DIY and NON-TOXIC My Mosquito Repellent

Because of all the rain this year, and frequent flooding in Northeast Tennessee where I live, the mosquitoes and gnats are rampant! Going outside to sit on the deck can be quite a challenge, in shorts and sandals. I have discovered an all-natural and non-toxic solution to keep these pesky critters away from me!


Not everything written on the internet is true! When I do any kind of research on the internet to find solutions to my particular problems, I usually do a search on google.com or bing.com, and open at least 10 different random links or more related to the search. Sometimes, the results are straight-forward and the results point to pretty much the same things or answers. Other times, though, the results can be confusing and have varied answers, or conflicting answers. I will usually trust an answer if I see it three times. Sometimes this points to one resolution for me, and I decide on one course of action. Sometimes, I have to keep researching, or wait until later to do additional searches, ones that may be more specific, or worded differently.

In this case, mosquito repellent, I decided to shun the chemicals used (like DEET) in commercial preparations. Granted, I am not back-woods camping, I am not located in a swamp...I am just sitting on my deck in the morning and evenings, and wanting to avoid my legs getting eaten alive. I wanted to do this as naturally as possible, without chemicals, and with things that I have access to.

Here is an article on the different aspects and strategies that was helpful to me. Of course, doing your own research is recommended, based on your specific situation. This article has a list of essential oils that may be used that mosquitoes do not like. Use what you have on hand!

Based on what I learned, I came up with a simple answer for me:

My Mosquito Repellent

2 ounces of carrier oil, Sweet Almond Oil was used
20 drops of lavender essential oil
20 drops of lemongrass oil

Mix in recycled dark container. Dab on ankles or exposed skin lightly.

My Mosquito Repellent in use (oops...sticky label residue still on the bottle!)

Please note, that some essential oils can cause irritation to the skin, itchiness, redness, in high concentrations. If you notice these, you can decrease the concentration of your mix by adding more of the carrier oil to your preparation, or decreasing the amount of the essential oils added. The important thing is to use enough of the essential oils to confuse the smelling of the moquitoes, so that they do not recognize you as a good source of something to feast on.

You can also use a cotton wick or fiberglass wick to make this into an oil lamp, that will burn and scent the air around you with the oil and essential oils in your jar. I tried to do this (maybe you can see it in the picture) with a small piece of twine, and a washer, but the twine does not wick up oils well at all, and just burns for about 5 minutes. I have even learned that strips of an old cotton sock can be used for a wick in a pinch. The important think is to separate the burning wick with enough space so that the heat from the flame will not cause your jar or bottle to burst. Oh dear! Please don't do that! Take your own precautions, please and do a little more research.

Fat Cat is investigating...

Here and here are two articles on how to make your own oil lamps out of bottles, mason jars, and even rocks, with minimal supplies. This is a definite must do project in my future!

So there you have it! My Mosquito Repellant! This works quite well, as I have not had a single mosquito bite all week since I mixed this up and have been using it!

As always, Best Wishes!

Soggy Garden

So, this is a new blog, and I have put it off for a bit, because I just don't know where to start. I suppose I have not given it a tremendous amount of thought, no really specific plans for this spot on the web, just wanting to get my ideas out there. I am just going to jump right in, as I am prone to do, on what is on my mind, and so...here it is.

I have never had too much of a formal garden. Ever. I had a spot by the front door where I put my peppermint in cinder blocks and my tomatoes. Both have been there for over four years now, and actually did quite well. We had a spot on the lower yard that was tilled by a good friend of mine a couple years ago, about 10 x 10 foot, where we put some peppers (prolific) and zucchini (blossoms just fell off), but that area floods if there is a heavy rain, because of Horse Creek, and this year, it has flooded more times than it has total in the 5 years since I've lived here.

I've been wanting a garden, so last fall we started piling up grass clippings and leaves, over about 5 or 6 layers of newspaper. We would toss in the rabbit bedding and rabbit poop, and coffee grounds, egg shells and banana peels from the house. It ended up about 10 x 10 feet on the upper yard.

The dark area to the left of the blue tarps is the original layered area.

We made Grand Plans over the winter, and decided that was too small...and rented a tiller for about half a day, expanding that space to roughly 10 x 25 feet. We also moved the front yard's stepping stones to allow for more garden space next to the house, a triangular garden about 15 foot at it's widest, about 15 feet along the house to the front door. We expanded the tomato/peppermint patch to the other edge of the house, so that when we mowed, there was more of a curve, and less niggling little spaces to mow. All in all, since last summer, we have probably quadrupled our growing spaces.

See the expanded prior tomato/peppermint area?

See how we moved the stepping stones here?

Work in progress, and only pic of the tiller!

Did I mention the tiller: 5 HP of pure hell? New tools were purchased to make all that clean up work easier and CLODS of grass were piled in the driveway to dry out. We found that the areas where the paper, grass, leaves, scraps and rabbit poop were layered have the most beautiful, black, dark soil, with a ton of worms! So this will become our preferred method of garden prep, and that bucking tiller will be banned from my life forever, and I will never have to do THAT again!

I guess it has just been too wet, or something. I haven't really paid attention to the waterfall amounts in northeast TN here, but the fact that we are flooding almost every time it rains hard tells me that the water table is up, or something. Every sunny day dries things out about a half inch or so deep, but all around, the grass is soggy, squishes where we walk The neighborhood ducks who like to muck around have been shooed only a couple times from the garden space (a small fence is going up soon), and I don't know what is going on underground, but up top our seedlings are just sitting there.

Did you ever read that Frog and Toad book, where one of them is yelling at the garden seeds: "GROW!" Hehehe, that's me. Fearless. Persistent. IMPATIENT.

When I say "we" it's me and my partner, Herman, who does the brunt of the physical work, unfortunately for him. Without him, this garden thing would never have happened. 
Happy Birthday, Herman!