Summer is upon us!! Get ready for the creepy crawlers!

      April brings all kinds of new and exciting things! Kids are wrapping up the end of the year, the weather is changing (although Mother Nature may be teasing you for a while longer), days are just beginning to get longer, and we're starting to think about Summer and what to do with our kids for 12 weeks! Ugh!
      With warmer weather brings bugs and lots of them! Some of those bugs like spiders, mosquitos, fleas and ticks, make their way into our lives in the most unpleasant of ways. And with all the videos floating around Youtube about the horrible side effects of flea and tick meds, what’s a person to do? What about us humans? Kids bringing home head lice and mosquitos eating them alive?! You don’t want to saturate your little babies with nasty poisons and spray them with cell mutating, cancer causing toxins that could create further issues!  Ok, so what can we do?
     First things first, your pets. Some websites say to feed your dogs garlic oil and that can be tricky. Garlic does have a tendency to cause some toxicity that can actually be fatal. Breathlessness, lethargy, diarrhea, vomiting, pale gums, weakness, elevated heart rate are just a few symptoms of garlic overload which can build up in your dogs system over time.  Feeding your dog a good well balanced diet that includes veggies (be sure and research which veggies your dog can eat), is a start. What I have found that works wonderfully and is highly effective without any side effects is cedar oil. I get a new bottle every year and use on both my dogs. I start at the back of the neck and put little drops all the way down their spine. I do this so they can’t lick it off. Then I rub it in. You may need to reapply every month or so, but cedar oil is known to help repel fleas, ticks and mosquitos! I’ve been using it for years!
Next, your kiddos. I start giving my kids garlic oil capsules thirty days before head lice season (is there a season for that?) and all during the summer. Garlic oil repels head lice 100% of the time, and repels mosquitos as well. When we lived in Ohio where the mosquitos are as large as helicopters, the garlic wasn’t 100% effective so I topped it off with cedar oil on the back of my children's necks. Also, avoid eating bananas before venturing out. The smell of bananas on your  breath attracts mosquitos!
    So there you have it, some good ammo to ward off nasty bugs that can really wreak havoc  on your otherwise fun summer days. Got spiders? Saturate cotton balls with lavender or vinegar and put them where you think the spiders may be crawling in. Yep it works!
    Good luck and let me know if you have any other natural ideas to ward off those creepy biters! And I don't mean Walkers!
 
Cheers!

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