Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

Spraying Toxic Chemicals

So yesterday was a great day for a Monday. Did lots of work and was feeling good when...they did it. They found a way to poison my container garden on my little itty bitty deck here at the townhouse. I was in my tiny kitchen preparing dinner when the Orkin man in his van appeared in the parking lot. He sat in his van for a few minutes and then dressed in a mask, cover clothing and gloves. Nothing says poison like the Orkin man dressed in full cover. My windows and doors are all open. Yep, open to enjoy the fresh air and my seedlings and cutting are on the sill. From behind the truck here he comes with his pump bottle with poison in it. I jump quickly to remove my plants and cuttings from the sill and shut the window. HE KNOWS I'M THERE. I run to the back and shut the doors. Does he spray all the units on this row? NO! Just the unit that houses the office employee that lives next door. He sprays two stories high and down comes the liquid chemical onto my ground plants in front and then goes to the back and down comes his liquid chemicals onto my container garden. With seven units in this row he sprays just one and the wind blows it right onto my unit. No information given as to what or why he is spraying. I've seen no signs of insects or anything that needed treatment. As a matter of fact it's been a wonderful summer without a lot of mischievous insects. I attributed it to the fact that we planted plants that fight bad insects and attract the good ones. So to make a long story short my container gardening is done. The spinach and parsnips will be disposed of and I'll pull the remaining herbs. I saved what was inside from the chemicals coming in the window so all is not lost. I guess it's not against the law to spray chemicals without notifying people of what you're doing or advising them to close the windows. Still alive this morning to tell this story.

The gardening season is coming to a close and later this week I will harvest what I can for tomatoes growing at Karen's and check on the bucket squash which probably will not be ready for harvest for a couple more weeks. None of these gardens were sprayed with anything. 

I canned vegetable stock this past week from the vegetable scraps I saved in the freezer. There was enough to put up eleven pints. My tomatoes yielded five pints of sauce. Every little bit helps and I am grateful for what I get. Thank you for stopping by and visiting. Have a great week and keep on farming.