From My Window: Basil Repels Cabbage Worms, Fleas, and Mosquitoes

Friday, August 29, 2008

Basil Repels Cabbage Worms, Fleas, and Mosquitoes

ABOUT REPELLING MOSQUITOES

I found this in a magazine just the other day: "TIP--Place a bunch of fresh basil on your outdoor table to repel mosquitoes." (Everyday with Rachel Ray, August, 2008, p. 113)

ABOUT REPELLING FLEAS

We discovered, quite by accident, that basil repels fleas. Some years ago a friend gave us some tansy plants to hang in our garage to hopefully keep fleas off our cats. It worked! We had the same plants hanging there for several years. Then one year we pulled up a basil plant and hung it in the garage, intending to harvest the leaves. We never got around to using the leaves, but the cats continued to not have fleas. Every couple of years we hang a new basil plant. To this day our kitties remain flea-less.

Well that gave me the idea to try an experiment. If basil could repel fleas, perhaps it would also work for cabbage worms. Awhile back I was gone for 5 days. Before I left I put a few basil leaves on some of the broccoli plants. During the time I was gone Jim picked in a head of broccoli that had no basil leaves on it. Before he could cook it, he had to remove 19 cabbage worms. (Extra protein--yum) The next head we tried had been treated with some basil leaves, and there was only 1 of the green crawly critters. In previous years we have sprayed our broccoli with bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) which works really well, but this year we just didn't get around to it.

Well, where do those pesky cabbage worms come from anyway? They hatch from eggs laid by cabbage butterflies. I just happened to catch a picture of one of the dastardly creatures flitting around. The tiny caterpillars that hatch from the eggs eat holes in the leaves. I've discovered that those little green eating machines can make some mighty big holes even when the caterpillars are almost too small to see. It's when they get bigger that they really bother me. They can grow to be an inch or so long. Some are solid green and very hard to see in the broccoli heads, but some are blackish with stripes. Both are yucchy and it's very nice to avoid them.

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A Random Collection of Favorite Quotes and Scriptures

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. ~Theodore Roosevelt (from Richard Rieben)

It's much easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than it is to think your way into a new way of acting. --Dr. Oliver Sacks (Author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat, and Other Clinical Tales.)

Doing the best you can in this moment puts you in the very best place for the next moment. --Readers' Digest

Success comes as a result of preparing oneself for inspiration, and then being willing to pay attention to it and do what it says. --Leslie Householder. (The Jackrabbit Factor, www.ThoughtsAlive.com)

"If things are tough, remember that every flower that ever bloomed had to go through a whole lot of dirt to get there."
--Barbara Johnson, author. (Guideposts, July 2009, p. 12)

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. --Wayne Gretzky

"There are people who insist that we're made of bone and flesh and muscle but I say instead that we're made of memories. Cherish them but don't live in them…or they'll destroy all the bridges to your future." Dorothy Gilman, Incident at Badamya, p. 195.

"…You've reminded me of something a doctor once told me when my children were small and given to collecting splinters and bits of glass in their knees that needed digging out.…He said, 'Never bleed for the patient. Let him do the bleeding. You just get the job done." Emily Pollifax in Mrs. Pollifax and the Lion Killer, page 51, by Dorothy Gilman

"Use what talent you possess. The woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best." Henry Van Dyke

"Faith is not knowing what the future holds,
but knowing who holds the future." (Author unknown)

"No matter what the past has been, your future is spotless." (Heard on the radio.)

"Give to the world the best you have and the best will come back to you." (Copied from Jill Pierce's blog. March 4, 2009.)

"Help others get ahead. You will always stand taller with someone else on your shoulders." (Bob Moawad, business consultant and motivational speaker. Guideposts, Aug. 2006, p. 15.)

"A Bible won't do a lick of good sitting on the shelf collecting righteous intentions." (Gary & Joy Lundberg, Meeting Amazing Grace, p. 202.)

"Living is a science based on definite laws. If you do not cooperate with its laws, life can go badly. When you learn those laws, and live within them, your life becomes wonderful…" (Norman Vincent Peale "Never Let Mistakes Hold You Back," PLUS Mag. July/Aug. 1996)

"My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments: for length of days and long life, and peace shall they add to thee." (Prov. 3: 1&2)

We stay stuck if we are not willing to abide a higher law… D&C 88:32…"They shall return again to their own place to enjoy that which they are willing to receive, because they were not willing to enjoy that which they might have received.

"We hold some people hostage who God long ago has forgiven." (Neal A. Maxwell)

"Prayers that are not asked are not answered. Father in Heaven would have us ask about the little things in life, to get special help for little things. Little problems solved never become big problems…" (Joann Hibbert Hamilton)

"When you pray too little, you act too soon." (Dr. Howard Hendricks)

“If you want to talk to God, pray. If you want God to talk to you, read your scriptures.” (John Bytheway)

"…Without life's challenges, we won't see God's grace at work. We won't see the unfolding of miracles, or God's transforming power." (Diane Noble, Through the Fire, p. 145)

"To fully thrive, we must not only eliminate the stressors but also actively seek joyful, loving fulfilling lives that stimulate growth processes." (Bruce Lipton, Biology of Belief, p. 147)

"What God is doing 'in' you is much greater than what he is doing 'to' you. (Heard on the radio.)

"The best way to find yourself is in the service to others." - Mahatma Gandhi.

"'Don't feel totally, personally, irrevocably responsible for everything. That's my job.' Signed, God." Jan Karon, A New Song, p. 166. (The Fifth Novel in the Beloved Mitford Series)

"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does." William James

"…Take [your] eyes off the threatening circumstances and look to God instead." Merlin Carothers, Power in Praise, p. 13

"It's a lot more fun to expect the best than to fear the worst." Philip Humbert

"I do not know the master plan, but it's comforting to know the Master has planned it, and I'm included." Diane Nobel, Through the Fire, p. 29. (Mystery and the Minister's Wife series, vol. 1)

"Most of us don't ever touch the power of God until we have our own power outage. God has to slam on the brakes on our own self-performance to prove to us that He has a better way…" Dr. David Jeremiah, Turning Point (radio), June 5, 1997

"Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records." William Arthur Ward

The Lord gives a little to his humble followers today, and if they improve upon it, tomorrow he will give them a little more, and the next a little more. He does not add to that which they do not improve upon (Brigham Young)

Starve the problems, but feed the opportunities. (Gordon B. Hinckley said at Barbie's graduation from BYU, April 2004)

May you be safe
May you be happy
May you be healthy
May you live with ease
(From Happy For No Reason, by Marci Shimoff.)

Happy is he that condemneth not himself. (Romans 14:22)

One of Satan's tools is to influence a person by giving him an over-active conscience. This is one of the main causes of mental illness. (Dr. James Dobson, Focus on the Family, July 2000)

For with God nothing shall be impossible. (Luke 1:37)

The way to prepare for an unknown future is to reflect upon God's blessings in the past. --Dr. David Jeremiah

Never doubt in the dark what God has told you in the light. --Heard on the radio.

When the emotional and spiritual heart heal, the physical often follows. Dr. Mehmet Oz, Healing from the Heart

And inasmuch as ye are humble and faithful and call upon my name, behold, I will give you the victory. (D&C 104:82)

No one ever plowed a field by turning it over in his mind. (From a 1998 desk calendar.)

When you have what it takes to weather even the worst storm, you will always come back bright and beautiful. You wait and see. --Wendy Parker

Perhaps I can't forget, but I can choose to not remember. (Heard on the radio.)

Forgiveness means to write it off. Let it go. Tear up the account. It is to render the account cancelled (Cloud & Townsend, Boundaries.)

Freedom and liberty are precious gifts that come to us when we are obedient to the laws of God and the whisperings of the Spirit. James E. Faust (LDS General Conference, Oct. 1999)

People with the greatest desire have the greatest energy. --Earl Nightingale

Learn of me and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my spirit, and you shall have peace in me. D&C 19:23

Give thanks always and for everything. It will simplify your life. --Elisabeth Elliot

By small and simple things are great things brought to pass. Alma 37:6

But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage. Mosiah 7:33 (Book of Mormon)