Blog

  • Remembering Sally

    I have spent the day on final preparations for the Fall Plant Festival at the Wylde Center: making a few last Bee-autiful Buckets, punching holes in our WELCOME signs (one with every purchase), printing our instructions for buckets and safety data for Bti dunks. All the while, I have been overwhelmed with thoughts of Sally Wylde, remembering her impact on this neighborhood and her influence on me.

    When I named B Buckets (actually, Nell did) and established the email and social media handles, we became “bbucketsconnect” by rather spontaneous decision; gut reaction might be more accurate. I was in a hurry to get started; mosquitoes were emerging. I will explain the “B” another time, but the “connect,” I know, had various senses, mostly then about wanting folks to understand and consider—as to the connect the dots—the impact of chemical abatements on beneficial insects, their runoff and aquatic life, their disruption of food chains, all things I am hoping the buckets will shift; I knew, at the same time, that it had a far more important intention, at the core of our mission: the necessity of human relationships, sharing and learning, speaking and joining, supporting and extending. This meaning is the one that brings me back to Sally.

    In 2008, I bought an adorable (read: small) bungalow, 503 Adams Street, because I had known for years that I would live in this house (don’t ask me how, I just did), and it came on the market. I wasn’t ready to buy a house, but MY house was available, and I wanted my son, then in PreK, to attend Oakhurst Elementary for kindergarten. So I moved quickly. We were previously just blocks away, but not in Oakhurst.

    We had many wonderful neighbors on this new block, including Sally. She quickly engaged us in her efforts, which extended beyond the Oakhurst Community Garden, as the Wylde Center was then known. We co-hosted in our front yard, a puppet-making workshop for children to make costumes for the Earth Day parade. My son made a car–we joked that surely it was a hybrid–and we joined the festivities. (The car was an even better as a Halloween costume that year when M made me a stop sign and vest, so that I could be a crossing guard to his vehicle/driver). The next year Sally and M made a collaborative project for an outdoor sculpture exhibition for Earth Day, a school of fish from collected rocks, which they added to other public art pieces in the neighborhood for this event, theirs by the stream just off S. McDonough, across the street from Oakhurst Community Garden. Arguably, that creation one fit the Earth Day theme quite a bit better.

    Sally and M had a special relationship; she sewed him a stuffed shark, which she made from one of his drawings, for a birthday. And for the next birthday she left a tree (branch) with wooden fish on our porch, as a gift and in commemoration of their joint art project. I have wonderful mental images of these projects, but no photographs that I can find to share. What I can put my hands on is keychain that M still uses, the only ornament left from the fish tree.

    In the winter, we could see the backyard of the Oakhurst Community Garden from our porch; we spent many hours exploring that space, even once releasing a frog we had raised from a tadpole (with permission) into its water garden.

    As I prepare to join the Wylde Center tomorrow, I acknowledge the lessons I carry and feel from Sally about stewarding, sharing, beautifying, connecting. Thank you, Sally.

  • Joys and Concerns, or About Butterflies

    Over the years, I have attended various from church services in which the congregation is invited to share, anonymously or not, individual joys and concerns from previous or in future weeks for communal celebration and/or care. In that spirit, if not that context, I am making those at the top of my list this week.

    First the joys: On Sunday I found 13 monarch caterpillars on my milkweed, a welcome surprise after keeping eyes out all summer. I have spent the last three years adding native plants to our yard, which has been chemical free for most of the last 25+ years (full disclosure: even we hired a company to fog for mosquitoes one time in 2012 before we knew better and in advance of our backyard wedding). I have planted 10 butterfly weed plants in the last 14 months, specifically to support the Monarchs and other pollinators, and I have been waiting for caterpillars. I can’t articulate how happy I was to see them. I have been checking on them daily, thrilled that they are eating their way through the leaves, entirely stripping one of the plants, even so late in the season.

    Now the concerns: At the same time, I worry about the abundant use of synthetic chemicals in urban landscapes. Since I have been back in Atlanta, I have watched the use of pre-emergents to lawns and mosquito sprays to shrubs become almost daily occurrences; tank trucks move up and down our streets treating yards of families that—I can only imagine—have kids and pets who are being poisoned by these chemicals. I know that each time I take my dogs for a walk, they are sniffing them up in my neighborhood, increasing their likelihood for cancer, even if they are not rolling in them in my yard. I worry about the kids, including my son, who is walking to and from school every day by himself for the first time this year, stepping on and moving through yards just treated with chemicals or cleared with gas-powered leaf blowers, intensely toxic in multiple ways (and I think of all the beneficial insects eliminated at the same time). I worry because I know what it looks like to develop multiple cancers over decades because of airborne exposure, even when you weren’t the one applying the chemicals. And I worry for all of the people who are handling them and breathing them every day with little or no protective gear. I am undone by an industry that has more interest in profit and aesthetics (and I understand their cultural power) than in human or planetary health. I am sickened that our country is coming close to passing a pesticide bill that will shield companies from harm. Yes, I have been making calls.

    Because the prevalence of these chemicals already keeps me up at night, I was not surprised by the news yesterday from the Xerces Society (“Study Finds Pesticide Residue Widespread on Butterfly Plants”) about the high levels and significant drift of urban pesticides. Their effects on butterflies is not news exactly, as we have known that the increase in pesticides use has decreased populations, but the specificity of city spaces, much like mine, and substantial drift is clearer here, I think, than in previous data.

    This report from Xerces reminds us that “butterflies indicate the health of the environment.” Their decline does not make me worry less, but it will make me work even harder to spread buckets. And it will make me smile brighter every day I visit the caterpillars on my organic milkweed. It will help me persevere in my efforts to advocate, educate, connect and, as much as I can, believe that I can keep making a difference, if only one urban yard (and, maybe one college campus or at least a corner of it) at a time. If you have questions about any of the above, please reach out. You know how to find me.

    And if you are someone who prays, sends loving kindness or light or good energy, and/or calls your US representatives, keep them doing what you’re doing.

    And thank you, Peter Helfrich, for making sure that I saw this report, as it indeed substantiates the points I keep making about about pesticides and non-target organisms — and for your own powerful advocacy and your enthusiastic support of mine.

    For those of you who are local, Peter and I will both be in our neighborhood at the Wylde Center’s Fall Plant Festival (435 Oakview Road, Decatur) on Saturday, 10-2, set up next to each other, if our plans work out.

    B the change you would like to see.

  • Thank You for a Terrific Season (we’re not done yet!)

    It is Labor Day Weekend, which, for many marks the end of the summer. For those of us in Atlanta, summer has been waning for over a month. My younger son has been back in school since late July; most area schools are now in session, including area colleges. It seems time to relinquish our period of summer vacation and get back to our academic-year pursuits, a transition that continues to direct the annual cycles in my own life.

    I received an email yesterday from Homegrown National Park, which seemed to close down their first (hopefully annual) Mosquito Bucket Challenge. They thanked the participants, reporting that 130,000 visited their site, and that community members’ feedback encouraged some of their actions, including stickers and handouts (I may be wrong, but I think I had something to do with the former, as they reached out to me and initiated an exchange about the stickers we were designing, still being launched at that point; theirs are great — and combine a couple of the elements of ours, as I shared). And they mentioned that buckets can still make a difference in many areas. In Georgia, we likely have at least 2 more months of mosquito activity.

    On this weekend of transitions, I want to add my gratitude to theirs. Thank you, Doug Tallamy and Homegrown National Park, for spreading the information about the “mosquito buckets of doom,” as they have come to be called and for generating so much buzz in the social media campaign. Thank you, Principal Jennifer Triplett, at Oakhurst Elementary in the City Schools of Decatur, who welcomed goats and buckets a few years ago and made me think this initiative might go somewhere. Thank you, Allison Ericson, Urban Naturalist, City of Decatur, for encouraging buckets in our local neighborhoods and sharing experience with neighbors who had installed buckets and covered several contiguous yards, reminding each other to replenish dunks had made a difference; our idea for regular emails came from that conversation. Thank you, Peter Helfrich, who has advised me on choices and decisions related to pollinators and pesticides for years and who designed the logo for B Buckets in record time; and who makes sure that we are included in the relevant festivals and events. Thank you, Nell Ruby, who has helped with the design of all other aspects of the buckets and the website (and to Anastasia Owen who continues to help me maintain it) and signs/stickers, and has added her generous spirit, ambitious brainstorming, and unbridled enthusiasm for more co-conspired creative projects than I can count, for over two decades. Thank you, Leslie Inman/Pollinator Friendly Yards on FB and Laura Markson Nuture.Native.Nature, and Claudia McDavid/Atlanta Botanical Garden and Annie O’Neill/Woodlands Garden, who elevated our presence in the Atlanta area by sharing our buckets in workshops and on social media and invited us for strategic demonstrations/presentations. Thank you, Andy Jones and Tony Powers, at Intown Ace Hardware who sourced black buckets and even hydroponic lids and bought out warehouses at least twice to keep both in stock for local purchases; their collaboration helped spread hundreds more buckets in Decatur than I would have alone. Thank you, Jarvis Adams and Derrick Thomas at the City Schools of Decatur, who supported the pilot project and welcomed buckets to playgrounds. And thank you, all of the B Buckets clients, who have tried buckets this seasons, through our delivery or instruction; there are, we estimate, about 1000 more buckets in the Atlanta area now from our collective efforts. It has indeed been a community effort, for which I am so grateful.

    And while we are not done yet for this year–still building buckets, sending reminders, serving schools–we are already making plans for next spring to continue to spread our educational efforts and safer alternatives to sprays & fogging to our local community – and beyond.

  • Pilot Bucket Project, City Schools of Decatur

    On Tuesday, August 19–just in time for World Mosquito Day and the beginning of our academic year–Nell and I installed mosquito buckets at Fifth Avenue Upper Elementary in the City Schools of Decatur, part of a pilot project we are doing in collaboration with Intown Ace Hardware. This is the second school in the system to have buckets. Andy at Intown Ace and I have both placed buckets at schools where we are parents; principal and parents at the first school, where buckets were added to the playground in June, report that they have made a big difference, even this year with all the heat and all the rain in Georgia. We are thrilled to be offering this pilot to protect our kids from mosquito bites, better for their general health, of course, and also their focus during the school day. We hope to add buckets to more schools in the system.

    If you are thinking that this is not the best time of year for bucket installation, you are right. There is evidence that the efficacy of such systems improves if the system start the year in place, which is our goal for spring 2026. This fall, we think, we can learn a lot from where they are placed on school grounds, which is always a bit of trial-and-error as you get to know the intricacies and nuances of particular properties.

    And this is a culture shift that we are leading, together, we think. It is my experience that Georgia residents who do not otherwise engage mosquito abatement companies or spray their yards sometimes choose to do so in August and September because the mosquito activity is still high (especially now) from the summer of heat and rain, and we are all a bit weary of having plans compromised by their persistence; and now concerns about mosquito-borne illnesses (like West Nile, which arrived in the Atlanta-area in July) are real.

    It is brave and bold to choose buckets; they are not the easy choice. There is much more chatter about chemical solutions, often presented as safer and less toxic than we think they are (always ask for Safety Data Sheets). They are not a quick fix; it seems that spraying makes people feel like they are resolving the challenge quickly, even if that’s not the case, as we explain on other pages on this website. Buckets, especially with Bti (if you are looking into buckets, again ask for Safety Data – all the ones we know of from companies in our area use a chemical larvicide; we’ve asked everyone we know of who advertises “non-toxic” buckets and ours are the only ones), are a longterm, effective, and safe solution, using scientific methods and knowledge and creative and critical thinking and, in our case, visual messaging, in text and image. For me, as educator and parent, this bucket project involves what I want to model and to teach: observation, reflection, patience, persistence, flexibility, risk, communication, at least.

    As those of us at B Buckets keep saying, Bti buckets are better for our pollinators, our people, our pets, and our planet. And we are always happy to explain that perspective, which comes from years of curiosities, conversations, reading, and, full disclosure, mom intuition and insistence.

    Thank you to Mr. Adams, Mr. Thomas, Ms. Jackson and the staff of FAve who have talked about and helped with installation — and have been willing to enter this partnership, a teaching and learning opportunity for us all!

    Nell Ruby, Principal Derrick Thomas, Katherine Smith
    Katherine Smith, Desha Jackson

    all photographs by Nell Ruby

  • World Mosquito Day, August 20

    It seems like we are living in a time of daily celebrations (ice cream, doughnuts, etc.) that I do not remember from my childhood. While many of these are news to me, they are not necessarily new, as is the case of World Mosquito Day, which I just learned about from Wondercide (they are offering 20% products, all of which I highly recommend).

    So I just went to Wikipedia for more information, and I learned that we are commemorating Sir Ronald Ross’ discovery of the transmission of malaria via female mosquitoes in 1897. It is a good reminder of the persistence of mosquitoes and their role as vectors for multiple diseases, which seems especially relevant as West Nile cases are rising across Georgia, as they have often done, especially recently, this time of year as the temperatures and rainfall increase in summer months and provide relatively consistent and prevalent breeding opportunities.

    Of course, with the launch of B Buckets, World Mosquito Day has new personal significance for me. I am an art historian embracing the science and embarking in many ways, as I said yesterday to our local upper elementary school, on what is the most significant STEaM project I have embraced: using the life cycle of the mosquitoes and design strategies from visual arts to offer buckets that combine methods and messages in a new way to eliminate mosquitoes and support pollinators.

    While this day is more commemoration of an individual (lost in its nominal designation) than the insect, it is an encouraging reminder that such discoveries lead to change and start sometimes with a single individual (though I am sure that Sir Ross had others with him).

    I am grateful for Dr. Doug Tallamy and his efforts to explain and disseminate mosquito buckets. Many of us have learned from him. And I am grateful for those like Peter Helfrich of Beecatur and Georgia Beekeepers Association, who has taught me so much about pollinators and local advocacy. I appreciate all of those in Decatur and Atlanta who have been working with me to spread the buckets, not just those who are stocking and building but also those who have trusted and invited and risked. I celebrate all of you today, especially our clients who have opted for buckets and given up chemical sprays. Today I admire and commend you most of all.

  • Care-ful Decisions, Revised & Revisited

    (re)marking challenges & (re)moving In2Care buckets, summer 2024

    As we are becoming more visible in the Atlanta area–thank you, families!–I am getting more contacts and questions, including about different types of mosquito buckets. A few of our potential clients have, I think, opted for the mosquito buckets installed and serviced by several other local companies. These, to my knowledge, all come from the In2Care system, designed in the Netherlands.

    And I get it. My family had those in our yard for several years. They were, at the time, the best choice I could find. And some of the companies in Atlanta whose missions and values I admire and support use them. If you want to know who they are, reach out. I can recommend them.

    BUT I did not understand then that In2Care systems use a synthetic, chemical larvicide (pyriproxyfen), albeit in low doses, in combination with a fungus that causes it to adhere to female mosquitoes and be spread to other water sources. Ortho Home Defense “Mosquito Kill & Defense” is a new product, which uses the same technology: same chemical insecticide, different bucket design.

    Pyriproxyfen is a growth regulator and, in many ways, has the same effect as Bti, which is a biological agent. In2Care and Ortho systems are certainly better than abatement sprays, but their chemicals will still harm pollinators who venture into buckets. The Bti in B Buckets will not.

    When I had In2Care’s system and proprietary buckets in my yard (for a few years), we have ongoing issues with the buckets, especially in the final year. I designed B Buckets to reduce chemical controls and resolve functional challenges. The buckets were constantly toppled by squirrels (and the water spilled out, making the system ineffective); the lids stopped attaching, multiple times (the buckets were removed and reinstalled–new each time, so I thought–every fall/spring). When the buckets turned over and broke apart, they invited more squirrels and also my dogs. I stopped putting them inside my fence.

    So far, there have been no reports of any squirrels, dogs, or kids getting into or knocking over B Buckets.

    In this, our inaugural season, we have placed buckets in almost 70 yards so far in neighborhoods around Atlanta. We anticipate that we’ll start offering installation and service next spring, as we surmise that these options are leading some families to choose In2Care. And, as working parents, we get it. And we are trying to resolve this issue, too. We believe in B Buckets – safer for bees, butterflies & birds, and better for pollinators, pets, people & our planet.

    If you are reading this blog, and you would really like monthly service as an option in 2025-26, please reach out and let us know.

    *and thanks to Laura @nurture.native.nature for thoughts on these distinctions between buckets earlier in the summer

  • West Nile in DeKalb County: An Appeal for and Review of Certain Sprays and Fogs (but NOT Synthetic Chemical Varieties)

    News is hitting my media sources today about mosquitoes testing positive for West Nile, now in our county if not yet in our zipcode. Our local public schools are now in session. Everyone (including me) will likely pay more attention to preventing mosquito “bites”. This is, as my earlier post on West Nile indicates, not the time to spray, though I expect many will be tempted, even those who have not sprayed before. You will kill lots of insects (up to 1000 species in a typical residential yard, still hard for me to believe), and likely very few mosquitoes, and only adults. But if you have been visiting out site, you know this already. Expensive poison for the pollinators.

    I have only just begun to have Monarchs on my milkweed, finally (I will post a picture if I can get one – they show up most often when I am wrangling dogs; the Swallowtail above for now). It is the Great Southeast Pollinator Census in a few weekends (August 22-23, 2025). Now is not the time to spray, though counties will likely make that choice; some have already. I know because the residents of one just got more buckets. And, just as a reminder, there are many other ideas on our Resources page, many from our Bee City USA – Decatur, GA (Beecatur) folks.

    So I didn’t think I would find myself in the business of product reviews, but I also never imagined myself in a business at all… I am going to offer some, more positive than my last blog about Thermacells, to tell you about repellents that I use. I can recommend them, in all cases, from years of personal experience with all of these companies. We have all of these in stock right now, and while our focus is buckets, we have decided to stock these in order to share them – quickly. Because sometimes you need something right now and may not want to endorse the express delivery services for political or other reasons. And you may want to just test it. And you can. And you can (sort of) buy local.

    Badger’s Bug Repellent Balm Stick (or Anti-Bug Balm, the name I like better): This is BY FAR my favorite essential oil repellent. It works.

    It is not a spray. Parents, I imagine the significance of that is not lost on you. Kids can apply it themselves, even young ones, and it does not go straight in their eyes.

    Most of the ingredients are organic, which is important to me. It includes citronella, but it doesn’t smell like it. I don’t mind citronella myself, but it is not my favorite. This combination of natural fragrances is pleasant, at least to me. And those who know me know I am fragrance free, even fragrance averse, so for me to really like this one, it has to be good.

    The company also produces a spray, with a slightly different composition. We have that, too, in the small size, as a trial.

    Note: I know folks who get migraines from fragrances can sometimes not use such products. And, it is my understanding and experience, that sometimes it is the chemical composition of the fragrance; natural ones hit us different, at least sometimes. If you are willing to try these, we have testers and individual incense sticks for this purpose, more below. And we bring them to you.

    The Flyaway Sticks by Madison James are our favorite repellent for our yard in my family. Even my husband, who is often at a different point on the chemical-to-natural/non-toxic spectrum, likes and asks for these. And while we have used 4 at a time in the past, we have discovered this summer that 1 will cover our entire backyard. Again, they are essential-oil based sticks (geranium, clove, cedar), all of which repel mosquitoes. In combination, we think they are magic. These sticks smoke for about 2-2.5 hours; they linger for longer.

    The company’s current website is pro-pollinator, which we appreciate. In my memory, the last website indicated that these were developed for horse farms/barns in Texas to repel flies, thus the name. I assure you they work well for mosquitoes, too. They are our choice for late afternoon and evening gatherings in our backyard (and/or oscillating fans), especially this time of year.

    Wondercide: These essential-oil forward products for pets are another top choice at our house. We have two miniature Australian shepherds, and we have used their shampoos and soaps (the latter discontinued, sadly) for years. We also use their spray on our dogs. In years past I have used it primarily when we were in areas with ticks, for added protection. This year I have been using it daily since the beginning of July. [They offer a yard spray, which I have admittedly had sitting in my utility closet for over a year. About the time I ordered it, I learned that these oils can harm lightning bugs (fireflies to non-Southerners), and I have been reluctant to use it for that reasons, without the time to do more research. Perhaps someone who knows more, and/or from the company, will read this blog and leave a comment with research/evidence. In the meantime, I will keep spraying the dogs.] I include a picture of Trace with (we think) an early-evening mosquito bite on his eye before I started the daily routine — because mosquito buckets do a lot, but they do not zero populations.

  • A Tale of Two Neighbors (and an update on the rain barrel)

    I just had a conversation with one of our neighbors from the street behind us, which was heartening and, for me, worth sharing.

    Those of you following this blog will likely remember my post a few weeks ago (July 12) about my consultation with a family new to Decatur and their rain barrel, inherited from previous residents and teeming with mosquito larvae/pupae. They added a dunk to it, and then installed 8 buckets in their yard. They are on a street that I have frequented over the years, mostly for backyard parties with my kids. While my experiences have been sporadic, I have a sense that this particular stetch is quite and consistently challenging for mosquito control, as there is a slope to most of the yards toward a small stream at the back of the properties, which, even when buried or swaled (as is the case for the yard I am discussing), holds fairly constant moisture, inviting mosquitoes.

    I had not realized, when I made buckets for pickup a few weeks ago, that they were going to the property that backs up to this rain-barrel-challenged yard. In any case, in this recent exchange, I learned that the buckets are already working and making a difference and reducing the number of mosquitoes in their yards. I was, of course, glad to hear it.

    We are finding the same in our own yard, where the mosquito activity seemed to increase about a month ago; we had mosquitoes coming in our doors every time we opened them, it seemed – and with two dogs going in and out to our backyard frequently, we seemed to have constant, unwanted houseguests.

    We installed a new bucket outside our back door, about 10 feet away, and moved the one closest to our front door about 3 feet farther from our porch (the bucket was working well – I noticed a lot of activity when I passed it and when I added dunks, but it was so close that mosquitoes could easily come inside with us).

    I checked in with my family yesterday. Those changes, they agree, have resolved the issues, at least for now. Sometimes it is a matter of shifting locations; or adding buckets. It is a trial-and-error process and getting to know your property and watching the rain patterns and accumulations. It is also, as I think this example indicates, helpful when multiple and contiguous yards install buckets. More is more. Two of our adjacent neighbors (but only on one side) have had buckets for years; we’ve all doubled our buckets this summer. We believe they make a difference. And I am grateful.

    Thanks, all! And please reach out if you think we can help look at and think on any challenges in your yards.

  • West Nile? More Buckets!

    One of the B Buckets clients contacted me today to let me know that she is adding more buckets to her yard after the recent news, from mid-July, that mosquitoes in two areas of Atlanta have tested positive for the West Nile virus. Such news has been consistent in recent years, especially entering August, though numbers are rising annually. While the general risk is not great, this news is worth paying attention to for sure, though I am hoping it is not surprising to Decatur/Atlanta residents.

    And great response with more buckets! Thank you!

    Buckets with Bti will prevent approximately 85% of larvae from developing into adults; abatement sprays, often the first reaction to increasing mosquito activity and disease vectors, will eliminate only 10% of adults at the time of application and leave all of the eggs/larvae/pupae. What if we just keep covering Decatur and Atlanta with buckets?

  • Revisiting Repellents & Marketing

    Some of my daily reads, including my go-to news outlet and my favorite design site, have been circulating recommendations for Thermacell systems, especially this week. I want to share again the information from the Xerces Society’s webinar, “The Truth About Mosquito Sprays: Investigating Their Impact on Pollinators” (April 2025) in which the Xerces scientists discussed coils, candles, and other environmental repellents in their Q&A. There was a question specifically about Thermacells, and I have a different perspective after hearing their responses.

    Thermacell systems claim to be safe for people and pets. These systems use the same pyrethroids (class of synthetic pesticides) that abatement companies are spraying. Thermacell systems heat these chemicals and distribute them into the air. While the scientists did not study Thermacells directly (they studied abatement sprays and their levels of toxicity and drift in Decatur in 2023), they questioned the impact of distributing these chemicals into the environment in this way, where they settle in the area and those in their vicinity inhale the pyrethroids as the system is operating, especially concerning as some chemicals increase in toxicity with such temperature changes.

    To hear their response, start watching at 56:00.

    Always gather information, look at safety data (you can ask any company for Safety Data Sheets), and ask questions.