Spencer is wearing a smokin' hot bikini by Jungle Girl. It's handmade in Los Angeles from vintage fabrics and retails for ($210 greenrohini.com)
Carrie is wearing an incredibly sexy bamboo top, by Carilyn Vail from her Green label line (carilinvaile.com) and a pink agate and gold dipped leaf necklace by Laura Elizabeth Jewelry which retails for ($120 greenrohini.com).
Spencer glows in yellow. Her dress is by Eco-Ganik, and 100% organic cotton. It retails for ($158 greenrohini.com).
Angel proves that organic is orgasmic in a 100% organic cotton tunic by "Stewart and Brown". ($98 greenrohini.com).
Angel is green hot in a 100% organic cotton dress by Eco-Ganick. ($148 greenrohini.com).
GORGEOUS IN THE GARDEN
OF GOOD AND EVIL
A Planet Friendly, Skin-Saving Way to Banish Bugs from Your Garden
By Janis Stevens
Photos by Steven James May
I live in Florida, so we deal with pests all year round. It still beats the long, cold winters of my hometown, Buffalo, New York. Fortunately, I have never had any fear of insects, spiders, worms, and snakes. At an early age, I recognized that they were here for a reason, not just to annoy us. Many of those creatures have more beneficial proprieties than we ever imagined.
There is always a balance, and Mother Nature knows what she is doing. It is mankind who has messed up the ecology, and now we have to take responsibility. Remember: If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
So, before you grab the bug spray, stop and think. Maybe start by reading the ingredients. Oops! The chemical cocktail on the label warns that it is fatal if swallowed, and to keep it away from children and pets. Hmm.
Do you really want to inhale that stuff as you poison your home and garden? Beware that these toxins will also be absorbed through your skin. Throw those sprays out in a hazardous waste container or facility. You can find lots of natural alternatives on the market now. Or better yet, you can make your own. It costs a lot less and you know what is in it.
It seems everyone is on the green bandwagon these days, so you won't have far to look. I just Googled "organic insect repellents," for example, and found several commercial distributors.
So let's start with a few ideas I'd like to share for great, natural ways to get rid of pests without chemical warfare.
Personal Mosquito Repellants
Try making skin oil from extra-virgin olive oil, basil leaves, and lemon balm or aloe juice to smooth on your skin. It will make your skin soft and the mosquitoes don't like the scent of basil. Simply put 1 cup of olive oil in a microwave-proof bowl with a few fresh basil leaves and some aloe juice, and then microwave the mixture for about 1 minute. Then put it in the blender and blend until pureed. I grow aloe around my house because it is great for rashes and burns, but you can find aloe juice in the grocery store in the produce section or in the health food store. While you are there, you may also want to buy ingredients for a better-smelling alternative. Lemongrass or lavender oil is recommended, but experiment with your favorite essence. Citronella is also a good choice if mosquitoes think you are a gourmet meal. Use only a few drops in the concoction. If you prefer to use it as a spray, dilute the mixture with witch hazel. (I hope you have some in the medicine cabinet. It makes a great astringent, too.) Oh, and do take lots of multivitamin B-complex. It is not only great for your skin but also the mosquitoes won't like you as much. They never bite me. I have been doing this for years and even my dermatologist verified that he recommends it for people who have reactions to bug bites.
Garden and Houseplant Insect Sprays
Here's an effective and safe alternative to those toxic insecticides that you spray on your plants and around the garden. It is easy to make using only a few simple, nontoxic ingredients. Take a bar of Ivory Soap and drop it in 2 cups of water. Let it sit overnight at room temperature, since you want much of it to dissolve. The next morning, remove any of the soap bar that has not dissolved and put the liquid in a spray bottle along with 4 ounces of the vegetable oil. I add garlic and fresh basil, but use them sparingly... or your house will smell like an Italian restaurant. Shake well. Spray on infested plants, both the tops and bottoms. Aphids and spider mites suffocate from the oil and soap. Caterpillars and other creepy-crawlies don't like the smell and won't munch on the leaves.
Stopping Slugs and Snails
Get rid of slugs and snails by spreading crushed eggshells where they are prone to travel. I always put my eggshells in the garden and around potted plants. They won't travel over the rough surface and, if they do, it's good-bye slug. The eggshells also break down and add calcium to the soil. Plants need it just as much as we do. Did you take your calcium supplement today? You can also get rid of snails and slugs with cheap beer. Just fill a jar lid with beer and place it where snails and slugs like to hang out. It's best to get it as flush with the ground as possible, so you may have to dig a little indention in the dirt. My dad always had plenty of beer around for the slugs. Mom disapproved of him drinking, so he had a big battle with slugs. They sure drank a lot of beer. Want one more slug remedy? Coffee is a great fix as well. Spread used coffee grounds around areas infested with slugs or snails. Again, it is good for the soil as well, and you are actually recycling.
Ant Bait
For safe ant bait, mix 1 part boric acid (Borax in the detergent aisle works) with 4 parts of sugar and spread a thin line in areas where ants are coming into your home. Remember to keep the mixture away from kids and pets.
Ladybugs: Live Aphid Repellants
I love orchids and hibiscus, but so do aphids, those tiny little insects that cover the new growth of your expensive flowering plants and suck the life out of them. Fortunately, ladybugs love to eat aphids, and in a perfect world they would do it naturally. But, since many of the good insects have been eradicated by all the pesticides, we can help Mother Nature by reintroducing the good guys. You can even buy ladybugs online these days! Warning: Follow the directions carefully; leave them in the closed container in the fridge until you are ready to release them at dusk. When my kids were little, they opened the refrigerator and had a show-and-tell with the neighborhood kids. Needless to say, they never closed the container and left the refrigerator open. By the time I realized what had happened, we had ladybugs everywhere.
Natural Plant Guardians
Remember that many pests really don't like certain plants such as mint, marigolds, garlic, and basil. Try mingling some of these with other plants or flowers to ward off unwanted insects. And you get a bonus, too. Mint is great in iced tea and basil on pizza and in spaghetti sauce. So grow some in your kitchen window. Add a few marigold plants in the flower boxes around the house to deter the ants.
Miraculous White Vinegar
A quarter cup of vinegar in a bucket of warm water will clean everything in your home. It is the only thing I have found that doesn't leave a film on tile floors. It will clean windows and is great for dusting. Just use a soft clean cloth dampened with a vinegar-and-water mixture and it won't hurt furniture surfaces. And it won't poison you when you breathe. I also wash my fresh veggies and fruit in a sink filled with water and a couple of tablespoons of vinegar. It will dissolve all the toxins from the insecticides and preservatives on the produce. I let my produce soak for at least 10 minutes and then rinse and refrigerate.
None of these ideas are new. We humans just got too lazy and believed that some fancy products in spray cans could meet our needs while they were actually breaking down the ozone layer, which among other things protects use from skin cancer. So take a moment to do these simple little things. If you're saying to yourself, "who has time for this?" - well, there are several companies (for example, Shaklee and Seventh Generation) that sell safe alternatives to the commercial toxins with which we have been polluting the environment.
One more bit of Envi-Image advice: Keep a gallon of white vinegar under your sink. Use it to clean your curling iron and to revive old hair brushes...or to give your hair a shiny rinse. But the coolest news about vinegar is that you can even use it to fade age spots on your skin!
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