Today is the day the parliament's rural affairs committee discusses the possibilities of banning glyphosate. With all my heart I hope a sensible decision can be made.
I have noticed that this year in particular, poison has been poured along hundreds of kilometres of roadside verges, around every last post and road sign. Presumably the low price outweighs the cost of mowing or strimming around the posts. It is always money that decides.
The last time I drove across the whole of Estonia, the fields were full of tractors with sprayers attached. The wind was strong and from the road you could see white clouds drifting across the field to the houses at its edge and over them. Country people complain that after days like that the whole family is ill, the animals vomit, there are headaches and so on. The bees, though, have simply disappeared. The gardens are full of flowers, yet I have not seen a single bee this year. Not one. And that although I live in Harju county, where there are no cultivated fields at all. Only fallow fields waiting for new building. I remember the summers of my childhood, when at clover flowering time the whole garden was full of bees and you did not dare to dash about barefoot.
Garden iris
In my own garden I no longer use any poison or artificial fertiliser at all. The hens and the compost bin are all I need. Once, 10 years ago, out of sheer ignorance I bought Roundup, to reduce the dandelions in the ornamental garden. The first time it helped; the second time it no longer did. Then I happened to read an article about the consequences of using this substance, including that it stays in the soil for about 5 years. Common sense came home: what effect does it have on the children who play on the lawn, on the dog who sometimes eats couch grass. The hens get out of their run and peck at the greens.
From that moment my garden has been entirely poison free. I pick the dandelions with the relevant tool: the year before last I got 10 garden carts full. Last year only 3. This year I picked the last few to throw as greens to the hens. The ground elder has run out too: a handful every morning as salad for the chicks, and all the corners of the garden and the ground under the bushes are already clean.
Here are a few pictures of what is in flower in my garden today.
A beautiful summer to you all; enjoy nature. Look after Mother Earth while there is still something to look after.
Honey garlic
Dwarf irises
Bleeding heart
