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- Jun 3, 2010
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Hennessy Hammock summer camping. Natural bug repellents.
It is the apex of the bug season. Mosquitoes and biting flies looking for blood to fuel the next generation of little blood suckers. This is just a short 10 mile overnighter for fun but also wanted to test out some kit and new to me methods. The alternative natural bug repellents out on display in the bed of my truck.
In the purple pump spray bottle (gifted to me) is Lemon grass essential oil with water. This would be used on my person. The tin has punkwood gathered by the side of the road. I will hunt down some Hoof fungus for an extra kick. We all know fire and smoke tends to repel bugs. Certain burning organic materials seem to amplify this effect. The punkwood/Hoof fungus combo tin smudge fire idea came to me from Croatoan, a member of Bushcraft USA via Mors Kochanski. The smudge would be used for an area repellent. Like Yard Guard but with fire. Time would tell if these two will actually work in the height of the bug season. The area is my favorite rattlesnake hunt therefor would be watching my hand and feet a little more than usual. Mostly hills with a plenty of mosquito producing water sources.
Ferns are cool.
Seemed like there were a good number of purple flowers about.
The one below might look like the same as the above flower however it's very different. Looks like a Virginia rose but could be wrong. Clearly it's some type of rose. The use of purple in the partially shaded forest by multiple species was in stark contrast to the white I find in fields. Granted there is purple within that environment as well.
American Chestnut. Unfortunately this tree which grew from still surviving roots of a long dead blight kill is doomed to suffer the same fate.
Here is the blight in action. Once these trees dominated the forests numbering in the millions but an invasive blight has nearly exterminated the species. Maybe something could be learned from this? Or maybe not as we hardly remember last week's news never mind a century old tree apocalypse.
Still a bit early but there were some blueberries.
Highland scrub. I really like this stuff. Staghorn Sumac, Chestnut oak, Red cedar and brush. Everything is shorter plus the open sky allows for different types of lower growth plants much like the margins of a field or road.
Some birch about for tinder. Taking the outer bark won't harm the tree.
Getting to camp a bit late. Didn't see a single Hoof fungus until I was 100 yards from camp. I think the recipe calls for dry unless mistaken but will try cutting up these fresh ones into smaller pieces.
Getting everything ready to go. The charred punkwood, hoof fungus, punkwood, White Birch bark and Colonial striker. Traditional flint and steel IMHO really shines when it uses materials found and processed in the field. Once the prep work is done the actual fire takes off very fast.
Soon my Emberlit stove was going. That alone helped reduce the swam of blood suckers.
The punk wood and Hoof fungus smudge. As this was backpacking I elected to use a smaller can. Still it smoked rather well requiring intermittent feeding of punkwood and Hoof fungus chunks. I think it would have benefited from a wire bail for easier handling and dry Hoof fungus. I have some dry Hoof fungus (like who doesn't) and steel wire so will test out both additions during my next outing. Did it work? With both stove and smudge running the bug problem eased considerably. However keep in mind the bugs tend to thin out once the dusk rush is over. I bet if the lid was put on during the burn there would be some good char produced for flint and steel or fireteel methodology. Not great like intentionally burning the can over a fire till it stops smoking though a small hole but good enough from being snuffed out mid burn. Two more uses for the humble can. I will test the smudge can producing char idea soon. Guessing like most things that has already been tried.
My summer fair weather hammock camp.
Filling up for the hike out. The Sawyer mini worked great but for two people the squeze thing was a PITA. Took extra time and the mosquettos were far from understanding the night before around the stream. I did make a gravity filter option for it. Next time I will give that a go for multiple people. I think for myself the squeeze method will be just fine.
The stream was small but flowing.
All packed up on the hot and humid hike out. I gotta put this pack on a diet. Same goes for me.
I have take pics of this old dead Red cedar tree before. Just looks cool.
Plenty of fallen timber and rodents about but no Timber Rattlesnakes. Oh well, maybe next time.
Nice green environment. Leaves have hit their prime. Near as I could tell hardly any of them looked stressed. A sea of green.
That's about it. The natural big repellents judging by the number of bites including a single micro sized tick on my wrist seemed to work about the same as commercial Deet. However to get that effect I had to use much more, draining the 3 oz pump bottle but on the pro side it didn't harm myself or gear. Deet sprays can eat into plastic gear items and gives me a funky feeling like a low grade fever with facial flushing if I use too much or it gets on a sensitive area. I do have to work out the proper amount of essential lemon grass oil to water. I did find this mixture online.
"Make a natural mosquito repellent spray by simply placing the oils in a water base. Use two teaspoons of pure grain alcohol to 4 tablespoons of water with 5 drops of oil."
I think the grain is to help dissolve the essential oil into the water but not sure. I did shake my bottle up which seemed to work. Going to give this mixture a try as it's stronger than what I used. Overall the smudge was fun to use and probably helped reduce mosquitoes as well. With some modifications it should work even better. I wanted to find some Sweet fern to help with both the lemon grass mixture and smudge but didn't notice any. For ticks I only really had luck using pyrethrin bug repellent. I am not saying these are better options for everyone in all conditions. I just think having more options is very often is a good thing.
That's about it for this outing. Here is a video for those who prefer that format or can't get enough of this mumbo jumbo. Thanks for looking.
[video=youtube;MfVDIrWNU4s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfVDIrWNU4s[/video]
It is the apex of the bug season. Mosquitoes and biting flies looking for blood to fuel the next generation of little blood suckers. This is just a short 10 mile overnighter for fun but also wanted to test out some kit and new to me methods. The alternative natural bug repellents out on display in the bed of my truck.
In the purple pump spray bottle (gifted to me) is Lemon grass essential oil with water. This would be used on my person. The tin has punkwood gathered by the side of the road. I will hunt down some Hoof fungus for an extra kick. We all know fire and smoke tends to repel bugs. Certain burning organic materials seem to amplify this effect. The punkwood/Hoof fungus combo tin smudge fire idea came to me from Croatoan, a member of Bushcraft USA via Mors Kochanski. The smudge would be used for an area repellent. Like Yard Guard but with fire. Time would tell if these two will actually work in the height of the bug season. The area is my favorite rattlesnake hunt therefor would be watching my hand and feet a little more than usual. Mostly hills with a plenty of mosquito producing water sources.
Ferns are cool.
Seemed like there were a good number of purple flowers about.
The one below might look like the same as the above flower however it's very different. Looks like a Virginia rose but could be wrong. Clearly it's some type of rose. The use of purple in the partially shaded forest by multiple species was in stark contrast to the white I find in fields. Granted there is purple within that environment as well.
American Chestnut. Unfortunately this tree which grew from still surviving roots of a long dead blight kill is doomed to suffer the same fate.
Here is the blight in action. Once these trees dominated the forests numbering in the millions but an invasive blight has nearly exterminated the species. Maybe something could be learned from this? Or maybe not as we hardly remember last week's news never mind a century old tree apocalypse.
Still a bit early but there were some blueberries.
Highland scrub. I really like this stuff. Staghorn Sumac, Chestnut oak, Red cedar and brush. Everything is shorter plus the open sky allows for different types of lower growth plants much like the margins of a field or road.
Some birch about for tinder. Taking the outer bark won't harm the tree.
Getting to camp a bit late. Didn't see a single Hoof fungus until I was 100 yards from camp. I think the recipe calls for dry unless mistaken but will try cutting up these fresh ones into smaller pieces.
Getting everything ready to go. The charred punkwood, hoof fungus, punkwood, White Birch bark and Colonial striker. Traditional flint and steel IMHO really shines when it uses materials found and processed in the field. Once the prep work is done the actual fire takes off very fast.
Soon my Emberlit stove was going. That alone helped reduce the swam of blood suckers.
The punk wood and Hoof fungus smudge. As this was backpacking I elected to use a smaller can. Still it smoked rather well requiring intermittent feeding of punkwood and Hoof fungus chunks. I think it would have benefited from a wire bail for easier handling and dry Hoof fungus. I have some dry Hoof fungus (like who doesn't) and steel wire so will test out both additions during my next outing. Did it work? With both stove and smudge running the bug problem eased considerably. However keep in mind the bugs tend to thin out once the dusk rush is over. I bet if the lid was put on during the burn there would be some good char produced for flint and steel or fireteel methodology. Not great like intentionally burning the can over a fire till it stops smoking though a small hole but good enough from being snuffed out mid burn. Two more uses for the humble can. I will test the smudge can producing char idea soon. Guessing like most things that has already been tried.
My summer fair weather hammock camp.
Filling up for the hike out. The Sawyer mini worked great but for two people the squeze thing was a PITA. Took extra time and the mosquettos were far from understanding the night before around the stream. I did make a gravity filter option for it. Next time I will give that a go for multiple people. I think for myself the squeeze method will be just fine.
The stream was small but flowing.
All packed up on the hot and humid hike out. I gotta put this pack on a diet. Same goes for me.
I have take pics of this old dead Red cedar tree before. Just looks cool.
Plenty of fallen timber and rodents about but no Timber Rattlesnakes. Oh well, maybe next time.
Nice green environment. Leaves have hit their prime. Near as I could tell hardly any of them looked stressed. A sea of green.
That's about it. The natural big repellents judging by the number of bites including a single micro sized tick on my wrist seemed to work about the same as commercial Deet. However to get that effect I had to use much more, draining the 3 oz pump bottle but on the pro side it didn't harm myself or gear. Deet sprays can eat into plastic gear items and gives me a funky feeling like a low grade fever with facial flushing if I use too much or it gets on a sensitive area. I do have to work out the proper amount of essential lemon grass oil to water. I did find this mixture online.
"Make a natural mosquito repellent spray by simply placing the oils in a water base. Use two teaspoons of pure grain alcohol to 4 tablespoons of water with 5 drops of oil."
I think the grain is to help dissolve the essential oil into the water but not sure. I did shake my bottle up which seemed to work. Going to give this mixture a try as it's stronger than what I used. Overall the smudge was fun to use and probably helped reduce mosquitoes as well. With some modifications it should work even better. I wanted to find some Sweet fern to help with both the lemon grass mixture and smudge but didn't notice any. For ticks I only really had luck using pyrethrin bug repellent. I am not saying these are better options for everyone in all conditions. I just think having more options is very often is a good thing.
That's about it for this outing. Here is a video for those who prefer that format or can't get enough of this mumbo jumbo. Thanks for looking.
[video=youtube;MfVDIrWNU4s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfVDIrWNU4s[/video]
