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DIY Florist: Create a Bouquet From Your Garden

Darla Antoine, Indian Country Today Media Network

Most of my gardening tips have been about planting, harvesting and preserving (or cooking) fruits and vegetables. This week I’d like to dedicated this column space to something a little more beautiful and delicate, something with a touch more impermanence: bouquets.

Arranging a bouquet can be as simple as gathering a bunch of flowers and sticking them in a vase or a mason jar. And guys? Stepping out into the garden and returning with a thoughtfully plucked bundle of flowers is much more romantic then coming home with a half-wilted, plastic-covered handful of flowers with a grocery store price tag. And gals? Guys like to get flowers from their sweethearts too . . . they just may not know it yet.

Beautiful, low-maintenance flowers that make awesome bouquets include hydrangeas, zinnias, dahlias, sunflowers and feverfew. There are also the classic bouquet makers: roses, daffodils, daisies and lilies. Really you can put anything into a bouquet but these flowers are great choices with a hardy vase life. Hydrangeas, roses, zinnias, feverfew and certain kinds of daisies also make great dried flower arrangements for a more permanent arrangement.

If you want to up your game and create something that really stuns, or perhaps you want to make your own bouquets for a special event like a wedding, there are a few simple tips to remember.

First, you can make beautiful bouquets with just one type of flower. Gather a bunch of zinnias or peonies, for example. Gather a lot more than you think you’ll need because you are going to really want to pack them together. Strip off all of the leaves and cut the stems so that they are lush with the jar or vase that you are going to place them in, you’ll want the outside flowers to be resting on the lip of the vase. Viola! This is also a great option for a simple, elegant and contemporary bridal bouquet. Cut the stems to your desired length and then secure them together with florist tape or several large rubber bands. Conceal the rubber bands with a wide, beautiful bow.

If mixing and matching several types of flowers it may help to do a little planning before you start cutting. Bigger flowers can be accented with smaller flowers, for example. Also think about the colors you’ll be using. Light pink zinnias would pair well with dark pink gerbera daisies. Red dahlias would pair well with other red or orange flowers. Yellow daffodils and yellow roses may not look so great together—that’s a lot of yellow and their shapes are so different that it would be hard to create any cohesiveness for the eye to follow.

Cut all of the stems for your arrangement at the same time and slightly longer than you’ll think you need them, making room for error. Cutting the stems at an angle helps the flower suck up water. The flowers at the back of your arrangement should have longer stems than the plants towards the front. And don’t forget that you can use things other than flowers in your arrangements! Ferns, leaves, a curly thin twig, and ornamental grasses all make great additions to a bouquet and help fill in space while creating visual interest.

And don’t forget your greatest resource: the Internet. A quick images search will earn you thousands of pictures for inspiration. With a little practice you may even find yourself with a new hobby or a new job as a florist!

Darla Antoine is an enrolled member of the Okanagan Indian Band in British Columbia and grew up in Eastern Washington State. For three years, she worked as a newspaper reporter in the Midwest, reporting on issues relevant to the Native and Hispanic communities, and most recently served as a producer for Native America Calling. In 2011, she moved to Costa Rica, where she currently lives with her husband and their infant son. She lives on an organic and sustainable farm in the “cloud forest”—the highlands of Costa Rica, 9,000 feet above sea level. Due to the high elevation, the conditions for farming and gardening are similar to that of the Pacific Northwest—cold and rainy for most of the year with a short growing season. Antoine has an herb garden, green house, a bee hive, cows, a goat, and two trout ponds stocked with hundreds of rainbow trout.

Darla Antoine on a recent visit to Washington State (Courtesy Darla Antoine)

WSU study finds no more genetically modified wheat

Credit: Getty ImagesWheat Field — Credit: Getty Images
Wheat Field

August 7, 2013

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS — Associated Press

PULLMAN, WASH. — A study by Washington State University has found no additional sign of the genetically modified wheat discovered at one Oregon farm this spring.

The tests involved dozens of wheat varieties developed at Washington State, the University of Idaho and Oregon State University, plus varieties from Westbred/Monsanto and Limagrain Cereal Seeds, WSU said this week.

The time-consuming study included checking more than 20,000 individual plots, Washington State University said.

“WSU undertook its own investigation as part of its commitment to serving Northwest farmers,” said James Moyer, director of WSU’s Agricultural Research Center.

The study’s collaboration with the other universities and the commercial seed companies was unprecedented, and reflected the common goal of trying to determine if the genetically modified wheat discovered in Oregon was an isolated case or if the industry had a larger problem, Moyer said.

WSU’s data clearly suggests this was an isolated case, Moyer said.

The tests involved growing seed, spraying infant plants with the herbicide glyphosate and conducting molecular testing. None of the plants showed the glyphosate resistance found in the fields of an as-yet-unnamed Oregon farmer, WSU said.

Last month, the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service also said grain tests and interviews with several hundred farmers found no other instances of herbicide-resistant crops beyond that one Oregon farm.

The modified wheat was discovered in May when field workers at an eastern Oregon farm were clearing acres for the bare offseason and came across a patch of wheat that didn’t belong. The workers sprayed it, but the wheat wouldn’t die, so the farmer sent a sample to Oregon State University to test.

A few weeks later, Oregon State wheat scientists discovered that the wheat was genetically modified. They contacted the USDA, which ran more tests and confirmed the discovery.

Agriculture Department officials have said the modified wheat discovered in the Oregon field is the same strain as a genetically modified wheat that was designed to be herbicide-resistant and was legally tested by seed giant Monsanto a decade ago but never approved.

Most of the corn and soybeans grown in the United States are already modified, or genetically altered to include certain traits, often resistance to herbicides or pesticides. But the country’s wheat crop is not, as many wheat farmers have shown reluctance to use genetically engineered seeds since their product is usually consumed directly. Much of the corn and soybean crop is used as feed.

The USDA has said the wheat would be safe to eat if consumed. But American consumers, like many consumers in Europe and Asia, have shown an increasing interest in avoiding genetically modified foods.

The vast majority of Washington’s wheat is exported.

Don’t dismiss versatile kale

By Lisa Abraham, Akron Beacon Journal

Kale is one of the most versatile greens. It can be substituted for spinach in any dish, and pairs well with many foods: pasta, potatoes, sausage and white beans, to name a few. When you spot it at local farmers markets, don’t shy away from this hearty green.

Check out the recipes below for two different ways to prepare kale.

Braised curly kale with garlic and soy sauce

1 pound green curly kale
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped fresh red chili pepper
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
Salt and pepper

Remove any yellowing bits or tough stalks from the kale, then reserve the leaves in cold water. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil and season with salt. Drain the kale, add to the pan, and cook for 6 minutes. Drain again and keep warm.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet, add the chili and garlic, and fry gently for about 3 minutes, until the garlic begins to brown. Immediately put the cooked kale into the pan and stir well. Season lightly with pepper and the soy sauce, and cook for 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Serve warm.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Creamed purple kale with pepper and lemon

11/2 pounds purple kale
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 shallots, finely diced
3/4 cup medium-dry white wine
1 cup heavy cream
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and white pepper

Heat the olive oil in a skillet, add the shallots, and fry gently for 4 to 5 minutes, until they begin to brown. Pour in the wine and allow it to evaporate before adding the cream. Just as the cream starts to bubble, add the cooked kale and squeeze in the lemon juice. Grind in some white pepper and season lightly with salt. Allow the liquid to reduce slightly, then serve.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Recipes adapted from “Eat Your Vegetables” by Arthur Potts Dawson

Roasting ramps up the strawberry flavor

By Rose McAvoy, The Herald

Roasting produce is a terrific way to take the usual flavor and turn the volume way up. Boosting the volume of flavor is among my top tips when it comes to lightening your cooking. We tend to read a lot about roasting vegetables such as potatoes, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. Roasting fruit can be equally if not even more rewarding. Roasted apples, for instance, with some cinnamon and honey can be a real crowd-pleaser on a crisp fall evening.

Not long ago I got the urge to bake a whole mess of scones featuring fresh strawberries. I’ll share that recipe in my next post. In the meantime we need to get the strawberries de-juiced so they can be mixed into the scone batter. Scones are one of those slightly touchy pastries. The dough needs to be just moist enough to hold together, but too much liquid and you don’t have a scone you have a mess. Fresh off the vine strawberries can bring too much liquid to an otherwise perfect scone batter. You could use home or commercially dehydrated strawberries but I really wanted to keep as much of the peak of season flavor as possible. This brought me to roasting.

In my ears, roasted strawberries sounds fancy and sophisticated. Once I figured out the process I was delighted by their rustic simplicity. The result is a caramelized strawberry flavor minus most of the moisture that is just perfect for folding into a scone, muffin, pancake, or most other pastry.

Give roasting strawberries a try while they are still fresh and affordable, then stay tuned for the scone recipe!

Roasted Strawberries

2 pounds of fresh strawberries – washed & dried, stems removed, cut into 3/4 inch pieces (probably quarters or 1/8th depending on the size of your berries)

1. Lay the berries in a single layer on a parchment or silicone baking mat lined cookie sheet.

2. Bake the berries at 325 degrees for 30-45 minutes. I prefer a lower temperature for a longer time to really concentrate the flavor of the berries.

3. Most of the liquid will leak out of the berries and puddle up around them. (Once the berries have cooled you can peel up the juice and enjoy it as a faux fruit leather.)

4. Scoop the roasted berries into a sealed container and store in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake with them. The chilled roasted strawberries should keep for a couple of days. 2 lbs of fresh berries should leave you with about 1 cup after roasting.

No more mail delivery at your door?

The post office has been moving toward curbside and cluster box delivery in new housing areas since the 1970s.

Associated Press

July 25, 2013

WASHINGTON — Americans for generations have come to depend on door-to-door mail delivery. It’s about as American as apple pie.

But with the Postal Service facing billions of dollars in annual losses, the delivery service could be virtually phased out by 2022 under a proposal a House panel was considering Wednesday. Curbside delivery, which includes deliveries to mailboxes at the end of driveways, and cluster box delivery would replace letter carriers slipping mail into front-door boxes.

Letter carrier Diosdado Gabnat moves boxes of mail into his truck at a post office in Seattle.

The proposal is part of broader legislation by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, designed to cut costs at the cash-strapped agency by up to $4.5 billion a year. The Postal Service had a $16 billion loss last year.

The agency has been moving toward curbside and cluster box delivery in new residential developments since the 1970s. The Postal Service in April began deciding whether to provide such delivery for people moving into newly built homes rather than letting the developers decide.

“A balanced approach to saving the Postal Service means allowing USPS to adapt to America’s changing use of mail,” Issa said. “Done right, these reforms can improve the customer experience through a more efficient Postal Service.”

About one in three mail customers has door-to-door delivery, Issa said. The shift would include safe and secure cluster box delivery areas, he said, especially for elderly customers who receive Social Security checks and prescriptions through the mail.

About 30 million residential addresses receive delivery to boxes at the door or a mail slot. Another 87 million residential addresses receive curbside or cluster box delivery.

The cost differences are clear. Curbside delivery costs average $224 per year for each address, while cluster box delivery averages $160. Door-to-door delivery costs the agency about $350 per year, on average.

Sue Brennan, a Postal Service spokeswoman, said, “While converting delivery away from the door to curb or centralized delivery would allow the Postal Service to deliver mail to more addresses in less time, doing so is not included in our five-year plan.”

Brennan said the agency’s five-year plan does call for shifting 20 percent of business address deliveries from door-to-door to curbside and cluster box delivery through 2016.

Rep. Steve Lynch, D-Mass., said the plan to move some 30 million residential addresses from to-the-door to curbside and cluster box service would be virtually impossible in dense urban areas such as his hometown of South Boston crowded with triple-deckers — three apartments stacked on top of each other.

“You’d have to knock houses down in my neighborhood to build cluster boxes,” Lynch said. “This will not work.”

It might work in places like Manhattan with big apartment buildings, he said.

“Look, there’s no availability for cluster boxes in many communities around the country,” Lynch said.

Issa’s plan allows for people with physical hardships to get waivers allowing them to keep door delivery. There’s also a provision giving people the option to keep door delivery by paying a special fee to cover the additional cost.

Issa’s bill also allows the Postal Service to take into account factors such as poverty rates and population density in deciding which areas would be allowed to keep door delivery.

The financially beleaguered Postal Service, an independent agency, gets no tax dollars for its day-to-day operations, but is subject to congressional control.

The Postal Service is pursuing a major restructuring throughout its retail, delivery and mail processing operations. Since 2006, it has reduced annual costs by about $15 billion, cut its workforce by 193,000 or 28 percent, and consolidated more than 200 mail-processing locations.

The service’s losses are largely due to a decline in mail volume and a congressional requirement that it make advance payments to cover expected health care costs for future retirees. About $11.1 billion of last year’s losses were due to payments for future retiree health costs.

The volume of mail handled by the Postal Service has decreased steadily as the popularity of email, Facebook and other electronic services has grown. Total mail volume handled by the agency fell to 160 billion pieces last year from its all-time high, 213.1 billion in 2006. Revenue fell to $65.2 billion last budget year, from a high of $74.9 billion in 2008.

The Postal Service is considering several options to fix its finances, including negotiations with unions to reduce labor costs and another possible increase in prices.

The service earlier this year backpedaled on its plan to end Saturday mail delivery after running into opposition in Congress. It has tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully over the past several years to persuade Congress to approve ending Saturday mail delivery and to free the service from the advance health payments.

Cedar Grove cited for June odor violations

By KIRK BOXLEITNER
Marysville Globe Reporter
JULY 24, 2013 · 10:03 AM

EVERETT — Another summer marks another set of complaints about the odors allegedly emanating from Cedar Grove Composting’s Smith Island facility, which was cited for two odor violations on June 6 and another two on June 25 by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.

PSCAA spokesperson Joanne Todd explained that this makes 13 citations in the past five years for Cedar Grove at Smith Island, in addition to four written warnings within that time, although she also noted that the Smith Island composting plant had not received any citations for 2013 until the month of June.

Susan Thoman, director of public affairs for Cedar Grove, added that these PSCAA notices of violation were the first for the Smith Island plant in three years, and reported that their on-site electronic odor monitoring data for June 6 “clearly contradicts” the PSCAA’s findings, by showing no detectable odors leaving the plant during the times cited by those notices.

“We understand the community’s frustrations, and we care deeply about talking to people about them,” Thoman said. “We’ve begun a review of these findings and our data with Puget Sound Clean Air Agency officials, to try and resolve any disagreements.”

As of Monday, July 22, Cedar Grove had yet to receive the two PSCAA violation notices for June 25, and thus, Thoman declined to comment upon them specifically.

Todd acknowledged that Cedar Grove might not necessarily be subject to disciplinary action as a result of the PSCAA notices, especially since the company can choose to appeal them, but she also clarified that the odor complaints are independent from the agency’s ongoing odor study employing “e-noses” from Odotech similar to those already installed by Cedar Grove at Smith Island.

“With complaints, the public calls in bad odors, and our inspectors work to trace those smells back from those residences to their sources,” Todd said. “The Odotech e-noses have nothing to do with those notices of violation. Cedar Grove owns their own e-noses, and we’ve installed a number of e-noses in other locations to help scientifically identify the source of the odor that so many people in Marysville and North Everett have smelled, but we’re not using them for compliance.”

Todd elaborated that the data from those 10 e-noses will be combined with observations from trained area residents, meteorological factors and other information after the study wraps up, which Todd expects will occur around November of this year.

“It’s going to give us a ton of data, which will take a lot longer than a month to go through,” Todd said.

In the meantime, Thoman relayed the number of positive comments she’s received from the community about Cedar Grove’s composting work, while urging the public to consider the other potential sources of the odor, and Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring reiterated his concerns about the PSCAA study.

“We were always opposed to the e-noses,” Nehring said. “Cedar Grove had a contract with Odotech before the study started, so we believed they would be a bit biased, and our Public Works Director Kevin Nielsen pointed out that the e-noses are not qualified to deal with compost because they can only pick up very defined odors. We don’t have any illusions that the e-noses will say that Cedar Grove is the culprit behind the odor, but without even saying for certain where the odor is coming from, we just want it to away, and we think Cedar Grove could help out with that.”

Want to help revitalize Native food traditions?

Join tribal leaders to learn about policy changes and other strategies that support the People and Land

Participants from the 2012 Our Food is Our Medicine Conference hold up vegetables cooked in a traditional pit oven. Photo courtesy of NWIC

Source: Ryan Key-Wynne, NWIC

Studies show that returning to a more traditional diet can help Native Americans improve health and reduce problems such as diabetes. People from throughout Indian Country have put those findings to work and are contributing to policy changes and strategies that promote access to traditional foods.

Many of these champions for traditional diets will gather at the second annual Our Food is Our Medicine conference, hosted by Northwest Indian College’s Institute of Indigenous Foods & Traditions. The conference brings together tribal leaders and allies, giving them opportunities to teach and learn from each other while initiating ongoing relationships that will benefit all.

“We are very excited to host this gathering, which brings people together to discuss successful models for activating policy change in tribal communities,” said Meghan McCormick, coordinator of the Institute of Indigenous Foods & Traditions, which is a program of NWIC’s Cooperative Extension Department. “While many tribal agencies throughout the United States engage in work related to wellness through traditional plants and foods, there is often little collaboration between these organizations. Most are burdened by incredibly heavy workloads. This gathering will be a platform for people to connect, share ideas, and inspire one another.”

One speaker who is sure to inspire at the conference is Micah McCarty (Makah), the former chairman of the Makah Nation and current chair of the First Stewards Board (among many other leadership roles). McCarty is one of the keynote speakers lined up for the conference. His work in Neah Bay, Washington led to significant headway in strengthening the response to oil spills in coastal waters, helped to protect tribal whaling rights, and fostered strong connections between tribal and non-tribal governments.

In addition to invigorating keynote speakers, the conference will include interactive workshops, plant walks, traditional food sharing, storytelling and cooking demonstrations.

“This year we are focusing on policy in support of the People and the Land,” McCormick. “We will be discussing strategies that will bring traditional foods in tribal programming and how to build partnerships with land holders to sustainably harvest and protect resources”

Some workshops will include:

Tribal Food Sovereignty Projects
Policy in Government Programs
Tribal Food Policy Council
Policy to Improve Access & Protection of Gathering Sites
GMOs
Seed Saving
Composting
Climate Change & Policy
Seaweed Demonstration
Activating your Story

The conference will take place Sept. 11-13 and will be held at Bastyr University, an innovative university focused on natural health education near Seattle, Wash. The registration cost for the conference is $200, day passes are $100.

For more information, contact Meghan McCormick, Institute of Indigenous Foods & Traditions coordinator, at (360) 594-4099 or mmccormick@nwic.edu. To register, visit bit.ly/ofom2013.

Brown Recluse Spiders May Invade Northern U.S. as Planet Warms

Venomous brown recluses exist within a smaller range than many realize, and their existence may be threatened by climate change.CREDIT: Rick Vetter — Venomous brown recluses exist within a smaller range than many realize, and their existence may be threatened by climate change.
CREDIT: Rick Vetter

Wynne Parry, LiveScience Senior Writer

Date: 27 April 2011 Time: 03:24 PM ET

Climate change may give America’s venomous brown recluse spiders a choice: Move to a more northern state or face dramatic losses in range and possible extinction, a new theoretical study suggests.

Currently, brown recluse spiders are found in the interior of roughly the southeastern quarter of the continental United States. Researcher Erin Saupe used two ecological computer models to predict the extent of the spider’s range in 2020, 2050 and 2080 given theeffects of global warming.

“The actual amount of suitable habitat of the brown recluse doesn’t change dramatically in the future time slices, but what is changing is where that area is located,” said Saupe, who was pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Kansas when she did the work. She is now a doctoral student there.

If the projections are correct, by 2080, perhaps only 5 percent of the spider’s current range — which extends from Kansas across to Kentucky and from Texas across to Georgia, including the states in between — would remain suitable for it. However, climate change could make portions of Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Nebraska and South Dakota habitable to the spiders.

The shaded region represents the current distribution of the brown recluse.CREDIT: Erin Saupe/PLoS ONE — The shaded region represents the current distribution of the brown recluse.
CREDIT: Erin Saupe/PLoS ONE

Arachnophobia

This may come as a surprise to some residents of these states. In many minds, brown recluse spiders – with their outsized reputation for bringing death, amputations and paralysis – already occupy most of the country, Rick Vetter, a research associate at the University of California, Riverside contends.

Vetter, one of the study authors, created the Brown Recluse Challenge, a 4½-year project. “I got tired of people telling me that brown recluses are all over the U.S and Canada, and I said, ‘Send them to me and I will identify them,'” Vetter said.

One thousand, seven hundred and seventy three spiders later, it was clear that any brown, eight-legged arachnid was at risk of misidentification as a brown recluse – 79 percent of the specimens he received from people across the country were not of the species Loxosceles reclusa, Vetter told LiveScience.

“People fear the unknown. … They like to tell scary stories, they are willing to believe bad things about things they don’t like anyway, so there is a lot of human psychology that is wrapped around the brown recluse,” he said. [Top 10 Phobias]

The challenge has since been picked up by the University of Florida.

In nature, brown recluses live underneath bark or logs in dry areas or underneath hanging rocks. But humans also create a good habitat for them in cellars, attics and garages, according to Vetter.

Their venom contains a toxin that causes skin to die, resulting in what are known as necrotic lesions. In about 90 percent of cases, the bite of a brown recluse has virtually no effect. The other 10 percent cause severe symptoms with potentially life-threatening complications. There are no solid statistics available, but Vetter estimates that one or two bite-induced deaths occur each year, typically in small children.

Homebody spiders

In spite of their affinity for human-created habitats, these spiders have little success establishing and spreading outside their native range. They may be transported when people move outside the spider’s native range, and they can infest a new house, but they won’t spread from there, Vetter said.

“Think about the Dust Bowl era,” he said. “How many thousands of people came to California, how many tens of thousands of boxes of possessions they brought with them, and how many hundreds of thousands of brown recluses came with them? And they didn’t establish a population in California.”

Brown recluses cannot travel on air currents, unlike some other spiders, which limits their means for transport. [How Spiders Fly Hundreds of Miles]

It is possible the spiders may be unable to move north quickly enough to establish in new habitat as parts of their current range become inhospitable, although it is conceivable that by hitching a ride with humans, the spiders may make the migration, the researchers write in a study published online March 25 in the journal PLoS ONE.

The study used two greenhouse gas emissions scenarios, one more dramatic than the other, derived from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The two modeling programs took seven environmental variables related to temperature and precipitation into account.

Both of the emissions scenarios indicated new states could be invaded as far north as parts of Minnesota, Michigan and South Dakota. Both scenarios were run using the two ecological models, resulting in divergent trends. One model showed that the spiders’ habitable area would decrease with time, while the other showed an increase in habitable area.

The predictions should not be taken as gospel; the models aren’t perfect. Saupe used them to predict the current range of the brown recluse and found that it included the Atlantic coast states, farther east than where the spiders actually are. The discrepancy may be due to an error in the model, or it may be that spiders are being kept from the habitable territory closer to the coast by a barrier, perhaps the Appalachian Mountains, Saupe said.

Of course, brown recluse spiders aren’t the only living thingswhose habitat is affected by climate change.

“It is scary to think that if this much change could happen in one species, what could happen in the myriad species that exist all over the Earth?” Saupe said.

Two ecological models, named GARP and Maxtent, were used to project the range of the brown recluse, shown in blue, under two different greenhouse gas emissions scenarios: a2a and b2a from the IPCC. A2a assumed more dramatic climate change than b2a. CREDIT: Erin Saupe/PLoS ONE — Two ecological models, named GARP and Maxtent, were used to project the range of the brown recluse, shown in blue, under two different greenhouse gas emissions scenarios: a2a and b2a from the IPCC. A2a assumed more dramatic climate change than b2a.
CREDIT: Erin Saupe/PLoS ONE

You can follow LiveScience senior writer Wynne Parry on Twitter @Wynne_Parry. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and onFacebook.

Diabetes garden plant give away

Didi Garlow, Master Gardener helps fill planters to take home.Photo by Monica Brown — Didi Garlow, Master Gardener at the Diabetes Garden helps fill planters to take home.
Photo by Monica Brown

By Monica Brown, Tulalip News Writer
TULALIP, WA – The Diabetes Garden at the Karen I Fryberg Health clinic gave away, to their attendees, planter boxes with plants. The Diabetes Garden is a place where patients and community members can come to learn more about plant and garden care for a healthier future.

Community members and patients were invited to come out and fill a planter box to bring home so they can start a small garden. The planter boxes were filled with an assortment of vegetable, herb and flower plants and each person was given a fresh bag of soil to bring home.

This garden event will run until 1:00 pm Tuesday, July 16. But will continue during future, to be announced, garden and health clinic events.

Roni Leahy on right, sorts out plants to take homePhoto by Monica Brown — Master Gardener, Roni Leahy on right, sorts out plants to take home
Photo by Monica Brown

Planter boxes, plants and soil were given to each person.Photo by Monica Brown — Planter boxes, plants and soil were given to each person.
Photo by Monica Brown

The Surprising Cause of Most ‘Spider Bites’

By Douglas Main, Staff Writer LiveScience.com

Date: 05 July 2013 Time: 09:01 AM ET

If the thought of spiders makes your skin crawl, you might find it reassuring that the chances of being bitten by a spider are smaller than you imagine, recent research shows.

Most so-called “spider bites” are not actually spider bites, according to researchers and several recent studies. Instead, “spider bites” are more likely to be bites or stings from other arthropods such as fleas, skin reactions to chemicals or infections, said Chris Buddle, an arachnologist at McGill University in Montreal.

“I’ve been handling spiders for almost 20 years, and I’ve never been bitten,” Buddle told LiveScience. “You really have to work to get bitten by a spider, because they don’t want to bite you.”

For one thing, spiders tend to avoid people, and have no reason to bite humans because they aren’t bloodsuckers and don’t feed on humans, Buddle said. “They are far more afraid of us than we are of them,” he said. “They’re not offensive.”

Not very scary

When spider bites do happen, they tend to occur because the eight-legged beasts are surprised — for example when a person reaches into a glove, shoe or nook that they are occupying at the moment, Buddle said.

Even then, however, the majority of spiders are not toxic to humans. Spiders prey on small invertebrates such as insects, so their venom is not geared toward large animals such as humans.

Many spiders aren’t even capable of piercing human flesh. Buddle said he has observed spiders “moving their fangs back and forth against his skin,” all to no avail. [Creepy, Crawly & Incredible: Photos of Spiders]

Only about a dozen of the approximately 40,000 spider species worldwide can cause serious harm to the average healthy adult human. In North America, there are only two groups of spiders that are medically important: the widow group (which includes black widows) and the recluse group (brown recluses). These spiders do bite people, and if they live in your area, you should know what they look like, Buddle said. But still, records show bites from these spiders are very infrequent.

The bite of widow spiders like the black widow is one of the only well-recognized spider bites in North America, with obvious, unmistakable symptoms, said Rick Vetter, a retired arachnologist at the University of California at Riverside. Signs can include intense pain and muscle contractions, which occur because the bite interferes with nerves in muscles.

Nowadays, deaths from the bite are rare thanks to widow spider antivenom. Before this was developed, however, treatments for black widow bites included whiskey, cocaine and nitroglycerine, according to a review Vetter published this month in the journal Critical Care Nursing Clinics of North America.

Misidentified ‘bites’

Often, black widow and brown recluse spiders are misidentified, and reported in regions where they are extremely unlikely to actually live, Vetter said. For example, In South Carolina, 940 physicians responding to a survey reported a total of 478 brown recluse spider bites in the state — but only one brown recluse bite has ever been definitively confirmed in the state. Recluses are mainly found in the central and southern United States, according to Vetter’s study.

“I’ve had 100 recluse spiders running up my arm, and I’ve never been bitten by one,” Vetter told LiveScience.

The vast majority of “spider bites” are caused by something else, research shows. One study Vetter cited found that of 182 Southern California patients seeking treatment for spider bites, only 3.8 percent had actual spider bites, while 85.7 percent had infections.

And a national study found that nearly 30 percent of people with skin lesions who said they had a spider bite actually had methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections. Other things that can cause symptoms that mimic spider bites include biting fleas or bedbugs, allergies, poison oak and poison ivy, besides various viral and bacterial infections, Vetter said.

In recent years, doctors have become better at identifying true spider bites, Vetter writes.

But spiders are still widely regarded as dangerous to humans, which is generally not the case, Buddle said.

Spiders are good at killing “nuisance insects,” which may be more likely to bite humans than spiders, Buddle added. “In the vast majority of cases, spiders are our friends.”

Email Douglas Main or follow him on Twitter or Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook orGoogle+. Article originally on LiveScience.com