Mosquito Repellent Recommendation

Our family has been spending a lot of time in the "Big Woods of Wisconsin" of late, where the blood thirsty mosquitoes are thick and persistent. We have gotten to try out a few mosquito repellents. We have not tested an extensive amount of repellents, just three to be precise, but, of the three, two stood out. The two that worked best had the active ingredient: Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus as 30% of the solution. We had a Colman brand spray and a Repel brand spray each with the active ingredient: Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus. They both work just as well as each other. We sprayed them on pretty heavily and they repelled mosquitoes for a couple hours. Not quite as well as the advertised  six hours of protection, but still much better than the other spray we tried.

Don't waste your money on the Off! brand botanicals® spray. The active ingredient in that repellent is p-Menthane-3,8-diol. It is a derivative of pine oil extract. It only worked for 20-30 minutes before needing to be reapplied.

The price point for the Eucalyptus sprays was right at $5. I am not aware of what the Off! brand one cost, but what ever amount of money it cost, it was not worth the price. Maybe in conditions with less persistent armies of mosquitoes in would have faired better.

I would be interested in hearing your recommendations for natural, or somewhat natural, mosquito repellents. If you have any please leave a comment with that information!

Book Report: Peterson Field Guide to Finding Mammals in North America

Peterson Field Guide to Finding Mammals in North America by Vladimir Dinets is a wealth of knowledge on where to find mammals. I don't know how Mr. Dinets has been able to travel to as many places, and get familiar with the areas, as he has. Mammal Watching is not as much of a hobby as Bird Watching, but Mr. Dinets expects that to change in the future.

This book is broken into several sections. In the first part of the book Mr. Dinets goes through the North American content region by region highlighting what parks and and wildlife refuges are in the areas and what mammals you can find there. Mr. Dinets goes into a lot of detail on where he has seen certain mammals and how likely you are to see the same types of mammals.
In the second section Mr. Dinets goes over each type of mammal and where they can be found. There is a short part on trapping animals for observation. The glossary is extensive.
This book can be used in a multitude of ways. If you are planning a trip, for example, and you want to look up the areas you will be visiting to see what type of mammals live there, you can go to the section that address that particular region. Another example is: if you want to see a specific mammal, you can look up that mammal in the section where that mammal is talked about and you can see a list of locations where that mammal lives.

There are not photographs of every animal that is mentioned, but there are a lot of photographs.

I learned a lot about mammals by reading this book. I had no idea there were so many kinds of whales or bats, or what a Coati was or a Marten was or a Pika was, I could go on. This book has fed my curiosity and left me hungering for more knowledge about mammals. I would really like to read an identification guide for these mammals or something that gives more details on the animals life's and habits.

Genesis 1:25

 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Dandelions: Free, Highly Nutritious, Abundant Food!

Dandelions are plentiful throughout most of the United States.

Dandelions are some of the first fresh greens available in the spring.

Collecting dandelions is usually very easy.

I love foraging for wild greens, especially, in the spring while I wait for my lettuce and spinach to grow.

My lettuce sprouts.

This spring I have been eating a lot of dandelions.

A bowlful of dandelion greens, while not pretty, very appetizing.

We have them all over our yard.

Dandelions all-over our yard.

I use a spade and dig up the whole plant.

Preparing the whole plant for cooking.

It is really easy. I push the spade into the dirt right at the base of the dandelion with my foot, then tilt it back. You can feel the root go, "Pop!" Then I pull the plant out, brush off the dirt and remove any bad leaves.

Discarding the less than vibrant leaves.

I like to get as much root as possible because they are so nutrient dense. I wash and pare them before cooking. I hope to learn how to prepare them for medicinal teas in the future.

Preparing dandelion roots for cooking.

When I have  harvested dandelions I throw them in a sink full of water. I add a splash of white vinegar and soak them for 20+ minutes.

Washing dandelion greens.

I swish them around to loosen up any dirt. Once washed, I cut off the root ends and chop the greens. I discard any opened up flowers. They are to fuzzy for my liking. But, I keep the closed buds. They are pretty tasty.

Chopped dandelion greens.

I bring a large pot of water to a boil. When it comes to a boil I throw the prepared dandelions in the water. I boil them for about 5 minutes.

Boiling dandelion greens to remove the bitter compounds.

Then I pour out the water and drain the greens. This step gets rid of the bitter chemicals in the leaves. I know that it must also be diminishing the vitamins and minerals somewhat, but I can hardly tolerate the bitterness in non-boiled dandelions.

Draining the boiled dandelion greens.

After this point I like to eat the dandelion greens a number of ways. I fix them like I would spinach or other greens, sauteing them with some onions, garlic, and salt.

They make a good wilted salad with bacon grease, apple cider vinegar, and a little sugar (I have used chicken fat, apple cider vinegar, liquid smoke, and molasses).
They are great in soup, also.

Dandelion soup.

Especially when combined with spring onions and some type of fish.

I made a large batch of dandelion soup with beef bone broth.

When I eat dandelion greens raw I put them into a salad with lettuce and other greens to help dilute the bitterness.

Salad with dandelion greens, narrowleaf plantain, garlic mustard greens, violet blossoms, shredded carrot, cucumber, and lettuce.

Dandelions are high in vitamin A and vitamin K. 1 cup of chopped, raw dandelion greens contains over 200% of the daily recommended value of vitamin A and over 500% of the daily recommended value of vitamin K.

Dandelion greens are also high in vitamin C, Potassium, and Iron.

Dandelions are, also, said to be very good for kidney and liver health.

If you follow this link you can read a comprehensive analysis of the vitamins, nutrients, and minerals contained in dandelions. The chart also compares dandelions side by side with kale and collard greens.

A word of caution: dandelions are a diuretic and a laxitve, so be careful about eating them in huge quantities. :)

How To Open A Can With A Cement Block

I recently found myself in a situation, in which I had no can-opener, but I wanted to open a can. (This can happen when you go camping and don't pack a can-opener.)  :)

I had learned, a while ago, by watching this boy's YouTube channel, that one is able to open a can on a cement surface.

Step 1.

Place the can on the cement surface, with the end of the can that has the lid crimped facing down.

Step 2.
Rub the can on the cement block (or other cement surface) in a circular motion for 10 minutes.

Step 3.
At which point the metal crease will be worn through in a few places and, liquid will start to leak from the can, provided, that you are opening a can that has liquid in it. (I did this twice and each time it took exactly 10 minutes)

Step 4.
Use a knife to pry the can open the rest of the way.

Voilà!

You can open a can with a cement block!