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Herbal Insect Repellent

One of my best friends called yesterday and was freaking out a bit. Her two year old son had a tick. I hate ticks. If you read my blog about spiders, know that ticks only fall slightly under spiders because I see fewer of them. She talked about getting an herbal insect repellent for her children and I thought that would make an excellent green living blog. I had actually already bought a herbal insect repellent at Target to send to my husband overseas. If you love Burt’s Bees products, they have an herbal insect repellent that includes oils such … Continue reading →

Summer Bites

Backyard barbeques, picnics in the park, swimming, sunning, and swinging with friends until sunset; there’s so much to love about summer—minus the bugs. Despite the use of expensive sprays, fancy candles and other popular pest deterrents, my 8-year-old is covered with bug bites.  Living in northern Wisconsin, which is blanketed with forests and other havens for flying blood suckers, doesn’t help; however, this summer’s battle against the bugs seems to be a bit fiercer than in years past. Currently, my mom radar is set on mass insect detection.  I am on especially high alert for deer ticks, which can spread … Continue reading →

Natural Way to Repel Mosquitoes

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Like most kids, my son is counting down the days until summer vacation is here. Not that he does not like school, but summer is fun – there’s swimming, basketball camp, and staying up late. One thing he is not looking forward to is mosquitoes. (This image is from Morgue File and believed to be in the public domain.) I guess it was because we had a mild winter here in the south, but the mosquitoes never really seemed to have left us from last summer. In the middle of winter, I killed one in our bathroom. However, I have … Continue reading →

Bugs Bugs Go Away

It’s summer and at least here in Jacksonville, N.C., that means bugs and lots of them. But, I hate pesticides. It just seems wrong to spray chemicals to get rid of bugs. I was overjoyed when I found some natural bug repellents from Richard Fagerlund from his book “The Bugman on Bugs: Understanding Household Pests and the Environment.” To get rid of ants, mix 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, two tablespoons of jelly, and one teaspoon of boric acid. Put that in a small, disposable container and sit it where the ants are. If you have a mound you need … Continue reading →

Flea Bombing

Flea bombing: every pet owner probably has to do it at least once. No matter how many flea collars we put on our animals, medication we apply to the backs of their necks, or generally how cautious we are, those little bugs just seem to find ways past our defenses on occasion. Flea bombing, or flea fogging as it’s often called now, can be complicated and stressful. We recently had to go through it in our house, so I thought I’d detail the process to provide help or reference for others. Everyone, human and animal, needs to vacate the premises … Continue reading →

5 Reasons to be Thankful it’s Winter

It seems like all anyone in the Midwest can think about this time of year is when spring will arrive. Now that it’s March, you might you might mistakenly expect spring to begin making its entrance. It might be happening other places, but it’s not happening here in the good old Midwest of the United States. It’s one thing to survive a long, cold winter as an adult. It’s another thing altogether trying to survive it with a baby. An adult can handle a long walk in 20-degree weather to maintain her sanity. A baby can’t. If you happen to … Continue reading →

Alternative Living in Las Vegas

The other day I wrote about Daniel Suelo, who gave up money and now lives in a cave, surviving off what he can get without buying it. The other day, I read another article that reminded me that, for green reasons or not, many people are turning to alternative ways of living. Steven and Kathryn may look like a typical Las Vegas couple, but there is one big difference – they live in the flood tunnels of the city. If you have ever been to the city, you can imagine the flood tunnels aren’t used much because it is dry … Continue reading →

Top 10 Must Visit Green Web Sites

Want to learn more about being green, whether it is at home steps you can take to make the world a better place, organizations that are monitoring the world’s practices, or preventing animal extinction? It is easy as a touch of the fingertips with these incredible websites: 10. Greenpeace Even people who don’t know much about going green have probably heard of Greenpeace. They have been trying to protect and conserve the environment for almost 40 years. 9. Going Green (TIME) TIME has devoted a section of its main web page to green issues. Weekly articles are posted on such … Continue reading →

Bay Leaf

You may already be familiar with bay leaf as an ingredient for soups and sauces. A bay leaf added to the cooking water makes pasta, beans, and rice more flavorful. But bay also has a history rich in mythology and medicine. You may also be familiar with the idea of the laurel wreath; the bay leaf used in cooking is the same leaf used in making the historic symbol of victory! The Latin name for the evergreen bay tree is laurus nobilis — renowned bay tree. Greek mythology tells of Apollo, god of the sun, pursuing a nymph named Daphne. … Continue reading →

Castor Bean

Ah, the infamous castor oil. Were you ever subjected to a spoonful of castor oil when you were feeling sick? Castor oil comes from the castor bean — a plant used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. Ancient Indians called it eranda, a name from the Sanskrit that is still used today. Castor bean seeds have been found in four thousand year old Egyptian tombs. Ancient Greeks left information on how to extract the oil from the bean. It was only during the eighteenth century that castor bean oil was used internally. Ancient Greeks used the oil only externally. … Continue reading →