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Gentlemen,
I got this off the frontierfolk.net message board:
"Topical application of certain herbs like wild mint, pennyroyal and citronella to skin and clothing is one effective way to repel biting insects. But do your research well and learn to make a postive ID on the plant when you're in the field, and exercise caution when applying herbal repellants as they're toxic in varying degrees. For concise and detailed information on this topic see the following links.
Lists of Herbal Insect Repellants;
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General Herbal databases;
Avoid eating bananas during the mosquito season and eat onions and garlic through the course of the growing season instead.
Avoid wearing light colored clothing as it attracts mosquitos.
Smudge yourself and your clothing and blankets. Build a fire and burn it down to coals, then throw on a bunch of damp rotten punk wood. Once a thick smoke starts coming up stand in it for several minutes and get yourself thoroughly saturated.
Something to keep in mind is that mosquitos favor lower areas, so if you have a choice camp on higher ground. A strong breeze will generally keep mosquitos down, so if there's a good breeze take advantage of it and camp on or near the top of a ridge.
Smudging the woods around you once you lay camp works best if you're in a sheltered area where there'll be no more than a light breeze. If there is a light breeze roll your bedroll out a few feet downwind of the fire, throw a large amount of green and damp wood on the coals before you turn in at night, and you'll sleep with a blanket of mosquito repellant flowing a foot or two above you.
A special smudge that's toxic to insects can be made by laying a line of shelf mushrooms gathered from hardwoods (not pines) at the edge of your coals. Once these catch they smolder like punk and do pretty much the same job as a citronella candle. These don't produce a thick smudge so there's little danger of poisoning yourself with them, but you shouldn't stand or sit directly over them."
I hope this will help you out this season.
YOS,
Cullen Smith
I got this off the frontierfolk.net message board:
"Topical application of certain herbs like wild mint, pennyroyal and citronella to skin and clothing is one effective way to repel biting insects. But do your research well and learn to make a postive ID on the plant when you're in the field, and exercise caution when applying herbal repellants as they're toxic in varying degrees. For concise and detailed information on this topic see the following links.
Lists of Herbal Insect Repellants;
General Herbal databases;
Avoid eating bananas during the mosquito season and eat onions and garlic through the course of the growing season instead.
Avoid wearing light colored clothing as it attracts mosquitos.
Smudge yourself and your clothing and blankets. Build a fire and burn it down to coals, then throw on a bunch of damp rotten punk wood. Once a thick smoke starts coming up stand in it for several minutes and get yourself thoroughly saturated.
Something to keep in mind is that mosquitos favor lower areas, so if you have a choice camp on higher ground. A strong breeze will generally keep mosquitos down, so if there's a good breeze take advantage of it and camp on or near the top of a ridge.
Smudging the woods around you once you lay camp works best if you're in a sheltered area where there'll be no more than a light breeze. If there is a light breeze roll your bedroll out a few feet downwind of the fire, throw a large amount of green and damp wood on the coals before you turn in at night, and you'll sleep with a blanket of mosquito repellant flowing a foot or two above you.
A special smudge that's toxic to insects can be made by laying a line of shelf mushrooms gathered from hardwoods (not pines) at the edge of your coals. Once these catch they smolder like punk and do pretty much the same job as a citronella candle. These don't produce a thick smudge so there's little danger of poisoning yourself with them, but you shouldn't stand or sit directly over them."
I hope this will help you out this season.
YOS,
Cullen Smith