Fond as I am of the animal kingdom, my affection does not extend to sharing my house with certain members of it. I don’t want to see any such members in my closets, my cupboards, or my kitchen pantry. But how to keep them out without resorting to chemicals?
After some trial and error, I’ve found a way. For years I’ve known about the uses and benefits of lavender. I hang little bags of it on my clothes hangers in the bedroom and hall closets, tuck away small bags in the underwear drawers, and of course use small and large bags in the linen closet. “Laid away in lavender” is how I like to think of my sheets and towels. Woolen sweaters can also benefit from being packed in airtight containers with a lavender sachet.
![Photobucket](http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/q597/Neferhuri/DSCF2499.jpg)
Twice a year I refresh my lavender bags. In the summer, this involves rounding up all the lavender bags and dumping the used contents into a plastic bowl. My toddler granddaughter is pleased to help with this task. . (Afterwards I spread it around the lavender that grows in pots on my front porch.) We do it on the screened porch, in case she misses the plastic bowl and dumps the contents of the bags on the floor. I order my dried lavender to refill the bags from Aroma Therapeutix; the organza bags that hold the lavender come from the wedding section at Michael’s craft store. They’re usually available in the summer; if they’re not, I just ask Auntie Google, who is always able to come up with some source or other.
The kitchen is a different matter. I don’t know why, but my kitchen was plagued by pantry moths. After I learned they like dry goods such as flour, cornmeal, and so forth, I began to keep those in the refrigerator. However, pantry moths still hung around. For a while, I used those expensive and awful-looking little traps, but I hated them. They were disgusting-looking, especially after they’d done their job. Then I read pantry moths hate two scents above all others: pine and bay leaves. After I emptied all the kitchen cupboards, I urged Dearly Beloved to wash them down with a pine solution, which he did. Then I bought scads of tiny brown organza bags at Michael’s and filled them with bay leaves. At my local Indian store I can buy three huge packets of bay leaves for what one little McCormick jar would cost me at the regular supermarket. After placing one bag of bay leaves on each shelf, I have never been troubled by pantry moths again, and it’s been a couple of years now. I do this every six months.
But that didn’t save me from ANTS! Why ants rejoice in my shelves, I don’t know, but they do. I hated the idea of applying a chemical poison anywhere near the kitchen or pantry, so I Googled again. This time I found out that ants hate the smells of peppermint and spearmint. Well, as I’ve lots of mint in the garden and drying it is a simple matter, it was off to Michael’s again—this time for tiny red organza bags. I stuffed mint into all of them, placed one on each shelf, and since then have rarely been bothered by ants. I’d read that washing down their trails with vinegar would get rid of them, and of course I tried that too, but it didn’t work as well as the mint.
In the winter, when there’s no fresh mint to be dried, I simply refresh the bags with a drop or two of peppermint essential oil and spearmint essential oil, again from AromaTherapeutix. The company frequently has sales, so I make sure to buy my basic oils then.
Just for the record, small four-footed mammals with TAILS also hate peppermint and spearmint! If you think you’ve seen evidence of their presence, you can sprinkle the oils on cotton balls and place them where you suspect the creatures might hang out.
Yes, my kitchen shelves look peculiar. No, I don’t mind that at all. With all the real problems going on in the world, who cares if I don’t have Better-Homes-and-Gardens shelves?
Now, if only I knew what to do about the vacationing spiders…