Natural Mouse Deterrent: This works every time!

I'm not crazy about indoor cats. I wasn't raised with them and don't like the smell of them. But, I'm even less crazy about mice. Mice creep me out. I have memories of them running past my head at night during Summer camps and on mission trips. I have said that I am willing to have a cat in the house *if* we get mice. Now I don't have to!

Our old rental house in the city had mice in the walls who sounded like they were bowling at night. We were at a loss. We didn't want to set traps or set out poison, especially with such little children. Then, we found that rodents HATE the smell of peppermint! We bought peppermint oil at the local natural food store and poured some on a hand towel. We laid the towel over the vent that takes the air into the furnace and spreads it through out the house. Immediately the mice left! Probably to go night bowling at our neighbors' houses, but they were definitely gone. A couple months later, same thing, mice bowling in the walls, and the peppermint oil worked right away.

Last Summer we moved out in the country and just a few nights ago, we heard country mice in our walls. They weren't bowling, but they sounded like they were building something, maybe a nest for a big family. At our local farm supply store, we found more peppermint oil and did the same towel trick. They immediately left!

An added bonus to all of this, the house will smell minty fresh for a day or two!

Why should I start buying/growing Non-GMOs?

Someone has been messing with the foods that God gave us. Why? For money, of course. These foods were healthy, natural, and plentiful, but now it can be a chore to steer clear of foods that have been genetically engineered.
GMOs damage DNA and cause allergies, toxins, major organ failure, nutritional problems, major reproductive problems, and new diseases, some of which we undoubtedly haven't even heard about yet.

Which foods are genetically modified?

• soy beans
• corn
• sugar beets
• canola oil
• cottenseed oil
• Hawaiian papaya
• some zucchini and crookneck squash
• high fructose corn syrup
• soy products

How do I avoid GMOs?

• buy organic
• buy products that are labeled non-gmo
• buy products listed on a non-gmo shopping guide http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com
• avoid at-risk ingredients: soy, corn, cotton, canola

If you are interested in knowing more about this topic, look for Jeffrey Smith, author of "Seeds of Deception" and executive director for The Institute for Responsible Technology.

Be sure to watch the movie, "The Future of Food", if you haven't already. http://www.thefutureoffood.com/

Beekeeping

Later on, when our boys are a older, we may try out beekeeping. So, I've done some reading to see how we will need to get started once we do.
The first obvious step is to be sure you and the rest of your household are not allergic! So, that is something we'll be sure to consider as we find out if our boys have any allergies.
Here are some tips, in no order, I'll also need to remember:
-When getting stung, scrape the stinger away, instead of pulling it out. Eventually, you will get used to the stings and so will your body, building an immunity
-Stick to the same supplier so that your parts are interchangeable. Buying used may spread disease to your bees.
-Good Website: http://www.beemaster.com/site/honeybee/beehome.htm
-Queen bees live 1 to 3 years. Trade out your queen bee yearly to help prevent swarming (the bees leaving).
-Don't wear perfume/cologne
-Start out with 3lbs. of bees (10,000 bees)
-read "Beekeeping for Dummies" by Howland Blackston
-seek out local bee club and become a member
-plants lots of flowers so the bees don't go to the soy fields in our area and bring back the bad stuff!

Maple Syrup

We are in a new house, which is on a partially wooded lot. I am hoping we might be able to make maple syrup. I have been learning if this may be a possiblity and when the leaves are back on the trees, I will scope out if we have any of the right trees, Sugar Maple.
The easiest way you can tell if your Maple tree is a Sugar Maple is to look at the leaves. Like the webbing between your fingers, Sugar Maple leaves have rounded notches between the lobes of the leaf. Also, the leaves grow in opposite directions of each other, rather than in the same direction.
For simple homemade syrup, you need to drill a bout 2 1/2 inches into the tree, a tap, and a can or just a jug, like an empty milk jug, and a larger bucket to dump your jug in.
You will fill up one jug on a normal day from late morning to evening. In the height of the season, you'll probably need to change the jug once during the day. The season begins when it is still freezing at night, but in the 40's during the daytime.
You will need 9 gallons of sap in order to make a pint of syrup. Take a large pot and dump a couple gallons in it and let it simmer and simmer down for hours. As it gets lower, keep on adding in more sap until you get it all down the the right consistancy.

Growing Tomatoes Indoors

I have thought about growing a tomato plant now in order to grow roots in water from the cuttings in a couple months to then be replanted for our garden. Still figuring this out as we are still new to all of this. I will share pictures.

The Single Best Baby Item We Have Purchased

The single best baby item we have ever bought was the Ergo Baby Carrier. I will shamelessly advertise here (I am a sales affiliate) because I would recommend it to my closest of friends. I tried several other baby carriers and never was comfortable, but I have big babies and not a great back, so I just figured that was how it was and so I used them minimumly and took them off as soon as I could.
The Ergo, however, I could wear around all day long. And, I have. I wore my third born all around Disney World and my sister in law, who had a smaller baby at the time, tried to wear a different baby carrier all around that day, but she kept having to take it off. It is so comfortable that I sometimes panic, thinking, "where is the baby?" only to realize he is right there with me!
It took me a little while to try one out because they are not cheap. But, after I finally ordered mine, I wished that I had tried one much sooner. Three of my four have been in this thing and I so wish my first had been, too.
That brings me to another thought. My babies LOVE this thing. They love being close to their mommy and will stay content for a long time, while I can browse around Hobby Lobby or take the older boys to the zoo.
I can do without pretty much any other baby product we have, but I will never give my Ergo up!

Look to the right of this page and you'll see the ad you can click on to bring you to the Ergo website. You can thank me later ;)

Planting Schedule

March
Peas, spinach and onions will hopefully be planted in mid March if the weather seems right. Late March we'll plant broccoli, garlic, kale and leek.

April
After we think we will no longer have frost, we'll try carrot, celery, lettuce, potato.

May
Next up will be cantaloupe, cucumber, eggplant, pepper, pumpkin, snap bean, sweet corn, sweet potato, tomato and watermelon.