Diatomaceous Earth

Diatomaceous earth (DE) has been something on my 'to try' list for some time.  It is the fossilized remains of diatoms (a prehistoric form of alge as I understand it) that have been mined from the earth and ground into a fine powder.

Within the permaculture circles I'm familiar with, this is considered to be a wondrous substance with many uses from skin care to pest control.  I wanted to focus this entry on my test to see how effective it was against the fleas that decided to take up residency in my dogs fur this year.  My dog Roy certainly wasn't happy with his current situation and I thought it was a great opportunity to try DE as it is considered a natural method of flea control.  As I understand it, DE's fine particles obstruct the ability for fleas to absorb water/moisture and subsequently die, therefore the treatment is natural/mechanical rather that chemical.

I simply applied it by throwing small finger fulls that puffed into fine clouds of dust through the air before settling over Roy's fur.  I then patted it into his fur to make sure the fine grains embedded themselves properly.

It took about two days before I noticed Roy stopped scratching.  I also threw a few handfuls into his kennel for good measure.  I kept this up for two weeks and can now confirm they are all gone.  I must say I am impressed with the results and at a fraction of the cost of chemical based flea control in the stores.

DE is widely used with all sorts of animals for natural control of pests.  It can also be used internally when ingested to double up as an intestinal wormer and also a trace element.  Given its effectiveness, I will certainly consider DE as part of my natural process to raising animals here at Life On The Land and I highly recommend looking into it yourself.