Where a Safer Environment and Family Grow

Tori at about ten years old, helping in Papa's garden!

You’ve read about our recycling practices and my pride in having more in the recycling bin than the garbage bin and I’ve boasted about our rescued water and my eco-coffee (and eco-soup and eco-spaghetti...) so, it’s probably not a surprise to hear me get geeky about organic gardening products! Safer Brand makes organic pesticides for gardening that is protected from pests, but not harmful to the plants, wildlife and in a food garden, YOU!

Tori and Rina used to help my Dad with his garden when we all lived in Michigan. He’d tell them wonderful stories about “Missy’s Cucumber.” Our collie would sneak into the garden and steal the first cucumber every year. She never stole another one all summer, but that first one? It was hers! Dad likes to pick and eat from the garden too and in fact, we were raised with the practice. It’s an old European thing, but he didn’t use chemical pesticides in the garden, because he wanted to be able to pass on the old ways to his granddaughters. But more important, he wanted them safe and he wanted them to learn how to be safe.

Rina is planning to study to be a veterinarian. She can probably already tell you a book’s worth about keeping the outside safe for wild animals and truthfully, domestic animals too. Chemicals in Dad’s garden would have made for a pretty sick pup in Missy’s day. Teaching the kids about chemical-free gardening and keeping the environment safe is part of teaching them to be responsible pet owners and responsible citizens too.

If you’re getting ready for spring planting, why not check out Safer Brand pest control products? Learn why organic bug control is the way to go. I bet if you’re planting with the kids or grandkids, they can teach you as much as you teach them about the “old ways,’ the safer ways for people, animals and the environment, the organic ways and the ways that generations can be closer one project at a time.


See a five-minute segment from Designing Spaces about Safer Brand pesticides. You can learn a lot in a little time about how to use them and how safe they are!