Send Organic Flowers

Jumping on the Organic bandwagon, I noticed that there are now plenty of places to find organic foods, make up, shampoos and lotions. Sending organic flowers to someone, is a bit more difficult. If you want same day, forget it! It's obvious why the proliferation of organic cut stems have lagged in other consumer oriented products and gifts - we don't eat them or rub them over our body - normally anyway. I couldn't help but notice the big player in the organic market is Organic Bouquet, and there seems to be little other choices. Sure one can go to the local farmers market and find some organic cut stems, but I can't really send those flowers to Mom. And sending pesticide laden flowers to Mom on Mother's Day off the backs of someone else's mom from Colombia, Equador, and California probably isn't helping her respiratory tract or the environment. Then I start to think about the burden it places on the water systems municpal or otherwise, the additional tax burden to maintain those systems, and so on...It's just exhausting.

Flea Repellent Continued

We changed up the spray recipe a bit by adding some essential oil of citronella plant. We also started spraying the carpets and furniture. I was concerned about spraying a vintage victorian style couch with light floral pattern, but there doesn't seem to be any spots from the spray. This along with daily vacuuming (carpets and furniture), and combing (the pets) has abated the flea problem. As a further step, we also placed cut eucalyptus plant stems around the house. Through research, it became evident that there is not one fell swoop action one can do to rid a house and pets of fleas. The fleas seem to nest in furniture and carpets and jump on pets and humans for a snack, with some nesting done on the pets' fur. Action must be taken across all areas that fleas infest.

Flea Repellent with Essential Oils of Flowers & Plants

We had been using a mixture of the essential oils of lemongrass and eucalyptus along with water in a spray bottle. The proportions are 5 drops of eucalyptus and 4 drops of lemongrass in approximately 4-5 cups of water. It had been working very well on our dog, but we had some problems with our spray bottle and went about 2 weeks without regular applications. On the last visit to the vet, we had her checked and she was without fleas. 3 weeks later, we found fleas in the doggy bath. This was following the lapse in regular spraying. At this point we will attempt to decontaminate and try to determine if the spray is no longer working, or it was from a lapse in diligent spraying. There are many different sources of natural and homeopathic flea repellents from various sources, and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a standard. This book has some great information and is written by a Vet: Hound Health Handbook by Dr. Betsy Brevitz.

Fall Foliage

The fall foliage is peaking now. Get outside and enjoy the the vibrant colors, the musty aromas, and the crispy sound of the leaves. The best vantage points are where you will be able to see across a panorama of fields and forests at or near the tops of tree lines. From a distance it is like a bursting bouquet of crimson, yellow, orange and peach flowers. For some great images check out NYS Conservationist.