This last week, I had my 2-story garage tented for dry wood termites. I didn't want to use toxic gas (Vikane, also known as sulfuryl fluoride), but both eco-friendly pest control companies I called for inspections advised that I go with tenting to save the structural integrity of the building. But, even now, I have my reservations and regrets if it was the right solution because of the toxicity involved. More

Every time I open my front door this time of year I have little moths that fly in thanks to my front porch light which, in my rough and tumble neighborhood, is always on at night. If you end up with them in your dresser or around your clothes they can be trouble. Eight methods were tested to get rid of moths, three worked, but one came out the real winner. Want to know what it was? More

Product: The Big Cheese Cat Repeller STV610

Price: $22.50
Rating: Recommend*

A cat likes nothing more than marking its territory amongst your herbs, in the kids' sandpit, or simply to chill on the warm hood of your parked car. We were looking for an efficient, low maintenance solution to keep us on good terms with our cat-owner neighbor and discovered a possible low-cost tech solution...
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Tonight, if you happen to open the fridge and crack open a cold one, consider this: beer is good for more than just drinking. It actually has a number of uses around the house. And while we generally prefer to drink our beer, not use it to kill slugs, here at Re-Nest we're also fans of anything that has more than one purpose (and is safe to ingest, too). So what else can you do with beer? Read on to find out. More

Q: This has been plaguing me and after reading the recent post about organizing kitchen garbage I started fretting all over again. With high hopes for greenerizing our lives, we started a compost bin in our yard last year, the kind with stacking sides and a lid. I added to it regularly and, for the first 6 months, dutifully and backbreakingly turned it over every week. Over the winter rains when our CSA was suspended, we let it ride. This spring we had a pretty reasonable compost that I spread around. I started adding again, but we had a new baby and I was out of the habit of flipping so the veggies kind of piled up.

And then we saw a rat...
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Q: We recently found out that mice were feasting on all of our pantry items, so we got rid of almost everything and got containers to store our pantry items in. Now, a couple months later, I woke up to find that our cilantro plant on our window sill has a big pit dug out of the middle with a pile of dirt next to it. All of the roots of the plants were exposed and I think the mice have been eating them or maybe trying to get to some errant detritus in the soil, but we need it to stop! Any suggestions?

Asked by Ryan More

Mosquitos keeping you up at night? Here’s a creative, eco-friendly, non-toxic way to keep your home mosquito free! And it also doubles up as a pleasant fragrance while keeping those bloodsuckers away... More

Bedbugs. Ants. Fleas. Cockroaches. Is your skin crawling yet? There are many solutions to rid oneself of pests, but few of them are harmless to our families and pets. 100% organic and non-toxic, save for some possible skin or respiratory irritation if applied sloppily, diatomaceous earth is the product of… More

There's nothing better than a pitcher of fresh squeezed lemonade on a hot summer day. But what to do with all of those juiced lemons? There are actually quite a few uses for lemons out of the kitchen: More

Beehives and boxes are popping up everywhere. If you've wanting one of your own, this flat-pack concept might be the perfect thing for your roof or balcony.

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