I am happy to report that as a result of finding some great
new products at the Natural Products Expo West 2015 (and some old faithful
products from years past), we were able to enjoy a reasonably pest free summer at Eco Family News.
One of the most impressive company’s at Expo West this past
March was Earth-Kind, an all natural pest prevention line of products. Owner Kari Warberg-Block is a rock star in our book on
all fronts … safe effective products, business, environment and education. She has created a line of all
natural botanical products to prevent and/or remedy pesky ant, moth, spider,
and rodent issues. I sat down with Kari at the show and walked away with great
admiration and gratitude for what she has created. Obviously there are many
others that feel the same way, as the company also won the 2015 Nexty “People’s
Choice” award for best new product at the show, and Kari has since been interviewed by Forbe's Magazine.
An open letter of gratitude to owner Kari Walberg-Block from EFN:
I wanted to
let you know just how in love I/we are with the air fresheners and moth and ant
pouches! They are absolutely the best of their kind. Over the past few years
the pantry and clothes moth epidemic in our Eco Family News home office has
been monumental. We have used the non-toxic sticky traps (these just caught
them and didn’t eliminate the problem), an essential oil strip (supposed
natural from France, not) that created some respiratory issues with several of
our team, as well as other various products, to no avail. Your moth pouch has
literally handled the problem. They are gone. We’ve only seen one or two random
baby moths in the past few months. That miracle was accomplished with only one
pouch in a 1,500 sq foot space. Amazing! (We have since added two more to be
absolutely sure they won’t return.)
Then on
Saturday, one of the team had left some fruit in the sink and when I came back
from lunch I saw an ant scout. I eliminated the source of attraction and put
the pouch in the window sill, and not another ant in sight. We are so excited!
We have battled the ants every summer for decades. I personally just placed an order for a case of each (ant/moth) to give as
gifts.
In Gratitude ... EFN
More about Earth-Kind’s Stay Away® products:
Earth-Kind’s first product Cab Fresh® Stay Away Rodent®, was
created out of the need to find a natural solution to her own rodent problem on
her family’s farm in North Dakota. With so many animals and humans accidentally
poisoned each year, she was hesitant to use toxic chemicals. Thankfully, with
her knowledge and perseverance she was able to create an all-natural botanical
solution, using only essential oils and plant fibers. Stay Away Rodent® made
with Balsam Fir oil is the first registered pesticide to meet EPA standards for
efficacy, which means it’s strong and effective enough for use by a
professional, yet safe enough to be use at home by a consumer because
everything inside is simply made from a food source. With 50% of the world
struggling with a rodent problem, this product is essential and has been proven
to work (and offered with a 100% guarantee.)
How the pouches work …
Ants: The Ant pouch emits an odor that repels ants, yet is
pleasant to people. Most ants recognize the smell and stay away. However, if an
ant travels into the vicinity of the pouch and the vapor gets on them, they
will be rejected when they try to return to the colony. It is also important to
note that Ants will usually take advantage of you being away on vacation by
traveling through the dry sink drains into your house and take over the kitchen
or bathroom areas … not a pleasant welcoming committee when you return home.
All you have to do is leave a pouch near the sink areas to keep your unwanted
houseguests at bay.
Moths: The botanicals in this pouch were designed (and
tested) most specifically for the clothing moth. Fortunately the moth won’t lay
eggs in an area where they smell these pouches. If there are no eggs,
consequently there are no larvae. The larvae are what eat the peptides from the
skin particles left on the garment, which nourish them into moth-hood. Even
though these pouches are best used preventatively, they worked miraculously for
curing our infestation for both clothes and pantry moths.
Spiders: The smell of this pouch repels the insects that the
spiders eat – food source gone, spiders gone. We have not seen one spider since we put a pouch in the office in July.
The company also offers fabulous air freshener pouches, and has developed a 100% plant based –
sunflower, beets and flax – pouch pod (made in USA/North Dakota) to put any of the individual
botanical pouches in to preserve the integrity of the products for up to four
months.
Earth-Kind products are available online and in select home
improvement stores. For more info about their products, sustainable practices,
packaging, stewardship and 100% money back guarantee, visit http://www.earthkind.com/
All Natural 100% DEET Free
Insect Repellents for Mosquitoes
Quantum™Health’s Buzz Away™ (original formula and extreme) and the Don’t Bite Me! Patch have
always been two of EFN’s favorite natural mosquito and insect repelling
solutions. As someone who is allergic to mosquito bites, I never go anywhere
without a supply of Buzz Away™ towelettes, spray bottle, or combination
repellant and sunscreen lotion, as well as a box of Don’t Bite Me! Patches,
which are waterproof vitamin B1 patches that (are claimed to) last up to 36
hours. Neither of these products has ever let me down ... keeping me free of bug bites.
Quantum™ also makes Sting Soothe in the event you didn't use the above products in a timely manner, as well as Itch Nix® gel, a fast acting natural relief for bite itching, or the dreaded Poison Ivy and Poison Oak, just in
case that camping trip or hike gets you into some itchy trouble. (Editor’s
Note: This product also works great for itching related to chicken pox. When my daughter
had chicken pox (all over her body) when she was 19-years-old, I made a spray bottle solution by combining water,
a squirt of Itch Nix® and a few drops of lavender oil ... it was the only
thing that gave her relief.)
Murphy’s Naturals Mosquito Sticks are another interesting product to
help keep the mosquitoes away. These 100% DEET FREE sticks look like a big
think green incense and are made from a unique fusion of sustainable bamboo,
citronella, lemongrass and rosemary. Twelve sticks come in a tube and are said
to offer the consumer 300% more active essential oil ingredients than
comparable natural repellent products. Each stick lasts up to approximately two hous of burn
time dependant on weather conditions.
I tried one of these sticks while barbequing in the back
yard with great success. However, one problem we had with it was the ash embers
that fall from the stick are as hot as charcoal and burned me more than once
when I tried to move it while it was burning! CAUTION: Never leave theses
sticks in an area where kids, animals or guests can touch it or move it, as it
will burn them!
I also found that Murphy’s sticks worked well for keeping
bees away while working in the garden … that was a welcomed benefit, as this
year the bees seem to be a bit more aggressive in wanting to land on us humans
in Southern California.
We hope these products will make your life a little less buggy, and a lot more relaxed!
0 comments:
Post a Comment