Protecting Veggie and Flower Gardens from Animals

It is that time of year, well for those of us who live in regions with limited growing seasons anyway – the time of year when the garden beds that we labored over, and the ground we’ve broken up begins to bring forth its bounty. Not far behind the early vegetables and flowers inevitably come the rabbits, deer and other animals hoping for an herbaceous smorgasbord. After putting so much of yourself into tilling the ground, fertilizing the beds, carefully planting seeds and transplanting tender seedlings, it can be quite devestating to go outside to check on the progress and see whole rows of buds missing and plants stripped of leaves by voracious animal pests. What can be done to prevent this wanton destruction? There is a an answer, a proven one – predator urine. Obviously, we use it ourselves at Winterberry Farm, and we sell lots and lots of bottles to people all over the world, but if that’s not enough to convince you, here’s some recent press recommending the use of predator urine to keep animals out of the garden in a safe way:

Garden beds at Winterberry Farm

https://www.greenmatters.com/p/protect-vegetable-garden-animals

“Predator Urine

You can buy predator urine online or at your local gardening shop. Usually, predator urine is more specifically, wolf urine. It keeps vegetable-predators — like deer — at bay because of its foul smell. Deer will smell the wolf’s urine, think a predator is nearby, and steer clear of your veggie garden.” stephanie osmanski

How to keep ticks off you

Everyone knows that ticks are a real problem. Ticks are major carriers of Lyme disease and they transmit the disease when they burrow into your skin.

So, the question is:
“How do I keep ticks from getting on me?”
For years, in Maine, where the PeeMan lives, ticks were not really a problem. But, in the last 10 years, the tick invasion has continued to creep northward. In fact, the PeeMan regularly finds ticks on his golden retrievers, Zeke and Jack. So, as is normally the case, this got him to thinking. Of course, people do soak their clothes in tick repellent and then wear those clothes whenever they go into the woods. But, what if you don’t want to soak your clothes in permethrin? Or what if you don’t want to wear the same clothes in the woods all the time? I mean, the squirrels might start to talk.

Well, after some trial and error, he came up with a solution! Tick’r Tape is a complete tick prevention kit that gives you everything you need to keep ticks off all in one convenient package. tick-r-tape

The kit includes:
 1 can of “PeeMan Approved” Tick-killing Permethrin Spray
 2 Stretchable & Absorbent Tick’r Tape Wrist Bands
 2 Stretchable, Adjustable & Absorbent Tick’r Tape Leg Bands

Because primarily ticks gain access your skin through your shirt sleeves and pant legs, our Tick’rTape Tick Bands, treated with our Permethrin Spray not only stops ticks from getting on your skin by sealing your sleeves or pant legs, but the Permethrin treatment kills on-contact those ticks that try!

And you can pair the Tick’r Tape with the outfit of your choice – today the blaze orange flannel, tomorrow the denim button up. If you are out and about in tick country, our Tick’r Tape is for you.

Squirrels Sapping Maple Syrup Production

If you are from New England, March is a rough month. Daylight savings time – sacrificing an hour of sleep so you can wake up in the dark, temperature fluctuations that make wardrobe choices impossible, freak snow storms, potholes that can swallow your vehicle whole, mud, mud, mud and more mud are just some of the things that make it the feel like the longest month in the year. One redeeming quality of this third month on the maple-syrup-season calendar, however, is the amber nectar that is produced by collection and boiling of gallons and gallons of sugar maple tree sap. In Maine we even have an entire Sunday set aside to celebrate all things maple syrupy.

But, this year, even the sweet stuff is coming under attack from nature. Abundant and hungry squirrels are wreaking havoc on maple syrup production equipment, chewing through sap lines and damaging equipment necessitating expensive and inconvenient repairs for syrup producers. “That means producers must go out into sometimes deep snow to find and replace the damaged lines that transport the sap from the maple trees or other chewed or missing equipment, which producers say can be time-consuming and expensive.” https://bangordailynews.com/2019/03/15/news/new-england/squirrels-are-damaging-some-maple-syrup-operations/

Thankfully, the problem solvers at predatorpee.com have developed a comprehensive natural solution to this pesky problem being faced by an industry already heavily effected by weather fluctuations and a limited harvesting season.

PredatorPee® SquirrelScentry Kit keeps squirrels away from sap lines and other production equipment by triggering nature’s own squirrel-frightening fear reaction using both scent and sight deterrents. The kit features PredatorPee® SquirrelStopper an exclusive blend of the urine of fox and coyote, the squirrels’ most feared predators and the life-like PeeCoy Coyote Decoy visual deterrent.

For more information on this and other natural deterrents, visit www.predatorpee.com or contact the PeeMan himself at Ask-the-peeman@predatorpee.com

How to Get Rid of Ants

It probably comes at no surprise to you that ants are the #1 nuisance pest in America.

13406001511715314493ant-hi So by the time you see a few crawling on top of your kitchen counter,
you can be pretty sure that there are a whole lot more lurking around out of sight.

The first important step in getting rid of ants is to get rid of the things that attract ants. Ants just love the scent of sugar and grease, so be sure to clean up spills, splashes and crumbs as quickly as you can.

Because ants are team players, they have scout ants that go out and look for food then leave a microscopic pheromone scent trail to the food source for their buddies to follow.

So you don’t only have to remove the food source, you also need to disrupt
the scent trail or other ants will just keep coming looking for food where it once was.

Our PeeMan-approved AntStopper ant repellent products from PredatorPee.com® is an all-natural blend of essential oils
and fragrances that disrupts the scent trail, stops the ant parade and gets rid of ants for good.

AntStopper is easy to use, all-natural, non-toxic and safe to use around pets and children.

Unique Gifts from Maine

Greetings from the frozen North. We are pleased to announce that our BearGuard Leather Waterproofing is being featured by Cratefull of Maine in their Winter Survival Gift Crate for 2018!

Maine Survival Crate – Gift Guide for Winter Essentials

For someone new to Maine or a native Mainer who likes a good old fashioned ‘wintah’, the Maine Survival Crate is a curation of Maine-made essentials to get you through another rough season.

Farmers’ Almanac
Winter is coming! And according to the Farmers’ Almanac’s famous long-range weather outlook, it’s going to be a “teeth-chattering” cold one, with plenty of snow. This compact book provides 16 months of weather forecasts for 7 zones in the U.S.

Foggy Mountain Boot & Leather Weatherproofing
The only leather waterproofing made with Wild Maine Beeswax & Real Bear Fat to keep the heat in and the cold out of your shoes.

Recycled Sailcloth Vanguard – Billfold Wallet
This remarkably thin wallet is crafted from one of the world’s strongest and lightest materials: high performance racing boat sails.

Human Nature Herbal Salve
Herbal blend that aids in healing cuts, scrapes, burns, chapped or cracked skin, and eczema during the winter months. Also, good for Gardeners.

Human Nature Lip Balm

Protect your lips from the harsh winter with this combination of Maine Maple, beeswax, and coconut oil to help soothe cracked or chapped lips.Salt Cellar Hand Cream
Dead Sea salts are rich in minerals that help relieve symptoms of psoriasis, acne, itching, rashes, eczema and other skin conditions.

Ocean’s Balance Seaweed Shiitake Sprinkle
Try some Sprinkle on top of avocado toast, grilled fish, salad, or roll them on sushi or goat cheese for an added salty/sweet flavor boost. Before you know it, you’ll be adding them to everything.

Good To-Go New England Corn Chowder
No power? No problem. Boil water on the fire and add it to this rich stew, loaded with corn, potato, and onion. Contains two servings for both Ma and Pa.

Gritty’s Mug
Every good Mainer needs a trusty mug for instant coffee, ales, or Good To-Go stew. This one ceramic style is provided by “Maine’s original brew pub”, Gritty’s.

Maine Maple Syrup
Sweeten up your coffee or heck, put it on snow, with a packable bottle of Maine Maple Syrup in a convenient size.

Shop more Cratefull of Maine with our Home Crate and Maine Beer Crate.

If you are interested in more unique gifts from Maine check out our specially selected gift packs on our predatorpeestore.com website. Click the link https://www.predatorpeestore.com/maine-christmas-gifts.html

Have a Merry Christmas!

The PeeMan

CYBER MONDAY

I have never quite understood why people get so excited about “black friday” or “cyber monday”, but my daughters tell me I should pay attention to this stuff. So, in honor of our first ever cyber monday sale, Get 30% off your entire order! This applies to all of our product lines. Get BearGuard, PredatorPee, Foggy Mountain and Slipleash all for 30% off. Free shipping as always. They tell me you can do this by entering code CYBERMONDAY30 at checkout. I’ll take their word for it.

The PeeMan

Auto-Fill

sadly-the-inventor-of-predictive-text-has-died-his-funfair-will-be-hello-on-sundial-65753 For the PeeMan, “Auto-fill” is an old term with a weird new meaning. The PeeMan has been auto-filling Pee bottles with his autofiller machine for decades, but now discovers it has nothing to do with Pee bottles at all! This is, to say the very least, troubling and even more so when you understand how the PeeMan discovered this new definition.

A few days ago, the PeeMan received a very interesting text. Now, as you can imagine, it is not unusual for the PeeMan to receive unusual texts and emails. For some reason, writing about Pee gets the creativity “flowing” so to speak. This text, however, was way different than the usual. It began with:

“I ate the woman”

Well, that caused the PeeMan to pause and then warily continue to read. To his relief, the rest of the text did not have any more menu items and it did not seem to having anything at all to do with main course. So how was the PeeMan to respond to such a communique? Now the PeeMan’s better half has been encouraging the PeeMan to be more sensitive and diplomatic in his communications because she feels his direct style is not always the best way to go.

So the PeeMan carefully typed into his flip-phone this response:

“Just checking, did you really eat the woman?”

…and the PeeMan waited patiently for the response and within a few minutes, this appeared on his phone:

“HaHaHa, – Auto-Fill – I meant to say: The woman I was talking to.”

OK, now the PeeMan was getting really confused – what in the world did this woman have to do with the PeeMan’s filling machine?? When confused, The PeeMan often finds that a visit to the interplanetary storehouse of all knowledge can be helpful. So the PeeMan Googled “auto-fill.”

After reading the various entries, the PeeMan discovered that “auto-fill” is a feature on many smart phones with one of the highly-touted attributes being something called “predictive text.”

Ok, now we were getting somewhere! But it soon was apparent that it was not anywhere the PeeMan would EVER go! “Predictive text” means that the brilliant, tiny brain in your smart phone predicts what you really want to text based upon the letters or word parts you start typing.

So when my friend started texting “The woman…”– the phone-brain took over and said to itself “I know what she wants to say” and instantly triggered the “auto-fill”, commandeered the key board and changed it all to “I ate the woman…”

Brilliant! How could anyone live without a phone feature like “auto-fill?” The PeeMan is going to try.

Does PredatorPee® Really Work? – What the Scientists Say.

science-teacher Over the past 30+ years of our PredatorPee® business life, one of the most frequently asked questions is “does it work?” It is an understandable question. After all, for decades we have been conditioned to think that man-made chemicals are the only solution for pest control. The idea that natural wild animal urine could work prevent deer damage, get rid of skunks, solve rat problems etc. was just plain weird!

So after PredatorPee® introduced predator urine into the marketplace as pest control product in 1986, researchers around the world started looking into how and why PredatorPee® worked. What they found in research was the same as what we found in practice, PredatorPee® takes nature’s predator/prey instincts and puts them to work for us to repel pests in our homes, yards, gardens and farms. Here are some excerpts:

“Introduction of bobcat urine appeared to have significant effect on their preference in first two trials. The data consisted of the total trial investigations of reaction towards the predator’s urine. When bobcat’s urine was introduced in the maze, mice went straight to the left side where no odour was present. This allowed me to assume that they do recognize possible danger. The data showed 100% refusal to go right where the urine was located.”

The effects of Bobcat urine on the behavior of Mice ,
Karina Chechilnitskaya, Alverno College, Wisconsin

“The mean level of damage recorded for apple tree stems treated with undiluted bobcat urine was significantly lower than for any other treatment group. Mean damage to seedlings treated with urine was significantly less than the damage to control seedlings. For woodchucks, undiluted urine resulted in reductions in gnawing of 84-96%…”

National Wildlife Research Center Repellents

Conference 1995

ScienceDaily (Apr. 27, 2008) — Many animal species detect and avoid predators by smell, but this ability has largely been ignored in the study of birds, since it was traditionally thought that they did not make use of this sense. However, it has now been discovered that birds are not only capable of discerning their enemies through chemical signals, but that they also alter their behaviour depending on the perceived level of risk of predation.

“Predator urines act as powerful repellents against many species of mammalian herbivores.Consequently, they have considerable potential as a tool in reducing damage to agricultural crops.”

National Wildlife Research Center Repellents

Conference 1995

“Undiluted red fox urine was more effective at deterring browsing by snowshoe hares than were single compounds or simple mixtures derived from the urine”

Sullivan and Crump 1986.

“Meadow voles spent significantly less time on the half of the trial arena treated with bobcat urine….A traditional explanation for aversion of prey to areas treated with predator scent is that it is an adaptive behavioral response to reduce the risk of predation by minimizing activity in an area known to be frequented by a predator. The majority of prey species tested to date respond to predator urine in ways that are most easily explained as antipredator strategies…”

National Wildlife Research Center Repellents

Conference 1995

“The Talkeetna moose seem more fearful than other Alaskan moose …. a finding strengthened when Berger, using a pitching arm honed by college baseball, starts hurling snowballs loaded with wolf urine and bear scat. He observes that moose familiar with predators flee from the odors….”

The Better to Eat You With: Fear in the Animal World Joel Berger
University of Chicago Press, 2008.

“Feeding by deer on corn treated with coyote urine was significantly reduced.”

Professor Stanley Ries,
Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University

Thoughts from the PeeMan: Work

Excerpt from “Thoughts for my Daughters” written for Erica, Laura and Emma

work Man is made to work and you all know that work of all kinds has been a mark of my life. But like in all things, work can be more than it should be. I have watched all of you wrestle with the role of work in your life and I am sure the struggle continues. You all have been told by someone along the way that you demonstrate a strong work ethic. I have worked hard for many reasons over the years, some of those reasons good, some of them bad and some of them out of shear terror of not being able to provide for my family. But there often have been times, when I have worked harder because I was trusting in God less. Don’t work by yourself, but work with God in all that you do.