Search

Homemade Bee Traps

The bees have been really bad this year. I’ve been stung 4 times already. The stores are selling bee sprays and traps like crazy as people try to deal with all these bees. So I decided to make a homemade bee trap.

Materials needed:
Plastic jug – Recycled juice or milk jugs work fine
Piece of cord or heavy string to hang it up
Small amount of apple juice and vegetable oil
Scissors

Cut a upside down V as shown on the jug. Push the cut plastic in just a little.

Fill the jug with a few inches of apple juice or other liquid for attracting the bees. Add a tablespoon or so of oil such as vegetable or olive oil. Continue Reading →

0

Irish Spring Soap to Repel Rodents

As we live in the woods, we have many rodents such as mice and rats in the area. Recently we have had rats in the engine compartment of our vehicles. They have been leaving droppings and pulling the insulation from the hood of our pickup. They use the insulation and other materials to build nests inside the engine area. We needed to find a good solution to repel these rodents and drive them away from our vehicles.

Irish Spring Soap Piece


I took a bar of Irish Spring soap and cut off a small piece about 1 inch long. I then cut that piece in half ending with a piece of soap about 1 inch square as shown. I placed a piece of soap inside the engine compartment on the battery tray as this was one of the places we have been seeing droppings. I repeated this process for all our vehicles. Then I waited and watched.

Apparently the strong soap smell from the Irish Spring soap repels the rodents. Since I have placed the soap pieces inside the vehicle engine area, we have not had any signs that the rats have been back.

This idea may also work well for other areas where you do not want mice or rats such as your house, sheds, or garages. Give it a try and let me know how this rodent repellent works for you.

**Follow-up comment – I am hearing from several of you that this doesn’t work. I am adding a warning to others to beware that this may not work on mice. Please read the comments to see the outcomes of others.

86

Dryer Sheets as Mosquito Repellents

Mosquitoes apparently don’t like the fragrance from a dryer sheet. I had heard if you put a dryer sheet in your pocket that mosquitoes won’t bother you. I’m always looking for a cheap and natural way to fix a problem. It’s one of the main reasons I started this blog was to share useful ideas.

Today I set out to see if the idea of using a dryer sheet actually would repel mosquitoes. I have been getting stung by mosquitoes for the last several days around our home when I’ve been outside. So I was game to give this idea a try. Continue Reading →

0

Using Borax to Kill Ants

After finding several ant hills down off our lawn today, I reached for the borax to kill them. As we live very rural and in the woods, we constantly battle with ants. Not only in the yard but in and around our home. Borax is a common household cleaning product that causes dehydration in insects and leads to their death when eaten. I wanted to try using borax to kill the ants as it is more cheaper and safer than chemical insecticides.

Here are some photos of the ant hills. These were taken before I did a borax treatment.

Ant Hill

I’m not sure you can see it in the photos but when I sprinkled the borax on the hills, the ants really reacted. I then added just a bit of sprinkled sugar over the top of the borax. Continue Reading →

1

Crockpot Western Baked Beans

Slow cooked western baked beans in a crockpot are delicious. I have been working on improving my dried bean cooking skills. I want to be able to cook tasty beans from my stored bean supplies.

I love western style baked beans and set out to make my own. I read several different recipes and took a few ideas from several different sources to create my western baked beans. I made these beans from scratch and started out with 2 cups of dried white navy beans.

One important tip that was given to me was to not add the salt until after the beans have cooked 2 hours. This aids in the softening process of the beans and helps them not be hard.

Here are my final beans. They have a wonderful BBQ baked bean flavor and go great with hot dogs and burgers.

Western Baked Beans Crockpot Recipe:

2 cups white navy beans (soaked overnight) in crockpot
Drain and rinse.

Then add: Continue Reading →

2