Seed sprouting, Jojoba, Lyme

/ Cynthia

Easter was great.  Easter Monday was a beautiful day.  It’s been cold and rainy since then but the  indoor seedlings are thriving, sending out their true leaves.  Thanks to the good advice of my blogger friends, the Friariello di Napoli pepper seeds sprouted right up after placing the tray on the radiator for a few days.

The power company took down a big maple in my front yard.  It’s a sad sight.

This morning, I made some bug repellant.  Having had Lyme disease and living in a state where it has reached endemic proportions, I have to admit it scares me a bit.  I take precautions.  I don’t want to douse myself or my dogs with pesticides so I’ve been using something home made instead.  I add 25 drops of rose geranium essential oil to 4 ounces of Jojoba and keep it in a dark, glass jar.  I  apply the mixture all over myself before getting into my gardening clothes. Other essential oils can be added but  rose geranium is reputed to repel tics.  Jojoba is a good carrier.  It lasts longer than a water based carrier.  It’s light, easily absorbed by the skin and has the benefits of being antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and  offers nutritive benefits as well.  It never goes rancid because technically it’s a wax, not an oil.   After gardening, all my clothes go right into the washing machine.  I immediately take a shower.  It’s an annoying routine but better than getting Lyme disease again.   So far so good!

36 thoughts on “Seed sprouting, Jojoba, Lyme”

  1. I hope it works. I’m saving this and hoping to hear good news through the season. I wish I’d had something for my dog, and I hope to have a dog again. It would be nice to have something nontoxic.

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  2. Your Easter eggs are lovely! We don’t have as large a tick problem here but keeping gnats and other types of no-see-ums away is a problem. I will have to test your rose geranium oil to see if it will keep me bite free.

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    • Thanks! I’m not sure what no -see- ums are but I heard from my cousin in South Carolina that they are a misery. This works for May flies. I add lavender oil to cut the scent of the geranium so I’m not sure if that does it for them. Not too effective for mosquitos the past few years. Be careful if you add the citrus oils, they can cause sun sensitivity. Same goes for bergamot..unless its bergapene free.

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  4. Good luck! I know what you mean about Lyme disease. When my children were young—in the 1980s and 1990s, they could play in the woods without ever encountering a tick. Now, ticks are everywhere. A good, cold winter helps keep them down, and that’s certainly what we’ve had this year. Fingers crossed!

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    • Same with my kids! My friend’s daughter studies infectious diseases. She says this whole thing was started on a small island off Lyme Ct. as an experiment gone wrong for some kind of germ warfare. I hope that isn’t true. I hope the cold keeps them down too!

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  6. We are also have plagues of ticks in Sydney but fortunately not (yet) in my area. We get a lot of mosquitoes in summer though and my homemade repellent is 1C (250ml) of water, 1 C of vinegar (any cheap type will do), 50 mL water dispersible lavender oil (not pure) and 25 mL of Eucalyptus oil. Shake and spray. Smells nice.

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    • Thanks. They’ve been taking this tree down for years, in chunks. It got to the point where it was so deformed and lopsided, it was a hazard. I couldn’t watch them cut it down, too sad.

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  8. I’m so sorry to see the maple tree cut down (but I’m more surprised at seeing snow still linger in the shade so late into the year). The power companies do the same thing here as well. I always dread seeing their trucks and cherry pickers pull up in the street. That routine does sound quite intense, but you are right, Lyme disease is far worse. Hopefully the cold winters will keep a lid on the tick population this year

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  10. How lovely to see how well your seedlings are doing Cynthia, what a lovely page again. Love the colour of the eggs! And thanks for the recipe to repel the dreaded lyme disease carriers. Always lovely to read your blog. Enjoy the rest of your week.

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    • Thanks Agnes! Your blog is one of my very favorites. You seem so far ahead of us there, in the garden. Your tulips are probably almost over and we’re just popping crocusses. Your borage is gorgeous..looks almost like a bush!

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      • Hi Cynthia, yes and the last few days it’s been unusually warm, a bit like summer really, it has been wonderful, but I know that it will not last as here even the summer are rather on the cool side 🙂

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  11. thank you for that recipe – we are having tick times what with the wet and then sun, mostly I take ledum (homeopathic) afterwards and put hypericum tincture on but we have been wondering about a preventative- very timely too because the new son in law is getting covered – what an introduction to australia.
    we will give it a go
    thanks
    always love your pics they are delicious
    sandra

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    • I use ledum too. I give it to the dogs as well. I haven’t tried the hypericum topically for tics but I’ve used it for burns. Never thought of it but it makes good sense.. thanks! Interesting that you use homeopathic remedies .. not many do here. I’ve been studying and using them for 25 years. Amazing if you hit the right one. Thanks Sandra!

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  12. When I lived in Northern Wisconsin, so many people and dogs got Lyme Disease and Blastomicosis. If it wasn’t one it was the other and at first no one knew what it was. I have known only one animal that died from Blastomicosis here in Illinois. A friend’s cat got it and died which was very strange because the cat had never been outiside. We think we figured it out. The friend worked at an orchid greenhouse on weekends and brought orchids planted in dirt home weekly. It is wonderful to know that there is something natural to use for a repelent for the ticks.
    Oh my gosh, your hand-painted egg is just wonderful and no one else can paint like you can. Losing the tree makes my blood boil. There should be another way. At least, you would think so. Well, I can see spring is moving along in your house with all your seed starting and garden planning. Good to hear from you.

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    • Always wonderful to hear from you Ginene! thank you! I didn’t realize Lyme has gotten so widespread. It’s worrying. The tests are unreliable. It’s a nasty thing. Other than my prevention routine and constantly checking the dogs, I try not to think about it!
      How is Spring coming along up your way? This past winter here is a piece of cake in your neck of the woods. I’m heading to your blog, I feel as if I may have missed out on a post;)

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    • Glad to hear you are doing better. I’ve heard of a lot of people around here that got zapped twice with the flu. Recovery is no joke.. Funny how it seems to take so long to feel good and strong again. Lyme disease ..ugh. The tests are so inaccurate. The whole thing is a worry and I wish it never reared it’s ugly head.

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  17. That’s interesting. I add rose geranium essential oil to a massage oil (sunflower/almond/wheatgerm) as I find it works well on my dry skin. So sorry to hear about the Lyme Disease – A friend became very ill with Lyme Disease, but fortunately now healthy. We don’t really have health warnings about Ticks and it is not a subject people talk about, but they are alive and kicking.

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