Living Life in Rural Iowa

Insects can be so beneficial and so annoying. They can help with insect control and eat mites. They can also bite you in places you never thought they could get to. Where I live we deal with the biting flies, the no see ums (sandflies), and mosquitoes. Usually, we need to have unusually wet weather to see a lot of bugs, but not always. When they decide to hatch and feed, they become atrocious! How should you deal with biting insects? You should deal with them with everything you have and then some. They can make working on the homestead very difficult. They can make having a picnic almost impossible. Even though you are moving along a decent speed on a mower or a tractor, they still manage to land and bite you! What a nuisance! So what measures should you take to fight the biting insect fight? You can do this one of two ways: naturally and chemically. The choice is yours. We are usually driven to the chemicals because they cover a wider area. 1. Bug Repellent. You can use a re

Life just gets crazy sometimes. You have places to be, people to see, kids in activities, work to do, and the never-ending to-do list to conquer. Summer always seems to be particularly busy even though school is (usually) on a break and you have more freedom to do what you want. However, in all of life's busyness, prepping can sometimes get put on the back burner. We want to prep, but we have so much on our plates that we don't think we have time right now to prep. Even though hardcore preppers will cringe when I say this, sometimes that is okay to put prepping to the side for a little bit. We all have times in our lives that we are just plain overwhelmed with priorities and responsibilities. We need to cut ourselves some slack. Now maybe you are getting a little antsy knowing you need to pay attention to your preps and need to practice those skills. You are just not sure when you are going to have time. How can you prep with when real life gets in the way? As always,