Going Buggy

Our move from the high altitudes of western Wyoming brought us closer to family and friends.  And it has brought us closer to bugs.  Lots and LOTS of bugs.  Ants, beetles, earwigs, millers, spiders, mosquitoes, flies, pill bugs, crickets and some sort of huge moth that are seriously the things of which nightmares are made.

I’m no shrinking violet.  I grew up around horses and livestock so I’m no stranger to insects.  But this new combination of lower elevation, farmground and living next to 20,000 pheasants has brought more bugs than I’ve ever been around in my life.  The sheer volume and pervasiveness of them is driving me, well, buggy!

Today, my daughter asked to play in her sandbox.  We pulled off the lid and were greeted with a squirmy mass of tiny bugs that looked like baby earwigs.  Dozens and dozens of them.

Insert full body shiver here.  BWAAACCCHHHKKKK!

Insects, spiders and the like have their place in the world.  Just not in my house and not in Wyokiddo’s sandbox.  Chemicals also have their place in this world, but I try to minimize our exposure to them.  With a toddler and three dogs running around the homestead, I’m not crazy about saturating every square inch of our home with commercial pesticides.  So I’m turning to some DIY insect repelling remedies.  I’m considering it my own personal science experiment.  So here are the remedies I will be testing (most use essential oils).

• Mosquito Repellent from StepIntoMyGreenWorld.com
• Spider Spray from KidsActivitiesBlog.com
• Ant Killer from Lorigama.wordpress.com
• Ant Repellent from Innerchildfun.com
• Tick Repellent from thenaturallivingsite.com
• Earwig Repellent from ehow.com

I hope these work, because as I’ve said, I hate the thought of layering on chemicals to keep the mostly harmless bugs at bay.  We started with the Ant Repellent in Wyokiddo’s sandbox.  I don’t know if it will help with ants and earwigs and the like but she sure had fun sprinkling it around and decorating her “cupcakes.”

Do you have a favorite homemade pest repellent?