Ant Deterrent Tips

Ant Deterrent Tips
from http://www.greenlivingtips.com
-(Green Living Tips)-

We love to watch ants go about their business. They perform an important role in the environment, cleaning up dead insects and animals and aerating the soil. They aren't so adorable when they infest our houses though!

Usually we reach for insecticide when ants become a problem; but there are more environmentally friendly ways of deterring ants.

Here's some things you may want to try before reaching for that can of insecticide, depending on the application :

- Pouring lemon juice around areas ants frequent.
- Sprinkle cinnamon or place in cheesecloth bags in affected areas. Cinnamon was a very popular choice with quite a few readers reporting it being highly effective.
- Baking soda can deter ants - pour a solid line in areas of activity and they won't cross it.
- A ring of coffee grounds around sensitive plants can discourage ants.
- A puree blend of orange peel and water can be applied to an area to discourage ants from crossing.
- Ants hate vinegar; so spray it around doorways and other areas they frequent to repel them. A small container of vinegar mixed with honey placed in affected areas appears to do the trick too.
- A reader reported baby powder stopped them dead in their tracks.
- Pouring boiling water over their tracks (destroys the scent trail)
- Sprinkling a circle of ground cloves around the pet food bowls
- Removing rocks and wood from around the garden
- Planting mint around vegetable patches, flower beds and around the house
- Quite a few readers found cinnamon sprinkled across ant scent trails to be very effective
- Citrus oil is a good deterrent; it can soaked into a piece of string and place around scent trails.
- Use a piece of chalk to draw a line over trails - again, the ants won't cross it. Chalk also has the advantage of being able to be used on vertical surfaces

One enterprising reader decided to work with the ants rather than against them. She made a sugar trail away from the house to her compost pile and put out the intent that they would find a greater feast there. It worked!

Ants invade for a reason - usually for food or water, so be sure to keep food items well secured and clean up after you prepare food. Also check plumbing for leaks, particularly under sinks. Dead insects can attract large numbers of ants, so check window sills and other areas where they may accumulate.

Mekong Giant Catfish

Mekong Giant Catfish
From http://bizarrecreatures.blogspot.com
-(Shocking Nature News)-

Attaining an unconfirmed length of 3m (9+ft), the Mekong giant catfish grows extremely quickly, reaching a mass of 150 to 200kg in only six years.

The largest catch recorded in Thailand since record-keeping began in 1981, was a female measuring 2.7 m (roughly 9ft) in length and weighing 293 kg(646 lb). This specimen, caught in 2005, is widely recognized as the largest freshwater fish ever caught.

Stone and Fruits

Stone and Fruits
-(Laugh and Wisdom Story for Educators)-

A social worker share his thinking and feeling to the Guru. It is about how he can do better and more for poor people, if he don't waste so much time and effort to protect himself and his work against misunderstanding and slander.

The guru listen to him with attention. He answer with one statement, "Nobody throw stones to a tree with no fruits."

(Story translated freely from "One Minute Wisdom" by Anthony de Mello)

Writer notes: don't worry, you are in right direction ^_^ !

Seed Thrower

Seed Thrower
-(More ESD Activities)-

I wonder, if this activity can be applied to chidren.

There's a story about an old man that use his handmade catapult to throw seed deep into the forest / canyon. I watched the documenter in DAAI TV, a local TV station in Indonesia.

He use a wooden catapult, and many seeds (from different species, such as jackfruit, rambutan, durian, rubber seeds, etc), and throw it with pray, hoping that it will grow safely into a tree.

I wonder, can we also do same activity with the children? If a wooden catapult is not easy to make, then we can use a 2 rubber and a plastic from a candy. Look at my example.

Then we can collect some seeds after eat fruits (rambutan, duku, water melon, jackfruit,...) and then take a walk together near a garden or river bank (that generally need to be planted).

You can do sport, art, biology and environment at once. How fun it is ^_^ !

Notes: when the journalist ask the man about his hobby, he just said "I did it for fun and I hope it will greener this forest someday. I hope..., at least I try..."

Picture taken from http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3573/71984778do1.jpg

Preparing Key to Open

Preparing Key to Open
-(Guiding Notes)-

This is a question for teachers and educators, after conducting all activity- games, experiments: is the atmosphere getting colder then?

Yes, even if we play a fantastic game we still have to do some REFLECTIONS for the activity. The purpose for each activity reached if participants understand that it has relation with some of environmental issues.

To help participants understand, sometime we have to ask some questions. It a kind of method to open participants mind. With this KEY QUESTIONS, we can unlock the door and make their opinions and knowledge walking out freely.

Key questions can be asked with the help from: WHY, WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHOM, HOW (5W, 1H). It's a simple journalist method to get more complete information, and in this case: to open a discussion.

It is a very important thing to make a good key question and relate it with the topic you want to open.

Measure Pollution with Plate

Measure Pollution with Plate
-(Nature Experiment)-

Hello again... Two months ago I found a book, written by David Suzuki and it talk about environment education. I buy this book with discount (an old book, 90') but this is a good book for sure, and I'm very happy to found this treasure...

This is about how to measure pollution in your place. It will work in your classroom, in the forest, in your backyard, everywhere...

Needs
Plate, vaseline / oil / jelly

The idea is very simple. Bring children to a polluted place (like near a busy road - in front of your school). Place a plate, but before you do that, you can coat the plate surface by vaseline / oil / jelly).

Then we can wait for a moment. You can decide how long you will wait (an hours, half day or one day?). You can check the plate later and found that many things stick with to the plate (dust, feather, pollen, leaves, etc).

Place another plate in a cleaner atmosphere environment. Do same steps to get result to compare.

Discussion:
- Is there any differences between places for pollution? Do you find same pollutant?
- The quality and quantity for each pollutant
- Relate it with forest / garden function as air filter
- Ask them, from where the pollutant come from?

Picture taken from http://lahore.meltblogs.com

Follow the King

Follow the King
-(Laugh and Wisdom Story for Educators)-

When they show the "Messiah" composed by Handel for the first time in London, the king was there. He became fulfill with the religious feeling when the choir sing Alleluia ref, so out of nowhere he stood quietly to show respect for the masterpiece he was hearing.

When see this, the nobles who attend the show follow the king and took a stand also. Those become a sign for all the attendances to take a stand also.

Since that time, they feel it is a must to take a stand when Alleluia is being sung, with no care for the spiritual feeling inside people who hear it; or the quality of the melody…

(Story translated freely from "Doa Sang Katak" by Anthony de Mello).

Writer notes: there are people who search knowledge by experiencing : by travelling far, do long research, and by do many mistake. It make the knowledge stick with them, while others don't.

Picture taken from http://www.nurseryrhymesonline.com