How a Nova Scotia mother’s kitchen experiment became a scientific breakthrough

What started as a Nova Scotia mom’s anti-tick repellant kitchen experiment for her two boys has become a booming business.

BLOCKHOUSE, N.S. - Rural and wooded areas like Blockhouse, N.S., are known for having a lot of ticks.

“It’s actually increased exponentially,” said Nicoletta Faraone, who had to stop being interviewed when she noticed a tick on her arm.

Faraone, a biochemist at Acadia University who specializes in tick research, said these arachnids carry dangerous diseases. “Particularly Lyme disease, caused by the blacklegged tick.”

About 12 years ago, brothers Lucas and Darian Wallet both became sick with tick-borne illnesses.

“I woke up, and I couldn’t even get out of bed,” said Lucas. “It was so bad.”

After a heavy dose of antibiotics both boys returned to normal health, but their mother Lisa Learning was determined to make sure it never happened again.

“I started to look for my own solution,” said Learning. To avoid anti-tick chemical sprays, she began doing research on natural remedies, using essential oils as the basis for a tick repellent.

“There are so many compounds in essential oils,” said Learning. “It could vary from one lemongrass or lemon eucalyptus, to another lemon eucalyptus essential oil.”

With some outside research help from Faraone — who is an expert on the effects of lemongrass oil in tick prevention — Learning developed a new non-toxic botanical spray.

“It’s that particular compound that repels the ticks,” she said.

The spray is sold online on the Puregard website and is carried in retail stores across Canada. The body spray is also pet-friendly.

“We are shedding light on understanding how ticks work,” said Faraone.

The spray, which has been approved by Health Canada, is available across the country and is already popular in the Maritimes and Ontario which has a growing tick problem.

“We cannot really make a differentiation between which province has more ticks than others,” said Faraone.

The idea started as a home-based kitchen remedy, now Learning is running a factory warehouse that produces and ships thousands of bottles of tick repellent.

“In the beginning, it was just to protect my kids,” said Learning. But now the mom hopes her plant-based spray, will also protect people across the country.