Natural Homemade Bug Spray

Our family just got back from a family reunion camping trip. There were bugs everywhere! Scorpions, huge ugly spiders, pesky flies, and blood sucking mosquitoes! Thankfully I came prepared with a giant bottle of our natural homemade bug spray. I was so pleased that it worked so well. . .until we lost it one of the days and we each had quite a few bites! But while we had it, it worked! It's really simple to make. Amazon sells Insect Shield that is an aromatherapy blend of essential oils that naturally wards off bugs. You can either dab a few drops on your clothes, or I learned that you could also mix it with Thayer Witch Hazel and spray it on as you would any other bug spray. It smelled similar to a much more expensive brand of natural bug spray I've purchased in the past, but it was a cost effective option for making a large quantity to get our family of six through the long weekend. My husband loved that it didn't make him feel sticky like some others we've tried. The Thayer's witch hazel with Aloe in the blend gives more of a refreshing feeling to the skin. Now I'm not a doctor or herbalist, so make this and spray this at your own risk. But I did feel comfortable spraying this on our little ones arms and legs.

Here's how I made it:

Combine 12 oz of Thayer Witch Hazel with 120 drops of the Insect Shield (I used ten drops per every ounce of Witch Hazel for my ratio, you can make it stronger or weaker if you'd like. My ratio was pretty strong smelling, but it worked really well!)

Pour the concoction into an old clean spray bottle.
(Essential oils store better in dark bottles, so if you have one use that. Also if you're storing this on a shelf for awhile, a glass bottle would be best as essential oils can eat at plastic.)

Shake before you spray it on to remix the oils all up. As with other natural bug sprays you will probably find you need to respray yourself more often than you do with the potent non natural bug sprays. So keep that in mind!

Links to what I used so you can order some and make some for yourself!

Insect Shield Synergy. Essential Oil Blend. 10 ml (1/3 oz). 100% Pure, Undiluted, Therapeutic Grade. (Blend of: Citronella, Eucalyptus, Cedarwood, Lemongrass, Lavender, Litsea, Tea Tree, Patchouli & Catnip)

and

Thayer Original Witch Hazel, 12 Fluid Ounce

I hope this helps keep you and your family bug bite free as you enjoy the outdoors!


My sister-in-law recently found out she has Lymes disease. She had multiple misdiagnoses and even some doctors told her it was in her head. She grew weaker and weaker to the point she was in a wheelchair and almost died. Thankfully she found help from Shea Medical in Arizona. If you or a loved one is suffering from Lymes disease or chronic fatigue check out her website for support and information. Ticks aren't the only thing spreading Lymes and people need to know about it.

Mommy Daughter and Daddy Daughter Dates

My husband has been taking one weekday off a week to work from home so we can get our up and coming coffee shop and roastery started! It's been nice to have him around to see more of the girls as they do school and play during the day. He has also been making it a priority to take one girl out each week on a daddy daughter date. The girls love their dates with daddy! It didn't take long before the girls started asking me when I could go on a date with them too. So my husband and I decided Wednesday's would be daddy daughter date days, and Saturdays would be mommy daughter date days and we would rotate which girl we'd take with us that week. It isn't always something extravagant, maybe a simple trip to the hardware store with an ice cream stop on the way home, or some days we'll splurge a little more and go to the local indoor swimming pool and focus on teaching that one daughter to swim better, or maybe a stop at the ice skating rink to teach one to skate. but we always try to make it a special time to be alone and to talk and listen to their hearts. 

A new blog, a new chapter. . .

Welcome to our new blog! We're glad you've stopped by! We are a family of four girls. For this blog, I'll call them Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy to protect their identities. Living the reality of having four little women to raise and love is even more fun than reading the book! It's so interesting to me that so far my girls fit personality wise with the book. My oldest is such a little mommy. She loves following the rules and wants the details of things all laid out for her. Her conscience is so soft and tender. My second has a lot of spunk, although I hate to peg her as a tomboy as she still has quite the sweet girly side to her too. She loves to make us all laugh! Our third appears to be quite shy, but once you connect with her one on one she has such a sweet loving heart she'll share with you. Our baby is just starting to show more of her personality. She's loves to cuddle. Since she was little she would feel like she was hugging me back as her little hand would pat my back as I patted hers. For the most part she's also very patient, but when she is upset she is very emotional. Her cry would break anyone's heart! People have said they pity us and that girls are supposedly harder to raise with all the emotions involved, they think we must be sad we never had a boy. But I wouldn't trade my girls for any others! How blessed I feel to be gifted these four beauties, How terrified at times I am that maybe I'm failing them! But I know we all are growing and learning as we go and I hope this blog will bring others encouragement as you take a peek into our lives.