Bed Bug Pesticide

When fire became portable, someone else discovered that smoke caused bees to become more amenable to robbing.

Some time later, a more settled tribe found that they could house bees in baskets or pots, which saved them the trouble of climbing trees to get the honey, and the craft of beekeeping was born. Pots, baskets and logs continued in use for many centuries, and while proficient beekeepers would have understood a good deal of the behaviour of their charges, the inner secrets of the hive remained closed from observers until the end of the 18th century, when a blind Swiss by the name of François Huber found them out through the medium of his faithful - and sighted - servant, Burnens. Huber's New Observations on the Natural History of Bees remains a classic to this day.

Some 30 years later, Jan Dzieraon developed Huber's experimental hive further to create the first truly practical, movable-frame beehive, and shortly afterwards in 1852, Rev. Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth publicized and patented his own version. Such was his talent for publicity and marketing that the 'Langstroth' became and remains the standard hive in the USA and the model upon which most other variants are based.

However, this type of hive is expensive to buy, very difficult for amateur woodworkers to build - due to the precise dimensions and many small parts needed for frames - requires constant maintenance, causes great disturbance to the lives of bees, and is heavy and cumbersome in use. Many women, especially, have been put off beekeeping by the weight-lifting needed to harvest honey from a Langstroth-type hive, and hernias are commonplace among commercial beekeepers.

In Nepal, honey-hunting is still practised by men descending cliffs on ropes and using long poles to dislodge chunks of comb. Elsewhere, bees are kept in skeps, baskets, pots, cavities in walls and other containers devised from local materials and - we can deduce from their longevity - more-or-less suitable both for bees and for their keepers. In Africa, probably the original home of the honeybee, the top bar hive was developed as an 'intermediate technology' solution, capable of being constructed using local skills and materials and being, in essence, a beekeeper-friendly hollow log, having the advantages of movable combs but without the need for machine-made parts.

Whatever the accommodation we offer them, our meetings with bees have always been a process of negotiation, albeit somewhat one-sided. We can protect ourselves from them, but they ultimately have no protection from us. The encroachment of chemical agriculture, deforestation and urbanization have reduced their natural habitat, while toxic cocktails of insecticides have poisoned their flowers.

The honeybee has come to be seen as the 'canary in the coal mine' of our civilization and she is showing early warning signs of her imminent demise, to which we must pay urgent attention.

Our challenge now is to re-negotiate our relationship with bees: we must learn to protect and nurture them, rather than simply exploit them, and we need to learn to listen to what they need from us. The process of discovering how we can most effectively do that is the project that myself and others have set ourselves, and we hope that many more will join us and carry this work forward.

We acknowledge the paradox inherent in the phrase 'natural beekeeping': as soon as we consider 'keeping' bees, we begin to stray from what is truly 'natural'. In nature, only bees keep bees.

To be considered 'natural', our beekeeping practice must take into account:

• the natural impulses and behaviour of bees, including - foraging, swarming, storing food and defending their nest
• how hive design affects bees
• the suitability of materials used in hive construction, including considerations of sustainability
• the nature and frequency of our interventions
• the impact of a localized increase in honeybee population on other species of pollinators
• the balance between honey harvesting and the bees' own needs
• the nature of any added inputs - medications, feeding

We are engaged in a process of working towards the ultimately unattainable notion of completely 'natural' beekeeping, while acknowledging that the bees will go their own way regardless of our wishes. Our relationship with them is that of facilitator or minder rather than 'keeper'. We could say that the role of the natural beekeeper is to enable our bees to attain the fullest possible expression of their bee-ness while in our care.

Our overall goal in natural beekeeping is to achieve a state of sustainability: balancing inputs and outputs such that our activities enhance rather than damage the health of our bees, other species and the planet.

To be truly sustainable, a system must be as close to carbon-neutral as it can be, requiring no synthetic inputs and having no detrimental impact on the natural environment. So if we are to continue to have a relationship with honeybees, we have to consider what impact current beekeeping practices have and how our 'natural' approach seeks to improve on this state of affairs.

A typical commercial beekeeping operation is a real energy hog. Lumber - which may or may not come from sustainable sources - is sliced and milled by powered machinery prior to assembly into hive boxes, which are transported by road, sea or rail to be further distributed by road to their apiary sites. Regular visits by beekeepers require oil-derived fuel, and more is needed to fire the boilers to heat the considerable quantities of water needed for sterilizing woodwork and washing down de-cappers, extractors, tanks and floors. More power is needed to retrieve the crop, to extract it and to mix and distribute the sugar syrup needed for the bees' survival following the removal of their stores. Honey must then be filtered, bottled and distributed to wholesalers and thence to retail outlets. Meanwhile, beeswax is recovered by means of steam or boiling water, cleaned and filtered and sent off to be re-melted and turned into sheets of foundation, which are then sold back to the beekeepers for insertion into frames for next season.

Migratory beekeepers in the USA truck hives by the thousands clear across the country for the almond pollination, while in the UK this type of activity is nowadays largely restricted to taking hives up to the moors in August for the heather crop, and some orchard pollination work.

Due to what might be called the Langstroth hegemony, this whole scenario is also enacted in miniature by amateur beekeepers, who largely mimic the activities of their commercial brethren. They may only have a few hives at the bottom of their gardens, but in most cases they have not considered any alternative to the expensive, energy-hungry equipment available from the glossy catalogues of the beekeepers' suppliers.

We know that bees need nothing much more than a dry, ventilated cavity in which to build their nest. Instead, 'modern' beekeepers insist on supplying them with a box full of wooden frames, in which are mounted sheets of wax, helpfully imprinted with oversized 'worker-bee' hexagonal cell bases. A newly-hived swarm of bees must be surprised indeed to find so much done for them: ready-made comb bases hung in neat rows, with spaces all around them for access - what a boon for a busy colony!

But what may at first sight appear to be a great convenience, also has some significant drawbacks. All these imprinted cells are the same size, yet anyone who has observed natural comb knows that cell sizes vary considerably, and not just between workers and drones: worker cells themselves vary in diameter according to rules only bees are aware of. All those dead-straight frames may look neat, but bees don't build dead-straight comb - they like a gentle curve here and there. And if you watch bees building natural comb in an unrestricted space, they hang in chains, legs linked, as if laying out the dimensions of the comb in space as they work above their own heads - something they cannot do on foundation.

So a good deal of so-called 'modern' beekeeping - in fact, virtually unchanged since the mid-19th century - is unsustainable from our point of view, as well as being a nuisance to bees. In terms of honey yield, it is clearly an improvement on logs and skeps, but in terms of bee health and energy efficiency, it has turned out to be a disaster.

The job of the natural beekeeper is to find ways of interacting with bees that are truly sustainable, both for the bees themselves and for the planet.

In The Barefoot Beekeeper, I proposed the following three, simple principles for the 'natural' beekeeper to consider:

1. Interference in the natural lives of the bees is kept to a minimum.
2. Nothing is put into the hive that is known to be, or likely to be harmful either to the bees, to us or to the wider environment and nothing is taken out that the bees cannot afford to lose.
3. The bees know what they are doing: our job is to listen to them and provide the optimum conditions for their well-being, both inside and outside the hive.

These principles seem to me to form a solid foundation for our thinking about how we approach bees and beekeeping. As soon as we step beyond those basic principles and attempt further to define the parameters, we find ourselves in danger of beginning to create a 'book of rules'. And it doesn't take much looking around the world today to see how divisive and destructive other 'books of rules' have been.

'Natural', 'balanced' or 'sustainable' beekeeping - whatever name we give it - is a process, not a destination. We have to remain flexible and always be on the lookout for ways to improve our techniques, so everything in this book is offered in this spirit: indications of what seems to work, always with the possibility that there are even better ways yet to be discovered, or - more likely - re-discovered, as there is really nothing new in beekeeping.

Historically, we began our relationship with bees when somebody discovered that the taste of honey was worth the pain it cost to harvest. We became honey-hunters, and while there were few of us and many of them, this was sustainable.

When somebody discovered that it was possible to offer shelter to honeybees while they made their honey, and then kill them off to raid their stores, we became bee keepers, and while there were few bee keepers and many honeybees, that too was sustainable.

Then someone invented a way to house bees that did not require them to be killed, but instead allowed people to manage and control them to some extent, arranging things so as to trick them into producing more honey for their masters than for themselves, and we became bee farmers. And that was sustainable for a while because there were still many of them and although there were also many of us, we could manipulate their reproduction so as to make more of them as we needed.

Now it has become clear that we have gone too far, for bees have begun to suffer from diseases that were virtually unknown in the old days, and they have to be given medicines in order to keep them alive. And because a whole industry has grown up around the farming of these bees, and there is a lot of money at stake, beekeepers have been slow to change their ways and many could not do so for fear of bankruptcy, and so the health of the honeybees has become worse and they are subject to parasites and viruses that never troubled them in the past.

Meanwhile, we forgot how to grow food in the way that we once had done because we were no longer inclined to labour in the fields, and instead devised clever ways to make the soil support more crops. We poured fertilizers onto our fields and killed off inconvenient creatures with 'pesticides' - defining a whole class of living organisms as our enemies and therefore dispensable. This was never sustainable, and never can be.

And that is where we find ourselves today, and this is the problem we face: bees have become weakened through exploitation and a toxic agricultural system, allied to the impossible expectation of continuous economic growth.

As 'natural beekeepers', our most pressing work is to restore bees to their original, healthy state. We think of ourselves as 'keepers' in the sense of 'nurturing and supporting' rather than 'enslaving'. We must seek to protect and conserve the honeybee by working within their natural capacity, not constantly urging them towards ever greater production. We must challenge the whole agricultural and economic system that has caused us to arrive at this point, because without change at that level, the future for both us and the bees is bleak.

We can make a start by re-establishing more natural, non-violent ways of working with bees: neither we nor they have any need of routine or prophylactic 'treatments' with synthetic antibiotics, fungicides or miticides. We don't need to operate 'honey factories' - we can content ourselves with providing accommodation for bees in return for whatever they can afford to give us. In some years, this may be nothing at all, while in others there may be an abundant harvest.

Such is nature: bees depend on honey for their survival; we do not.

If the price of returning bees to a state of natural, robust health is a little less honey on our toast, is it not a worthwhile sacrifice?

Philip Chandler
Free DIY plans for building a top bar hive are available from the author's web site at http://www.biobees.com - where you will also find a support and discussion forum for top bar beekeeping. The Barefoot Beekeeper is also available from this site.

Many people have issues with the traditional treatments which are given by doctors-and many would say quite rightly so. The strong insecticides which are routinely prescribed can have short-term unpleasant side effects which are not dissimilar to those caused by the scabies themselves, such as itching and burning. What is more worrying though is the fact that some of them have associations with quite serious conditions.

The three most popular treatments are Permethrin, Lindane and Malathion.

When looking at how to kill scabies, Permethrin is the most widely prescribed treatment. The side effects include stinging, itching and burning. Having said this, these can be short lived and some would argue that these are minor complications if the scabies mites are being eradicated! Permethrin is made from Pyrethrum, which is a common ingredient in insecticides and some people prefer to avoid the use of it altogether as there is some speculation that it may be a carcinogen.

Lindane used to be the most widely prescribed treatment for scabies but since the FDA reported a higher incidence of seizures amongst users, it has fallen out of favor. It is banned completely in 40 countries and its' use is strictly regulated in 20 others. It has been associated with an increase in leukemia in children and non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in farmers who routinely use it on cattle and grain.

The chemical Malathion, although used more for head lice, is also sometimes prescribed for scabies. There is evidence to suggest that Malathion can cause headaches, dizziness, muscle weakness and nausea and even difficulty breathing.

When used correctly, these conventional treatments will kill off the scabies. Increasingly though, many people are choosing to use natural remedies as they are often kinder on the skin and have less side effects.

One excellent home treatment for scabies is tea tree oil. If you are wondering how to kill scabies with it, there are are two things you should do. Firstly, take a warm bath into which you have added around 20 drops of tea tree oil. Soak in the bath for around 15 minutes. You can repeat this twice daily. It can also be very effective to use a cotton wool ball and put diluted tea tree oil on the areas with the worst irritation twice daily.

There are certain measures you should take to prevent reinfestation. It is advisable to wash all bed linen and towels in very hot water-indeed as hot as the fabrics will tolerate. The scabies mites can live outside the body for around 3 days, so good general hygiene is absolutely essential, as is treating all family members at the same time. It is particularly important to prevent scratching, as the mites and eggs can be trapped under the nails, making reinfestation more likely. For young children, this could mean wearing gloves and for both children and adults, keeping the nails short will help as will using a nailbrush and thoroughly cleaning the nails several times a day.

To see methods of eradicating scabies quickly, please visit Home Treatment For Scabies. You will find information on all aspects of scabies treatment and how to kill scabies within just 24 hours.

The Facts & Causes

Although most commonly found in hostels and B&B's, bed bugs can be carried into the home on bags, clothes, bedding or even on people. Infestations of bed bugs have been on the rise recently, with changes in pest control methods being blamed. We are moving away from pesticides like DDT and on to bait-based methods of pest control in buildings. Bed bugs however thrive on blood, so the baiting method doesn't work.

Bed bugs can lay between one and five eggs a day, so a travelling bug can take over your mattress in no time. Incubation time for eggs is about ten days, and some people do not develop a reaction to bites until they have been exposed for a few nights in a row. Although healthy adults may suffer from itchy welts at worst, children can become anaemic if exposed to bed bugs for nights in a row, so prevention is vital.

Prevention & Cure

There are a numbers of ways you can reduce the risk of both these unwelcome bugs:

o Good hygiene can reduce the risk considerably, with mattresses and bedding regularly inspected, and areas in the room such as curtains, headboards and behind picture-frames also being checked and vacuumed regularly.

o If you visit a hotel or hostel with a bed bug problem, it is vital that you ensure you don't unwittingly bring some of the insects back with you to your home. Inspect all clothing, fabric items and bags very carefully for signs of infestation. Washing all clothes and thoroughly vacuuming travel bags and suitcases is crucial.

o Do ensure that any bugs you find are actually bed bugs. They are flat, oval, about one fourth of an inch in length but can look considerably bigger after feeding. If you treat a room for bed bugs but in fact the insects are something else, your pest control methods may not work.

o If you find one bed bug, there are going to be more. You will need to clean room thoroughly - including pulling out drawers, emptying contents, taking apart furniture... etc.

o There are sprays available on the market for killing bed bugs, and in the case of infestation these may be a useful tool. You will not, however, want to use these on fabrics that are going to come into contact with your body and you may need to check the potential effects pesticides may have on any household pets. To rid mattresses of the hiding insects, the crevice tool on your vacuum is the best idea.

o If you find signs of infestations the best idea is to employ a professional pest control company to deal with the problem. Empty clutter and mess from the relevant rooms (but clean and inspect them first to ensure you're not just moving bed bugs to another room!) to make their jobs faster and easier.

o To considerably lower the chance of bed bugs occurring in your home, swap your regular mattress for a waterbed. The plastic surface gives bugs nowhere to hide, and one quick going-over with a cloth will clean the waterbed surface efficiently and quickly. A waterbed also removes the risk of dust mites which can cause considerable problems for allergy sufferers and those with asthma.

In the end, prevention is better than cure with these bugs, and with infestations on the increase it is wise to regularly check your bedding in particular. Reducing the amount of clutter and fabric in your bedroom areas can make this job a lot easier, and also significantly reduce the amount of dust mites and other microscopic insects that can live in materials around the home.

The British Waterbed Association aims to support both their members and the buying public to ensure waterbeds are promoted in a manner that accurately reflects the significant benefits that a well-made waterbed provides. You can find more information, and a list of BWA members, on their website: http://www.waterbed.org

Bed mites comes from a family of bugs that are often referred to as the Cimicidaes - these mites are blood sucking pests which prey on humans, birds and mammals. All of these bugs are known to have a reddish brown colour and the females are noticeably larger than the male bed mites. The females typically lay their eggs in crevices and cracks around walls and floorboards in homes, hospitals and overcrowded spaces. The eggs usually hatch within three to five days and the cycle will start all over again as they continue to reproduce and spread. Over the last decade the number of homes being infested with bed bugs has increased dramatically all around the world. Many figure that the bed mites have become resistant to chemical pesticides that would have been traditionally used to eradicate them. The insecticide Pyrethroid is one known treatment that has been known to not kill the bed mites.

Sometimes when people are bitten by bed bugs they do not recognize them and may even be mistaken for different skin ailments or insect bites. In most cases bed mite bites will be discovered from a swelling bite or flat welt on uncovered areas of the skin. Reactions from the insects bite range from person to person and the species of the bed bug, the surroundings of your environment and skin type may also play a large part. In some cases bed mite bites can even cause serious allergic illness. Bed bugs are attracted to physical heat, carbon dioxide from breathing and sweating while people sleep.

There are many ways to ease the signs and symptoms of the bed mites bites: 1. Apply topical corticosteroids - Creams such as Hydrocortisone is likely the best one to use. These creams will relieve the symptoms and itching associated with bed bugs. 2. Systemic Corticosteroids - These creams will reduce the itching and burning associated with the bed mite bites but will not reduce the looks of them. 3. Oral Antihistamines - Taking antihistamines will give you temporary relief from the itching online. 4. Using hot water applied to the areas can help reduce the look of them and also reduce the itching.

The easiest way to treat Bed Bugs is to use the proper treatments that actually work, I realize this is a problem that requires urgent attention, so if you want to get rid of your bed bugs visit www.BugBedTreatment.com

You'll be glad to know that there is. Despite the resilience of the little critters, you do not have to drench your mattress in pesticide or choke on poisonous vapors in order to rid yourself of these pests. There is a safe and very simple way to kill bed bugs - kill them with a temperature change.

Bed bugs are very affected by the temperature of their environments so they can actually be killed by a low temperature as well as by a high one. However, it is easier by far to subject bed bugs to high temperatures in such a way as to kill them and their eggs and stop the cycle.

One of the most effective ways to expose bed bugs to high temperatures for the purpose of eradication is to use steam vapor cleaning. Bed bugs are not limited to mattress and bedding, they infest the carpets, curtains, walls and anywhere they can get a foothold. So steam cleaning the mattress, carpet, curtains and even the walls and other surfaces will go a long way to permanently removing them. You cannot leave it at that, however. You will also need to wash all bedding and any clothes or items which could be infected.

Simple vacuuming is also beneficial. Daily vacuuming of the mattress and carpet can remove or limit the threat when combined with heat from steam cleaning or other sources. If you do not have access to steam cleaning, some people have successfully used hairdryers on high heat to kill bed bugs on mattresses and others have used an iron. It is important that the high temperatures are applied suddenly so that the bed bugs do not get the opportunity to scatter and survive.

If you feel that heat isn't enough and want an extra sense of certainty in eradicating bed bugs, you can make up a mixture of tea tree oil and water in a spray bottle and lightly mist your mattress and carpet and any other relevant furnishings. This will not be strong enough on its own, however, combined with heat will significantly enhance your chances of success.

Using pesticides, particularly on mattresses and in bedrooms can pose serious risks to human health. Furthermore, bed bugs can build up an immunity to these chemicals rendering them useless.

Fortunately, bed bugs are very vulnerable to temperature and applying heat to them is a safe and easy way to eradicate them from your home.

Need help detecting and getting rid of bed bugs? Try visiting http://www.howtopreventbedbugs.com , a popular website that provides tips, advice, articles on bed bugs and resources on how to properly kill bed bugs quickly and easily so you can reclaim your bed and get a good night's sleep.

Bed bugs are usually brought into the home. They can travel on luggage, bedding, furniture and any other like item. You can pick them up anywhere that is infested. They will quickly make themselves at home and will be a challenge to get rid of.

Bed bugs have some characteristics that make them very resilient. Here are some handy things to know about bed bugs:

- They are nocturnal and you will most likely never see one during the day.

- They can live for a long time, over a year, without food.

- Bed bugs lay around 300 eggs and it only takes ten days for them to hatch.

- They eat blood that they get from biting you.

- The one indication you may have that you have them are the bites you will get.

- You may also notice dead bugs, bloody spots or rusty colored stains caused by excrement.

As you can see, bed bugs are going to be hard to wipe out. You can to follow a step-by-step plan in order to get rid of them.

- Any item that can be laundered needs to be bagged and put in the dryer. Other items should be wrapped in plastic and placed in a hot area for a few days or in the freezer for two weeks. Larger items should be vacuumed and the vacuum bag should be thrown out immediately.

- Steam cleaning the room is also a good idea.

- There are many regulations on using pesticides as a treatment, so it is best you call a professional to treat the area.

- If they have infested a mattress then you should throw it out because they can not be treated with any pesticides.

The treatment process to get rid of bed bugs needs to be repeated until the bugs are completely gone. You should vacuum and steam clean on a regular basis, as well as laundering linens and other bedding items.

Having bed bugs can be a real pain. Your only good defense is to steer clear of them in the first place, but if you travel often then that may be difficult. Just be sure to check any items you bring home for signs of them before bringing it into your home. If you stay somewhere that has bed bugs then follow the steps above to clear the items of bed bugs before bringing them into your home.

Learn how you can get rid of pests today! Joseph will share some of the insider's secrets where you learn how to get rid of pests like getting rid of mosquitoes and bed bugs. His website is at http://www.howtogetridofpests.net

Studies of the genetics of bed bugs found in areas withe widespread outbreaks, by both the University of Massachusetts and Seoul National University have discovered very interesting developments in the bugs that reduce the effectiveness of thee common chemical treatments for the bugs.

Previous using other pyretheroid insecticides was how to get rid of bed bugs -one specifically known as deltametherin, have been used to treat thee condition of these pests. The chemicals are made to invade the nervous systems of the insect, and then successfully eliminating resulting in their death.

They appear to be developing immunity to thee poisons we are using to fight them. There is a porous surface on the outer membrane surrounding these neurons or nerve cells. The electrical nerve impulses were once thought to be produced in the pores are in fact produced in sodium channels. Pyrethroid toxins interrupt these kinds of nerve impulses, the use paralyzing and eventually eliminating the nasty critters.

Since they have evolved to be less sensitive to chemical pesticides commonly used, their neuronal pores no longer react to their toxins, and some, such as a population in New York City are now 264 times more resistant than non-mutated bedbugs to deltametherin, for example. This challenge has hampered the effects of discovering a successful method on how to get rid of bed bugs.

In effect, this particular bed bug treatment does not help eliminate the bugs; because the process which used to be over within minutes now lasts some days providing enough time and a conducive atmosphere for the bugs to multiply.

A population of the bed bug in Florida was also tested in an effort to see how far this mutation has spread. These bugs, having not been mutated, and are easier to get rid of bed bugs from an area than their mutated counterparts. In these mutated bugs the nervous system is insensitive to toxins and reveals bugs resistance in these further experiments was not due to being able to process the toxins more easily.

Sequenced genes which are straight linked to thee operation of sodium ion channels are found in the neurotoxin resistant of the pest and the same genes in other insects but not in, those bugs which are unmutated. This has been found by researchers using Molecular technology.

Since bed bugs resistant to the usual chemical treatments are now widespread in the United States and other areas around the world, current research into new methods of how to get rid of bed bugs will be especially useful.

Although people view them withe horror, there are some natural treatments to rid your home of these life disrupting creatures, without exposing you to harmful chemicals, so do not despair. Today's world there were many powders and sprays that are non-poisonous.

Did you find this information on how to Get Rid Of Bed Bugs useful? You can learn a lot more about ways to get Rid of Bed Bugs here.

A natural approach to flea control means that you will need to groom your dog daily, especially during summer months when fleas are most active. Fleas are often easier to see if your dog has short hair or a light-colored coat, but you will need to brush and comb your dog thoroughly to look for any signs of the pests. These signs can range from a visible flea to the detritus left behind where the pest has fed. This debris is a crusty red-black material that is coarse and somewhat gritty, like dried blood. Be sure to check close to your dog's skin, especially around his ears, head and tail where fleas are likely to congregate.

If you suspect that your dog has a flea or two you should start using a flea comb to comb him. A flea comb is much finer than a regular dog comb and it will pick up any of the pests on your dog's body. You should then quickly (very quickly!) deposit the flea in a bowl of soapy water to kill it.

If you do find fleas on your dog then you will need to give your dog a good flea bath. Look for flea shampoos that have citrus ingredients to help keep the pests away. Eucalyptus products are also effective.

There are some supplements you can give your dog that have been shown to be effective in keeping fleas away. Some people like to give their dog a small dose of garlic daily. The garlic odor from your dog's skin is a flea repellant, although humans can't smell it. Some people combine garlic with brewer's yeast in their dog's food. You may also wish to consider adding apple cider vinegar to your dog's diet. Organic apple cider vinegar has many health benefits and it is claimed that it helps build the immune system. Anything that keeps your dog's immune system stronger will make him a less attractive target to fleas.

You should be aware that fleas spend about 85 percent of their time OFF your dog. So, if you find one flea on your dog you should assume that he has many little friends nearby in your home. You will need to treat your home.

You don't have to use flea bombs or chemical pesticides to treat your home. There are some good natural alternatives to help keep your home free of these pests. Whether you have carpets or hardwood floors you will need to vacuum daily if you suspect that you have any fleas. For carpets you can sprinkle borax powder over your floor. Use 1 to 2 cups for an average-sized room. Leave the borax down for 24-48 hours (or longer). Then you can vacuum it up. Any fleas should be dead. You can repeat as needed. You can use 20-Mule Team Borax detergent for this job.

You will also need to wash your dog's bedding often during flea season. This is one of the places where the pests will most likely be found, hopping straight from your dog to his bed. Use hot water.

Don't forget to treat your yard. A very cost-effective way to treat your yard for fleas is to buy a bucket of diatomaceous earth (garden/pool type) from your garden center. Sprinkle it all over your yard. The diatomaceous earth has sharp edges which will shred bugs and insects and dry out their exoskeletons.

You can keep fleas away by planting marigolds, chrysanthemums and other plants with naturally-occurring pyrethrins in your yard. Use cedar chips as mulch since fleas stay away from cedar.

You can also use herbal flea collars on your dog. These do work though they will not stop a strong flea infestation. Be careful using an herbal collar if you are pregnant since they usually contain penny royal and other herbs which can cause miscarriages.

Finally, you can spray your dog with a nice citrus spray. Fleas hate a citrus scent. Use lemon or orange peel, place it in a pint of water, add a few drops of citronella oil and a sprig of rosemary. Allow the mixture to sit overnight. You can use this mix as a good flea spray for your dog.

There are many different ways to control fleas besides using chemicals and pesticides. However, there may be times when your dog is suffering, especially if he has a flea bite allergy. In the case of these allergies, the bite from even one flea can send your dog into a frenzy of itching, gnawing and self-mutilation. Your dog may scratch and bite himself and end up chewing off his coat trying to stop the itching. If your dog has a flea bite allergy or you can't get rid of fleas by natural means, you may need to consider temporarily using one of the flea products currently on the market.

Do talk to your veterinarian about which product may be right for your dog and his circumstances. Some products act very quickly to get rid of fleas starting in just a few minutes. Some products get into the skin or hair shafts and will last for several weeks, giving your dog some long-lasting relief. Some products work in combination with heartworm medication, and so on. If your dog does need a commercial flea control product, please talk to your vet instead of simply grabbing something off the shelf at the pet store.

Natural flea control can work for many dogs. Try some of the suggestions here and see what works for your dog. If you are vigilant and stay alert for these pests you can usually keep them at bay in many places.

David Beart is the owner of PetYak. Our site covers pet related topics from cats and dogs to raising tropical fish and caring for birds.

I) The plants to be grown should be chosen primarily on what your family wants to eat, and what will grow in your locale. After that, Consider using heirloom seed rather than hybrid, if you are very concerned about losing the ability to replace seed each year from commercial sources. However, growing and saving your own seed is difficult and time consuming. An excellent answer to this dilemma is the Garden In A Can heirloom seed provided by Mountain Valley Seed Company (www.mvseeds.com). Other seed companies may have something similar. I recommend you buy a can of this triple-sealed seed, store it against the possible disaster, and then buy and use the best seed you can get and don't worry about trying to grow for and save your own seeds.

II) Using the best growing practices, such as those taught by the world-renowned Dr. J. R. Mittleider, (see http://www.growfood.com)assure you the greatest yield of healthy vegetables from the least space, and with the least amount of labor and financial inputs per unit of production. A family can be self sufficient in their food requirements from proper gardening of just a small fraction of an acre, and this is the greatest evidence of success in achieving a sustainable garden.

III) Gardening should always be done without injuring the land, but rather should improve the land, so that it will continue to support healthy plants indefinitely. Therefore, pesticides and herbicides should be used very judiciously, and wherever possible these issues should be handled by cultural practices as taught by Dr. Mittleider such as 1) eliminating all weeds from the garden area, 2) watering only the plants' root zone, 3) beginning plants in a protected environment for a fast, healthy and strong start, 4) feeding plants proper amounts of balanced natural mineral nutrients to assure fast and healthy growth, 5) harvesting all plants at maturity to avoid allowing pests and diseases to multiply, and 6) discarding any bug or disease infested plant parts away from the garden, and incorporating healthy plant parts into the soil to improve soil structure.

Jim Kennard, President of Food For Everyone Foundation, has a wealth of leadership, financial, business, teaching, and gardening training and experience upon which to draw in helping the Foundation in "Teaching the world to grow food one family at a time." He is a retired CPA, practicing as managing partner in a Salt Lake City firm since 1972, and has also owned and successfully managed several businesses, including hotels, shopping centers, apartments, and retail establishments during the past twenty five years.

Jim has been a Mittleider vegetable gardener for the past twenty-eight years, he is a Master Mittleider Gardening Instructor, and has taught classes and worked one-on-one with Dr. Jacob Mittleider on several gardening projects in the USA and abroad, including projects in Armenia, Madagascar, and Turkey he has conducted by himself. He assists gardeners all over the world from the website FAQ pages and free Gardening Group, and grows a large demonstration garden at Utah's Hogle Zoo in his spare time.