Herbal Bug Spray - Experiment

@Mistress_Of_Herbs I have a small tin (probably the same small tin as @Susurrus as we both subscribe to the Tamed Wild monthly box) that I received in a subscription box but have not tried it. How do you make it? I have a feeling if it works for me, I’ll be out of this one quickly.

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Infused dried calendula with oil (i use olive). Place in a dark quart mason jar for 2 weeks. Shaking occasionally. After 2 weeks strain contents. While using a double boiler or a pot of water with a bowl inside of it, add your oil, get it hot. Then add your beeswax. Allow to cool. U should start to see it solidifying in roughly 15 min.

Tip: pour oil into your tin just below rim. That is what u put into your double boiler, so u dont have excess oil that gets discarded.

I can get u a rough guess on the beeswax amount tomorrow, i just happened to wake up and jumped on here for a sec.

With this process u can even add arnica, helichrysum, rosemary, lavender, etc to this salve. Skies the limit

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@Amaris_Bane Ahhhh you’re right- loose fire is the last thing Texas needed right now :sweat_smile: And then as the cherry on top I bet next year’s mosquitos would come back completely fireproof :face_with_hand_over_mouth::mosquito:

@Mistress_Of_Herbs Christeena you are a legend!!! :heart_eyes: Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your bug spray recipe- I’ve saved it with your name on it in a special spot in my collection. You’ve got some really great additional herbs in your blend- and the moon water? Absolutely brilliant inclusion :full_moon_with_face: Thank you so much!!! :heart:

And yet another vote for calendula salve from me- that stuff saved my hands from eczema a few years back and I’ve been finding all the many ways it can help ailments since then! A few days ago I had a cold and got such awful dry and cracked skin around my nose- calendula salve to the rescue :grinning:

I haven’t used it for bug bites yet though- gonna have to try that too :wink: :+1:

Arnica isn’t an herb I’ve been using in my practice, but you’ve totally sold me on it @Mistress_Of_Herbs! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: Gonna have to dig in and see where I can get some :herb::two_hearts:

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@Mistress_Of_Herbs I agree with @BryWisteria I’m going to have to find out about this Amica. The only thing I can relate it to is a car insurance company in my area that has commercials :laughing:

@Amaris_Bane… I have that box set in it’s little pouch with the poultice & cold & flu blend & salve… there may be something else in there, but I don’t remember. I took out the salve & never put it back. I do have a recipe for it somewhere, but @Mistress_Of_Herbs is a whiz with some of these recipes!

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@BryWisteria im eager to hear how the lemon balm does! I’m a little obsessed with lemon balm right now!

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@BryWisteria @Susurrus arnica is an amazing pain killer, not as good as helichrysum, but really really great, and alot cheaper than helichrysum.

Calendula is such a wonderful herb, Bry. Im so glad its helped u.

It helps as u know with eczema. But also with psoriasis, hives, minor burns, cuts and scrapes, bites, skin tissue repair, minimizes scarring, and calms acne prone skin. Its also an anti-inflammatory, anti septic, anti fungal and astringent. And those are just the topical applications.

When taken internally, calendula can help fight cancer cells, protect a person against heart disease, and ease muscle fatigue (to name a few)

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Awwwwwwww. Any recipes yall want or need let me know id be happy to share.

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If u ever need info on suppliers let me know

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@Susurrus Omg the car insurance company :joy::+1:

@AileyGrey Hooray for lemon balm! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: Same here- it’s such a lovely herb. I’ll def keep you updated on how it works in the spray!

@Mistress_Of_Herbs Thank you, Christeena! :heart: I’ve always used calendula for eczema, but I got a sunburn this weekend and have been treating it with alternating aloe vera and dandelion salve, but reading what you’ve shared here I think I’m going to add in a dose of calendula salve too! :sun_with_face:



Herbal Bug Spray Update

Today marks one week the herbs have been infusing in the witch hazel and it’s looking like this:

The herbs are slowly losing color (a good sign that the liquid is absorbing their properties). But in this blend, I’m relying more on the fresh herbs than on added essential oils, so I’m going to give them a bit more time to absorb before straining the mixture.

A bit more time and then I’ll process it and finally put it to the test! :grinning: :lotion_bottle: :mosquito:

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Herbal Bug Spray Update 2 :

Drained the herbal matter and stored the extract :jar: :+1: I need to get a good tinted spray bottle (thought I had one… left it in Poland :sweat_smile:) and then I’ll be ready to put it to use!

The original smell is… difficult to describe. I think it smells “lemon-y”. My partner said it smells like “meat and herbs”. My sister made a gross face when she smelled it.

So I put in 15 drops of an essential oil blend and luckily that did the trick- it smells significantly better now :smile:

It’s very citrusy now and ready to be put to the test- as soon as I get my hands on a spray bottle!

Blessed be! :sparkles:

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Meat and herbs? Yeah, glad you had that essential oil handy. Sounds like it’s going to work great though!

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Just a note on the citrus oils…They make you sensitive to the sun, but you probably already knew that! I’m sure it won’t be a problem since mosquitoes come out mostly in the evening :wink: I’m very excited to find out how great this is going to work!
:no_entry_sign::mosquito:

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Super excited to the end results

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Hahaha same here! :laughing: My partner is still learning English, so sometimes I get some very… creative answers to questions lol, but I agree- it was definitely a more neutral smell than a clearly good smell.

It seems that essential oils are either a better base or at the very least a necessary addition to any blends made with raw herbal materials (at least from what I’ve found so far!)

Thank you for adding this in, Sarall! :pray::heart:

I learned the hard way that my skin can’t handle too much citrus on it- I’ve had to signficatnly cut back on citrus in baths (a shame- the Citrus Attraction Bath was one of my favorites :sob:), and you’re right that, in addition to usual sensitivities, citrus on skin can be a nightmare out in the sun :grimacing::sun:

I’m hoping that the amount of citrus in this recipe won’t have any negative effect on sensitive skin! :raised_hands:

Hahaha same here! :laughing:

Having not been able to find a decent spray bottle here, we went to Walmart this weekend to try to find some nice glass spray bottles and couldn’t find any :woman_shrugging: So I ordered some online- they should be here in about a week! If I had known I would have to wait, I would have soaked the raw materials for longer :sweat_smile: Oh well, it’s a learning experience! :grinning:

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I love the smell of citrus :tangerine: too, and was also disappointed about the sun sensitivity. I like the Citrus Attraction Bath as well. I took it once and I thought there were too many oranges but WOW it smelled great! I ended up with a little skin sensitivity after the bath and haven’t used it again. I think I could use less orange slices or whole oranges to adjust the amount. I think this bath is best used in the winter months when the sun is further away from us :wink:
We must need more glass stores because I have to order my glass bottles too! :thinking:
:butterfly:

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Excited to see how this turns out!

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Ohhh my gods this is so freakin’ true! The mosquitos here in Florida are just…a different breed :laughing:

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I feel like it applies to all of us on the Gulf Coast! They just have survived the meteor that killed the dinosaurs. :rofl::rofl::rofl:

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Exactly. It’ll be ok. Next time

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@Sarafeena_Sage Cheers to that! I feel your pain with the orange bath- it’s a shame to have citrus-sensitive skin :sweat_smile: But that’s a very good idea to consider altering it a bit, or perhaps finding a substitute… hmm :thinking: Perhaps this calls for some experimenting this winter! :laughing: :+1:

And yes! Goodness, I figured it would be so easy to find just simple bottles- but alas! It seems it’s one more thing that can only be got online! :jar:

@Amaris_Bane :rofl: I am terrified of the bugs you all have down South

@Mistress_Of_Herbs Thank you, Christeena! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: That’s an experiment- a work in progress until it works! :laughing: :+1:

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