Auto-Immunization

Pets. The Wild Kind.
By David Leonhardt

Just because we moved out to the country a couple years back does NOT mean we want to run a farm. Tending to animals is just not how we want to spend our time. We don’t want cows or sheep or chickens. We don’t want hogs or ducks. We don’t even want a dog or a cat to train.

OK, so my wife says that she wants a cat, but that’s only because she knows I won’t have anything to do with it. I suspect that if I ever said, “OK, you win. Let’s get a cat”, she would run screaming down the stairs pulling at her hair and just keep on running…causing damage to the stairway carpet, not to mention the window at the bottom of the staircase.

We don’t want a parrot or a rabbit or a hamster or even a mouse.

But when you live in the country, you have pets, whether you like it or not.

The first summer, we were welcomed by Muffet the skunk. Although she never responded to that name, we let her keep it. She just loved our compost heap. In fact, she had a frequent-eater pass at the all-you-can-eat compost buffet.

The second summer we were skunk-free, but this summer we were blessed with a new traveling perfume salesman. We did not name him, but we have determined that he is on a diet. He stays away from the all-you-can-eat compost buffet.

He is also much less intelligent than Muffet. When we see him, we jump and shout and wave our hands to get his attention,. But we usually have to get his attention three or four times before something in his microbe-sized brain clicks in and says, “Wait a minute. That’s not the hot dog vendor beckoning me to clean up his leftovers. Maybe I should turn around.”

But he is smart enough provide a two-tier burglar deterent. First, he drives them away with his odor. “Peee-ew. Let’s go rob the Jensons down the road.” Second he digs thousands of tiny pits all over the lawn to trip any burglar foolish enough to try to escape.

And to answer your question, no I did not personally verify the gender of these skunks. But you are free to check if you doubt my word.

This summer, we discovered an exotic spider (See http://www.vitamin-supplements-store.net/spider.html ). Painted on its inch-long black back are two bright yellow eyes. Spooky. We even watched it wrap its prey – a small, light brown flying thingy. With amazing speed, the spider scurried from the center of her web toward the helpless victim at least a foot away. Then in a matter of two seconds flat, the spider spun the fly around three or four times, weaving it into a web cocoon like rolling a corpse in a carpet behind Luigi’s Fine Finer and Smokes. No gangster could have operated with one tenth the speed.

Just a few hours ago, I was proud to show off a bees nest over a foot tall hanging from a low branch in our One Acre Woods.

“Wow. It’s just like in Winnie the Pooh!” That was Little Lady, now 3 years and 3 months old.

“Destroy it. There must be thousands of bees in there!” That was my wife.

The fact is that I have had to destroy four bees nests in the past three weeks, all between the stones in our foundation. I am not keen to drive the bees away from their forest nest and toward the house. In fact, I think I’ll post an arrow sign near the house pointing to the forest: “Cheap rent. Spacious hive. Vibrant community.”

So far, we’ve avoided the pets inside the house – we won’t discuss the “storm trooper ants incident” or the midnight mouse-trap peanut-butter visits – and we have kept the hogs and sheep at bay (although the chickens sheepishly crawl through the fence and the stray cats like to run hog wild around our land).

No pets, perhaps. But you still have to share your space with skunks and spiders and bees when you live in the country.

Coming soon to a humor column near you: How I adopted 14,673 cluster flies on a Tuesday afternoon….without even breaking into a sweat.

About the Author

David Leonhardt publishes The Happy Guy humor column:
http://www.thehappyguy.com/positive-thinking-free-ezine.html
Read his humor articles:
http://www.thehappyguy.com/humor-articles.html
Visit his home page:
http://www.thehappyguy.com
David is owner of The Liquid Vitamin Supplements Store:
http://www.vitamin-supplements-store.net

As soon as you think about it wind mills what comes to your mind’s eye? Do you reflect of the Dutch rural area broken up with these arrangements? Do you think of the windmill-fighting Don Quixote, the imaginery Spanish nobleman? Whatever comes to your mind, one idea is right; wind solar energy is now a veracity in many places. After decades of disregard, windmills are being modified and altered in design to permit them to make the desirable electricity that is so of the essence for existence in the 21st century. Whilst used to alter a grinding stone that would be used to obtain flour for bread, wind mills are being for a completely diverse purpose today – to construct power through wind energy. In California, nearby are in excess of 16,000 wind turbines that are operated by wind mills with vast rotor blades. The investigation of wind energy is not a original concept. First, humans have at all times sailed the waters even previous to the advent of the engines. Ships are driven by wind and for centuries, people have used wind energy to pump water and saw wood. In the present day, they are still used to pump water where power cuts happen. In the 20th century the effortlessness with which fossil fuels possibly will be harnessed and the resultant greater energy from these means pressed wind energy to the back seat. In the years following the exercise of fossil fuels, it seemed that this form of fuel was not expensive ad abundant and thus easily eclipsed wind solar power. However, the 173 oil predicament changed the viewpoint of many and since then, wind solar power again came to light and has done that ever since. From an environmental point of view, wind solar power unmistakably stands out and has taken on a original appeal. Wind and sunlight being limitless were thus seen as the top alternative. In addition, they are also much easier on the atmosphere and do not bring into being fearful weather and climate phenomenon as is seen with fossil explorations. Wind energy produces no element emissions whatsoever making it one of the mainly user-friendly alternative power income out there. So how much power can a wind turbine give? Wind power varies as a cube of the wind speed. This means that when the speed of the wind doubles, the power provided is 8 times more. You can therefore see why a petite swell in wind energy can result in a massive boost of energy output. This is called the Cube law. To take advantage of the law, wind turbines are put on hilltops where wind accelerates as it passes. Wind is just one of the many alternative power sources that may preserve our location from the effects of fossil fuels.

Exceedingly guarded notes made known by the Bank of England very recently led directly to the fresh UK Pound resurgence people have beheld being halted. The decision by the English Central Bank was undivided for interest rates to stay put on hold and to uphold the existing degree of quantitative moderation. In spite of this, surprisingly, the vocal members of the Monetary Policy Committee also known as the MPC, mentioned that British Stirling’s latest improvement in value was probably not without doubt the ‘green shoot of recovery’ tons of people are anticipating and may in sincerity cause determent to business trade and therefore obstruct the United Kingdom economies mending. Don’t rush intobuying foreign currency , consult and expert before making any decisions.

These unpredicted comments saw the UK pound fall down a cent against both the Dollar and the Euro and also over one sent and a 1/2 against the Swiss Franc.

On this day British high street retail sales and also publically available financial info might bestow additional indications on the shape of the UK economy as well as can initiate additional unpredictability in the markets. Therefore, make absolutely sure you are in frequent and close contact with your currency account manager so they can keep you in the loop and informed with regard to significant market activities.

Reports made known the other day by the Office of National Statistics otherwise known as the ONS, confirmed that unemployment in the United Kingdom had increased to over 2.2 million the peak quantity ever since November 2006 Despite the increase the figure was not as unfortunate as some people had thought still, with the unemployment rate still more that 0.07 it was viewed as downbeat for the UK pound. This reality, on top of the careful remarks from the MPC merely served to escalate British Stirling’s difficulties. David Kern, the chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “These jobless figures are slightly better than feared, but the overall situation remains grim… It is much too early to talk about the end of recession”

The unease at present is that the above data could get worse as school and additionally university alumni enter the job market at the most horrible possible moment in time which is likely to put loads of hassle on Sterling. As a result, if you have an upcoming foreign money transfer natter to a specialist money broker who will probably be able to spell out every one of the possible options put forward to you including fixing your exchange rates for a period of time in the future for merely a nominal deposit on a forward contract just right to assist you budget.

For those of us who are making your very first iPod procurement, the choices can easily look extensive. Because of this, there are quite a lot of things to ponder over when choosing an iPod. The most crucial characteristic for many shoppers is the capacity of the internal memory. Like that of your home desktop PC or netbook, an iPod contains internal memory that determines the amount of info it can keep. From the smallest iPod Shuffle, to the largest iPod Classic, memory storage can be anywhere from 1 Giga Byte to a colossal 160GB! With that quantity of memory available your iPod can hold anywhere from two-hundred and forty to three-hundred thousand music files & has up to 150 hours of video storage. Also, there is a great assortment of iPod Speakers to buy in numerous sizes & features in order to satisfy your particular needs.

The iPod Classic, with available memory of up to 160GB, can hold virtually all of your much-loved music and video clips. Playlists can also be automatically chosen based on your very own preferences. The two point five inch display screen of the Apple iPod Classic will play your very own video files in wonderful colour. A short recharge of the machines internal battery provides up to 36 hours of audio or six hours of video playback.

The opposite number of the iPod Classic is the trendy & tiny iPod Nano. The Nano delivers an array of neat qualities usually found in the iPod Classic & the iPod Shuffle. The Nano has flash memory like that of the shuffle, but has a colour display screen & controls like the iPod Classic. The iPod Nano also has a shake to shuffle capability like the one found in the iPod Shuffle. Basically shake your Nano to shuffle to a randomly selected music song. With storage capacities of either eight GB or 16 Giga Bytes as well as a two inch wide screen display panel, the iPod Nano is an excellent middle range MP3 player. It is also obtainable in a range of nine separate colours. Find a large range of technology products such as; acer laptops, 32 LCD TVs and dab radios from leading brands online.

By taking features from the iPod Classic & the Nano and adding World Wide Web capability, Apple built the iPod touch. With memory space of 8GB to sixty-four Giga-Bytes along with web browsing and an endless amount of extra software programs, you undoubtedly have the best of both products!

The tinniest player of the Apple iPod music family is the simple yet cute iPod Shuffle. Measuring in at only one point eight inches by 0.03 of an inch, the shuffle is now tinnier than a traditional door key! The hottest version of the iPod shuffle incorporates controls that are incorporated into the earphones. With flash storage of 4GB, this tiny powerhouse can keep up to one thousand songs and is a perfect choice for use whilst walking or jogging. As you can understand there is unquestionably an iPod to match every exact requirement. The choices that exist are nearly infinite!

The Nature Elementals, most commonly known as Faeries, are the unseen guardians of the planet. As much as we would like to believe that their survival depends on our beliefs and ability to clap loud enough so as to restart their dying hearts, these energy beings have very little need for us. However, over the last century our persistent misuse of the planet has given these creatures the need to connect with us and teach us the ways we have lost.

We have long understood that the world is a complex energy structure; vibrating substances of which the densest can be seen as material objects. Faeries are beings that resonate to a much higher frequency than ourselves, and so we often cannot see them. Faerie is a generic term for these energy beings that look after the natural world. By assuming that all Faeries look like the pretty things of Tinkerbell and the Fairy Godmother would be like saying all animals look the same. I have met Faeries of all shapes, sizes, appearances and temperaments.

I have been working with the Elementals for some time now, and have received much important information from them in terms of how to look after this beautiful place we call Earth. They have been prodding and pushing me to be more aware of my impact in the environment, to the extent that after fifteen years of vegetarianism, I have now taken the plunge to be vegan. And thanks to the Faeries, I have found this to be a far easier transition than I expected. Not that everyone is expected to become vegan, but the message of the Faeries is to become conscious of our affects on the world around us. In time, as they have done with me, allowing yourself to listen to the Faeries will help you to develop more and more behaviours that are inline with the healing of the planet.

The Faerie Elementals can be divided into the appropriate elements they represent and, working with those elements they have specific lessons they would like us to learn. Earth, Water, Fire and Air, the four major elements (Moonlight being a Faerie fifth element), have all become out of balance over the last fifty years, more so than the planet is able to cope with. Mother Nature is exhausted and the Faeries are demanding our attention.

So the Faeries of the element of Earth are telling us that using manmade pesticides in the soil is stripping the planet of vital nutrients, some of which have taken thousands of years to accumulate. We are digging out fossil fuels like small children dig out their noses; and you know what happens when you pick your nose too much? It bleeds!

We in the West have become a nation of litterbugs, but unlike bugs there is no predator to gobble us up and stop us from damaging the natural world. We dump all sorts into the ground, from old Hoovers and televisions, to babies’ nappies. In years to come, when intelligent life are carrying out archaeological digs, instead of finding interesting creatures and fascinating tools, they will find fossilised nappies complete with an imprint of the contents. And because they will not know what they are (as they will have been banned before they could possibly remember) they will use it as abstract art and place it on their walls! Imagine, pooie nappies on the walls of sophisticated people! Or maybe because the nappies are so hard and big they would use them to make insulation for their homes, or have Olympic contests like the Scottish fling cow pats!!! Not that we should, of course, carry on putting this stuff into the earth for the entertainment of those to come. Using biodegradable or washable nappies is a much nicer way to respect our earth and our babies bodies.

Earth Faeries have a large bone to pick with us from all the deforestation we are subjecting the earth to. Imagine each tree being allocated a Faerie to coach it and encourage it to become beautiful and healthy. All those trees being destroyed are producing many thousands of redundant Faeries! They’re not impressed! The trees work closely with the Air Faeries and also use the Water Faeries for nourishment. The Fire Faeries need the wood to support their cause also. So, imagine all those angry Faeries shouting at us; we’ve got to start listening!

An unusual comment, but an important one, is the idea of burying our dead in coffins. These solid, varnished wooden caskets are no way to allow our dead bodies to return to Mother Earth. How can our remains seep through such a barrier, and how can the Earth break down such chemicals? Even in death we are separating ourselves from nature. You can actually get cardboard coffins (try doing a Google search for it).

So what can we do to help these fine creatures and ultimately ourselves? The message is, “Every little helps”! Organic food from local producers, picking up rubbish while out on a country walk, using renewable sources of energy, listening to the chatter in your garden and planting your own veggies in between your flowers will all help you to connect with the Elementals of the Earth.

Air Elementals are just as upset with us as their Earth friends. It is common understanding that fumes from cars and industry is polluting the atmosphere causing ill health to humans and of course animals, but also causing something called Global Warming. We’re choking on our own achievements, but are too busy enjoying our technologies to be able to let them go. Millions and millions of people around the world smoke cigarettes, and millions and millions of people are aware of the damage they have on their health. But we seem to forget the damage we are allowing these white sticks of plant and chemicals to have on the air around us. Like the chemicals of burning fossil fuels, cigarette smoke is also polluting the air the earth breathes.

We also often forget the pollutants of room fragrances and perfumes. These unnatural products not only affect our own lungs, but also those of all the respiring beings on Earth. Just like the affect of butterfly wings on the weather, anything that is released into the air will also have an affect on the environment. I have often heard as defence to keep cars in the game that cows produce more pollution in the atmosphere through farting than all the cars on Earth do. Cows, however, do not naturally breed to the extent we have forced them to in recent years. And with the amount of bad food us humans eat, I’m sure humans produce far more noxious gases out of our rear ends than all the cows could possibly muster!

And just as the Earth is unimpressed with our treatment of the dead, so too is the Air annoyed that we burn these unnatural boxes with our deceased loved ones, allowing the chemicals to be burned and released into the atmosphere and the trees wasted.

So the Faerie way of celebrating this essential element would be to take some deep lungfuls of air, and celebrate the fact that it is here to keep us prancing about this beautiful land. Use natural fragrances, such as organic essential oils, to sweeten your room. And maybe when you fart, do say “excuse me” so as not to offend the noses around you, including those of the unseens!

The playful spirits of the Water element have very little to play about these days. More and more pollution is being dumped into the oceans and rivers. Governments keep pushing the levels of “acceptable” waste up and up. They obviously only listen to the fat cats, and not the water folk! Sea life is being destroyed and tap water is harming us thanks to our “civilised” way of making it “clean”. Powerful weapons are being tested and dangerous waste is being dumped in the most abundant element on earth.

How many of us, however, blame the governments for the waste being deposited by large corporations? But the macrocosm reflects the microcosm, and vice versa. As individuals we pollute our water supplies, damaging the fish and sea/river life and without even thinking about it.

For example, walking down the street we see masses of people with bleached and dyed hair, hair gel making us look like Lego Men, and their bowels and bladders ready to drop the chemicals they have been allowing into their bodies via junk food and fizzy drinks. All of this ends up in the water system.

Over the last hundred years, we have started to believe that we must use washing up liquid to make our dishes sparkle, and use bleach to get rid of “harmful” bacteria. Now all of a sudden we have anti-bacterial soaps keeping us safe from the evils of the “enemy” bacteria. So what was it that we did before we had these miracle products in our lives? We had resistance and a healthy immune system. All of these chemicals, most of which are substances not found in nature, go into the water system. They do not stop working just because they are out of our sight.

Bacteria are ways in which the Earth can keep a balance, yet these antibacterial agents are killing of far more than we intended. Would you drink a glass of water with soap in it? No? Why not? Fish seem to, and they blow pretty bubbles! Mind you, the rate we’re going we’ll probably end up seeing fish with lovely blonde hair, clean teeth and a clean use of language!!!! (Wash your mouth out with soap and water!)

All the drugs we swallow to make ourselves “better” get peed out into the toilet and rotates around the water cycle of the earth passing through humans, animals and plants. Everything we put in the water ends up in the natural cycle without discrimination. If it cannot be broken down into natural substances, it cannot be broken down at all; why would you want to drink your neighbour’s washing-up water, or your daughters pink hair-dye?

And the fourth element of Fire, has been showing its power, in the land of Australia, through our destruction of the Ozone Layer. This is due to the Green House Effect, or Global Warming, produced through the imbalance of the element of Air. The sun and the distant stars give life to the planets they shine on. With the right combination of elements, the element of fire can produce or destroy life. The planet is warming up at an unnatural rate, yet we still persist in ignoring this warning sign.

We use the element of fire to produce unnatural chemicals such as hydrogenated fats (fats heated at high temperatures and subjected to hydrogen atoms). These fats store themselves in the body as they are not natural, and the body does not know how to deal with them. If the body can release these fats, they are then excreted into the water system, much to the furry of the Water Faeries.

Thousands of years ago, the human race took a huge leap in evolution when we learnt how to make fire. It kept us warm when we had no shelter, it cooked our food when we could not eat raw, and it gave us communication across long distances. But, nowadays, we’d be very hard pushed for each of us to create fire without the use of unnatural means such as lighters and matches. What would happen to us if there was some sort of disaster that prevented us from using these tools? Where has our respect gone for this beautiful and powerful element?

What can we do? Each morning when you rise, no matter how many clouds there are in the sky, give thanks to the beauty of the sun and the light it shines, appreciating the unseen Faeries for the work they do to help convert this energy into physical form. Give thanks for the beautiful colours that are produced from the rays of the sun, and dance in the light of the rainbows created on your sitting room wall from the crystals hanging in the window.

Now you can understand from all of this shouting and stamping of my feet, how much I have been through with the Faeries over the last few years, and the important message they wanted me to impart with you. How much more shouting is needed is entirely down to you, but I think now that the Faeries have told you, you’ll be hard pushed to ignore them! As soon as you start helping the Faerie Elementals, the sooner you can enjoy their playful and joyful nature; the nature of the natural world all around us. Being conscious of our actions is the first step to living on a balanced Earth, both environmentally and in terms of peace among humans.

About the Author

Samantha Thurlby-Brooks is one of the UK’s top Crystal Therapists, and an inspirational practitioner and teacher of Reiki-Seichem.

‘Butterfly’ is a FREE monthly newsletter bursting with the latest information and inspiration in the mind-body-spirit field.

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For those of us who are making your very 1st iPod acquisition, the variety of options can certainly appear daunting. Due to this, there are a range of things to mull over when choosing an Apple iPod. The most critical aspect for many consumers is memory capacity. Like your home desktop PC or netbook, an iPod contains internal memory that controls the amount of info it can keep saved. From the littlest iPod Shuffle, to the biggest iPod Classic, memory capacity can range from 1 Giga Byte to a huge 160GB! With that capacity of storage available your iPod can save anything from 240 to three hundred thousand music songs & has up to one hundred & fifty hours of video files. Moreover, there is a varied selection of iPod Speakers to be had in various sizes & features to match your exact demands.

The iPod Classic, with available memory of up to 160GB, can keep almost all of your much-loved songs and videos. Playlists are automatically selected based upon your very specific listening preferences. The two and a half inch display of the Apple iPod Classic will display your own video files in vivid colour. A small charge of the machines own battery yields as much as 36 hours of music or 6 hours of video playback.

The counterpart of the iPod Classic is the trendy and petite iPod Nano. The Nano delivers a mixture of essential qualities normally found in the iPod Classic as well as the iPod Shuffle. The Nano includes flash memory like that of the shuffle, but has a colour display screen and functions like the iPod Classic. The iPod Nano additionally has a shake to shuffle ability like the one found in the iPod Shuffle. Simply just shake your Nano to move to a randomly picked music song. With storage capabilities of either 8GB or sixteen Giga Bytes & a two inch screen display panel, the iPod Nano is a superb mid level MP3 music player. It’s also available in a set of nine unique colours.

By taking features from the iPod Classic & the Nano & adding web capability, Apple created the iPod touch. With storage of 8GB to sixty-four Giga-Bytes along with internet browsing & a continuous quantity of extra programs, you definitely have the best of both products!

The smallest member of the iPod MP3 family is the simple yet attractive iPod Shuffle. Measuring only 1.8 inches by 0.03 of an inch, the shuffle is now smaller than a household door key! The hottest model of the iPod shuffle includes functions that are integrated into the ear piece cord. With flash storage of up to 4 Giga-Bytes, this small powerhouse can save up to 1,000 songs and is a fabulous procurement for use while working out. As you can understand there is definitely an iPod to match every precise demand. The options available are just about infinite! Find a large range of technology products such as; iPods, 37 LCD TVs and digital cameras from leading brands online.

South Plainfield, New Jersey, July 2005 – Dallas Contracting Co., Inc., (website: http://www.dallascontracting.com) a specialized contractor providing demolition, onsite concrete aggregate crushing, equipment salvage and scrap metal recycling to various industries, completed a 5,000 ton concrete and asphalt crushing project for a client in New Jersey.

The project scope consisted of Dallas Contracting Co., Inc. (Dallas Contracting) providing an excavator and an onsite concrete crushing plant to crush 5,000 tons of concrete, asphalt and brick into 2 inch minus material to be used for onsite backfilling. The work had to be completed quickly as the client had a backfilling deadline that had to be met.

To accomplish this task, Dallas Contracting utilized a Komatsu PC220LC excavator with bucket attachment and an UltraMax 1000-15CV Plant (manufactured by Eagle Crusher Company, Inc.). The Ultramax is a 3 stage portable crushing unit that has a feed hopper size of 11 cubic yards and is powered by a 275HP Diesel and 75KW generator. The typical throughput for the crushing plant on material of this nature is about 1000+ tons per day.

The materials were first sized to 2 feet x 2 feet in order to fit into the feeder. The materials where then fed into the hopper utilizing the Komatsu excavator. Rebar from the concrete is sorted out from the aggregate material via an onboard magnet. The rebar is discharged to the side and the crushed materials are discharged towards the rear. The crushed aggregate material was sized to 2 inch minus.

Due to the client’s timetable, all materials needed to be crushed as soon as possible in order to meet their backfilling schedule. Dallas Contracting was able to meet the client’s tight schedule and all 5,000 tons of materials were crushed in five (5) days. The crushed aggregate was immediately utilized by the client for onsite backfilling. The project was completed on schedule and without incident or injury.

Our concrete aggregate and asphalt crushing services offered the client many benefits including:

Environmentally friendly – conserve landfill space

By utilizing the crushed aggregate materials onsite as fill material, it saved the client a substantial amount of money by not having to import backfill materials or send the original materials offsite for disposal.

Dallas Contracting Co., Inc. is an expert in onsite concrete aggregate crushing, asphalt crushing and recycling. Additional information on our onsite crushing services can be obtained at our website http://www.dallascontracting.com/concrete_crushing.html

About Dallas Contracting Co., Inc.

Dallas Contracting Co., Inc. has been in business for 26 years, is financially sound (D&B Rating of 3A2), is bondable, and works on a nationwide basis. Dallas Contracting Co., Inc. offers a turnkey approach to demolition, concrete recycling and remediation projects by offering the following services under one roof:

Demolition, Onsite Concrete Aggregate Crushing and Recycling, Environmental Remediation, Rigging, Brownfield Redevelopment, Surplus and Used Equipment Sales, Interior Demolition, Equipment Removals, Dismantlement, Equipment Salvage and Scrap Metal Recycling.

Dallas Contracting Co. Inc. sells used and surplus equipment and inventory at their storefront on EBAY (http://stores.ebay.com/Dallas-Contracting?refid=store).

Contact:

Dallas Contracting Co., Inc.
1260 New Market Avenue
South Plainfield, New Jersey 07080
P: (908) 668-0600
F: (908) 668-0601
Contact: Damon Kozul, PE, CHMM
Email: dkozul@dallascontracting.com
Website http://www.dallascontracting.com

About the Author

Operation Manager
Dallas Contracting Co., Inc.

Avoiding Allergies by Use of the Right Native Plants in the Landscape

Many of our most allergenic plants commonly used in landscaping in the United States and Canada are indeed natives. However, it is the manipulation of these plants by commercial horticulture that has, and is, causing most of the huge increases we are now experiencing with allergy problems.
Thirty years ago fewer than 10 percent of Americans had allergies. The official figure today is that a whopping 38 percent of us now suffer from allergies.(December 99, American College of Asthma, Allergy, and Immunology)
Not too many years ago death from asthma was fairly rare. Today it is all too common and is considered epidemic. Asthma has now become the number one chronic childhood disease in America.
Furthermore, there is new data coming in recently that shows a strong connection between over-exposure to pollen and or mold spores and increases in other diseases such as heart disease, autism, pneumonia, and reflux disease.

American Elms
The landscape tree in most of America for many years was the tall, stately American Elm. The American Elm used to grace the streets of thousands of towns and cities and when DED, Dutch Elm Disease, started to spread and kill off these native elms, the insect-pollinated, perfect-flowered elms were most often replaced with wind-pollinated, unisexual-flowered, street trees.
Many things happened because of the big switch from the elms to these other tree species. First, the elm flowers had a rich nectar source and since these trees bloomed very early in the season, at a time when insect food sources were severely limited urban honeybees and butterflies depended on this food source.
Since the majority of the street trees used to replace the elms were wind-pollinated, they often lacked these nectaries and supplied no early-season food source. Soon we started to see a rapid decline in the total numbers of urban honeybees and butterflies. There were other factors as well behind this decline, pollution, insecticides, and disease, but the loss of the crucial early-season food sources should not be underestimated.
DED spread mostly from East to West across the US and so has the rise in allergy rates. You can actually track the spread of allergy from the decline of the elms.
The American Elms, Ulmus americana, did cause a certain amount of low-level, early spring allergy, simply because they were so very common. The over-planting of elms resulted in a lack of biodiversity and set the stage for the massive kill from the DED. We now know that it is always a mistake to use a monoculture, to plant too much of just one species. Diversity is always a good idea in horticulture.

Diversity
Biodiversity is the way to go when we are creating landscapes that will limit allergenic exposure. Almost any species of plants can eventually cause allergies if it is over-planted enough. All to often in our urban landscapes of today we see that landscapers have used the same old plants over and over again. This overly simplistic approach to landscaping results in landscapes that lack originality and produce a numbing “sameness” to far too much of our urbanscape. When residential houses are professionally landscaped with the exact same plant materials used to landscape banks, real estate offices, and dentist’s shops, we all lose.
Allergy rates today are far worse in urban areas than they are out in the country. Pollen allergies are worse in cities than in the country, despite the fact that there is much more total green matter in the countryside than in the city. Plant selection has been the main problem.

Natives and Urban Landscapes
There are many native trees and shrubs used in our landscapes. Maples, oaks, locust, poplars, willows, catalpa, birch, junipers, and many more native species are extensively used. Unfortunately the plant breeders and propagators discovered how to “sex-out” the trees and shrubs. They learned to use only male plants, ironically, as “mother plants,” as the source for their scion wood for asexual propagation. First they just used male plants from the dioecious (separate-sexed) species, but later they learned how to produce all-male clones from species that in Nature were never unisexual (the monoecious species).
For example, Honey Locust trees, (Gleditsia triacanthos) are native to our Southeastern US. Look at these trees in the wild and you will see that all of them are almost always covered with long seedpods. But go to a nursery now and look at the Honey Locust trees for sale. The ones on sale now are called “seedless” and they are in effect, all-male clones.
What exactly is the effect of using all male cloned trees and shrubs in our landscapes? Very simply, this translates to an excess of allergenic pollen. Only male flowers produce this airborne pollen. Unisexual female flowers produce no pollen.

Why the Emphasis on Male Plants?
Horticulturists knew that female plants produced seeds, seedpods, and fruit. This “litter” fell on the sidewalks and created a “mess.” By using only asexually (no sex involved) propagated cultivars (cultivated varieties), they were able to create “litter-free” landscapes. These required less maintenance and were (and still are) very popular with city arborists and the public. In the US today, four of five of the top-selling street tree cultivars are male clones.
Female flowers (pistillate) on female trees or shrubs produce an electrical (-) current. Their stigmas are broad and sticky. Airborne pollen from male plants has a negative electrical impulse before release and a positive charge after release, and this pollen is light and dry. Because of the + and – electrical charges the pollen and the stigmas are drawn to each other. They are mutually attractive. Mother Nature saw to it that pollen would land, and stick, exactly where it was needed. Female plants are nature’s pollen traps, our natural air-cleaners.
Today though, most of the female plants are long gone from our landscapes. The pollen from the males floats about, seeking a moist, sticky, positive-charged target. We humans emit a positive electrical charge, and our mucus membranes, our eyes, skin and especially the linings of our nose and throat, now trap this wayward pollen. We have become the targets Allergy develops from repeated over-exposure to the same allergens. If your own yard is full of pollen-pumping trees and shrubs, you and your family are the ones who will be exposed the most.

About the Author

Thomas Ogren is the author of Allergy-Free Gardening, Ten Speed Press. Tom does consulting work on for the USDA, county asthma coalitions, and the American Lung Associations. He has appeared on CBS, HGTV and The Discovery Channel. His book, Safe Sex in the Garden, was published 2003. In 2004 Time Warner Books published his latest: What the Experts May NOT Tell You About: Growing the Perfect Lawn. His website: www.allergyfree-gardening.com