It’s a fact of life, unless you live in Antarctica, that pests will make themselves at home in your house or apartment.  

There are a variety of insect pests you need to think of and no two are alike.  Rather than spraying toxic chemicals into 

your home environment, consider using organic, non-toxic pest control.  It’s safe for your home’s human occupants and for 

your pets as well.  Pests will show up in the air, your carpeting, your kitchen counter and other places you’d rather not 

find them.

Let’s take a look specifically at ant control for your home or recreational areas outside. Remember that organic pest 

control varies somewhat with the pest you’re dealing with and that just like with inorganic chemical pest control, you 

don’t always use the same thing for ants as you do for fleas.  Here’s a look at your organic options for ant infestation 

in your home.

For the organic treatment of ants, a common summertime pest, you need to make sure your countertops are free of crumbs and 

anything sticky or sweet.  Cover your food well and keep your honey wrapped in a plastic baggy.  Leave water sources off 

during the night and don’t leave dirty dishes lying around.  The same holds true for your deck or patio.  Clean all food 

up after an outdoor meal and teach your children not to throw food into the yard, like watermelon pieces or other sweet 

foods.

Your organic pest control continues with a small spray bottle filled with soapy water that you can spray on the little 

beasts.  Put cucumber peels or slices in your kitchen, especially where the ants come in.  You can also put tea bags with 

mint tea in them or cloves around the places where the ants are very active.  See if you can trace the column of ants back 

to their entry point and set out a line of cayenne pepper, citrus oil, lemon juice, cinnamon or coffee grounds.  

Ants won’t cross those lines.

For serious organic pest control against ants, mix a small amount of honey with an equivalent amount of Borax and aspartame.  Put about a teaspoon and a half of the mixture in a bottle and set the bottle (without a lid) on its side where ants are active.  This acts as a kind of toxic bait that the ants bring back to their colony.  Keep small animals and children away from this toxic bait.

Another organic pest control trick is to leave a low-wattage light bulb or nightlight around where the ants are.  

It disrupts their day and night pattern and can confuse their patterns of food hunting.

If ants are on your deck outside, use your organic pest control skills and put a few cloves of garlic, previously cut 

into pieces, between the cracks of the deck slats.  Ants don’t like garlic and will steer clear of the strong odor.  

You can use some of the same indoor tricks outdoors, especially those involving the use of cayenne pepper, citrus oil, 

lemon juice, cinnamon or coffee grounds.  You can’t use the trick using the toxic bait outdoors as some small animals 

can get into it. 

There’s no reason to resort to harsh and dangerous chemicals, indoors or out, when perfectly acceptable organic pest 

control for ants will keep your home ant-free in a much safer way.  As long as you keep your kitchen and the rest of 

your home clean and follow the above methods to discourage or kill ants, your summertime experience will be more 

enjoyable and healthier for you and your family. 

Coffee drinkers everywhere now have the option of forgoing their ordinary cup of coffee and going“organic”. 

 Coffee made from organic coffee beans has advantages and is healthier for you than its traditional counterpart.

Organic coffee is created using beans that have been cultivated and harvested without the use of chemical or synthetic pesticides or herbicides, which can be harmful to both growers and consumers.  Because the yield of organic coffee is less than with traditional coffee, this type of coffee tends to be more expensive than regular coffee.  In growing organic coffee,emphasis is made on recycling, fair trade purchasing, composting, and soil health, as well as on a healthy environment.

Coffee is certified organic using a third party certification organization; most commonly, organic growers use the Organic Crop Improvement Association.  There is a cost involved, cutting into the profits of the small producers that often make this type of coffee.  In addition, organic coffee is “shade grown”, which reduces yield and also adds to the cost of this type of coffee.

Most organic coffee is also considered “fair trade coffee” and a special certification is required for that status.  Fair trade coffee is traded in such a way as to bypass the coffee trader, allowing better profits to the producer, in general.  

The third party certification organization that certifies fair trade coffee is called TransFair USA.

Organic coffee traded using fair trade methods involves an agreement by coffee importers and small farmers that says the importers will purchase their organic coffee from smaller farmers listed in the International Fair Trade Coffee Register.  

Organic growers are guaranteed a minimum “fair trade price” for their coffee and importers provide a certain amount of credit to growers against future sales, keeping farmers out of debt.  The middle man is cut out of this process.  

It is also important in organic coffee farming that the farming be sustainable.  While the definition of “sustainable” varies, it basically means that the growth of the organic coffee is healthy for the environment and the people who grow and buy it.  Sustainable organic farming doesn’t destroy the land the product is grown on and uses very little external energy in the production of the organic product.

A sustainable organic farm is designed to give back to the land as much as it receives from it.  Non-renewable resources are avoided and pollution in the farming process is minimized as much as possible.  Sustainable organic farming thinks of the health and welfare of the employees as well.  One example of using sustainable farming is to reuse the organic coffee husks as heating fuel rather than using petroleum or natural gas heating.  New trees are grown to make up for those used in heating.

Sustainable organic coffee growing takes steps to avoid excess energy added to the system.  

For example, a solar coffee drying system is used instead of commercial coffee bean dryers.  Water consumption is minimized in sustainable organic coffee growing and the water used is kept clean.  

Water from the coffee fermentation tanks is never dumped in rivers or lakes but is filtered naturally through the earth before being used for irrigation.  

Sustainable organic farms will spread organic fertilizer like composted coffee pulp under and between the coffee trees.  

Yields are increased and the mineral content in the soil is maximized.  All in all, organic coffee farming is safe, healthy and good for the environment.

Consumers can buy these products in cooperatives, health food stores and some supermarkets. 

Few of us would connect the idea of organic clothing with the Earth’s environment and yet, a strong connection between the two exists. 

 In fact, now that global warming is becoming more of a fact than a probability, consumers need to think of the impact on the environment of even the clothes they wear. 

Have you considered what would happen if the entire world stopped buying conventional garments and instead purchased only organic clothing?  Immediately, all of the toxic chemicals used in the production of conventional clothing would begin to disappear from the soil and the groundwater and all of the chemicals used in making synthetic clothing would be of no use. 

Using organic clothing throughout the world would save thousands of lives—those of the farmers killed every year from pesticide toxicity, particularly in third world countries.  In addition, there may be a reduction in the number of people with chemical sensitivity syndromes, which is also often related to chemicals in clothing. With organic clothing, chemical dry cleaning would not be necessary. If buyers went totally “organic” energy wasted in conventional dryers would be restored.

In truth, however, the garment industry does participate in environmental pollution and global warming—even those who participate in making organic clothing.  Consider all of the sheep, alpaca, llamas and other wool-producing animals that provide clothing fibers in the form of wool but that also contribute to methane gas emission from belching and animal flatulence. 

Cows, which produce leather, create about 600 liters of methane per day per cow.  

The growing of even organic fibers requires tractors and trucks—all of which use fossil fuels and emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.  Improving the fuel efficiency of farm implements would help reduce such emissions.

All fibers, even organic fibers, go through a manufacturing process that relies on fossil-based energy.  Petroleum-based fabrics like nylon and polyester use additional energy in their production. 

Much of the clothing we buy—organic or otherwise—uses plastic for packaging.  Plastic is made from non-renewable resources and, if not recycled, is sent to landfills where the chemicals in the plastic leach into the soil and cause harm to the environment. Recycling of all plastic materials needs to be a must if we are to stop this process from happening.

Consider the energy costs of shipping clothing from manufacturers to the public.  As a great deal of the conventional cotton clothing is made in China, you also need to consider that most of the energy these factories use comes from coal—a substance not very good for global warming.  From there, all garments, organic garments as well as conventional garments, need to be shipped all over the world.  One solution would be to produce and purchase clothing as close to the source of the manufacturer as possible.  

Another solution to improving the environment is to purchase organic clothing and to wash them in cold or warm water. Use a clothes line if possible.  A great deal of energy is spent washing clothes in hot water and drying them with high heat. While buying organic clothing is just the beginning of what it will take to improve the environment, there are clearly things consumers can do to do their part to reduce energy use and to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.  Clearly it will take everyone to make the biggest difference. 

Many people interested in “going organic” and purchasing only organic clothing become dismayed when they see that the price is generally somewhat higher than other types of clothing.  Some even wonder if it’s some sort of conspiracy and believe that those who produce this type of clothing must be raking in the money.

The truth is that there are many factors that go into the making of organic clothing that automatically runs up the price.  

The first of these is that many makers of organic clothing don’t make the millions of copies of an outfit that manufacturers of conventional clothing often do.  Many organic companies are small family-run stores that struggle to have enough inventory for customers.

Another factor involves organic cotton.  This type of cotton is more expensive to grow and yields less cotton per hectare than conventional cotton.  Organic crops must still deal with weeds and pests, often using more expensive natural herbicides and pesticides.  This makes fabrics made from organic cotton overall more expensive.

Organic cotton is more expensive to harvest than regular cotton.  The conventional cotton companies use chemical additives in order to facilitate harvesting by the harvester machines.  While chemical defoliation improves harvesting, it adds to the chemicals left in the cotton garments people wear.  

Organic cotton harvesting relies on no chemicals resulting in a somewhat lower yield.

Finally, many organic fabrics are more expensive to manufacture.  The lower harvest yields increases the costs of cleaning and preparing the raw cotton.  In addition, because organic cotton processing is done in factories that produce regular cotton, all of the machines, cotton gins, weaving and knitting machines must be thoroughly cleaned before the organic cotton can be processed.  This adds to the cost.  

Sadly, labor costs are less in conventional clothing manufacturing, which often relies on cheap labor or, in some instances, child labor, to manufacture.  This type of practice would generally be considered unacceptable for manufacturers of organic clothing.  One exception is the silk industry, which relies on millions of hand loom operators in India to make the organic silk products. 

An example of how conventional fabric manufacturers have a leg up on organic clothing manufacturers is a company, which makes cotton tank tops for Wal-Mart that pays a total of thirteen cents per hour in sweatshops in Nicaragua and other developing companies.  Organic clothing manufacturers would consider this unethical and can’t keep up with those kinds of labor costs. 

Organic clothing is more expensive to ship, distribute and provide to retailers and customers.  This is because the market size is so much smaller than the big retail stores and the per garment cost to ship is greater.  In addition, organic clothing stores must pay more for advertising and marketing of their products.  The customer base is less dense and more advertising must be done to reach an appropriate audience. 

The economics of organic clothing sales are such that growers, manufacturers and retailers lack the buying power of the bigger superstores and retailers.  The production of organic clothing is still a very small part of clothing manufacturing so that everything from harvesting to packaging becomes a bigger process.

For those who love organic clothing, however, the cost may be worth it. The environment is helped by the purchase of organic clothing and the clothing itself carries less of a health risk than conventional garments. 

As silk is made by an organic process, the spinning of silk by silkworms, many consumers assume that all silk is healthy for you and that it is completely organic.  One of the problems is, however, that there are no governmental bodies that regulate whether or not a piece of silk is labeled “certified organic”.  In fact, after the organic silk fiber is created, things are done to the fiber that, in some consumer’s eyes, make the silk considered non-organic.

Some providers of organic silk will help make the process more organic and ethical by using wild silkworms instead of the blind and helpless Bombyx mori silkworm.  The resultant organic silks are known as “peace silks” or “vegetarian silks” and, because the worms are different, they will be of a different texture than their farmed counterparts.  These organic silks will be slightly darker cream colored when raw and don’t accept natural dyes as easily.An organic silk made by semi-domesticated moths is called muga silk and is maid by muga silkworms.  This silk is never bleached or dyed and is a natural golden amber color.  Muga silk tends to be more expensive than other silks and are also not considered ethical because the silkworm is killed before emerging from the silkworm.

The eri silkworm creates a fine organic silk that becomes nearly white in color after it is woven.  The caterpillars are not destroyed in the process of creating this organic silk and the silk is spun likecotton rather than being reeled onto spools. This results in a silk that looks and feels more like cotton or wool.

One thing that makes a piece of silk more “organic” than other silks is whether or not the silk was hand-loomed.  Hand looming silk is an important part of what makes silk a sustainable fabric in developing countries such as India.  In fact, more than six million individuals are employed in the hand-looming industry and is environmentally friendly, requiring no external energy requirements.

Healthy organic silk can be more expensive than synthetic fibers and certain people are known to have allergies to either domestic silk, wild silk or both.  Many of the allergies are related to the dietary habits of the silk worm.  In addition, organic silk that hasn’t been de-gummed to remove the sericin protein from the fiber may cause allergic reactions in sensitive individuals. 

An organic silk can quickly become non-organic if producers use synthetic dyes to dye the fabric.  Most silk threads pick up a great deal of dye and, while they are brilliantly colored, the chemicals in the dye can cause reactions in sensitive persons.  Some producers use environmentally friendly dyes that can be considered organic. Unfortunately, one may not be able to tell anything about the dye just by looking at it.

Some of the best organic silks come in their natural, un-dyed form and are considered organic for their lack of chemical dyes added to the fabric.  Wild silks and organic silk that has been spun are often un-dyed and the consumer will be able to see that when looking at the fabric.  

Be careful that your “organic” silk is not of the weighted variety.  Some manufacturers weigh the silk fabric down by infusing metallic salts into the fabric.  Some of the metallic compounds can be dangerous, including those containing lead, barium, tin and chromium.  Weighted silk feels much heavier than non-weighted silk.

In the end, the buyer must decide if the silk he or she is buying is organic enough for them.  Those that are weighted or dyed with synthetic dyes are most likely non-organic.  Those fabrics that have retained their natural color or have been spun are usually organic and will generally be healthy for you. 

We’ve all seen those little labels, all those letters squeezed in to a quarter of an inch oval.If you’re like most people you have a vague idea of the union of the abbreviation and the word organic vague being the operative word here.

Asking for additional information crosses our minds at times but then we retreat suspicious of the response we may solicit.  Without further consideration let’s just break it down into a description that offers at minimum clarity to the word organic itself.

Presumably most of us are aware of the acronym USDA, well at least the US portion of it. USDA is the United States Department of Agriculture.  The department founded by Good Ole Abe (Abraham Lincoln)in effort to establish food safety standards, support agricultural technology and encourage research and development.What many are not aware of is the fact that the United Stated Department of Agriculture also serves to reduce hungerin the United States as well as internationally.  How about that?

Webster defines organic as: relating to or derived form living organisms; a substance of animal or vegetable origin or something raised without the use of drugs, hormones or synthetic chemicals.  Additionally organic often denotes simplistic, beautiful and close to nature; the essence of organics breaks down to a derivative of life only.

As with all things, to gain a deeper understanding of the collective arrangement one must first comprehend each individual element of the collective.  Now that the individual aspects of the collective have been examined and explained the collective arrangement of words can be restored and defined more clearly.

USDA Organic is a simple label format introduced by the United States Department of Agriculture that indicates to the consumer that the product has been inspected by the governing body and has passed all criteria  all criteria required to carry the label organic.

Does that not shine a bright light on that tiny oval label?

In future as you meander through the isles of the your favorite health food store or grocery store 

isles you can rest easy with full clarity when out of the corner of your eye you catch a glimpse of 

that tiny little oval label.

You’ll be fully aware that the product in sight has passed the inspection of the United States Department of Agriculture.

  The label indicates that all required testing has been conducted and the conclusion is that 

Lincoln himself would have consumed this product had he been in search of something deliciously organic.

Products sporting this label must pass a national standard of production mandated by the Organic Foods Production Act implemented in 1990.

National standards established a viable model to offer consumers a method of distinguishing foods 

that could not be otherwise separated providing a verifiable label claim upon completing inspection.

That little oval label that contains only 11 letters certainly is fully loaded. What the Heck??

In today’s times, almost everything you buy contains some sort of synthetic fiber like polyester, nylon or spandex.  

There are those consumers, however, who reject synthetic clothing and insist on wearing only organic cotton clothing.  Let’s hope they like to iron clothes.  

Organic cotton clothing can be defined as clothing made from cotton that was grown without insecticides, herbicides or pesticides and must be cotton that was not genetically modified.  In truth, most cotton grown in the world is grown with pesticides and approximately a quarter of all pesticides in the world are used for cotton growing.  This, unfortunately, accounts for 20,000 deaths per year due to pesticide poisoning in mostly cotton farmers.  

Farmers who grow organic cotton, on the other hand, are spared the risk of pesticides and use techniques that are inexpensive healthy for our ecology and sustainable to the population.  These organic farmers use crop rotation and natural insecticides to grow organic cotton.  It’s a more expensive process but many say it’s worth it.

Conventionally grown cotton uses more chemicals per hectare than any other crop worldwide.  Many insects have become resistant to the pesticides used today so more and stronger chemicals need to be applied.  This has resulted in pollution of local soil and water, along with soil erosion that can worsen the situations so that nothing can grow there after a few years.  

With organic cotton growing, none of these problems occur.

The use of organic cotton avoids the skin irritation and allergic reactions seen in synthetic fibers or even in cotton clothing over-treated with pesticides, bleach or detergents.  Often those working in the conventional cotton industry are exposed to toxic insecticides and other chemicals in the cotton itself.  

To avoid irritation, many people wash their organic cotton clothing in organic soaps that aren’t irritating to the skin or mucus membranes.  

There are clearly established standards for growing organic cotton.  There is a specific certification system in place which uses acceptable standards for growing the organic product and helps consumers know that the product they buy has been inspected and has been found to be “certified organic”.  Those farms growing organic cotton must maintain extensive records and must be routinely inspected.  

There are several international programs designed to certify and protect the integrity of organic cotton and other organic textiles.  One of them is the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements and another is the International Organic Accreditation Services.  

Although organic cotton is grown in eighteen different countries, it still makes up for less than 0.1% of the total cotton produced worldwide.  Part of the problem is that the yields of conventional cotton are about three times that of organic cotton.  Fortunately, larger textile companies are taking an interest in organic cotton and the amount of this textile will likely increase over time.

Currently, consumers can buy organic cotton in the form of clothing for adults and children, home furnishings, healthcare products, bedding and bath products, table linens, raw fabric, toys, diapers and even paper products. 

 Organic, it seems, is hitting its stride among consumers and sales should continue to increase.