Eliminate mosquitoes naturally
Along the same lines of my last post, here are some tips from Natural Home on getting rid of mosquitoes without using sprays with chemicals. Tip No. 5 suggests growing plants that naturally repel mosquitoes. Aaron and I do grow citronella in our backyard hangout area already, but this article suggests even more plants to help with the problem: “geranium, lemon balm, catnip, basil, lemon thyme, and lemongrass.”
Here’s another oh-so-simple solution that I’ve never thought about:
“Blow them away. Set a fan on your deck, patio, or porch. Mosquitoes don’t fly well through wind.”
This may make the area even nicer, considering the hot summers we experience in Austin. Imagine this: A cool breeze blows the scents of citronella and lemon balm by as you sit under the canopy in the backyard sipping a cool cocktail. Sigh!
Homemade solutions for eliminating house flies
Natural Home has a feature today about homemade, non-chemical solutions to insect pests that proliferate in the Summer. Aaron and I have definitely had problems with some of the pests–fleas and flies, specifically. The article does suggest some natural remedies for fleas, but I’m ignoring it because my dog Binx is really allergic to fleas. I have to use chemicals to control fleas or Binx has bad health effects.
But I’d definitely try this solution for flies in the house:
House flies
Place sachets of crushed mint, bay leaf, clove or eucalyptus around the house to repel flies. You can also make your own flypaper. Mix 1⁄4 cup corn syrup, 1 tablespoon granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon brown sugar in a small bowl. Cut strips of brown kraft paper and soak in the sugar mixture. Let dry overnight. To hang, poke a small hole at the top of each strip and hang with string.
Fruits of his labor
Aaron has harvested the first tomatoes of the season, and their flavors are incredible. In this basket are consueto genevese, st. pierre, martin, black crim, and Amish paste tomatoes.
My homemade cleaner recipes
Mix together effective, nontoxic homemade cleaners using ordinary ingredients you probably already have around the house.
I’ve been using homemade household cleaners for about a year now. I’ve found several benefits to making my own cleaners: my family saves money, we avoid exposure to chemicals, and my recipes work just as well as store-bought cleaners. Mixing up these formulas only takes a couple of minutes and you probably already have the ingredients laying around the house. I developed these three recipes after getting inspiration from Natural Home magazine, one of my subscriptions.
Laundry whitener
- Recycled jug of some kind
- 1 cup hydrogen peroxide
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 12 cups water
This one is simple. Mix all the ingredients together in your jug. I use a recycled white-vinegar jug. You can use this laundry whitener just like bleach when you’re washing your whites. I add about 1 cup for a full load of laundry.
Counter cleaner
- Recycled spray bottle
- Water
- Vinegar
- Dish soap
- Essential oils
Fill your spray bottle halfway with water. Top if off with vinegar. Squirt a small amount of dish soap in the bottle (about 1 teaspoon). Add 20 drops of your essential oil. I enjoy mine with 10 drops lavender and 10 drops orange. Give it a good shake and use it just like store-bought cleaners to shine up your kitchen and bathroom counters.
Tub scrub
- Large mason jar
- Baking soda
- Water
- Dish soap
- Essential oils
Fill the mason jar half way with the baking soda. Top it off with water. Squirt about 1 tablespoon of dish soap in the mixture. Add 20 drops of essential oil. Again, I like mine with lavender and orange. Stir the mixture with a spoon until the baking soda is suspended in the water (you need to stir before each use, since the baking soda separates at the bottom). Use this cleaner to scrub your kitchen and bathroom sinks, the bathtubs and the toilets.
Aaron’s garden featured on Johnson’s Backyard Garden blog
I’m so proud of Aaron and his garden. He sent in some photos and a description to a popular Austin gardening blog, and the authors decided to feature his garden in a weekly post. To read what Aaron and the JBG folks thought, scroll down to “What’s in Your Garden? Featuring Aaron Morris.” Here’s what Aaron told them about our garden:
“I have converted this entire backyard from a wasteland of weeds and china berry trees into a highly productive mini farm. I have done a bit at a time using little more than a cheap shovel and a soil sifter I built myself to remove rocks. Other than removing the rocks, the only other thing I did was grow a green manure and turn it in. I have a wildspace that I seed with wild flowers and irrigate. I built a chicken coop and compost system, and instead of tilling, I have the chicken clear the spent crops, the I cut out just the stems and leave the spent plant roots to compost in place. So I guess I’m doing a no till system and it is working wonderfully for me. I just ate my first tomato (May 9th!), an amish paste, that I started from seed. I started my seeds in December, I have about 50 plants in the ground. 30 different varieties, mostly heirlooms.”