Yesterday was Earth Day and in my mind, one day a year shouldn’t be when we think when trying to save the environment. Rather we should be treating everyday as Earth Day to make a difference on our planet. Whether or not you believe in ‘climate change’ it seems hard to dispute ‘things are a-changing’ out there. Extreme droughts, increasingly more frequent severe storms, you can probably agree that weather patterns don’t seem normal these days. In order to protect our environment, I believe going organic is one way to help Mother Nature. Whenever possible, I try to eat organic and I certainly garden organically. With my two knuckleheads, I never can be sure what they’ll eat, so I want to make sure if they munch on anything in the garden, there aren’t chemicals that control weeds on it. In the past I have used common table vinegar to keep weeds at bay. While repeated applications are necessary a necessary shortcoming, I don’t have to worry about any canine munching on a weed with a side dish of chemicals on top.
Everyone likes a lush flower garden without weeds but I’m not going to put my dogs at risk. With a bee population in peril, it is even more important to treat Mother Nature kindly.
So when I was at my local health food store recently, I was thrilled to come across this recipe for weed control. I have used agricultural strength vinegar in the past and at around 20% acidity (compared with 3-5% for common table vinegar), know it’s extremely efficient when it comes to killing weeds though the lesser strength will also do the job. You may need to reapply a couple of times, especially if the weeds are well established. 
I also discovered recently that if you have ants, you can sprinkle some cinnamon and they’ll take off for cheaper housing. Those industrial size bottles from Costco will come in handy beyond the occasional batch of cookies, especially after I found a bunch of squatters in the garage.
“Lady bug love” isn’t exclusively for the environment, in the long run it’s also for your fur-kids, even when you’ve been away on vacation without them. Happy Monday. May your week be particularly environmentally friendly.
Live, love, bark 🐾
Meeting International is elated to invite you to International conference on Earth Science and Climate Change. This will be held on September 6-7, 2018, at Zurich, Switzerland.
For more information go through the link: https://www.meetingsint.com/conferences/earthscience
Thank you for the invite. Alas I will not be able to attend but hope your meeting is well attended and successful. Best wishes.
Thank you so much for your kind reply.
Please suggest your Friend and Colleague those who have interest towards Earth Science and Climate Change conference and can join on September 6-7 at Zurich, Switzerland.
Wooftastic blog post!
HuMom will be thrilled when I share your cinnamon trick with her.
Nose nudges,
CEO Olivia
Excellent! Hope they help send the crawlies elsewhere.
I didn’t even know such a thing as industrial grade vinegar existed! I will most definitely try the cinnamon tip when the ants come in next Summer (as I know they will when it gets too hot).
It’s more agricultural strength but runs around 20% acidity where table vinegar runs around 3-5%. Makes a huge difference when you’re trying to eliminate weeds that get in patio and sidewalk cracks. I loved the cinnamon trick and saw first hand how they scurried away as soon as my daughter sprinkled it in her garden in Texas. I rarely have ant problems but when I do, they are those little sugar ants that end up hitching a ride on the dogs. That won’t be happening now!
Those are FABulous tips! So far, knock on wood (or Ma’s head), we haven’t had any ants, butts when they invade, it’s hard to gets rid of them! best to stop them in the furst place! We don’t have many weeds anymore, and the ones that come up in the front, Gpa goes out and pulls them…hey, he gets his exercise! BOL!! Oh, Ma tried cleaning with vinegar once, and she gagged from the smell…even after it dried and was suppose to be ‘undetectable’. Ma has an intense sense of smell…which is probably why she SAYS I stinks all the time! it’s HER not ME! Mystery solved! ☺
Kisses,
Ruby ♥
Wow that is quite the sniffer your mum has. At first I wasn’t keen on the smell then apparently got used to it. When I was something fresher smelling and not like a big salad, I use lemon juice. You’re lucky someone takes care of the weeds. 😊 That’s one thing I don’t like about owning a home on a large corner lot.
Great post, thank you for the tips!
Happy to share. 😊
This is the second cure for ants I’ve read about today – the other involved cucumber peels.
Have not heard that one. Fascinating!
Cinnamon huh? Thanks for the tip!
And yes to all of the above. Every day needs to be earth day. It’s too important and we are experiencing too many disturbing trends, like with the bee population.
Peace and Pens . . and Bees
Being the pollinators, a lack of bees will be very disruptive to the world’s food supply.
It was very disconcerting when I began to notice it. That’s not a good thing, at all!
So many things we really need to wake up to, like immediately.
Thanks for the tips. I’ve just been letting my weeds grow since I got Tippy. I’ll have to try some of these tips.
😁
I agree 100% with all of it. I had not heard of the cinnamon for ants though; thanks for that tip, since they are one of our biggest pest problems in the house.
Last summer, I actually went out and dumped pure white vinegar on our patio where the weeds were taking over. I did just a small section to see if it would work. I was amazed that not only did it kill the weeds, but they didn’t come back either! I’ll be doing the whole patio this year. I just need to find a spray bottle that works well, every one I’ve had has been pretty useless.
The vinegar trick really is clever, especially in sidewalk cracks. I use a regular garden sprayer since my corner lot is big. Good luck with your patio.
Thanks for all the great ideas. After our human sister’s recent cancer event, our whole family is trying to do as much organic food as they possibly can. Who knows what chemicals end up on/in our food.
Woos – Lightning, Misty, and Timber
Eating organic is a better idea this day and age. I’ve even moved to cleaning with vinegar and lemon around the house rather than with chemical laden cleaning products. P.S. Hope your daughter is doing better.
For the dogs, for us, and for mother earth, I’ve done a lot of switching this year. White vinegar and water to clean the floors, essential oils and now diatomaceous earth to prevent and kill fleas and ticks on both the dogs and outside to prevent mosquitoes, and vinegar and salt to cure the poison oak that I’m plagued with (breaking out on my skin) this time of year. Also oregano oil in the wash in place of bleach or “color safe” bleach. The more I learn, the more changes I will make. Thanks for the tips on killing weeds and getting rid of sugar ants!
Gold star for you! ⭐️
Thanks. Still so much more to change/do.
Loads of little things add up to a positive impact.
Cheers to you for practicing what you preach. 🙂
We only get one earth, I’d like to see it left in decent shape for my kids and grandkids.
tweeted this post and pinned it! Super helpful and important info!!!
Thank you so much for the shares. You’re a doll!
Great post! So many of us are too quick to turn to chemicals without taking the time to look at alternatives.
It’s too easy to reach for that bottle of chemicals you can’t pronounce. But there’s no reason not to with recipes this simple and effective.
Yes, such an important reminder!
I agree! Thanks for sharing the recipe and tip about cinnamon.
Happy to share. Hate killing them, but don’t need to have them coming into the house. This way they find more suitable lodging around the ‘hood.
There are many ways to combat pests and weeds without killing the good things. We do the same here.
Have a fabulous day and week. Scritches to the pups. ♥
Kudos to you for thinking about our planet. We need more people willing to do that so we can all enjoy it! Happy week.
With 5 acres we have a lot of tall grass at The Golden K. It would be tempting to use chemicals like Round Up to deal with them (like many of the locals) but we too use a similar elixir such as the one you suggest. It’s a lot of vinegar (many gallons) but the right thing to do for Mother Nature who with the exception of the tall weeds and wasps gives so many beautiful gifts throughout the year.
Bless you for caring enough to protect those lovely 5 acres. How well I know about the gallons and gallons of vinegar, luckily it’s inexpensive and to home a couple from Costco. 😊
We stopped spraying for weeds because we had it commercially done (over an acre). They use a weed killer 2-4-D which is carcinogenic, especially to earth dogs (our terriers). It’s hard to find a weed company that doesn’t use it. We’d rather live with weeds AND terriers than without both.
An acre of weeds and terriers without chemicals seems like a reasonable compromise.
Never knew about that vinegar stuff. We’ll see if we can find some.
It works great, especially in sidewalk cracks! Thank you for swinging by the Ranch. We 💖 visitors, especially those are are so kind and concerned about saving pets.
we use this diy weed killer too… it’s good for our earth and not so dangerous for dog noses ;O)))
And the garden smells like a big salad! 😄
Thanks for the cinammon tip for ants!😃
I think everyone can use some help with ants. We get those little tiny what we call ‘sugar’ ants round the house that aren’t real problematic, I just don’t want to room with them! They work great on their nastier relatives (like fire ants).
Thanks!!
Another “cure” for fire ants than I can attest to is 1 gallon white vinegar mixed with one gallon hot water, slowly poured down their nest.
I’ve used that in the past too for the garden variety of any. So far, fire ants haven’t made their way here. 🤞🏻
Hoping they don’t. Meaner than a rattler and the bite feels like you are on fire.
That what my sis who lives near Austin told me. I’m hoping not too. I think I was lucky over vacation. No snakes, fire ants or poison ivy. Whew.
what’s better for the earth is better for living creatures… those chemicals and toxins like round up used without thought are not good for us
Exactly, they are not good for us or the environment.