Wild Moon Cottage is a small working homestead in the pristine Ozark Mountains. We have dairy goats, poultry, organic herb and vegetable gardens, a start of a tiny fruit orchard, several black walnut trees, wild berries and fields of wildcrafting goodness. We raise our own milk, our own eggs, much of our own medicine and food. I do laundry by hand, make my own vinegar, candles, soap, bread, cheese ........ For a living I am an artist and herbalist. My goal for myself and our homestead is to be as self sufficient and self sustaining as possible.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Homemade Rosemary Mosquito Repellent




I've tried several things with little success but so far it's working wonderfully.

1 quart water
1 cup dry Rosemary

Bring water to boil, add rosemary and reduce heat to simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Fill container with 1 quart clean cool water, strain rosemary water into bottle, add lid and shake. Makes 1/2 a gallon. I then fill a little squirt bottle and spray clothes, hair, skin, shoes ... whatever (don't get into eyes, of course). I also spray the goats and dogs. It smells good and seems to work wonderfully keeping the mosquitoes away. I haven't been bit once since I started using it. I saved the used rosemary to make rosemary vinegar, which i use as hair rinse.



Homemade Rosemary Mosquito Repellent

11 comments:

Tango's Going Ons said...

Awesome. I'm going to have to try that.

Anonymous said...

I really enjoy your blog. So excited to find this recipe and going to make it and keep a bottle in the shop and out back in the tack room.

Melissa said...

I'll have to give that a try! I've got tons of rosemary growing outside, and camping trips coming up this summer. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

How much cool water do you use to mix in the quart of rosemary water?
Thanks!

Juli said...

Sorry about that, i'll go add it to the post as well. 1 quart cool water to 1 quart rosemary water. makes half a gallon. But you can also adjust it to what works best for you.

Marisa @ Getting Back To Basics said...

Great stuff. I just planted rosemary this morning so if all goes well I am going to give it a try.

Anonymous said...

After reading this post I made some of this Rosemary Mosquito Repellant. It does work. I wanted to come back and let you know that I did spray my goats with it and it stained their coats a light brown. I am not concerned with that cause I am sure they love relief from the mosquito's. I won't be spraying on my cloths as a result. Thanks.

Juli said...

Interesting, are you diluting it 50/50 ? I've been using it daily for over a week on our white goat and my skin and clothing and it hasn't stained anything.

Carolina said...

Great advice! I am planning to make it soon. Is it possible to use fresh rosemary instead of dried one?

Thank you!

Carolina said...

Great advice! I am going to make it soon. Is it possible to use fresh rosemary instead of dried one?

Thanks!

Julia Catfeather said...

Carolina, you can use fresh instead of dry. with green herbs it's generally double the amount of fresh.

I'm using more this year than ever and it works wonderfully!