Tips for Country Life
I love living in the country! However, country living does have it's own unique problems from city or urban life. Finding inexpensive yet effective solutions to those problems can be difficult if not almost impossible – So here are a few of the tips and solutions for various occasions which can and do occur. Hopefully these will help others whether you live in the country, visit the woods, fish in ponds, camp in the wilderness or are just curious.
Snakes
I really don't like snakes. So when we were told before we ever moved here that there were copperheads and water moccasins on the one side of the pond by our house, I immediately started researching how to get them to move somewhere else. I really don't want to share my yard with poisonous snakes! The woods around us is extensive and there are a lot of ponds and creeks all through here, so the snakes do have somewhere to relocate to without people trying to catch and relocate them. Question was, what could I do to persuade them they wanted to move on?! Answers found:
Use mothballs – make a perimeter around the property that you want the critters to stay away from. - I immediately took mothballs and used them all around the perimeter of the yard and the side of the big pond that is in the yard.
Cats and dogs – having outdoors pets who mark the perimeter of their yards will help to dissuade snakes from coming into the yard. Notice I said “help”. I am not sure really that this works as I have had cats and dogs get snake bit before. They will try to kill snakes when they find one usually, but that is dangerous for your pet. I do have two dogs and a cat though that do daily mark the perimeters of the yard, and the cat hunts daily! My dogs warn me when they sense danger in an area, and my Willie is really great about smelling snakes – he doesn't want anything to do with them! Neither do I!
Keep a gun loaded with snake loads and a snake bite kit on hand at all times!! This is very important! Know what to do in case of a snake bite. If you are very far out in the country, it could take a long time (possibly too long) for help to arrive!
Additional Tip: If it rains a lot after you have used mothballs, don't forget to replace them. After a month and a half of rain, I hadn't replaced the mothballs and suddenly found a 4 and ½ foot black snake in my living room the other day!!!
Moles
Moles are a common problem both in the country, suburbs and even in yards in cities. They can tear up a yard or garden in a blink of an eye, or at least it seems that way! Instead of hurting or killing these cute little pests, once more I prefer to use an inexpensive way to persuade them to move on to somewhere else – my answer is Juicy Fruit gum! I have used this method for years everywhere I have lived and had problems with moles.
Locate the mole holes and place a stick of Juicy Fruit gum in each hole. The moles will move away from that location. Locate their new holes and repeat. This could take a few days to actually get them moved all the way out of your yard, depends on how big your yard is, but they will keep moving away from the sticks of gum and will finally be gone out of your yard.
Mosquitoes
Being outside can put you at risk of becoming dinner for thousands of pesky little insects. Flys, gnats and mosquitoes may be tiny little creatures, but they can cause big enough problems to ruin cookouts, walks outdoors, sitting on your porch or patio or any outdoor activity.
The answers I have found and depend upon for these nasty little disease carriers are:
Marigolds – I plant marigolds all around my house, yard, garden, patio – everywhere I know I want to be and don't want the bugs to be! Marigolds repel these little pests and really does a great job of it – and they aren't just orange any more! Available in many different colors and varieties now, they can be easily be worked into any gardening theme or color scheme – and will definitely help to make your gardening and outdoors experiences be good ones.
Bounce - believe it or not, bounce dryer sheets are not just for the dryer anymore. The original, (not scented), Bounce dryer sheets work very well for keeping flys and mosquitoes away! I stick dryer sheets all around the perimeters of the patio or area of the yard I intend to be in. To go for a walk in the woods or to fish or horseback ride or whatever, I stick a couple of dryer sheets in my belt, waistband, pockets or somewhere on me. Note: the first time I tried this, I was camping on the side of a lake and the bugs were horrible. We made a perimeter of our campsite and hung the sheets in the trees around the campsite – within just a few minutes our campsite was free of flying, biting insects and you could stand and see all the bugs on the outside of the perimeters we had created with the sheets! I have used them ever since and am very grateful to the person who clued me in to this! (Works better than citronella candles ever worked for me!)
Marigolds – I plant marigolds all around my house, yard, garden, patio – everywhere I know I want to be and don't want the bugs to be! Marigolds repel these little pests and really does a great job of it – and they aren't just orange any more! Available in many different colors and varieties now, they can be easily be worked into any gardening theme or color scheme – and will definitely help to make your gardening and outdoors experiences be good ones.
Bounce - believe it or not, bounce dryer sheets are not just for the dryer anymore. The original, (not scented), Bounce dryer sheets work very well for keeping flys and mosquitoes away! I stick dryer sheets all around the perimeters of the patio or area of the yard I intend to be in. To go for a walk in the woods or to fish or horseback ride or whatever, I stick a couple of dryer sheets in my belt, waistband, pockets or somewhere on me. Note: the first time I tried this, I was camping on the side of a lake and the bugs were horrible. We made a perimeter of our campsite and hung the sheets in the trees around the campsite – within just a few minutes our campsite was free of flying, biting insects and you could stand and see all the bugs on the outside of the perimeters we had created with the sheets! I have used them ever since and am very grateful to the person who clued me in to this! (Works better than citronella candles ever worked for me!)
Coyotes, Bears, Cougars, Bobcats, Wild Boar, etc. -
Thankfully I live where I do not have to worry about bears. We do have coyotes, cougars, bobcats, wild pigs, foxes, wolves and other large wild animals running around in the woods, coming to drink from the pond and hunting for food at night all around us. Answers? - be aware of where you are and what is around you at all times! Tips to persuade them to hunt somewhere else -
Do not leave trash or garbage outside in containers that large animals can get into. If they find that you put your trash and garbage outside every day in a place that they can get to, then they will come and eat there nightly! This is the same as with raccoons, skunks, ground hogs, and all kinds of wild animals who would prefer that you feed them nightly with your garbage instead of them having to get out and hunt for their food!
Do not leave small animals outside to attract larger predatory animals. If you have chickens, dogs, cats, ducks or whatever, make sure at night that they are safe from the wild creatures of the night. A dog chained to a dog house in the yard can easily become dinner for a pack of coyotes or a bear! Chickens not in their coop or in a pen that doesn't have the top covered or that is easily dug under becomes another animals chicken dinner instead of yours, or the eggs become breakfast for weasels, bobcats or other animals.
These tips are just a few things that can help make life easier and more enjoyable living in the wilds of the country. Hopefully they can help others to find peace, happiness and a oneness with nature. Inexpensive, effective and humanitarian methods of dealing with wildlife, pesky insects and common problems in the country are considered “common sense” to a lot of country folk, but city folk need to have access to this info also for when they visit or move outside the city limits. I will pass on more tips later, in the mean time, hope these have helped you and have fun exploring and enjoying the countryside, the woods, the lakes and forests this summer!
Just Me Granny D
