Detox Your House and Cosmetics! What do you do?

[mobius]

Might be some plans for bathouses on that website above! And those folks on that website know what they are doing...They don't look too hard to make (except for me, devoid of carpentry skills!

 

[mobius]

K I just ordered cheesemaking supplies

 

[CapricornFarm]

Oh ya, forgot one of my major offenders... DEET! We mostly just avoid mosquito time when at home. But out on some of our hikes if we don't use something we might get carried off into the wilderness.

I hate mosquitoes, and they LOVE us. The mosquitoes are actually why I bought the permethrin in the first place, to keep them off my goats and dogs. It was labeled as horse fly spray, but with MANY different approved applications.

I have used a lemon eucalyptus pump spray one that worked well enough with regular reapplication every few hours. I will probably look for that one again in the future.

I'm open to suggestions that have really been tried and true, not oh grow mint because I heard it repels mosquitoes. That's some hog wash, I've seen mosquitoes land right on the mint plant itself. So MAYBE if it was fresh cut every single day. That being said, sometimes tried and true just doesn't work for a certain individual or area. One of my dogs that had mange when I first adopted her required trying many different options and persistence because the normally very effective treatment didn't work at all for her. And that was with prescriptions from and supervised by the vet.

Thanks again y'all!

Cedarcide works better than deet. Expensive, but lasts pretty well. I use it on the dogs too.

 

[FrankHomestead]

K I just ordered cheesemaking supplies

Oh good lord, you are gonna have so much fun!

 

[Leighe]

Well Mobius....I'm sittin here tryin to decide if I want to hug you or smack you . Crap....I'm gonna have to start another notebook! @EggSighted4Life, just pick ONE thing a YEAR that you want to learn. Try it, if you love it, work to make it better and have it become second nature to you. This gives you goals. If you don't like it, move onto the next thing on the list of things you want to learn. Lets see...my list is a journal . I love to learn and will die before I "learn" everything in the journal. I am also a person that has to watch to learn. I love to read but harder for me to learn things just reading...which is why YouTube and the World Wide Web are where I look to learn. Learned to make soap last year (bar soap and I took a hands on class to learn it) and I'm with Mobius, the more I learn to make the more I'm able to give presents from my own hands. If I'm making something for myself then I'm not spending extra to buy gifts for others...I'm just making more of what I'm making for myself. PLUS, my family and friends are being introduced to things and my homemade gifts receive wayyyyyy more compliments then the store bought stuff. This year I am learning to build with tools and wood. Will be making my dad a heavy duty coat hanger by taking the golf clubs I bought at Habitat for Humanity and taking off the ends that hit the golf ball (LOL...CLUELESS to what that's called) and inserting them into a beautiful piece of wood. He will be so shocked.....and that makes me excited. One year I made pillows (decorative kinds) for the women in my family. I don't wear makeup anymore...but if I decided to, it would only be mascara and maybe shadow. I use coconut oil on my face and body every night and have skin that I get complimented on.

As far as mosquitos.....I use "Thieves". I found out about "Thieves" when I first heard of essential oils. I do not use any other essential oil and when these last two jars run out I will be making my own "Thieves". No point in paying hard earned money for something I can make, plus I can adapt the recipe to more of what I want. I have always just put some "Thieves" in the palm of my hand and rubbed my hands together and and then rubbed my face, ears, neck, arms, legs or anywhere else I needed to. I'm thinking though of adding water or something to the one I will be making so I can spray a diluted version....maybe. I have watched over and over as mosquitos have danced around me but will NOT land on me. Every time I have a mosquito in the house at night, I apply "Thieves" and go to bed. I also use "Thieves" for bites from fire ants . Thanks to the person who brought those buggars into the United States, NOT!!!!!! I would love to make candles (soy free) so that is on my list. I love eating cheese but not interested in making it (at least not on my list) but you wouldn't know that by the fact that I am subscribed to Gavin Webbers channel and loooovvvvveeee watching him make cheese! Would not touch Blue cheese until last year when someone introduced me to Gorgonzola.....wait a second...there's more then one blue cheese???? They don't all stink????? LOL....I learned something. I'm thankful you asked me to come over and check out this thread Mobius, while it just started, cause I can get started on my notebook and keep up rather then having to go through 5000 posts (and thats probably a low prediction). As far as using "meat" or carcasses in your compost, I gotta go look up the guy I saw on YT and post him here cause that was the first time I ever heard you can put meat in compost but he told how he had been doing it for years and how he didn't have a problem with varmints or predators. Ohhhhhh, just what I needed another thing to read about, . I am sooooo excited to learn more from ya'll and share what I learn.

 

[mobius]

U m yes that cheesemaking is up my alley, long involved process with a lot of breaks and TLC. Eek. But for near-to -organic cheese it is worth it...I even have a mini fridge I could convert...

 

[mobius]

@Leighe you are cracking me up! You poor darling! I mean electric fences and now this???

And yes the Thieves stuff, you can do that in vinegar too but a GREAT idea for insect repellant with the EOs! Will look for a recipes...also healing and repels disease, very very old from the middle ages...need to remember the EOs. Rub the cream on your feet for overnight...healing!

Here it is:

• 20 drops clove essential oil
• 18 drops lemon essential oil
• 10 drops cinnamon bark essential oil
• 8 drops eucalyptus essential oil
• 5 drops rosemary essential oil

Combine all oils and store in a dark glass container (where to buy – aff link). This makes a fairly small amount, so feel free to double or triple the recipe.

Ideas for use:

1. Use this blend in your essential oil diffuser to purify the air.
2. Mix this blend into your homemade cleaning products for an extra punch.
3. Dilute the blend, then rub it on the soles of your feet.

*Very Important Note* Some of the oils contained in this blend are very hot and can burn your skin if used undiluted. It is very important to dilute this blend in a carrier such as fractionated coconut oil or sweet almond oil before using them on your skin.

I added some sweet almond oil right in the bottle with my blend and made a little note on the bottle,

 

[mobius]

I will find a recipe to make the balm with grapeseed oil and beeswax in the right proportions...so @Leighe's wish can be granted!

K so here how it works:

2 cups carrier oil (olive, coconut, grapeseed, almond) you pick....I don't use canola anymore.
1/4 c. grated beeswax or beeswax pastilles (amazon)
EOs.

Get a big saucepan and heat about 3-4 inches of water to simmer.
Get a quart size mason jar (or other if you feel safe) and put oil in there
Put mason jar in the simmering water with oil
Add beeswax.
I stir with a bamboo skewer.

This is your basic balm recipe, everyone. Everthing added after this has specific uses but this is as simple as it gets.

Wait til beeswax melts.

Remove from heat. Let cool slightly. When it starts to look like it is going to gel up, add EOs. That is important cause too much heat causes EOs to dissipate.

Have several (however many for 2.25 cups) little glass jars. Pour and with a spatula put the balm in the smaller jars.

Let harden (maybe 1/2 hour or so). It gonna be gorgeous!

You can certainly reduce this by half . Not hard enough? Add more wax. Too hard? (like with coconut oil), reduce wax.

There ya go my friends. there are other balms, this is basic recipe. You can use dried herbs but need to extract them in the oil, another bit of process and straining is all..no fresh herbs, water can contaminate the balm.

 

[sannabelle]

I use lemongrass/peppermint/lavender with witch hazel for bug spray- they also hate geranium!!!


I really need a solution for flies my poor donkey gets covered and I won't use the chemical fly sprays. I've been going out and rubbing her down with DE every morning

 

[mobius]

Poor baby donkey...make a spray with eucalyptus EO and tea tree (say forty drops) with halfcup vinegar and halfcup witch hazel and spray it on her daily and let us know how it works....any shampoo with lemon is good too...