Safe Homegrown Pesticides

(Page 3 of 3)

March/April 1980
By Diane Downs 
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For summer storage of woolens, grow lavender, sweet woodruff, southernwood, or wormwood ... and spread the dried leaves throughout the boxes of clothing. (Sweet woodruff has a lovely vanillalike fragrance when dried . . . a scent that you'll savor, but the moths won't.)

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LOVELY LONGEVITY

One of the fringe benefits of growing your own pesticides is economy ... because many such herbs are perennials. Even though you'll likely have to buy some of your initial plants from a nearby herb farm or an outfit that specializes in mail order, you should be able to enjoy most of the herbs for years and years.

I'm sure you'll delight in the peace of mind that comes from the effective protection "pesticide" plants can provide for you and your garden. And, of course, you'll want to plan to dry plenty of the edible herbs for teas and seasonings. In any case, there's no reason ever to buy a box or can of poison to fight your pest problems again.

DISTILLING HERBAL OILS

Once your herb garden's well established, setting up a drip still — to make your own herbal oils — is the next logical and easy step.

You need a fairly deep cooking pot with a convex lid, a small bowl or teacup, and some sort of rack: A small can would do . . . just punch holes in its sides to let the steam escape. (Don't use any rack or container that's galvanized.)

Put the cooking pot on the stove and place the rack inside it. Then set the cup — with one ice cube in it — on the rack. Pour a couple of inches of boiling water in the bottom of the kettle and add the leaves of the herb you're distilling. Now put the pot's lid on upside down, fill the inverted cover with cold water and ice cubes, and keep the stove on low heat.

As the herbal essences are released in the steam, they rise . . . make contact with the cold lid . . . and condense. Then they'll run in droplets down to the center of the lid and fall into the small bowl. Check periodically to make sure the little container isn't full . . . and add fresh leaves — as the distillation progresses — to give your finished product as much "punch" as possible.

Easy? You bet!

EDITOR'S NOTE: Author Diane Downs: sells live plants and ships them between May 1 and October 1. For a listing, send $1.00 and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Lost Prairie Herb Farm, Dept. TMEN, Star Route, Marion, Montana 59925.

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