Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Essential Oils as Weapon of Choice


mentha peperita

Peppermint. Apparently, rodents hate peppermint. Amen, mah bruthas and sistahs!

I procured a vial of pure peppermint essential oil today. I went to the Vitamin Shoppe, where the clerk spoke to all the customers in a near-reverential whisper. It seemed out of place as he sold an enormous bucket of "Mega Bulk-U-Up" to a stringbean teenager in a black Metallica t-shirt. The clerk directed me to their small stock of essential oils, and, of course, the only one they were missing was peppermint. I did buy a box of stevia before I left. I've never used it before, but I've heard really good stuff about it as a sugar replacement. We shall see.

I ended up back at M.O.M. - My Organic Market, which had been out of peppermint oil the previous week. This time, however, they had it. $8 for a tiny vial. It's like crack, apparently. The bottle notes that, as a pick-me-up, you should open the bottle below your nostrils and take a deep breath. Holy crapito, Batman! That's some powerful stink! A good stink, but a stink, nonetheless.

I don't know if you've ever taken a whiff of pure peppermint. It's not exactly the McCormick spices extract version. It's earthier and richer. I liked it, but I can see where rodentia might take offense. I have to mix it in a spray bottle with a small amount of water and then go to town on the kitchen. Hopefully, it will keep the critters away.

There's a whole cottage industry on making peppermint mouse repellent, believe it or not. (Hey, if there's a market for car testicles, there's a market for homemade mouse ass-kicker.) We shall see if it works...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Peppermint oil for rodents -- wonder if it will work on the squirrels living in my daughter's eves? I always knew DC was on the cutting edge of style, but I have to say I hope "car testicles" doesn't make it to Ohio. Enjoyed reading your blog.
gina
www.findingmygroove.blog-city.com

Merujo said...

You know, Gina, I don't know if this would work for squirrels or not. My mom had a terrible squirrel problem - she had a lovely woman coming in to help clean her house when she was disabled, but said lovely woman had a nervous breakdown. She poured bags of dog food into our stored items in the attic and the squirrels went bananas. I'll have to ask my sisters what was finally done to deal with the critter problem. Here's the peppermint mouse repellent I found before I discovered I could mix my own: http://www.dreamingearth.com/natural-pest-control.htm

And thanks for your blog URL - I'll check it out!