Archive for the ‘Ecology’ Category

Self-Contained Compost Bin for Pet Waste

Thursday, March 19th, 2020
(originally from Cat’s Kitchen blog article)

I just learned about this from Dr. Mercola’s Healthy Pets website (1). Instead of polluting the earth’s lands and water with more non-compostable plastic bags, you can build a simple composter for your pet’s poop. From the article, you can “compost dog waste (2) in your own yard using a [metal or] plastic trash container. According to [Mike] Levenston [at City Farmer in Vancouver BC], it’s environmentally safe as it slowly decomposes due to septic starter, available at most hardware stores. However, he emphasizes, it’s important to note that composted dog waste should not go into your garden.

I wonder, will it also work for cat poop from the litter box? Read on, for more…

Building your own pet waste composter

The 2020 Mercola article (1a) provides instructions for a composter that is set in the ground with the lid on top, so the composted material can leach directly into the ground.  The composting is aided by adding a septic starter (available at most hardware stores).

Mercola’s 2016 article (1b) discusses using a calculated mix of poop and sawdust, as described by a University of Florida (UF) Extension article (2), which photos. The UF composter sits in a wood frame above ground, and is designed for dumping-over when full. The composted waste can then be added to your flower garden.

Both types can be made from metal or plastic garbage can, and have holes cut/drilled into the sides.

Composting cat litter:

I have two cats, and have often thought about putting the dirty kitty litter in my regular compost pile, but have not done so because of the granular litter into which my cat poops and pees. So when cleaning the litter box, I have always placed the clumps of litter into a biodegradable “Thank You” plastic bag (intended for grocery shopping; see Amazon ASIN B07G7V6JZB for 100 bags).

I do believe these bags are truly biodegradable (many brands are not) because I tested one by filling it with regular non-compostable garbage, and then let it sit on the ground outside for a few weeks. When I picked up the bag, the bottom fell out due to decomposition. So I’m comfortable putting these filled bags in my trash that goes to our local dump.

Unfortunately, the granular litter doesn’t decompose, so I would have to separate the pee and poop from that litter before putting them into a composter. Here’s one way to deal with it (I’ve not yet tested this method):

  1. Separate poop from litterthis step is easy, as the poop just sits on top of the litter. Simply use a litter scoop to remove the pieces of poop to a biodegradable bag.
  2. Separate pee from litter: place peed litter in a strainer, then run water over the litter to remove and dilute the pee into a pail. Spread the diluted pee over your lawn or over the ground where shrubs and trees grow.
  3. Allow the cleaned litter to dry for reuse (I would only reuse it once). After reuse, put it into a biodegradable bag for going to the dump.

References:

  1. Mercola Healthy Pets:  healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2020/03/19/dog-waste-digester.aspx
  2. healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2016/08/25/composting-dog-poop.aspx
  3. Univ. Florida Extension: sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/sarasota/natural-resources/waste-reduction/composting/what-is-composting/compost-bins/self-contained-compost-bin/

Why farmed salmon should be banned

Tuesday, November 13th, 2018

Farmed Salmon Pen

by Catherine Haug, Nov, 2018 (Photo, right by  L. Renehan/Living Oceans Society (1))

Salmon is my favorite fish (after lutefisk), probably because when I was growing up in Bigfork in the 50 and 60s, we had an amazing land-locked salmon fishery here. When I moved to the west coast for college and career, I had abundant access to wild-caught ocean salmon. But we lost our salmon fishery here, and wild-caught salmon are in decline in the waters off the west coast of the USA and Canada.

You might think that switching to farmed salmon would help our wild salmon fisheries to recover, but sadly, this is not the case. In fact, the truth is just the opposite. (more…)

Are toxic ag-chemicals winning the battle?

Wednesday, June 20th, 2018

Frankenfood

By Catherine Haug, June 20, 2018 (Image, right, from OCA, used with permission)

Three huge ag company mergers have happened in recent weeks (2):

  • Monsanto and Bayer as Bayer (effective the first week of June, 2018)
  • Dow and Dupont, as DowDupont
  • ChemChina and Syngenta as ChemChina

These three, along with the German ag-chem giant BASF, will control 70 percent of the pesticide market. While the name “Monsanto” will disappear, their toxic ag sprays like Roundup will simply be labeled as Bayer products.

There’s never been a better time for us to support Organic and Regenerative agriculture (see link below), and turn our backs on all GMO foods. This includes meats and eggs from animals fed a GMO diet.

Read on for scary statistics, and for a spark of hope. (more…)

“The Need to Grow” Documentary in Whitefish, June 16, 2018

Friday, June 8th, 2018

By Catherine Haug, June 8, 2018

Thanks to Jean H. for letting me know about this documentary. It concerns a local algae aquaculture plant on F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co property, that uses industrial waste, like wood chips from the lumber plant, to create electricity and nutrient-rich soil amendments. This demonstration-scale greenhouse began operations in 2009; unfortunately, a 2015 fire destroyed the main powerhouse.

Filmmaker Rob Herring and his partner, Ryan Wirick, now present their documentary about this “game-changing” technology on June 16 at 7 p.m in Whitefish at the O’Shaughnessy Center,

To watch the documentary trailer, visit theneedtogrow.com; to purchase tickets for the Whitefish showing, go to algaeaqua.ticketleap.com/the-need-to-grow-whitefish; or for all screening locations: theneedtogrow.com/screenings

For more about this film, the technology, and the plant, see Flathead Beacon’s article flatheadbeacon.com/2018/06/08/the-need-to-grow/

References:

  1. Flathead Beacon: http://flatheadbeacon.com/2018/06/08/the-need-to-grow/

All about bees, our precious pollinators

Saturday, May 5th, 2018

Honeybee

By Catherine Haug, May 5, 2018 (Photo, right, from Bug Guide (5))

I’ve written many posts about the plight of bees, and how to help our native mason bees by providing homes for them. But I’ve not written much about these amazing animals. I hope to correct that by bringing your attention to an article by a British blogger, Clive Harris, who requested I provide a link to his post: The Ultimate Guide to British Bees: How to Protect Their Declining Population (1). While he writes from Britain, we have many of the same bees including honey bees, bumblebees and other ground-dwelling bees, and mason bees. He also goes into a lot of detail about bees:

  • An amazing video about the waggle dance;
  • How do bees make honey and beeswax?
  • How do bees help the garden?
  • What’s the difference between bees and wasps?
  • 4 things you can do to help bees.

His is a long post, but full of lots of great information – share with your kids/grandkids! See Reference (1), below.

Below I include:

  • 3 videos about the waggle dance, and how scientists discovered it’s meaning;
  • List of prior articles on The EssentiaList about bees, including John Holbrook’s articles on mason bees and bee motels;
  • References

(more…)

Clever ideas for gardening and repurposing

Saturday, February 3rd, 2018

Milk Jug Hot Caps

By Catherine Haug, Feb 3, 2018; image right, from Gardening Hacks article (1)

I happened upon an interesting blog article: 19 Gardening Hacks to Become a Pro Gardener (1). Several of the hacks involve repurposing household items that would otherwise  be trash/compost. Here’s a list of the 19; check out the article for more detail on each. (more…)