The Tick Post
Ticks. I fully believe these little insects are weaponized. At the risk of being deplatformed (again) we won’t go there today but be sure to check out the Plum Island Animal Disease Center and Lyme, Connecticut for a fun rabbit hole on insects as bioweapons. Unfortunately, they are a part of our everyday life here in Southwest Missouri. Each year we remove thousands of ticks off of our family and treat a couple hundred bites. Ironically, Laila, our oldest daughter had a single tick bite when we were living in northern Virginia about 12 years ago, and overnight had a bullseye across her back. She ended up at the children’s hospital, where we had to fight to receive treatment of any kind. Oh how I wish I knew then what I do now. A few years later, through some extensive lab work we would discover that I also had Lyme as well as several co-infections hanging out in my body.
Today, after a few years of battling Missouri ticks, we have decided it isn’t worth giving our energy to fearing these little creatures. We practice prevention, immediate treatment and regular detox from tick borne illnesses throughout the year as these same practices also support parasitic, bacterial and heavy metal detox. Below we will be sharing our family’s protocols for tick bites as well as some amazing resources. As always, this is our experience and not to be taken as medical advice.
Prevention
Cedarcide
Ticks are a year round treat here in Missouri. Occasionally we will see a few weeks of severely cold weather during which we might not see them on our bodies..but they still can easily be found on our animals even then. To treat the pastures, yard areas, decks and the most common foot paths we use cedarcide away from heavy rains. This provides some prevention until it rains. I try to keep a bag on hand for if we are having guests at the farm or hosting an event. Otherwise we use other methods of prevention for our family because it is simple very expensive and we receive a lot of rain.
Prescribed burning
We try to burn the same areas, both for safety reasons (to reduce fire risk late in the year) and to reduce the amount of ticks, chiggers, mosquitos and flies. You can do this fairly simply with a propane torch and a leaf blower. Always be sure to burn on a calm day, have access to a water supply and a leaf blower to control the fire. We don’t suggest you burn alone, this is really a two person (or more) job. We burn three times a year. Once in the early spring, again when things dry out in the fall and once during the winter after the leaves have fallen but before our “wet” season begins.
Natural deterrents
There are several species of plants that naturally deter ticks. We plant plenty of lavender, rosemary, mint, lemongrass, marigolds, garlic, thyme, citronella, etc. These plants are wonderful at not only deterring ticks but other bothersome insects and are all useful in kitchen medicine and cooking. You can grab a handful of any of these and crush them up, rubbing on your pants, shoes or skin as a quick “bug spray”. Wood chips, gravel, rocked paths and keeping areas trimmed back can help deter ticks also.
