A Day in the Life...Spring at The Blessed Cheaper Organic

So many things are popping up that I find myself tending to.

I thought while I am preparing our new diet, I would share the blessings we have received around here.  Sometimes when we go through change, it seems trying and okay, excruciating!  LOL  But, in the end, God will bring fruit from it.

There is always something to be thankful for.

The Lord's blessings to you this week~Kim

10 Natural Wasp Control Methods You Can Make or Buy

Spring has arrived!

And so have the wasps.

My other bug zapper spray, and even the Bug-off oil shown below have never solved the wasp problem we tend to have in the spring.  It solves most other bug problems, but not the wasps.  During the spring, we get quite a few paper wasps, mud daubers, black wasps, and the red wasps (which I haven't tried this mix on).

We found a mud dauber building a nest inside one of our air conditioner units the other day, so I knew it was time.  My little special needs son was beginning an obsession of spraying wasps on his own, so I wanted some on hand.  He can go through a whole bottle pretty quick, "helping" me get rid of wasps.

Of course, this is nontoxic and safe, even for little boys who like to smash dead wasps...

I made a mixture of about 20 drops each (or more) of

Edens Garden Eucalyptus oil {affiliate link}.  I actually use quite a few of their oils, because they work, and they are not terribly expensive.  Not all of their brands are organic, but we still use them quite a bit.



and Plant Therapy's Bug-off essential oils, which contains citronella, eucaplyptus, cedarwood, lemongrass, lavender, litsea, tea tree, patchouli and catnip essential oils.  {affiliate link}

I mixed both oils in about 2 cups of water in a spray bottle, and yes, it worked!

What if you don't have those oils around the house?

Try these mixtures {affiliate links}:

lavender and eucaplyptus



eucalyptus and citronella



lemongrass



add peppermint to one of the oils above



add dish soap if you have only one of the oils above

Or, what about plants?


Wormwood, artimesia absinthium

Geraniums, pelargonium

Or, even grow the plants which are used to make the essential oils in pots around the areas you want to repel wasps.

Then, there are the wasp traps and deterrents:

This is probably the most common DIY homemade wasp trap.  Cost? FREE, minus the cost of the soda bottle!










You can add sugar or honey water, even adding colored juices, instead of the photo author's rootbeer flavor;-), or even flowers to attract the wasps.  Once they get inside, they are trapped and cannot get out.

You simply slice the top 1/3 of the plastic bottle off, add liquid to the bottom, then tape the inverted top, and set out on patio areas to trap the wasps.

Then, there are the more expensive methods:

{affiliate links below}


An interesting wasp deterrent, sending wasps packing because they think there is another wasp nest in the area.










A glass wasp trap, which is more attractive than a plastic bottle.


A cheaper trap than the glass one, and similar to the DIY plastic bottle.  This one is re-usable, though.




 Further reference:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/wasp-repellent.html

Confessions of a First-Time Chicken Owner: The Predator

Although annoyed, she doesn't look much like a predator, does she?

When we built our chicken tractor, we made sure it was secure, and then further, we placed it in a fenced in garden area.  I was thinking security and sustainability.  If any animals like raccoons, or possums, ventured through one layer, there would be another.  Further, we have kept an infrared bulb over night on the almost grown chicks to prevent any nocturnal predators from hunting our birds.

We thought it was enough, without buying expensive hog wire...

Enter our dog, who is a Siberian husky, picked up by a small private animal shelter several years ago, underweight and sick.  We adopted her, and nursed her back to good health, yet,  apparently, she had one too many fresh chicken dinners.

Plus, she is a good digger, and connoisseur of wiggling under fences, if she wants something bad enough.  You would not think she could get under this fence, given her size, but she did so one evening right after the sun set.  She helped herself to two chickens, going through not only the fence, but pushing out the wire on the  the coop.  I guess not all of the hens realized they needed to run back into the igloo for protection...

So, our seven became five.

This wasn't the first time our husky had done something like this.  She was part of the reason why we lost our first chicken endeavor, which never really got off the ground, conspiring with our other dog, who has not ventured into the fence at all this time.  So, we did something we don't usually do, we put the husky on a dog line while we figured out how to keep her out.

We started with an electric fence around the garden.

However, she ran right up to the fence, within a few hundred yards of my husband, and almost got in. 

 But, she can't stay on a line for the rest of her days.

So, we made a few tweeks and adjustments.  We watch her carefully, but we will keep her on the line in the evening.  Over time, we will probably re-fence the area with hog wire...buried in the ground.

We learned how strong the hunting  instinct was, because she will literally stalk the area if she does not see us around.  Needless to say, we are not quite trusting of her drive to kill another chicken, so the dog line is our safety net.

Until next time!

The Lord's blessings to the Barn Hop, The Prairie Homestead and New Life on a Homestead for the link-ups!

Confessions of a First Time Chicken Owner: Our More Than $50 Coop

The illusion:

We could build a coop for $50.

The reality:

We built an initial chicken tractor coop for $100.

12 8 foot 2 x 4s
1  roll of chicken wire
1 large aluminum sheet
1 set of hinges
1 lock
screws

My son was the builder in this project.  He had no prior training, and we looked at and then dissected a million ideas for chicken coops, which we discussed for a couple of weeks.

Anna White's Homemaker blog has chicken coop plans.  I couldn't get my son to follow her plans---he already had his own method in his head.  But ours turned out close.

First, he built the frame in a chicken tractor style, adding a rectangular frame for a door.

Then, he cut the aluminum sheet in about half, nailing it to the back section of the coop for shelter.

After we added the chicken wire, we set an old dog igloo in under the shelter for a nesting area (the duct tape is my husband's fix-it idea...it works), which we will be adding nesting boxes to later.

They are quite happy to be there, and actually transitioned easily from the brooder box to this.  The tractor is in a fenced-in garden area, so there is a double layer of protection, but then there was a predator who snatched 2 of our 7 birds.

To be continued, next week...

The Lord's blessings to The Prairie Homestead and New Life on a Homestead and Let This Mind Be in You