Bugs, bugs, and more bugs.  The one thing I detest about warmer weather is the mosquitoes and ticks that we have around here.    The last few years we have been pretty much mosquito free in our area, but we have dealt with ticks.  Nothing worse than seeing a small tick on your babies head or behind their ears.  Makes me shutter, yuck!

For the most part, I try to thoroughly check my children as best as I can when we come inside, (checking 6 little ones, is not always at the top of my list, sorry to say).  Sometimes a little preventative maintenance is the best thing to do.

I do not like commercial brand bug and tick spray.  The chemicals inside the spray I know are not healthy for myself nor are they good for my children.  But what is worse…getting bit by the bugs and possibly getting a disease, or using the chemicals in the bug spray??  That is a question you are going to have to ask yourself.  I will try multiple natural remedies before I will just grab the commercialized product.

Here are a few options for keeping mosquitoes and ticks at bay.  Why are there multiple recipes?? Because different types of environments, bugs, and people will respond differently to these remedies.  Find which works best and stick with it.

• Nutritionally, you can drink a tablespoon or two of organic apple cider vinegar and eat lots of garlic. Vitamin B1 taken daily is also supposed to help repel insects.
• Rub vanilla extract directly onto the skin. You can also mix vanilla with witch hazel and water for a spray version.
• Rub lavender flowers if you have them or lavender oil on your skin.  Pay attention to the “hot parts” of your body like your neck, and underarms.
• Rub fresh or dried leaves of anything “mint” all over your skin to repel insects.  (peppermint, spearmint, catnip, citronella, basil, or lemongrass are all good choices.)
• tea tree oil mixed with water in a spray bottle might do the trick.
• In a 4 ounce spray bottle add 1/3 cup of witch hazel, then add to it all or some of the following essential oils(I recommend 10-25 drops of each)———– lemongrass oil, eucalyptus oil, lemon oil, citronella oil, or cedar oil.

Do you have any ways of “naturally” keeping mosquitoes and ticks at bay??