From a previous survival blog, I introduced you to my friend Rod Morey, who is an herbalist and modern day mountain man. When Rod and I ran into a mess of those tiny little brown ticks a few weeks ago, Rod ran to retrieve a silver spray bottle full of his famous bug repellent. Rod was kind enough to help us all out by revealing his secret recipe. You’ll need to make a trip to a health food store or some similar shop that sells essential plant oils (or get good at procuring your own plant oils). But once you have a bottle mixed up, you should have plenty of bug repellent for weeks.

“I find this spray useful as we have 3 dogs, and a dozen goats. We give them a quick spray on their legs and underbellies every morning. I too get a quick spray on my shoes/ legs and arms,” Rod says. “I had very few ticks on me since I started using this spray. And I usually get bit if there’s a tick within 100 yards. It's all natural, very easy to make and it's very inexpensive ...  I like that.”