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Looking forward to post-pandemic, summer social events? Make them waste-free.

6/18/2021

1. BYO
Bring Your Own Basket
Ask your neighbors to bring their own plates, silverware, napkins, cups.

2. Avoid Singles
Serve drinks from kegs, pitchers or 2-liter bottles. If using recyclable drink cups, put out markers so guests can write names on cups.

3. Be Aware of Potluck Packaging
Encourage everyone to bring their
potluck items on platters and in bowls they take home and reuse.

Avoid styrofoam containers -which can’t be recycled.

4. Use Waste-Free Decorations
Avoid disposable tablecloths, center pieces, and balloons. Instead, have guests bring cloth tablecloths, real flowers and other creative, reusable decorations.

5. Clearly Label Waste Stations
OK, so you may create some waste. Make it easy for people to recycle by labeling
the trash and recycling bins with big, colorful signs so no one gets confused. Put all
trash and recycling bins right next to each other.

Spiders are important: get to know them, don’t spray them.

6/11/2021

Spiders are vital part of our ecosystem, including the ones in your own yard. While some may feel they have a frightening look about them, there is nothing to fear, unless you are an insect. Spiders eat many of the insects that we consider pests. Even their web is useful – hummingbirds use it to strengthen their nests (to the chagrin of the spiders they steal from)! Unless you are allergic, most spider bites cause little or not reaction. Only two species of spiders found in Pennsylvania, black widow and brown recluse, are highly toxic to humans and both are rare here. Therefore, resist the temptation to spray toxic chemicals to rid your house and the area outside of spiders. Not only are you removing an ally in pest control, but the chemicals have far reaching harmful effects on many more critters. Get to know some spiders; learn how cool they are, and you will find yourself welcoming them into your yard!

Spiders are Interesting
Along with their eight legs, spiders are known to have eight eyes. But not all spiders have eight eyes; some have six or fewer. Spiders that hunt during the day can have great eyesight, but others rely more on touch to find their way around. A layer of cells behind their retina, the tapetum lucidum, helps them catch light better at night, but can also help you see them: hold a flashlight shining forward next to your head, and you will be able to see spider eyeshine at night! Baby spiders are also super cool: some disperse from their eggsac by ballooning: they spin a thread of silk that they use to catch the wind, Mary Poppins-style, to find a new home.

Meet Some Local Spiders
You are likely to encounter the small but long legged cellar spider in your cellar or garage. When threatened, they vibrate in their web, perhaps making them less visible to a potential predator. This harmless spider particularly likes to eat ants, another reason to encourage them in your house.
Jumping spiders are small, furry, very cute, and the males have a complex courtship dance that involves raising his front legs and strutting back and forth in front of the female. Some display beautiful colors when their legs are raised.
The yellow garden spider is an impressive spider with beautiful yellow and black patterns on its body. It builds a large orb web with an interesting zig-zagging white stripe in the center. No one knows what this is for. While these spiders are large, they only bite if you try to handle them, and the bite is no worse than a bee sting.

Sources:
https://extension.psu.edu/commonly-encountered-pennsylvania-spiders

https://www.thoughtco.com/cellar-spiders-overview-1968551

https://australian.museum/learn/animals/spiders/how-spiders-see-the-world/

Repel ants from your home without toxic chemicals

6/4/2021

Ants provide vital ecological services as seed dispersers, detritivores, and arthropod predators, and are amazingly successful animals. As much as I find them fascinating in their industriousness and organization, I do prefer not to have them in my kitchen. Toxic chemicals, however, are harmful to us inside our house and to the native and beneficial wildlife outside. Besides, we don’t want to annihilate ants, just let them do their thing outside.

Jorge Vamos has compiled a list of non-toxic options for repelling ants from inside your house. He suggests finding the ants’ point of entry into the house and placing lemon rinds, baby powder, chalk, peppermint oil, or coffee grounds at that point or around the base of the house to deter the ants from entering. Inside your house, treat the places where you see ant trails with lemon juice, cinnamon, black pepper, chili powder, or cloves. You can also try combinations of more than one of these remedies. See the full article here.

Looking forward to post-pandemic, summer social events? Make them waste-free.

Spiders are important: get to know them, don’t spray them.

Repel ants from your home without toxic chemicals

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