The study of plant extracts and essential oils is calling my name, after I have snubbed it for most of the year. Life -- real life, the stuff you need to focus on like work and commitments -- completely took center stage and I just couldn't find the time to play in the dining room lab.
Boring stuff to most people, but not to me. I've missed trying to figure it all out as we build toward a successful product. The Hubs is still cheerful about being a guinea pig for the formulas, and when the repellent stock dwindles, as it is now, there's no putting off cracking open the leather bound ledger of scribbles and scrawls, the one we keep in the safe like it has the formula of Coke written inside. Hey, when we dream, we dream big.
I'll be digging in the back of the closet to find the bag of bottles to fill and tag. I'll be hauling out the old 1920s Hamilton Beach mixer that smells of oil and dust as it emulsifies a batch, that we found at a yard sale for $2. In our little speckled kitchen, I will do these things and imagine not being able to keep up with the orders if we really hit on something effective and safe, and wouldn't that be a great problem to have? And I worry that we'll never settle on just one final recipe after so many revisions and be satisfied.
All we want ... is for it to work well in the mountains and Everglades, and pass muster in real use situations like camping, hiking, and after being tossed into the glovebox of a hot car for 6 months. Dogs need to be able to safely lick it off your leg, because they will. Oh, and have a name ... other than Bug Mud.
The girls and I play ball with a persistent swarm of mosquitos that trail around behind us hoping for a meal, and I say to myself, you have to get back to that repellent recipe, and let's keep moving, girls! We don't often squirt ourselves with repellent just for the few minutes we're outside at this time of year because it's too hot to play ball for very long. Still, with reports that West Nile cases are up sharply in our area, we need to rethink that.
Mosquito Vector is on speed dial, and whenever we call they are extremely responsive, and say they'll do a nice spraying for us, and they always come out. BUT! One morning last week one of their employees stopped by for a treatment while I happened to be still at home, and he didn't observe me observing him work. He haphazardly sprayed a little squirt here, a little squirt there, and headed on to the next farm. The abandoned pool next door is finally empty in the drought but you can't tell by the mosquito population. Beats me how they can thrive in a drought. The Vector guy probably understands better than we do the losing battle, but still.
So this weekend I vow to make time for experimentation in the pursuit of making humans downright unappealing to the mosquito population. I'll whip up a batch, and we'll spray n' play to our heart's content.
Hey! Great name.
Recipes * Critters * Garden * Stories *
