Making Peace with Mosquitoes (Or Not)

Ochlerotatus notoscriptus, Tasmania, Australia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

During this Month, I am supposed to be writing about Peace. We are almost half way through the Month and I haven't started...I better get hopping.

This post is kind of a stretch....but I've been meaning to write about my Bug Repellent Recipe for a while.

So, how have I made peace with living in area infested with mosquitoes?

Filling lots of mason jars with sand, sticking incense in the jars and placing them around us while we are playing or working in the back-yard.

And by religiously applying my "Homemade Bug Spray" whenever we venture outside.

If you do a search, there are gazillions of recipes of Bug Sprays out there. I came up with mine by going to Whole Foods and reading the ingredient list of several different "Natural Bug Sprays" (including Burt's Bees).

I decided on my final ingredient list based on what I already had at the house and which Essential oils were the cheapest.

1. Rosemary Oil

2. Witch Hazel

3. Yarrow Tincture

4. Lemongrass Essential Oil

5. Lemon Eucalyptus Essential Oil

I figured out the proportions by eye-balling it. First, I put in the Rosemary Oil and filled up 1/5th of the bottle. I then judged what 1/10th of the bottle looked like and added that much of the Lemongrass Essential Oil. I did the same for the other Essential Oil. (It's super important that you NOT put too much Essential Oil in the spray because if it's too concentrated it can burn your skin).

I then added as much of the Yarrow Tincture as I could spare (this Summer I was running low on my Yarrow supply, so I couldn't use as much as I would have liked). Susun B. Weed uses ONLY Yarrow Tincture and she swears by it.

Lastly, I topped off the bottle with the Witch Hazel.

I've made about 10 batches or so this Summer. Overall, I've been fairly happy with the results. It's not perfect but works pretty well. The Mosquitoes chow down on any areas that I missed spraying with the repellent. When any of us go out without it on, we get eaten alive. This Bug Spray has definitely brought my family some peace over the last few months.

I am sad to see Summer go...but not the mosquitoes!