Eco-Friendly Products

There is a book called "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd that I once read.  In the book is a character named May, who is a human that is more sensitive to the lives of insects than most humans.  May refuses to kill any bugs and instead uses things like graham crackers to lure the bugs out of her house.

I realize that most of us would never go to such great lengths to get an insect out of our house.  Most of us are not alright with the idea of bugs living in our homes with us and go to great lengths to get rid of them.  The problem is that these "great lengths" often involve using harmful chemicals and pesticides that do a great job of killing the bugs, but are also not the most eco-friendly.  In the same way that plastic grocery bags are perfectly capable of bringing our groceries home but are not as environmentally friendly as reusable shopping bags, there are ways that you can control pests in your home and still do it in an eco-conscious manner.

First, keep your house neat, clean, and organized.  What do you think brings all the bugs into your house in the first place?  They're looking for food most of the time.  Keeping your pantry, counter tops, floors, etc. free from food scraps will go a long way in keeping pests out of your house.  Avoid overstocking your pantry as well, as it can create situations where you have a lot of opened packages in your cabinet at once, which can attract insects.

Keeping the house tidy will go a long way, but it won't completely eliminate the issue.  If you have problems with ants, you can use either baby powder (which will be carried back to the colony and kill them) or cinnamon (which will deter them) instead of harsh chemicals.  Simply place a small line of either along the areas that you notice the ants coming in to your house and they will quickly stop coming in.

Outside is a bit of a different issue, but can be equally important.  Obviously, keeping your back yard neat and clean won't go very far in keeping bugs out nor will it be practical to cover your entire yard in cinnamon or baby powder.  However, that does not mean you need to resort to chemicals and pesticides.  One thing you can do is take advantage of natural order and use some predatory creatures in your yard.  If you have water in your yard that breeds a lot of mosquitoes, try putting a few Koi fish in there – they do a good job of keeping mosquito populations down.  Lady bugs and preying mantis both do a good job of keeping bugs off of plants in the yard and can be purchased at garden shops if they don't naturally come to your yard.  Another great predator to keep in your yard is a lizard or Gecko.  They'll naturally be attracted to yards with a lot of plants and do an excellent job of eating a lot of the pests that you're trying to keep out.  Since we're talking about green living, it's worth adding that you should remember to bring your reusable bags with you for any trip to the garden store.

Having a bird feeder or bird bath in your yard will also help keep enough birds around your house to catch some bugs.  One final alternative is to put a bat house in your yard up in a tree.  Yes, a bat house.  Bats get a bad reputation due to some folklore that associates them with vampires, but the bottom line is that they're pretty harmless when compared to pests like mosquitoes and mosquitoes happen to be one of their favorite meals.  If you have a lot of mosquitos in your area and want to get rid of them, install a bat house and watch the mosquito population decline steadily.