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With the heat of summer settling over us, these long days are perfect for sitting in a rocking chair on the porch, sipping cool iced tea, and watching the fireflies. The only thing that could ruin such a perfectly good evening would be a sudden and incessant itch on your leg. And your arm. And your foot? Mosquitoes are unwelcome but inevitable guests in these warmer months. But luckily, there’s plenty you can do to deal with them! Last week, we talked about the American Mosquito Control Association’s annual movement: National Mosquito Control Awareness Week. Their goal is to educate the public on how to approach mosquito population control without using pesticides. Check out our article to learn their 5-step plan to reduce the number of mosquitoes in your area.  But despite your best efforts, sometimes there are too many variables outside your control. After all, you can’t go tramping through your neighbor’s yard to dump all their standing water! And when you visit the park, or spend an afternoon out on the lake? What can you do to get those pesky pests to buzz off? WearablesThere are plenty of wearable items you can buy to keep the mosquitoes away. Bracelets, sweatbands, necklaces, stickers, belt clip-ons… the choices are endless. Most of these accessories use citronella oil to ward off flying insects, though you’ll also find eucalyptus and lavender versions. Some may use a proprietary blend of repellants, not all of which are natural – be sure to read the label if you’re worried about any specific synthetic compounds. However, one of the biggest complaints with wearables is that they are either not strong enough and only ward off mosquitoes around the item itself, or are definitely strong enough to keep bugs away, but the smell is too overpowering to withstand. Bug SprayThis tried-and-true method involves spraying some kind of mosquito repellent directly on your skin. As such, you’ll have a little protection everywhere, rather than a lot of protection in just one spot like with a wearable. There are an endless number of brands to choose from, many of which offer all-natural, chemical-free options. Want to make your own bug spray at home? It’s easy! Just add essential oils to some carrier liquid (like water) and spritz.
The best essential oils for repelling mosquitoes are lemongrass, citronella, rosemary, lavender, eucalyptus, and mint (peppermint or spearmint will work, too). For your carrier liquid, you can use plain old distilled water, or a 1:1 ratio of water and witch hazel, or a 2:1 ratio of water to apple cider vinegar.
In general, for every 4 ounces of carrier liquid, you’ll want around 40-50 total drops of essential oil. For younger children, you may want to make a less concentrated spray with only 20-25 drops per 4 ounces of carrier liquid.
Essential Oil Blend Recipes
Wide-Range RepellentsIf you’re looking to keep mosquitoes away from a certain area, like your porch or the picnic table you’ve reserved at the park, then you might want to check out a wide-range repellent. These include things like candles, torches, incense sticks and nubs, and even cords you can use to lay down a protective perimeter. Most of these items will use citronella as their main repellent, though you can usually find lavender and/or eucalyptus alternatives if you dislike citronella. A newer option in this category world is the automatic repellent diffuser. These little devices emit an air-born repellent that creates a bubble of protection all around you. The main selling point of these kinds of devices are that they don’t have a strong smell, like citronella does, and they don’t require any flame, which means no smoke and no fire hazard. Traps/ZappersLastly, we have the more lethal way of dealing with mosquitoes. Simpler options, like sticky tape, attract mosquitoes by smell. Once a mosquito lands, it gets stuck, so it can’t bother you anymore. These methods are effective, though some find them cruel, as the mosquito can live quite a while stuck in the trap. They can also be unsightly, and don’t have a wide range of effect, so you often end up with four or five lengths of sticky tape dangling down in the area. You can also make your own simple traps. To do so, you’ll need something to attract the mosquitoes to the trap, and something to actually trap them. The easiest method is to cut a soda bottle (2-liters work best) in half. Fill the bottom half with warm sugar water and yeast, and then flip the top half upside-down so it creates a funnel into the bottom half. Voila! Mosquitoes are drawn to the yummy smell of yeast and sugar, go down the funnel, but then can’t climb back out. Instead of sugar and yeast, you can also use a vinegar/dish soap combo. Then there are the fancy electronic traps. Also called zappers, these little devices emit a soft UV light to attract mosquitoes (and other bugs). As soon as the insect touches the device, they’re immediately electrocuted, which is considered a little more humane. The only unpleasant bit about zappers is that the dead bugs collect into a little tray at the bottom, which inevitably has to be emptied out every so often. So there you have it! A plethora of options for keeping the mosquitoes at bay this summer. For more information on methods of mosquito control, check out the American Mosquito Control Association’s resource page. AuthorEmily Casuccio is sister and sister-in-law to Rebekah and Scott Rushing, and has over half a decade of experience in copywriting, copyediting, proofreading, and developmental storyboarding. She's worked with both published and undiscovered authors on both fiction and nonfiction, and takes pride in supporting local businesses. Her passion lies in the written word and helping authors of all capacities realize their dreams and achieve their fullest potential. To learn more about her, read samples of her work, or contact her, visit her online portfolio.
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As summer settles in, we’re spending more and more time outdoors. Between backyard barbecues, evenings sipping iced tea on the porch, and nights telling stories around the fire pit, there’s no shortage of reasons to be outside. The only downside here (besides the unforgiving Georgia heat) is the bugs – mosquitoes, to be exact. The little bloodsuckers can make your life miserable, not to mention itchy. It’s tempting to grab the strongest pesticide you can find and spray everything down to keep your property mosquito-free. But that might actually be the worst thing you could do! As it turns out, many common ways of dealing with mosquitoes can be dangerous, either to the mosquito population, the local ecosystem, or even to you and your family! So how can you deal with those pesky pests? National Mosquito Control Awareness WeekNext week, June 19th through the 25th, is National Mosquito Control Awareness Week. Hosted by the American Mosquito Control Association, this annual event aims to educate the public on the best and safest ways to deal with mosquitoes. Their integrated mosquito management (IMM) approach includes five steps that anyone can follow: 1. Educate Yourself Most people don’t really think about mosquitoes until they’ve got an itchy bite on their arm or leg. But successful mosquito management depends heavily on controlling the population before this stage in the mosquitoes’ life cycle. In order for mosquito eggs to develop into pupa (baby mosquitoes), they have to be exposed to water. Generally speaking, mosquitoes will choose to lay their eggs in pools of standing water to keep the eggs hydrated until they hatch. Standing water naturally occurs in depressions in the ground or low points on your property. But water can also collect in man-made locations. There are some obvious spots, like a flower pot forgotten in the corner of your porch, or a decorative bird bath. There are also some not-so-obvious spots, because water can pool almost anywhere. The less-than-a-mouthful of water gathered on the swing of your backyard playset is more than enough for a mosquito to brood. Even the divot in the lap of your favorite garden gnome probably holds just enough liquid to host some mosquito eggs. To truly control the mosquito population in your area, you’ll need to attack at the source – that is, the eggs. 2. Surveillance/Scouting Now that you know where mosquito babies come from, it’s time to figure out where specifically they’re coming from around your home. Have a look around to see if there’s any visible standing water, or any places that could house standing water the next time it rains, or your sprinklers water your lawn. Wide surveillance is the best surveillance, of course, so the more information you can gather on where mosquitoes might be nesting, the better. Talk to your neighbors to see if they’ve got any candidate locations, or take a walk around the block and see what the sidewalks look like. 3. Source Reduction So you know where mosquitoes lay their eggs, and now you know where mosquitoes could lay their eggs near you. It’s time to prevent that! The most popular method is called ‘tip and toss.’ Basically, empty out those standing water locations! The American Mosquito Control Association recommends checking your surroundings for standing water at least once a week during the warmer months, and of course, after every time it rains. While you’re at it, you can also do what you can to prevent any more water from gathering. This might look like moving some mulch around to fill in the lower areas of your yard, or tupping that flower pot upside-down so it can’t collect any more water. Maybe your garden gnome needs a little ceramic frog to sit in his lap, so the little divot there can’t fill up, either. 4. Larvicide The last two steps do involve the use of insecticides, but it’s important to note that larvicide comes first. Larvicide just means using pesticides designed specifically to impact the larval stages of life, rather than the adult stages. A variety of biological control agents exist that can be distributed into standing water where eggs or larvae already exist to prevent them from developing into adults. 5. Adulticide The last resort, adulticide, refers to the use of pesticides to kill off adult pests. The danger here is that pesticides can’t target just one type of pest – so while you’ll definitely kill off those mosquitoes, you might also kill off the local bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. In addition, some pesticides can be harmful to the environment. If you must look to adulticide, be sure to do your research and find the best and most environmentally-friendly insecticide for your area, and of course, follow the application instructions exactly. A lot of insecticide pollution could be avoided by only applying what the directions say to, rather than spraying anything and everything in sight. AuthorEmily Casuccio is sister and sister-in-law to Rebekah and Scott Rushing, and has over half a decade of experience in copywriting, copyediting, proofreading, and developmental storyboarding. She's worked with both published and undiscovered authors on both fiction and nonfiction, and takes pride in supporting local businesses. Her passion lies in the written word and helping authors of all capacities realize their dreams and achieve their fullest potential. To learn more about her, read samples of her work, or contact her, visit her online portfolio.  Tree ownership sounds like a fairly clear-cut concept. If the tree is on your property, it’s yours, and if it’s not on your property, then it’s not yours. But what if the tree sits half on your property, and half on your neighbor’s? Or what if it’s on your neighbor’s side of the property line, but its branches stretch over onto your land? Even worse, what happens when a tree falls down and causes damage? If it wasn’t your tree, are you still liable for the hole in your roof? Let’s walk through the possible scenarios: Scenario 1A tree growing entirely on your property is unequivocally yours. If you want to cut it down, prune it, or otherwise tend to it, then you don’t need anyone’s permission but your own. Scenario 2A tree that grows on your property but has branches overhanging your neighbor’s property is a little more complicated. The branches that overhang onto your neighbor’s land technically belong to your neighbor, which means you both have legal claim to the tree. Scenario 3A tree whose trunk sits partly on your property and partly on your neighbor’s property belongs to both parties. If any percentage of the trunk sits across the property line, then tree ownership essentially splits 50/50. How does this affect the tree work I want done? If you’re looking to cut down or trim a tree that fits scenario 1, then you’re good to go! It’s your tree, and you can do what you’d like with it. If you want to do work on a tree that’s scenario 2, it depends on the work. If you want to trim some branches on your side of the property line, then you don’t technically need to confer with your neighbor – though here at Classic City Arborists, we would encourage you to do so, just to prevent any conflict later on. However, if you have a tree that fits scenario 2 and you want to trim the branches that overhang your neighbor’s property, or you want to remove the tree entirely, you will likely need to talk to your neighbor to get their permission. Not all arborists or tree companies will require this, but here at Classic City Arborists, we would need your neighbor to sign a waiver granting us permission to work on the tree, since it does overhang their property. This helps prevent legal ramifications for both us and you. If your tree fits scenario 3, then no matter what work you want done on it, you should definitely talk to your neighbor, because the entire tree partially belongs to them, not just a few branches. At Classic City Arborists, we’d need them to sign a waiver, though again, not all tree companies will require this. What happens when a tree falls and causes damage?Trees can get pretty big, and as they say – the larger they are, the harder they fall. Whether due to internal rot, infestation, or inclement weather, tree failure (and the subsequent damage) is an unfortunate reality. In the State of Georgia, any damage caused by a fallen tree is the responsibility of whoever owns the land the tree fell on, with a few exceptions. This means that, in most cases, if a tree falls on your property and damages your home or your vehicle, it doesn’t matter where it was growing; you’re liable for the damage. On the other hand, if one of your trees falls and damages your neighbor’s home, since it fell on their property, the damage would be their responsibility, not yours. This also means that, if a tree falls partially on your property and partially on your neighbors, then each of you would be responsible for the part of the tree and the damage on your own property. Say your neighbor’s tree fell across their fence and your shed. Your neighbor would be responsible for fixing their own fence, and you would be responsible for fixing your own shed. In a situation like this, we would recommend working together with your neighbor to hire a single arborist to complete the work, and have them split the cost between the two of you. Doing all the work at once will likely be cheaper than if you both hire separate companies to do only part of the work. The Exception to the RuleThere is one notable exception to the rule of responsibility: if the tree in question showed signs of failure prior to falling, and the tree owner was both aware of these signs and did nothing about it, the situation becomes a case of negligence, and the liability for the damage falls to the tree owner. For example, say a Certified Arborist came out and told you that your tree was rotting and may fall, and wrote you a quote for removing it, but you didn’t choose to have that work done. Then, the tree falls and damages your neighbor’s property, be it their land, home, car, etc. Since you were aware of the danger and did nothing, the damage becomes your responsibility. This exception is hard to prove, however, as you need evidence. While your neighbor may have a picture of the obviously sick tree before it fell, it can be difficult to prove that you knew about this sickness. Typically, you would need evidence in writing to prove negligence. So, if there’s a tree near your home but not on your property that you’re worried about, it’s always a good idea to get a Certified Arborist to evaluate it, and then present that evaluation in writing to the tree’s owner. If they choose to do nothing about it, and the tree later falls and damages your property, you’ll have the evidence you need to hold them accountable. Similarly, if a Certified Arborist tells you one of your trees is at a high risk for failure, and that tree is near any structures (be they your own or someone else’s), it’s in your best interest to have it taken care of as soon as possible to prevent liability for damage to another’s property. AuthorEmily Casuccio is sister and sister-in-law to Rebekah and Scott Rushing, and has over half a decade of experience in copywriting, copyediting, proofreading, and developmental storyboarding. She's worked with both published and undiscovered authors on both fiction and nonfiction, and takes pride in supporting local businesses. Her passion lies in the written word and helping authors of all capacities realize their dreams and achieve their fullest potential. To learn more about her, read samples of her work, or contact her, visit her online portfolio. |
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23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Colossians 3:23-24
24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Colossians 3:23-24