It seems Spring has finally arrived. We have been having very warm days lately, though weather forecast says from tomorrow rain and clod would arrive! I have been sitting outside my house in the sun after lunch for more than a week now. Sadly I couldn't drag my old sleeping bag and sleep on the grass as we have been invaded by ticks! Yuck, yuck. They make me so sick, seeing them and I just do not know what to do to get rid them of them? Any chemical-free tips, please? We have lots of deer in this region and I saw families of them sleeping outside my door early in the morning. So ticks come with them. I try to cut down the grass near the house but we are surrounded by bushes and it is so steep, there is no way I can cut that grass.
I said in an earlier post that I will not plant a lot of veggies this year but before I made that decision I have sowed lots of seeds, tomatoes (different types), aubergines, chili, and red pepper. The good thing is I collected these seeds from vegetables I grew last year or got from friends from their farms. They have grown so well, I'm so amazed. The picture above is from last year; I will photo them soon. They are sitting in two huge craters on my windowsill inside the house and when it is hot out, I leave them out for hours. I just can't understand people who spend money on seeds while they can get them for free! Especially the ones easily obtained, like tomatoes, pepper, aubergines, etc.
Last year in Autumn I got about 10 kilos of onions from a local organic farmers, and when some of them sprouted (very few) I planted them to get spring green onions. Sadly a vole (many of them it seems) ate them :( I managed to save those but see the bites on the roots! They are monsters!
And finally, here is Luna sporting one of her cute looks :) She is so cute and I cannot stop kissing her, sometimes, hehe.
Updates:
The email is working now, yaya; I didn't do anything; 2 days ago I logged in and it just worked! What a relief!
The move: Well, next week there will be some news; I do not know yet if things will be ok or not; I will tell you more when I know, hopefully by Thursday. Keep your fingers crossed please :)
The only thing that I know works for ticks is birds! My neighbors have 2-3 dozen chickens and guinea fowl, and they rarely find ticks on their animals, now. I think guineas are supposed to be the best for tick-eating. Hopefully wherever you move to next will be mysteriously tick-free! We have SO many out here, and it really dampens the enjoyment of the great outdoors, especially since deer ticks can carry Lyme disease. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteHooray about the e-mail, though!
Hi Anna,
Deleteyes, hooray for the email :) Yes, ticks are so nasty and carry lime disease; they freak me out; I can not even sleep outside my door! Sadly I can not have chickens here because the landlady said no after she has agreed last year! I was so upset and cried my eyes out. Second, even if I have chickens I can't let them forage free, as we are on a steep hill/mountain and if they get lost I will not be able to get them back; there are lost of wild animals too, so they will be killed immediately.
Two weeks ago I found one of the feral cats, that comes every morning for food, covered in ticks. They were stuck on him everywhere,even inside his ears. I was horrified and franticly removed about big 15 ones from him, then the next day used anti-ticks drops that last for a month. It worked but sadly this morning I saw him again and did a check and found a bout 5! I removed them and one has lots of tiny ticks inside it when I killed it. Yuck yuck. I know this is so yucky, sorry. The med stops being affective if the animal gets wet and he was soaked in water, as it has been raining for days here.