Monarch butterfly populations are endangered. Habitat destruction, insecticides and herbicides have all contributed to their steep decline in the last few decades. Losing Monarchs wouldn’t simply be tragic because of their beauty. The disruption it would cause in an ecosystem that depends on their existence that would signal something awful for the fate of the natural world. Without getting too heavy into specifics, caterpillars are a critical food source for most songbirds, which rely heavily on insects to feed their young. Butterflies, like bees, are also important pollinators. They help plants produce seeds, which also feed birds and other wildlife … Continue reading →

When I was a small child, my great grandfather raised bees on the family vineyard, Domaine de la Bousquette in the South of France. After World War II, everyone began using pesticides on their vines and by the mid 1970s my grandfather, who was a physician, could see the toll that these poisons were taking on the vines, the workers, and the soil. He decided to adopt the then novel approach of using organic growing methods, and by 1980 we were among the very first organic wine growers in France. Banned from our property were chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. … Continue reading →