30: Plant-Based Pest & Rodent Control

Narrator

How would you like to improve your health and keep your family safe? You're listening to the healthy home hacks podcast where we firmly believe enjoying optimal health shouldn't be a luxury. healthy home authorities and husband and wife team Ron and Lisa will help you create a home environment that will level up your health. It's time to hear from the experts. listen in on honest conversations and gain the best tips and advice. If you're ready to dive in and improve your well-being and increase your energy, you're in the right place. All right, here are your hosts, Baubiologists, authors, media darling, vicarious vegans and avocado aficionados, Ron and Lisa Beres.

Kari Warberg Block

We've all experienced one. But it doesn't mean we have to live with or accept a home insect infestation. Whether it's an army of ants, spindly spiders, paper loving silverfish, creepy cockroaches, pesky mosquitoes or tenacious termites. When insects invade our home, we feel violated. What's the first thing you do when you see a bug or a full-blown colony of critters? Most people reach for the nearest can of insecticide spray or they rush to the store for bait traps. But before you blast these creepy crawlies with toxic chemicals, you may want to consider this. Pesticides are designed to kill living organisms. Do you really think they're not affecting your health, too?

Lisa Beres

Great point, Ron. In fact, research reveals that children living in households where pesticides are used can suffer elevated rates of leukemia, brain cancer and soft tissue sarcoma. Also, a study published by the American Cancer Society found an increased risk for non-Hodgkin�s lymphoma and people exposed to common herbicides and fungicides. Sadly, the list of risks goes on and on, including a study published in the Atlantic that revealed the collective damage to American children's brains from pesticides, such as chlorpyrifos equates to a loss of 16 point 9 million IQ points. Guys, that's a lot of IQ points. The study also warns that the rising rates of autism and ADHD may be connected to exposures to chemicals like chlorpyrifos Can we eliminate unwanted pesky pests and rodents in our homes and schools without causing harm to our health? Today, we're going to find out.

Ron Beres

That's right. Our guest today Kari Warberg Block, an unlikely disrupter challenged an industry that by its very nature is toxic. As the founder and CEO of Erskine carry discovered that 98% of pest control solutions sold for poison and kill methods. So, she set out to invent a better solution. plant based Pest Control powered by nature. Kerry was the first to develop, manufacture and commercialize poison free rodent and insect repellents. Her efforts help decrease consumer reliance on poison and kill based methods from 98% to 88% nationwide. And once a mom on food stamps, Kari started Erskine with nothing more than a package of garden seeds and a vision and has built it into the $20 million business it is today. Also joining us today is Rita Stadler. Rita is the marketing supervisor at Erskine. She serves on the University of South Florida's digital communications advisory board. In addition to leading EarthKind�s marketing department, Welcome.

Lisa Beres

Welcome. Welcome to the show.

Rita Stadler

Thank you.

Kari Warberg Block

So happy to be here.

Lisa Beres

We are so excited to have you guys and Kari; I mean that story about you starting on food stamps is incredible. And I hope this inspires our entrepreneur-enthused, you know, people listening, our listeners who are thinking, Hey, you know, I can't do that, or I can't set up my goals. Beyond the topic that we're going to talk about today, that's just so inspiring. So, I know everyone's chomping at the bit to learn about what we're going to cover today. So, let's dive right in. We all know that children are especially prone to pesticide contamination. I mean, guys, just think about all the places they crawl and walk and what they pick up and put in their mouth. So, ladies, what are some of the most common hazards people are experiencing in their homes right now in terms of pest control?

Kari Warberg Block

Well, the most toxic and this is Kari speaking the most toxic is rodenticides. And it's really the reason that I started this business and came to where we are today is, we had a problem with rodents in our farm getting into our equipment. And I did not want to use anything unsafe around my kids and my pets, not to mention wildlife. And there really was nothing out there that worked and was safe. And that would prevent the rodents from coming into our property and ruining stuff. They'd get into our tractors, they'd get into my greenhouse, they ate off all of my I was an organic gardener, and they chewed the stems off, they'd get into our house.

Lisa Beres

They were healthy rodents. Smart, little rodents.

Kari Warberg Block

And I found out it wasn't just me; this is 20% of all households had a problem with rodents and buying them for it. But 98 percent of everything they bought was a toxic kill poison method. And then of course, there was a little snap trap, which I couldn't do anyway, because my finger would get stuck in them. And you know, you have to watch them die and then lose a finger doing so inhumane. Yeah, it's so inhumane to see the rodents in those snap traps. And then those sticky ones, ah, the ones where their feet get stuck, like fortress two, actually, I can't. those are those are things I can't unsee I guess. But with that said, rodents are still contributing to 8% of all household fires by chewing on the wires.

Ron Beres

Okay, 78% of fires are can be attributed to rats eating the wiring?

Kari Warberg Block

Yes. And some, yet some experts place that up to 20%. But from what I can see it was 8% in the research that I did, not only that there's over 25 known diseases caused by rodents you have to be definitely don't want them in your space, you need to get rid of them. I thought, well, maybe there could be a better way to get rid of them without having to lure them in and further risk exposure to yourself by baiting a trap that brings them in and then makes them eat it and then die.

Rita Stadler

Yeah, I wanted. I wanted to chime in on that for you, Kari, when you mentioned that there's so many diseases transmitted by rodents. If you do have a trap that you use, you know, you might think oh, well, I could use a humane trap. But then you still have to come into contact with that rodent to remove it. And there's just such a risk. Some of the viruses are really deadly. I mean, we've all heard about plague. But then there's hantavirus, and there's a lot of other diseases, and then there's even secondary infections. If the rodents have a tick on them, then you're exposed to possibly Lyme disease. It's really just better to keep it out of your house altogether. Right?

Ron Beres

Rita, you mentioned plague. The plague is still around?

Rita Stadler

Yeah, it actually does still, every once in a while, pop up. I think a couple years ago, I saw a case in Washington state from fleas off of a squirrel. So as long as those things are still in the wild, those diseases do still exist. But you know, medical technology has gotten to a point where it doesn't spread the way it used to think.

Lisa Beres

And what would you say - do either of you know how many different chemicals the average person has in their blood from these pesticides is toxic pesticides

Rita Stadler

I think it's over 43 different pesticides in your bloodstream, on average. Some of it does come from, you know, exposure in the home, but then some of it also comes from foods. So like Kari mentioned, organic gardening is really good unless you have some mice with an organic flavor.

Lisa Beres

And organic palate. Oh my gosh, that's crazy. We live in California. So, I don't know, we don't really have a rodent problem here. But I mean, obviously it could be anywhere. But I know we in fact just went up to wine country for Valentine's weekend. And I know that's a big problem on vineyards getting rid of is it the gophers? I don't know, I'm actually obviously not a farm girl. But I know they have a big problem with the vines, keeping the rodents out. So hopefully they're listening a lot of these vintners.

Kari Warberg Block

Yeah, it's something else though. That's even you know, as long as we're on this fear train here, the pets. There are so many pets poisoned accidentally because of they've ingested a rodent that might have ingested a poison. So, all right, ASPCA. It's about 6000 a year. Wow. And that is consistently even After EPA banned the eight most toxic rodent baits after our product became available and was affordable, pretty much to anybody, they could remove those toxic baits. But it's still there's still some out there in circulation pets are still, you know, accidentally getting into it. And that's, that's sad too.

Ron Beres

Oh, absolutely. And we've actually been spending a lot more time at home these days, too. So, I'm guessing we have to be acutely aware to the hazards that are at home. So, what are other common household items that could be attracting these unwanted pests? Like rodents?

Kari Warberg Block

I would love to do this one. But Rita, you just cleaned your pantry out? You need to share the story.

Rita Stadler

Oh, no. Oh, no, I didn't even come prepared to tell that story. It's a little embarrassing. Well, I think what happens, you know, everybody during the pandemic, initially, especially at the beginning, there was hoarding the toilet paper, right, and everybody was buying all of the flour to bake bread. I filled my pantry up. I'm a family of six in my household here. So, we really, really have to fill it very full. And I didn't end up using all of the things that we initially got. And so, then a few months later, I was going through and I was cleaning out my pantry. And I found them reached for a potato and a little silver fish had like squirreled over it. And I was like oh my god, what am I going to do. And so, then I had to go on to the Container Store and I purchased all the all the bins and all the racks on the labels and everything like that. I watched a couple episodes on Netflix with some organizing tips. I had to just clean everything up. And it was a little embarrassing, but I did share it all on Instagram on the EarthKind Instagram account so that people could maybe learn from my mistakes and not have to go through that themselves.

Lisa Beres

Okay, so sealing up. I mean, this is a big tip too, that we educate people on, you know, simple tips like good housekeeping and sealing instant containers, right? Because even pesky ants and little tiny bugs can get into you know, if you've got a bag that's open, even if you roll it even if you clip it, you know, they can still get in there. So, you know, they're going to find the food they want the food. So, storing in an airtight container. I think that's such a good tip. Do you have anything else we could be doing at home?

Rita Stadler

Yeah, I would take that one just a step further. And as soon as you're bringing stuff home from the grocery store, if you can put it into a fresh container, because you might not even have any pests in your home. And you can be the best housekeeper in the world. But when you bring home something from the grocery store, there could be like little ma things in the seams of the bag. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's just and that's awful. And so, you can either place the item in the freezer for a few days because the moth eggs they won't survive in there. But the best bet is to just repackage it into some kind of a resealable airtight container because you never know where it's been.

Lisa Beres

And what would you say to do that with like produce, greens, flour?

Rita Stadler

Definitely all dry goods. Yeah, dry goods, definitely, you know, and dog food is another one that's really susceptible to both moths and to mice. So be really careful with those if you can store them into an airtight container.

Lisa Beres

Yeah. And I think that that's a great tip. And another thing I'll add is caulking holes, right? Making sure you're sealing up those holes, especially with ants, because when you get an adaptation, it's amazing. They will find the tiniest of hole that you didn't know was there. And so, we're going to get into ants a little bit later because I know you guys have, I have an ant remedy and all kinds of great things.

Ron Beres

I feel like this is story time. I wanted to chime in really quick so long time ago. Picking up pizza as a child with my family. Picking up the box taking it home. You talked about pests and we opened up the box and we didn't find moth eggs. We didn't find you know a simple little silver fish on our potato. We actually we opened up we saw this menacing looking cockroach that was inside the box and we had to immediately scramble put in the box shoveling the trash and not eat our pizza.

Lisa Beres

You just brought the pizza home? He came from the restaurant?

Ron Beres

He came from the restaurant. So, you�re right about that. So that's not as scary as a cockroach.

Rita Stadler

Were you still hungry then or did kind of lose your appetite?

Ron Beres

I don't even remember but I'm sure we got some other kind of unhealthy food.

Lisa Beres

Oh my god little hitchhikers unwanted hitter and there's never one cockroach though. Yeah. Now also because you were talking about Rita bringing things home plants too, right? I mean, we bring household plants we're big proponents of having lots of carry I see in the background and your kitchen all these beautiful herbs and plants. And obviously plants are great for your indoor air quality. are we creating oxygen at some of them absorbing toxins? But they can bring pests correct?

Kari Warberg Block

Yeah, absolutely. Bring in Christmas trees in can introduce pests. Even poinsettias can introduce little white flies. That's it. have to be careful when you bring those things in. Yeah, it's, it's, um, we have a lot of tips on our website. Actually, we put out timely things in around each ritual or each holiday. Sign up for our blog, and we try to send those way ahead of everything that might be going on for people.

Lisa Beres

That's great. And that's EarthKind.com for listeners, and I will have the links in the show notes. We're on, were really on an artichoke kick. We love to make grilled artichokes at home and Ron, remember all the little black carry, you can probably say what these are these little black. What were they little black? x, but they were larger in Oh, are they acids? Maybe. And they get into the artichoke? Like they get really wedged in between the leaves. And we were like, no, or artichoke. So yeah, even though you know, you think the produce guy is rinsing your stuff? Good. You've got to really get in there and scrub that produce when you get home.

Kari Warberg Block

I would agree. Really, you can soak it, there's some great sprays out there to keep them healthy. Mm hmm. You know, keep their life force in them.

Lisa Beres

The artichokes, not the aphids. Okay, so anyway, yeah, and we use vinegar, we use just a vinegar water mixture for our produce. And that works really well. So many of the ingredients contained in bug sprays and other pest control methods are linked to a vast number of illnesses, as we mentioned at the top of the show, in fact, many people aren't aware that there are two types of ingredients listed on insecticides, you'll see inert ingredients. And by law, the EPA doesn't require manufacturers to list these inert ingredients. However, a lot of these have been shown to be more toxic than even the active ingredients. And they don't undergo, they actually undergo less safety testing. And then you have the active ingredients and pesticides. And you'll locate this on the label to understand what is actually killing the insects and possibly endangering you and your pets. So, these ingredients are often provided only as chemical names that you may not recognize. So, Rita and Kari, what can our listeners do right now to make their homes feel like a safe haven instead of a pest paradise?

Rita Stadler

Oh, Kari is better equipped to answer that she knows all the regulations.

Kari Warberg Block

On the science tech one here, okay, I think the most important thing people can do is learn to read the labels. And you can find that information on our website, also in our resource center. But our company, I'm real proud of the fact that we were the first ones to come out and put our ingredients actually right on the front by percentage. And this was before and our brand people are like cheese, you're nuts. Like you know what? I care about what's in this product, right? And I think that other people will. And it's, it's amazing, because here we are, we 2007 is when we got our first EPA registration, and we've sold 10s of millions of these since then. And now we're actually starting to look at the label, where before they didn't just because they know they never thought about it before. And so that now there's this conscious this aha moment happening. And I mean, cancer. My dad died from cancer. My heart and my farm husband's mom died from aplastic anemia and her doctor said it was for mothball exposure.

Lisa Beres

Oh, wow,

Kari Warberg Block

My dad was an entomologist, and worked in pesticides his whole life. And that's why I dislike bugs so much because I grew up with them in cages. I'm like, I don't want these bugs I, I don't want to see him, I don't want to touch them. I don't want to deal with them. I just want them to stay away. Up until the time our product came in. With the exception of those ultrasonic plugins, the only thing there was, was a killer. So, you had to spray something and then get contact with it. And you had to spray. It was a poison. Someone's like a neurotoxin, and it's killing it. And then you have to up and then you have to worry about the residual effects of that. And I thought that whole thing is absolutely insane. Why do why do we do this and there�s got to be an environmental way to take care of the pests. So, there's basically two types of pesticides out there. There's what's called a federal registered FIFRA and then there that's federal insecticide rodenticide act. Okay, you're regulated and then there's a 25 B. And that hat is a different nontoxic motive action to the target pest. And if you're getting into the 25 bees, you can pretty much be assured you're going to see all the ingredients on them. But there still are a lot of companies that aren't doing it. In fact, the EPA just cracked down on, I think there was 70 misbranded pesticides on Amazon.

Lisa Beres

Wow. Unbelievable. So, they're not obviously, as I mentioned earlier, they're not if they're under that first regulation, they're not required to list all of the ingredients, right?

Kari Warberg Block

That's right.

Lisa Beres

And you guys do that willingly.

Kari Warberg Block

Yes, I'm working to change the laws, you know, to I'm working on the policy side, because I think people need to know.

Lisa Beres

I definitely agree with you. I mean, we're seeing so much headway in cleaning products now, where the new bill just passed where state of California requires the ingredients and cleaning household cleaners to be listed only in California, but hopefully, you know, assuming manufacturers say, Hey, we're just going to make one line of everything. So, the whole country gets to benefit from that. But it's amazing how long it's taken just to get that with household cleaners. I mean, you've got like, we're talking about little kids in the home, you've got pets, you've got animals. And why would we bring in toxic products, whether it's a cleaning product or an insecticide, and without knowing without knowing what the risks are, you know, the residuals stay on countertops, they stay on floors, it's really hard to get those residuals up your dogs and go and look at. So, we should know, we should know. And, you know, you know, you guys listening demand that ingredients be shown to us, it's crazy that we would not know what we're exposing ourselves to.

Kari Warberg Block

Absolutely. That's a good point, especially the Environmental Working Group, for example, they did a study on polluted pets. It was the first of its kind. And they found that American pets are polluted with even higher levels of many of the same synthetic industrial chemicals that researchers have recently found in people, including newborns. So, ladies, do pets need special attention? When it comes to actual pest control?

Rita Stadler

Yeah, you know, they definitely do. You know, your pets are in your house with you. So, they're exposed to everything that you are. And if you wouldn't want it for yourself, you probably wouldn't want it for your pet either. You know, most people feel like their pets are a part of their family. Additionally, I think I might have mentioned this before, but dog food is a huge pest attractant, mice love to eat dog food. Every once in a while we'll hear a story of somebody who brings home a dog, a bag of dog food from the store brand new, and it's got moths in it, you know, they open it up and out fly these bugs, what are you going to do, but you don't want to, but you don't want to keep poisoned by your food, they're literally going to eat that. And so next month, March actually is poison Prevention Month and one week in March is dedicated specifically to pet poison awareness that ASPCA has said that insecticides and rodenticides are in the top 10 household toxins for pets year after year. You know, even though we've come up with an alternative that's safer to use, when you're following the directions when you're using it the way it's meant to be. There's still just a huge risk there. And so, it's really important to choose products that are made from natural ingredients. So, you can you know, pronounce and understand what they are and where they come from. And it's really important to take those preventative steps like we talked about earlier, where you maybe take it out of the package and you store it into an airtight container.

Lisa Beres

Yeah. And for listeners who can't see us, Kari, who was just holding up the spider away or each product is called stay away, right? So, you have stay away spiders stay away, must stay away. rodents stay away if and their sachets great Karis, I want to give a visual, they're literally pouches. So instead of like dousing the corner of every you know, I grew up in Arizona, we have the bug man, the bug man, as we call them, and he came a lot because we lived up in the desert and we had all kinds of creepy crawlies like scorpions and tarantulas and all these things. So, he and he would come a lot and spray and the house just smelled so nauseating. They would tell you to leave, right believe because it's toxic. Oh, but then come back in. Like in an hour, well, it's still toxic. So. So you'd have it, you know, you'd have it in areas where you wouldn't need it because they would go around the perimeter of the house. But I love the pouches because you just have a pouch. It's clean. It smells amazing. And you're not getting this residual all over your house or putting anyone in danger. Because even if a child were to pick that up, it's not like they're going to be able to lick their hands or swallow it. And even if they did, it's mostly essential oils, right?

Kari Warberg Block

Yeah, absolutely. Only a mom could invent this. You know?

Lisa Beres

Even the packaging is so pretty. I mean, it's like colors of like pale yellow and blue and purple. I mean, when you're going down the pesticide aisle, like you guys like stand out. It's like pretty.

Kari Warberg Block

Yeah, the years I spent at the cosmetic counter, you know, it almost looks like it Some people, you know, as a mom, and a woman, I wanted something that was attractive, I wanted something that smelled amazing. I didn't want to have to overuse a spray, like a lot of people will use a roundup and they'll go out and they'll spray and spray. And while I'm going to give it a little bit more, and most of the pollution comes from the homeowners that are spraying it, because they're using more than they need to because they might not know. So, I really wanted to properly dose each of ours because that would that was it was really looking at the environmental impact. And then taking out the waste too. I didn't want people to have to buy something that they weren't going to use. So, our products, you can put it right into the area that is going to be attracting the pest. And usually that would be is different for each pest. So, let's look at ants, for instance, I know you wanted to talk about ants, ants will generally come in when it starts to rain. And there might be millions of them there can be up to a billion living in a living outside.

Lisa Beres

Good think we can't see them all.

Ron Beres

1 billion, seriously?

Kari Warberg Block

Yeah, they're most mostly all underground. But it rains, they'll come in. And they don't stay for very long. But they'll come they'll make a path. They'll get your stuff they'll you know, get the food, they leave a trail more of them come like an army of ants has sorry. But here's the thing, if you if you kill those ants, send poison back. you've pretty much just lost your termite control, because you won't get termites when they're out there. Because they'll eat them and stink bugs. And see these are the things that they don't tell you. Right there's this whole ecosystem and I saw it because I saw it working for us growing up with an entomologist, I'd see what all what the purpose was of all of these bugs. And you. So, my philosophy is why can't you just put a product down and it will prevent them from coming into that area. So, they leave. And they go do their thing. And, and it works. It's amazing how fast our business has grown over the years, but people have to use it. And then they say, oh my gosh, this is so much easier.

Lisa Beres

It's easier. I agree. So, Ron and I are vegan. We don't eat any animal products. And I guess to be honest, and extension for us was we don't kill bugs. We just don't, it�s part of our, I guess core values. Except dance. No, just kidding. We don't anymore. But you know, just kind of like you said we're so we're very into the environment, we understand the ecosystem we understand like the value of life, whether it is a bug or a human, or an animal and valuing that. And so, when we switch, we got that we got the Bugzooka if you ever saw our episode on Dr. Oz, the dr. oz show, we demonstrated the bazooka which is like a catch and release perfect for like spiders. But when you have an ant infestation, that's not going to work right. So, I discovered your company and love it. And I love that idea of essential oils. I mean, what can't you deal with essential oils? Like, oh my god, guys go back a couple episodes. We did a whole show on it. I mean healing, it's the power of plants, using it to heal yourself, using it for relaxation, and now using it for pest control. So, you're not harming the earth. You're not harming anything in your home. And it smells good. Like I said earlier, I just think it's so incredible.

Ron Beres

What's the radius that in effect? So, each sachet I mean, what would it be like a three foot to six-foot radius?

Kari Warberg Block

No, it'd be it'd be a small room. So, 125 square feet, or, yeah, a pantry, for instance. So, the spider repellent is fantastic. It smells great. But you put this in an area, and it's going to keep the it keeps the food away that the spiders eat. So, they're not going to go there because they're not after the food, there's no reason for them to come. So, if you keep putting them outside, and then you have still have the environment that's attracting the food they eat, they're going to keep coming in for it. So, each pest we have a little bit different approach to it. The rodent for instance, balsam fir tree makes its own pesticide because rodents will eat the bark in the winter. And then the tree will die because it loses its coat. And it's Yeah, it's kind of interesting. So, I saw the trees when I was out walking. I'm like how can these trees die and these trees didn't and I noticed there was SAP and I just that's how it happened. Just this blinding glimpse of the obvious and aha and I started to test but without, yeah, with each test. It's a little bit different. So how we found out that the ad product work was quite by accident, actually, because I wasn't even working on an ant repellent, but Pest Control professionals user products, and I got a call one day and this guy says, I hate your shit, it doesn't work and believe me.

Lisa Beres

Beep. Just kidding. We're adults here.

Kari Warberg Block

He was so mad, because je said the ants aren�t taking the bait when the rodent product is there, and he goes, it must be some, I'm just not going to carry it anymore. And they ended up doing a study and we determined that there was a molecule that the ant would go back to the colony with and they wouldn't let them in, they banned. They ban that ant.

Ron Beres

What?

Kari Warberg Block

You�re a screwed ant, right, that does nothing but want to follow the rules. The ant would come back and leave a trail and say don't go there. It's probably not safe. And yeah, it was fascinating research. So, then I thought, jeez, there must be a molecule there. That would be smell really good to us. Because here's the thing, pests don't need to be inoculated for viruses. They're that they're that careful. And they notice if anything is foreign or different in the environment. And that's, that's how they know.

Lisa Beres

Wow, that's really cool. Yeah, ants are pretty brilliant. When you watch them the way they do leave their pheromone trail, and kind of talk to each other. And then they go on. And it's pretty, it's kind of amazing to watch how sophisticated they are how they can carry like a log of a block of cheese. They're not eating cheese, but whatever they're eating. So, you list all the ingredients, you're not worried about, say a competitor saying, we're just going to duplicate your product. Is that an issue? Because you do list ingredients?

Kari Warberg Block

You know, we could almost definitely we have quite a few competitors out there now and cooperators. What do I call them Rita? Neighbors. So, we call them neighbor, neighbors, friendly neighbors, because here's the thing, 125 million households 88% are still using a toxic kill method. There's a lot of white space, there's a lot of room and I figured the more of us in here, building the awareness, the better.

Lisa Beres

I love it. That's a great attitude.

Kari Warberg Block

Customers are going to choose the most effective ones. So, we started early on building ratings. And our products are the number one rated pest prevention brand. So, it was a transparency was always really important to us from that aspect, too, is like please rate our product we started doing 10-12 years ago.

Lisa Beres

Yeah, I love I really just resonate with the idea of like you said, pest prevention, we're talking about prevention versus killing and poisoning, right prevention. They just don't want to be around the smells, right? They just don't want to come near it so they avoid it. It's such a makes more sense right then than killing and all of that. And just so you guys know they have solutions for ants, mosquitoes, spiders, moths and rodents. Okay, so I want to move on. I know there are some would you say�

Kari Warberg Block

Cockroaches is coming, too!

Lisa Beres

Oh, cockroach is coming?

Ron Beres

That would have come in handy 25 years ago,

Lisa Beres

That would have come in handy in my college apartment. Me and my roommate had cockroaches in our apartment. I was like horrified the first time I ever saw them scatter when I turned on the kitchen light. Very gross. Okay, so there are several ways to estimate the toxicity of pesticides in your home. And one easy way is to look at something called the signal world. One easy way is to look at something called the signal word, which is an indicator of the toxicity of the product, every registered pesticide will have the words caution, warning or danger on the label. And that word reflects the level of toxicity in the product in case you guys listening do not know that. So, products that say caution are the lowest in toxicity. If you see warning, that's a medium toxicity and you really want to avoid anything and everything that says danger because those are the most toxic. So, Kerri and Rita Do you have any thoughts on label reading or other tips to keep a healthy home that's free of dangerous products like these?

Rita Stadler

I think the most important thing is, you know, to just read the ingredients, I mean those words, as a marketer, those words are really carefully selected to be as ambiguous perhaps as possible to still be in compliance with the regulation but to not scare away a customer. Right if you read the ingredients on something and you can pray announced the ingredients, then you can feel good about it. If you're reading the ingredients, and I know that you were at least a tripping up on even some of the names of some pesticides at the start of the show. can't pronounce it then maybe you want to do a little more research, consult some experts See if you can find out anything else about it. And then like we've said so many times prevention is just the best way to go. If you can keep them out of your house.

Lisa Beres

Are you guys required to use the word caution? Because it is designated pesticide. Do you have to say caution?

Kari Warberg Block

Yeah, we actually voluntarily. I was the first company that voluntarily did use the word caution, simply because I've had kids and I've seen them stick things down the toilet.

Lisa Beres

No, there you go. Or in their nose, not that your sachets will fit in there.

Kari Warberg Block

And ours are childproof, tamper proof. They have a nice little label; there's even the ingredients are on the label when you open it up and take it out the little sachet. Like the size of a fist. Because here's something I just feel called to share with everybody with regards to pets. And I know this, this is in the inside scoop because I handle the emergency line I did myself for many, many years. And whenever a holiday rolls around, that emergency line will ring. Wow. Yes, we'll get into stuff. As they're feeling neglected. Generally, that's what it is when they go to things that they think they're not supposed to touch.

Lisa Beres

So, they can get attention? And they�re big, big furry kids.

Kari Warberg Block

Yes.

Lisa Beres

That's really funny.

Kari Warberg Block

So, when you're preparing for the guests, folks at listeners, make sure you think about the pets too, and all the things that you think that they might not get into.

Lisa Beres

Yeah, and you guys offer a pod, right? An actual pod that you it's like a plastic piece that you can put the pouch There we go. Rita is holding that up. It's beautiful, actually, and it's got a little hook. So, you can hang that in your closet. You could put that right in a cabinet. Any in your car, I guess even if you want it to or you can put that anywhere, I'm guessing.

Rita Stadler

Yeah, I really wanted to mention that when Kari was talking about you know, designing a beautiful product. I think that some people might feel kind of embarrassed to have a pest product in their house. You know, if you have company coming over Do you really want something that says even stay away spiders is a lot less embarrassing than say a snap traps, but um, yeah, if you really feel like you have some looky loos that are coming over and you want to be more discreet, you can have this little pouch pod so it just looks like a nice, it looks like an air freshener almost Right, right. And it really does and it actually the holes in the cutouts in it makes the scent disperse at a slower rate so that the product lasts longer. normally have to change the pouch maybe every month and in this it'll last about three times longer.

Lisa Beres

Oh, wow. Okay, so you want to get those cases, guys.

Rita Stadler

Yeah, yeah, and Kerry's the mastermind behind this. But the products actually it's, it looks, it feels like plastic, but it's not plastic. Carry? Do you want to tell them how you made that pouch pod?

Kari Warberg Block

Here. This is a bio-based plastic. It's made with flax, grown in North Dakota.

Lisa Beres

Wow.

Kari Warberg Block

I worked with North Dakota State University and material scientists from all over the world. And we put together this great little bio plastic. So, it was the first bio plastic to be commercialized in the country and at scale. So, this sold Yeah, across the country.

Lisa Beres

That is fantastic, guys. Kudos to you. So, when you're done, it'll biodegrade completely back into the earth. Wow. That's like talk about the cycle of life there. That's amazing. That's like music to the ears of our executive producer of the show is heavily involved in sustainability and green. And so, you're making him smile right now smiling. He's smiling. We can't say. And you guys, it's true. You know, we've all been to him. He's just gave a thumbs up. Yeah, we've all been to someone's house and seen the disgusting. I won't name the company. But we all know who they are the little ant traps the black plastic and traps. There's they're so unsightly. And you know, having an infestation makes you feel dirty. Even if you are good housekeeper and your house is clean, right? It makes you feel icky. And then you've got these ugly dirty traps that are toxic. And so, I love that you created something that's aesthetically pretty, that isn't going to harm anybody. And like I said, that smells good. And maybe, maybe you can tell us some of the sense that you use like for ants. What are some of the essential oils that are in the ant?

Kari Warberg Block

Here I'm going to grab my box here. Too bad we don't have a camera so people can see now. So, for the that ant repellent it's made with lemon grass, peppermint oil and time oil. They�re plant based. These are 100% bio based, certified by USDA and they're also certified cruelty free.

Lisa Beres

Oh, wow. Okay.

Kari Warberg Block

That's pretty cool. But it's all plant based inside and we use a lot of essential oils in this. I mean, it's a meat you should smell our factory people can't believe we make.

Lisa Beres

They're like this is lemongrass? What was in there again?

Kari Warberg Block

Lemongrass, peppermint oil and time and thyme.

Lisa Beres

Okay. Yeah. And isn't Rosemary good for ants too? You know, people tell each other the wrong oils all the time. Like I hear people or people talking to cocktail parties, and they're like, giving the wrong information.

Kari Warberg Block

I grow it year-round. In fact, in the morning, I'll have just a tiny bit. I leave it in the soil and just take a tiny bit. And I swear that is like the best thing in the world for staying healthy. You know, I just got married. Yeah, I never sick and but yeah, Rosemary does work. Rosemary is great for pests. And a lot of people use it interchangeably with thyme oil. We've had excellent study on thyme oil. And we've actually used it in our cockroach repellent to and it had about 80% efficacy for Asian American and German cockroaches, which is totally unheard of never happened before.

Lisa Beres

That�s incredible.

Kari Warberg Block

Where the is where the plants are growing, and the natural environment they're in because yeah, I know this from being from North Dakota. And being a master gardener and organic gardener, you almost plants will grow stronger based on the environment that they're in. And so, if it's been really cold and harsh conditions, they're going to be a little bit stronger. You know?

Lisa Beres

Oh, I see. Yeah, they have to withstand that.

Ron Beres

They're North Dakota tough plants there.

Lisa Beres

Yeah, you gotta be a tough plant if you survive that.

Kari Warberg Block

The spider repellent has rosemary oil, lemon grass and citronella.

Lisa Beres

Oh, interesting. citronella. I always think it just mosquitoes with that.

Kari Warberg Block

Yeah, and the moth repellent has cedar wood, geranium and geranium oil.

Lisa Beres

I love the smell of cedar. I�m going to put some of that out even though I don't have moths.

Kari Warberg Block

And I'm so excited to share this too. We had it tested in Europe, because there's a huge moth problem over there right now. And they can't get they can't get it taken care of. So, they heard about our product. They tested it. And they gave us the approval to start selling there this year. And they eat the most effective moth repellent globally that they'd ever found or tested. So, Wow, fantastic about that, because it works really well in food settings and in closets as well. But when people eat a lot of organic food, there's going to be more moths because it's processed very differently.

Lisa Beres

I see. Okay, good to know. Yeah. Then and again, going back to the pod, you can hang that. That one's a really good one to hang in your closet for the moths.

Ron Beres

Oh, that's perfect. Ladies, you have thought of everything at Earth kind you thought about the biodegradable plastics, the organic ingredients, the transparent labeling all for inside the home. But what about the outside of the home? You know, do we need to worry about pesticide exposure for other sources? Have you thought of this?

Kari Warberg Block

We have we've been we've had many of our big customers are asking us for products all the time to put outdoors. Love your brand, go outdoors go outdoors. And actually, what it was a strategic decision that I wanted to take care of the most toxic things first, to people and to the environment to our pets. Which is why I started with these because there weren�t solutions that were effective and safe as well. So, there is Yeah, we've been investigating outdoor things. We've had a number of things that we're testing, but we are overachievers. So, it's like how do we make this from 100% egg based, right? How do we make it super easy to use and effective? and affordable? Right? So, we've got a couple really innovative very cool things I can't believe.

Lisa Beres

Yeah, she doesn't want to reveal that they are.

Ron Beres

Coming out in 2021 or 2022. We are getting the inside scoop here.

Kari Warberg Block

Oh no What we're talking more 2022-2023, but just say I feel like Tinkerbelle on these.

Ron Beres

Okay. You we�ll have you back and you're going to share it here then with us and our listeners.

Kari Warberg Block

Absolutely.

Rita Stadler

I'd like to chime in a little bit on that, I know that there's a lot of development in the way of things that you can do outside to help prevent the pests. But it really everything harkens back to that concept of you just got to prevent it, that's how you get ahead of the problem. So for outdoor pest control, right now that you can do that, you don't even need products for just landscape management, you know, if you trim the bushes and the shrubs back from your house, so that they're not actually in contact with your house, that'll cause a reduction in the pest activity. And then that kind of leads into something called integrated pest management. And Kerry's been really active, both them just in schools locally and on a policy side to help get the policies change that they're not using those harmful pesticides in schools, because you know, you can control what you do in your home. But how are you going to protect your family when you're at work when you're at school when you're at a hotel or at an event? Right? So, we try to offer these products, both not just for home use, but through commercial division, so that people can buy them to us in the larger organizations and institutions. And then that kind of is a nice segue into something that we've just launched this year called the harmony Hero Award. Kari, do you want to tell Lisa and Ron about that?

Kari Warberg Block

Sure, I'd be happy to. So, we decided we did a bold thing and decided we weren't going to have an entire year devoted to the monarch butterfly. We're calling it the year of the monarch. And the monarch population has been diminished like 90% of what it really needs to be a month, you're pretty critical for pollinating the wild flowers. In the wild flowers are needed for other pollinators and it all works together. But we've chosen eco education this year, teachers we are going to be nominating 11 teachers this year as a harmony hero. And then that teacher is going to get their name in the hat to win a trip to Mexico to visit the monarch habitat with an entomologist guided tour with three of their friends and habitat. It's amazing. It's like being in a fairy Wonderland. It's nothing in the world like its millions and millions and millions of monarchs go down there every year,

Lisa Beres

Spring break for the monarchs? Well, you know, was it last year or the year before we had, they were migrating? They only do it every x amount of years. And I look out the window in our house and like what is in the sky, you were driving and they were just butterflies everywhere. Everyone was out in the streets asking each other thankfully, we had some smart neighbors who educated us and said, Hey, they're migrating to Mexico. It was really quite spectacular. We had had so much rain. I don't know if it was last year or the year before. Do you remember Ron?

Ron Beres

I think it might have been two years ago.

Lisa Beres

And it just went on for a couple days. And like you said it was so beautiful to see just this like sea of orange and just, you know, seeing nature happy and like doing what it's supposed to be doing. But that's great. You guys. So, go teachers can How do people nominate a teacher.

Kari Warberg Block

So, they can come to our website and find it look for a little thing that says Year of the Monarch and click on that, okay. We have a series of social posts going out, we'll be doing webinars and all kinds of things on it. We'll be working with schools across the country, there's 5400 eco schools and there's eco team. We'll be going and doing some free in-service training for the teachers. Even just things as simple as what Rita said about prevention, doors, weeps, and caulking can prevent 90% of the past, coming inside. Wow.

Lisa Beres

And taking your trash out regularly. Don't let that trash don't keep dirty dishes in the sink. Right? There's a lot of little common-sense things that you know, and I love read how you mentioned integrated pest management. It's something that we discovered years ago, when we started our business and just kind of going hand in hand with, we want to use the least toxic method possible. And even what is it called when you bring in, say ladybugs into your garden? I mean, that's part of integrated pest management to, you know, using natural the way that nature's intended to be. So, I just love that. And I know Kari, you have said nature has an answer for everything. And that answer isn't bringing harmful chemicals into our homes. And we cannot agree more with you. So, is there anything else that you have up your sleeve that you wanted to share before we kind of close out the show?

Kari Warberg Block

Well over the next year, actually in the next month, I'll be launching a book I wrote my first book.

Lisa Beres

Congratulations.

Kari Warberg Block

I know really add one more thing to this year, but.

Lisa Beres

Like you don't have enough on your plate.

Kari Warberg Block

And the book is called Gathering Around the Table: A Story of Purpose Driven Change Through Business. And I wrote this book because this is the book I needed when I was 18. And started my first business.

Lisa Beres

Oh, wow. Okay, so it's a, it's for budding entrepreneurs.

Kari Warberg Block

Yeah, absolutely. This is a book that these are the things they don't teach you in college. This, this walks kids through how I made decisions from a place of values, because oftentimes, they'll teach you outside things outside of yourself, this is what you need to do. And you follow this pattern. And this and I can tell you that those days are over in a survive and exist in the future is going to require resilience. It's going to require critical thinking skills, all of the things that kids learn in eco education, things that kids learn from nature. A lot of what I learned came from nature, but a lot of it is observation and listening to that, you know, that voice inside of you, and trusting your gut? Because, yeah, like, leave from where I am starting on food stamps. A

Lisa Beres

You know, that's amazing. Wow. Oh, yeah, I love it.

Ron Beres

Kari, you're so inspiring, you really are.

Lisa Beres

So inspiring. And you know, it's like changing that bottom line from just profits, which is kind of what you were talking about, like we're indoctrinated into just bottom line bottom line stockholders, money, money, but it's changing just the profits from bottom line to people, pets and the planet. And profits you can add profits to but you've got to value these things. because like you said, the landscape is changing our Earth is like going through so much destruction that if we don't start taking care of the ecosystem and in the land around us, there isn't going to none of the none of that else is going to matter. You know, those profits aren't going to really matter. You can't buy a new planet.

Kari Warberg Block

Yeah, and people's jobs matter to read it. Just because we're early. We're early before time but she had a baby. It's pretty awesome to work. If people are you have a problem on the phone, you know, screw it, just say hey, I have a baby here.

Lisa Beres

I have a baby and I'm working. So, you know, supporting my baby. Yeah. And I think also with the lockdowns and COVID We are very used to all the noises now in the background, right? I mean, you've got kids screaming and dogs barking and it's kind of getting things used to be so serious and, you know, a little more. I don't know, I like that they become a little more casual. I mean, I see your I see you're in the kitchen and, you know, Rita's in her office, and you know, we're all kind of, you know, what works for us. We met Rita's cat. We met Rita's cat. He's been making some cameo appearances throughout the day.

Rita Stadler

He's a lot quieter than the baby was.

Lisa Beres

You kept that incognito. Well again, Kari's new book is called, Gathering Around the Table: A Story of Purpose Driven Change Through Business and I will put a link to that in the show notes. You guys, this was so incredible. Thank you so much, Rita and Kari, you guys were great. And listeners, I hope you enjoyed the show as much as we did. Remember, friends, if you want protection from pests without poison, check out the full line of product solutions from EarthKind. Visit EarthKind.com for ants, mosquitoes, spiders, moths, rodents, and soon to be cockroaches at EarthKind.com or your favorite retailer. All the links will be in the show notes at RonandLisa.com/Podcast.

Ron Beres

And don't forget to tune in next week to find out what the heck is going on in your home. Bye, everyone. Thanks for joining us. Bye, everyone.

Lisa Beres

Thank you for joining.

Narrator

This episode of the healthy home hacks podcast has ended. But be sure to subscribe for more healthy living strategies and tactics to help you create the healthy home you always dreamed of. And don't forget to rate and review so we can continue to bring you the best content. See you on the next episode.