06/21/2025
"Be prepared," like a Boy Scout. Ticks are abundant but so is the all-natural cure available in Sister Bay at Midsömmar Apothecary & Luminarium.
The ticks are especially prolific this year. Remember, the biggish wood ticks (also called dog ticks) aren’t the big troublemakers. What we watch for is deer ticks. We’ve got a range of useful products related to ticks and tick-borne infection. Bug Banisher includes catnip essential oil, shown to be 10x more effective than DEET by the entomology lab at Iowa State University. We also have our own distilled cedar, which is generally repellent to insects. For folks that have already been bitten and are troubled, we offer an herbal Lyme support formula. And~ we’re re-stocking barberry, a potent biofilm inhibitor that assists in disarming infectious bacteria, so your own immune system can mount a more effective defense.
Deer ticks are the most feared species because they are known to carry the bacteria that can cause Lyme disease Borrelia burgdorferi and B. mayonii. “The deer tick is what we think is the primary vector of Lyme disease across the whole U.S.,” Merchant says.
Deer ticks spread Lyme disease by feeding on infected hosts, including mice and deer. Most ticks feed three times in their lives, once at each life stage. Tick larvae and nymphs are more likely to feed on smaller animals, while adults often seek out larger hosts, including humans, Merchant says. In other words, adult ticks have already had two previous chances to pick up Lyme, making them more likely to spread it to human hosts. Deer ticks also carry other unpleasant diseases, like relapsing fever, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, babesiosis, and Powassan virus. (Prevention.com)
