My misadventures with Neem Oil Concentrate

For the last two years my boyfriend and I have been very interested in the local and organic food movement. We have obtained most of our fruit and veg from local farmers markets, and failing that at least from the organic section of the grocer. Last November we put our toe in the water, seeing what it means to grow our own food. I bought one spinach plant and one rainbow chard plant and then had the privilege of watching them die by means of fat green caterpillars and my own southern Californian, urban-raised black-thumbs. In January I tried again, only adding two chamomile plants to my potted garden collection. Again the leafy greens died. I thought that the chamomile was toast, and yet I still have two very happy flowering plants. I guess that was the turning point – because the stick plant is now a small bush and the former bush is slowly becoming a tree!

We started collecting the tools we would need to grow our food garden – soil, pots, seeds, spray cans, etc. Our goal was organic, so no sprays. We had an emergency planting session in late March when we discovered that a bunch of our seeds had not been properly protected from moisture and sprouted in their plastic bags. From that day forward we became farmers. Now I have a dozen melons and watermelon plants, too many cucumber plants, beats, kale, a few leafy spring mixes, arugula, basil, chard, parsley, strawberries, and dozens of herbs that I cannot identify let alone name (thank you Google!).  

When the plants stayed indoors, they were very happy… but we quickly ran out of space for the two of us, so to the backyard they went! Then we all had the fun of understanding over- and under-watering, root rot and of course, reacquainting ourselves with our lovely friends green caterpillars and sucky-bugs. I still screech and shudder every time I need to squish a big juicy caterpillar… but I am getting better! Promise! Still, we were losing ground and something needed to happen before we had no garden left. We tried the dove-cayenne pepper-water spray and other organic mixes from YouTube. No luck. Plus I was not keen on sacrificing our blender to soap duty full time…. we kept looking and discovered Neem Oil. Many many many research videos later, we decided to keep an eye out for this incredible non-toxic organic-gardening product.

May passed into June with no Neem Oil luck. And then I thought I’d struck gold – there was Neem Oil at Home Depot! (Natria Neem OilConcentration-706240B by Bayer Advanced) It worked great – in fact, too I think the stuff worked a little too well. There were several of my green squishy nemeses lying convulsed and very dead at the base of the kale the next morning. We’ve used our home-mixed Neem Oil spray twice since I bought in last month - it works very well when we use it and the squishy green guys come inching back when we take a break…. What I find interesting is the change in our plants within that one month time. Now, to be fair, I be spraying, I may have made the stuff too concentrated, or I am simply did not washing my kale enough, but my boyfriend has been complaining about an increased bitter taste. Last night my mouth went numb from the stuff from my back yard. This is a problem that I am not keen to perpetuate. I think my organic garden may not be as organic as I would like to think.

I looked at the product label today. The ingredient list was a little vague – 70% neem oil concentrate and 30% “other ingredients.” When I read food labels “other ingredients” is a red flag that includes anything from chemical preservatives to food coloring. Honestly, it could be water, but I am not about to hold my breath. The Bayer website is not very helpful because I cannot even find the product listed. I need to dive deeper into the issue and try to find out more!

Asking Questions

There are some days when I ask a million questions and chatter all day. Other days I spend in complete silence. Lately, I have become more aware of this dichotomy, and even feel a little self-conscious of it. Rather than try to radically change my behavior, I have been meditating on the motivations and meanings of one of my core mantras – Ask Questions. I was surprised by what came up.

Ask Questions is a lot more than a simple self-reminder to ask questions when they come up… To me Ask Questions has a myriad of meanings that encourage me to:

– Be an Active Listener.

– Be Bold. Speak up when the room is silent.
– Be Clear.
– Be Damn Certain! Do you really have all the answers?
– Be Ernest & Engaged. The response reflects the attitude with which the question is asked.
– Be Focused. Get to the point! Rambling = Trouble.
– Be Genuine. If you don’t want to know, don’t ask.
– Be Humble. What can you learn today?
– Be Inquisitive. Think inside, outside, and around the box.
– Be Jazzed!
– Be Kind. How is your loved-one/co-worker/friend/neighbor doing?
– Be Led by the conversation, but also be willing to re-focus on the topic at hand.
– Be Meditative. Take the time to digest what has been said.
– Be Neutral.
– Be Open to open-ended questioning.
– Be Precise. Communication is a complicated business – What are you really asking?
– Be Quiet. Let the answer be answered before you ask another question.
– Be Rational & Irrational. Can you break the logic?
– Be Still – it helps focus on the speaker.
– Be Tenacious. You might not get an answer on the first or second or even tenth try.
– Be Up to Date with your facts, figures, and background knowledge.
– Be Voracious!
– Be Willing to explore. The journey of discovery often teaches more than the answer ever will.
– Be X-acting.
– Be Yourself.
– Be Zeus. Some days you don’t need to ask. You just know.

What does Asking Questions mean to you?

The Game of Questions&Answers

At work I an engineer in a sea of scientists. For all that my colleagues and I took the same math and science classes in school, we still think differently. My brain packages up the big and small picture to create "solutions." Their brains ask "Who?" "What?" "Why?" long after I've gone to the beach for an evening swim. Some days we don't speak the same language; but then on other days we harmonize and create Art! Those days of Artistry happen when I remember to play the game of Questions&Answers.

The game of Questions&Answers is based in the Scientific Method. The premise of the Scientific Method is that reality will speak for itself, if the seeker takes the time to objectively Listen. Notice, I did not start with a carefully crafted study question and hypothesis. Life rarely follows the rules of your typical high school chemistry notebook and therefore scientific inquiry cannot start full-throttle! First, there is a period of Listening and Introspection, or as William Whewell put it, "invention, sagacity, [and] genius."

There are a lot of facts and opinions that make up the universe.
Some are relevant.
Some you think are relevant.
Some are relevant, but in a different way.
And some are just distracting.
The key is Listening; Asking the Question - What else?; and then Listening again.

It takes time and patience - more than I think I have some days. To decide dinner plans? It only takes 1-2 iterations, a few meditative breaths. To design a multi-million dollar monitoring program? Let's just say, things become more involved.

Either way, I am dedicated to playing the game of Questions&Answers - At work, at home, in my relationships. It's a game that should be played everyday! It helps keep me from jumping in too soon, with a head full of assumptions, emotions, distractions, worries... I use the game to identify the most relevant questions, clarify my foundational assumptions, develop test-able hypotheses and then (and only then) appropriate testing parameters. That's when I start navigating the chemistry notebook.

LID v. GI?

Recent chat on LinkedIn brought a new combined acronym to my attention - LID/GI.

The North American stormwater industry knows the acronym LID.  Low Impact Development, or LID for short, is a land planning/engineering approach which uses small-scale, “natural” hydrologic controls (i.e., infiltration, filtration, evaporation, detention close to the source, storage/reuse,) to mimic pre-development hydrologic conditions.  LID is an important tool for meeting the goals of the Clean Water Act and plays a role in Greening Cities, Smart Growth, and Green Infrastructure (GI).

In reference to the USEPA website, GI appears to be the integrated consideration for habitat/energy/community/water/air.  Keeping things at the highest (graphical) level – I could assume LID would support water-specific GI… wherein GI would be used to achieve the equivalent paradigm shift that the Australians did with water-sensitive urban design (WSUD) in 2009…. to encourage management of stormwater runoff as a resource rather than a nuisance or liability. At least, this is where my heart hoped the conversation will/would lead.

Alas, the story forms a bit differently.

“Unlike single-purpose gray stormwater infrastructure, which uses pipes to dispose of rainwater, green infrastructure uses vegetation and soil to manage rainwater where it falls.”  If interpreted strictly, this would exclude container-ized aspects of LID (tanks, barrels, cisterns), making GI a sub-set of LID.  This language appears to be in closest parallel to the April 2007 Green Infrastructure Statement of Intent, wherein this natural approach to proposed for managing sanitary sewage overflows and/or combined stormwater/sanitary sewer overflows.  Similarly, California’s January 2012 Green Design funding guidance, Guidelines for Green Infrastructure Components, references green roofs and porous pavement for infiltration and evapotranspiration.

However, the GI discussion on the USEPA website lead and supporting case studies for cisterns, bioinfiltration, porous concrete, stormwater vaults, drought tolerant landscaping, etc… making the case for GI and LID to be interchangeable – a single acronym – when considered in the stormwater world.  Examples of this merging of terms is increasingly prevalent in USEPA documents, state permits, agency discussions, and even professional commentary.

So it appears that the potential for GI to push the envelope, to shift a paradigm, has slipped back into the same old story of stormwater management. LID/GI rules supreme, where liability tracking continues, water flows and capture/reuse remains the benefit++ target of the rare, brave, and few.

Water and Fashion

I love shopping and I love clothes. I am a huge fan of second hand/thrift store/garage sale finds and well-matched clothing exchanges. Upcycling someone else's bleh items into my bohemian posh closet brings me a lot of happiness, eco-heart and monetary savings... a Win-Win-WIN!

But sometimes a girl has a need to walk into the mall and get herself something NEW! I am trying to buy more sustainably (eco-cotton, bamboo or hemp cloth, up-cycled materials) but it can be hard. I have my favorites (namely Prana and Xylem) but these labels tend to have limited variety, consisting mostly of casual and active wear, with a limited selection of sweaters and trousers I regularly  professionalize for the office.

Variety is why I am so excited about the new 80-piece spring collection by H&M - The Garden Collection is being marketed as green fashion at affordable prices. Clothing will be made in organic cotton and linen, recycled polyester, and tencel (a renewable material - bleached wood pulp). The launch of this new collection will be in partnership with a revatalization of the H&M supply chain and water usage.  The new program, based upon the recommendations of the WWF, will involve re-hashing the supply chain (fabrics and other direct suppliers); watershed-level stakeholder engagement in the Yangtze and Brahmaputra watersheds; a new internal employee training program on water issues; water conservation projects in China (a very timely effort, since there has been recent front-page new questioning if China will run out of water by 2030!); and public outreach. At present H&M self-reports to be the #1 user of organic cotton and 300 million Liters in water savings for demin production, with more to come in the future.

Things will be kicking off in late March/early April... just in time for my Birthday. Now I know where to direct inquiries for gifts. =)

Watch Out for Elevated FIB!

Fecal Indicator Bacteria (or FIB for short) are used to measure the quality of water for recreational and a variety of other "beneficial uses." As a California-based environmental engineer specialized in watershed and water resources management, it is not at all surprising that I have been spending the last several years getting up close and personal with FIB. California is a big water recreation state and FIB are an important component of ensuring that the public health is preserved.

Lately I have been working in the Los Angeles area (Inner Cabrillo Beach), where there has been a long-term history of elevated FIB counts. I have spent over 1/10th of my life there over the last two years. I have become achingly familiar with the sand, wind, sun and water, the eel grass, and the bird exclusion structure and the people. I have learned to keep an eye out for sources of FIB. I have a masterful eye.

When I came across the Yahoo story about 30K-40K dead fish piled up on along the Georgetown County shoreline, and the government's plan to let rotting fish lie, my first thought was how high will the FIB counts be?