no one wants to face because the solutions require us to re-evaluate the very core of our beliefs and we're not very good at doing that. Even when we do, we're fearful because we have to replace all that we discard with something new and that takes time and while we spend time doing that we have a void we can't fill and that scares the be'jesus out of people!

Resolution

2008-11-18T17:43:00.003-05:00

A resolution has been acheived. Thanks to the help from everyone who wrote in, Vermont Compost and The State of Vermont have reached a temporary settlement that allows Vermont compost Company to continue operating while the permitting and site review process takes place and gets finalized. Thank you to everyone who wrote to the governor and helped show support for Vermont Compost Company.

Vermont Compost Company

2008-11-06T12:15:00.003-05:00

August 23, 2008

For Immediate Release
Contact: John Hasen, General Counsel, 802-828-5444
MONTPELIER - The Natural Resources Board and the Vermont Compost Company, Inc., have agreed to resolve two cases in Environmental Court. The parties have stipulated that the Environmental Court may place both Vermont Compost's appeal of an Act 250 jurisdictional opinion and an enforcement action by the Board on hold, and the settlement allows Vermont Compost's Montpelier facility to operate until July 2010 without an Act 250 permit; in return Vermont Compost will abide by certain operational restrictions.
"This is a win-win result," said Peter F. Young, Jr, the Chair of the Natural Resources Board. "The agreement allows Vermont Compost's Montpelier facility to continue to operate - which keeps a lot of food waste out of the landfill. And Vermont Compost has agreed to address concerns expressed by its Montpelier neighbors."
The Legislature this year passed a temporary moratorium on Act 250 jurisdiction for composting facilities with solid waste permits from the Agency of Natural Resources. The law also requires the Agency to set up a committee to examine whether there are better ways to regulate composting, and to report recommendations to the Legislature by January 15, 2009. The moratorium runs until July 1, 2010, to allow time for implementation of regulatory changes. Under the agreement filed in Environmental Court, Vermont Compost will enjoy benefits similar to those granted by the moratorium in return for agreeing to reasonable restrictions on its operations.
"Today's settlement is a constructive, forward-looking solution that balances the state's mandate to protect Vermont's environment with its desire to promote composting," said Vermont Compost Company president Karl Hammer. "The agreement will enable the state and Vermont Compost to work together with farmers and composters, under the aegis of Act 130, to develop a set of clear and coherent rules that will help all composting operations operate safely, effectively and legally."
The agreement must be signed by the Environmental Court before it can take effect.

Vermont Compost

2008-07-23T12:49:00.001-04:00

Environmental politics

Reformer.com

Tuesday, July 22
It's not yet up there with motherhood, apple pie and the flag, but it's hard to find people who will say a discouraging word about compost.
Turning table scraps into fertilizer for gardens is a great idea. It reduces waste and saves money.
Everyone seems to like compost, except for the Douglas administration.
The state Natural Resource Board recently shut down one of Vermont's biggest commercial composting operations, leaving a lot of people in the lurch.
The Vermont Compost Co. in Montpelier was recently fined $18,000 for not having an Act 250 permit. The NRB contends that the owner, Karl Hammer, is bringing in too much waste from off site and processing it on his farm. Hammer contends that much of his composting is connected to his farm and that farms are exempt from Act 250.
The action against Vermont Compost comes on the heels of the Agency of Natural Resources' attempts to shut down the commercial composting operation at Burlington's Intervale Center. The Intervale composting and gardening operations reportedly face substantial fines and up to $375,000 of fixes to make the site pass regulatory muster.
In case you're wondering, the third largest composting operation in the state of Vermont is Vermont Natural Ag Products in Middlebury, the folks who make "Moo Doo." It is run by Bob Foster, the brother-in-law of Gov. James Douglas, and it currently is not facing any regulatory problems.
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So why are the other two under fire?
Current Democratic candidate for governor Gaye Symington was the Intervale Center's development director and House Agriculture Committee Chairman David Zuckerman, P-Burlington, farmed there. One can't help but think there was some political trickery going on when ANR went after the Intervale last fall for allegedly polluting the Winooski River with its composting operation.
ANR's current concern about the Intervale is quite ironic, considering it once was one of the most polluted sites in Burlington. Before it was cleaned up and turned into community gardens, the Intervale was a dumping ground with an unlined city landfill and pits for sewage sludge. And the public works director in Burlington when all of this dumping was going on in the 1980s? None other than current ANR Secretary George Crombie.
As for Hammer and Vermont Compost Co., the problems started when neighbors started to complain about health hazards. One of the neighbors who complained was Darcie Johnson, who happens to be the Vermont Republican Party's top fundraiser.
As things stand now, the state claims the Intervale is an area of archeological significance and jurisdiction over how the land should be used should be determined by the state Division of Historical Preservation. This seems a bit surprising, considering that no one cared about archeology when they were using the Intervale as a dump.
As for Vermont Compost Co., the concerns of one well-connected abutter appear to have trumped the dozens of businesses who have kept hundreds of tons of food waste out of landfills.
The economic value of the Intervale Center -- 114 full and part-time jobs, 200 community garden plots, 12 small farms and 1 million pounds of food produced annually -- is undeniable. And Vermont Compost is a key link in the state's efforts to turn organic waste into a useful product.
To go after these two entities makes absolutely no sense as environmental policy. If there are problems, ANR should work with the Intervale Center and Vermont Compost to correct them. It certainly wouldn't be the first time that ANR chose compromise over enforcement.
For example, take OMYA, the Proctor-based company that processes marble into calcium carbonate. In Florence, neighbors claim that OMYA dumps 150,000 tons of waste each year into an unlined landfill and that dangerous chemicals are leaching into their wells.
For years, Florence residents have urged state officials to do something about it. Reportedly, OMYA and ANR are negotiating to avoid enforcement penalties. So why is OMYA getting off easy compared to the Intervale Center or Vermont Compost? Is it the nearly $5,000 that OMYA has contributed to Douglas' campaigns? Is it the 250 jobs that OMYA provides? Or is the heavy handed regulatory approach on compost facilities not run by members of the Douglas family politically motivated?
In any case, considering the meager fines levied by ANR for solid waste dumping -- eight fines totaling $27,500 in 2007 and 12 fines totaling $12,260 in 2006 -- it seems that not all polluters are treated equal by the Douglas administration. It also seems that political concerns trump environmental concerns. But given this administration's record over the past six years, that's not a shock.

2008-06-21T14:21:00.002-04:00

Plant A Row for a Food Bank in Your Neighborhood

With gas and food prices soaring and stagnant wages and lost jobs everyone is feeling the pinch from the economy these days. And there is one frightening indicator that needs attention from our many gardening customers. Working families make up 41% of those receiving food stamps, a 30% rise from just a decade ago. So even families with one or two jobs can’t afford enough food to get through the week. There are even more families that don’t qualify for food stamps that visit food banks regularly. Second Harvest, the nation’s largest network of food banks, says demand is up an average of 15% to 20% from a year ago. More than 80% of its food banks reported that they could not meet demand without trimming operations or reducing the amount of food given out.

We at Dirt Works are asking all of our customers out there that are fortunate enough to have a garden plot to Plant A Row for their local food bank. Most of us love gardening so much that we tend to over do it and end up with more produce than our families and friends can eat. It would make a huge difference at your local food bank if you gave all those extra veggies to them instead of letting them go bad. In the past year, the demand for hunger assistance has increased by 40%, and research shows that hundreds of hungry children and adults are turned away from food banks each year because of lack of resources.

For more information on this program please visit http://www.gardenwriters.org/Par/Donation.html

To see a brief report about food bank shortages on the PBS show Bill Moyer’s Journal click here http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04112008/watch.html

Here is a handy zip code locator for local food banks http://www.secondharvest.org/zip_code.jsp

If all of our customers planted a few extra plants for the food banks it would make a tremendous difference without much extra effort or money. The quality of your donation will far outweigh the nutritional value of traditional can drives. Please write us and tell us about your experience with Plant A Row and we may include your story in a future newsletter update.

Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there.

~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732 

Organic Gardens & Landscapes For All: Biofuels

2008-04-03T13:31:00.000-04:00
Organic Gardens & Landscapes For All: Biofuels
http://www.dirtworks.net http://www.newenglandnatural.com http://www.dirtworks-natural-pet.com/

Biofuels

2008-01-20T17:39:00.000-05:00
Did you know that if we were able and willing to start using all the arable land in the US for the production of biodiesel tomorrow, we still couldn't supply the needs of this country for even a few months.
Conservation is something we can all do, right now, in all aspects of our lives. Belief in the myth of some cheep renewable energy resource just over the horizon is not an answer to the problem of global climate change or our dependence on oil from countries we would prefer not to do business with. We can't consume our way out of a crisis.
http://www.dirtworks.net http://www.newenglandnatural.com http://www.dirtworks-natural-pet.com/

Biofuels

2008-01-17T10:01:00.000-05:00
The biofuels industry as presently structured is one of the most corrupt enterprises known to man.
More later...
http://www.dirtworks.net http://www.newenglandnatural.com http://www.dirtworks-natural-pet.com/

Cover Crops

2007-10-30T11:09:00.000-04:00
Good cover crops for this time of year are winter wheat and winter rye. You can broadcast them and leave them bare on the ground or for better results you can broadcast them and cover with wheat/oat or barley straw or lightly till them under. This time of year you’ll have the best results with covering or tilling because the frost can kill the germinating embryos.
Low growing clovers like dutch white clover and sweet yellow clover will work well too if you need the nitrogen fixing capabilities of these plants. They take a lot longer to germinate and you may not see much action from them until spring. Apply them the same way for best results.
If you can’t till or cover and you’re concerned about the frost then you can wait until you have snow cover and then “Frost Seed” the crops right on top of the snow. They will come up as soon as the weather allows them too. Clover can thrive when planted this way since the seeds need scarifying most of the time to do their best. The frost cracks the outer shell making it easier for the embryo to get started.
White clover and yellow clover are, for the most part, very short and won’t bother anything in the garden if they continue to come up and they will attract bees and pollinaters to the area as well as fix nitrogen and croud out weeds during the growing season. Some people plant these clovers as permanent crops in permaculture gardens to keep weeds out of the paths and unused areas.
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