How to raise Monarch Butterflies

Last year was my first full year raising monarch butterflies. Since the 1970s the monarch butterfly population has been declining. As the only butterfly to make a 2 way migration, the monarch butterfly can live long and go through quite a lot. Or it can have a very short uneventful life. It all depends what time during the year they come about.

Let's start with the sad facts. A monarch butterfly egg only has about a 10% chance of becoming a butterfly when left in the wild.

However if those eggs are brought into a controlled environment, hatched and the caterpillars raised to a chrysalis, that changes to a 90% chance that each egg will make it to a butterfly. 

That's an insane difference, isn't it?

If you guessed that is why I raise monarch butterflies, you're correct! There are lots of disease and predatory insects that affect the monarch caterpillar. Last year I lost less than 10% of my monarchs, almost all of them in the caterpillar stage. I released almost 40 healthy butterflies!

One of the other problems monarchs face is that the caterpillars only eat milkweed. It grows wild pretty much everywhere but is often perceived as a weed and most people don't want weeds growing in their yards. 

Milkweed grows wild on the side of the roads which would be a good thing but many states have a mowing program and will mow it right down with no concern for the monarch caterpillars that are living on it!

How to grow African violets indoors

African Violets are one of my favorite houseplants to grow for one main reason, they bloom all year round! The second reasons that I love growing African Violets is that they are the simplest houseplant ever! The only thing I don't like about them is that the leaves are fuzzy, which means cat hair seems to stick to them all the time!

African violets are known for their beautiful flowers that bloom in many more colors than just violet! They can be found in every shade or purple, but also white, pink and even blue. Anyone can grow these beautiful plants with just a few simple tricks. Lets talk about the ideal growing conditions to produce long lasting plants with a full head of flowers that bloom year round.

8 Flowers you need in your vegetable garden

Many people plant flowers in their vegetable garden. There are lots of reasons to do this from companion planting, attracting pollinators to them just being pretty! I've been doing it for as long as I've gardened. Honestly, I never liked marigolds all that much, but my Pappap said you had to plant them in the garden so I have for the last 30 years. He was right!

Many gardeners find that they can discourage harmful pests, without losing the beneficial allies by just adding flowers. Flowers also add visual interest because vegetable plants are mostly green. There is honestly not a lot of color in cucumber, bean, pea or broccoli plants! (just to name a few) 

Planting flowers amid the tomatoes is a good way to dip your toes into the pool of companion planting.

Companion planting is placing different plants close together that enhance each other's growth, discourage pests and diseases, or have some other beneficial effect. Companion planting can be an important part of an integrated pest management system.

11 Herbs That Help With Digestion

Having problems with digestion can really make you uncomfortable! Nobody likes to deal with heartburn, excess burping or flatulence. People have been dealing with digestion issues since time began though which is actually a good thing! There are a lot of tried and true natural remedies to help you out when things aren't moving along like they should!

When you have difficulty digesting food, a multitude of problems can occur. A pain in the stomach or intestines is the least dangerous part of digestion issues, but it could be a signal from your body that something is going wrong.

However, there are a number of ways to improve digestion, and help you to feel better quickly. Many of these herbs are readily available.

As times change I often find that I can buy an herb at Walmart or the grocery store that I needed a specialty store for 10 years back! Thankfully brands like Traditional Medicinals bring dozens of herb teas to all but the smallest grocery stores. 

Of course, I always prefer the grow your own method. Even though many of these herbs can be grown indoors, it's not always possible...and teas make it easy to stock up for when digestive problems hit!

Remove cat pee smell permanently

We currently have one rescue kitten left at our house and the Bengal is not very happy about it! First she peed in the kittens bed. Then she 'marked' the cardboard box the kitten had been playing in. Finally she graduated to spraying anywhere she could smell the kitten. I absolutely can't stand the smell of cat urine so I did my best to clean up all these messes. I literally tried everything to get rid of the cat odor in my house.

I first started cleaning it up with the rug scrubber filled with pet stain & odor remover. That wasn't strong enough so I bought enzymatic pet odor sprays from the pet store. I also tried white vinegar and I tried essential oils. 

No matter what I used, it only removed the cat pee smell for a few days and then I could smell the cat pee again. I spent way too much money on this stuff! I was completely convinced that nothing but the strongest, most potent, specially made formulas would work.

I was wrong. 

I soon found out, I had the solution in my cabinet the whole time....and it wasn't chemical laden crap from the pet store!

Peroxide, baking soda and dish soap. Sound familiar? These are the 3 ingredients in my Best Skunk Spray Remover EVER! recipe. The proportions are a little different, but it works just as well to remove cat urine smell as it does for skunk spray! 

It's a lot more natural then all the artificial chemicals I was spraying in my house, plus it works better than all the other sprays and cleaners I had bought!

9 Herbs that want to take over your garden

I really love growing herbs. Nothing beats freshly harvested herbs to really perk up a homemade meal. I grow about 20 different herbs every year for both food and medicine. While some herbs have given me a really hard time getting them to grow (I'm looking at you white sage!) other herbs, have gotten completely out of hand in the garden.

My first out of control herb was dill. It was my first year with an unlimited sized garden and I was going to grow my own dill and learn to make pickles. It was also my first year with chickens and I had sadly underestimated their drive to get into my garden and take 2 bites out of everything they could find. 

Since the pickling cucumbers were a bust, I let the dill go to seed. Big mistake. Dill has popped up in my garden every year since.

A Calendula infestation followed closely behind the dill problem...though you can really never have enough calendula so that's not so bad. 

Shortly after Valerian started popping up in and out of my garden, as far away as my driveways edge! Since then there's been several invasive herbs including catnip, chamomile, chives and....well, here's the whole list!

Growing and using catnip for tea (for you, not the cats!)

We're all familiar with catnip and how it affects cats. What is less well-known is how it affects humans. No, catnip is not just for cats and interestingly enough, while it tends to wind cats up it has the exact opposite effect on people. Catnip can be used topically or as a tea, tincture or infusion for many different reasons. Catnip is also one of the herbs that has a long history of use for children.

Catnip (Nepeta cataria) is a member of the mint family. It's sometimes referred to as Catmint. Even though it seems to produce a euphoria response in cats, catnip will not get you high! Maybe because we're much bigger than cats? Kidding! 

Here's an excellent explanation of why it works for cats, though it tends to have a calming effect on us instead. 

Health benefits of catnip (for people)

Catnip has a much milder effect on people but it still produces many desired effects. There are many reasons why you should grow catnip for yourself. My favorite way to use catnip is as a tea, though it can be applied topically too.

Make your own cat toy!

The first time I saw these cat toys was at a craft show back in probably 2002. I was making a lot of my own natural bath & body products and working the craft show circuit to sell them. At every single show there was somebody selling these things. It wasn't always the same people though, I guess it's a popular item to make. 

What always caught my eye though were the ones that would bring a big wire dog crate and put a cat inside. Those cats would play all day with those catnip toys and they had so much fun! 

These toys are the perfect size and shape for them to hug and do that 'bunny kick' thing. They flip  on their back and just kick away at those catnip laced kitty sticks. Oh those cats had the best time! 

Thinking back they were probably pretty buzzed up. lol Anyway, it's a simple toy so of course I figured out how to make kitty kick toys when I got home. My cats love them, and I know yours will too.

Growing Cat Grass

I was in the pet store the other day and saw some pots of "cat grass". They were $4 each. I looked inside the pots and read the labels. There was no dirt. It was nothing but wheat seeds growing in there (the label even said so!) Now I ask you, how is this worth $4? It's not! You can do it much cheaper. 

Growing cat grass is super easy to do, plus your cat will love it!

Of course if you want to grow cat grass for your cats you should probably go the whole nine yards and get a cute pot and put some dirt in there so it grows longer. It's still going to be cheaper than the stuff at the pet store, and will probably last longer.

Cats naturally like to nibble on greens. Growing your own cat grass keeps them from going after your house plants which may be toxic. 

According to Purina cats eat grass for the nutrients, laxative properties or to relieve an upset stomach. Providing cat grass keeps them from getting outside to get at regular grass which may have been treated with chemicals.

Growing herbs indoors

I love fresh herbs. I use them for food and medicine. I just can't bear to be without fresh herbs in winter so I always have a bunch of different herbs growing in my house. It just makes sense to have herbs growing right inside my kitchen where I'll be using them, right? The kitchen is the perfect place to grow herbs since it's often warm, generally has high humidity and is right where you'll be using the herbs! The only other thing you need is a sunny window.

There are at least 11 medicinal herbs that grow well indoors, and plenty more culinary ones, so it's not hard to find herbs that do well indoors even in winter. I am such an outdoors 'always in the garden' person that winter is the hardest for me and I just have to grow some plants indoors. 

Plus you can't beat the taste of fresh grown herbs when cooking!

One of the great thing about growing herbs indoors is that they can be grown hydroponically or traditionally and they taste exactly the same!