we have several annoyances. Horse flies of several varieties, deer flies, ticks, mosquitoes, those are the main ones. They can be seriously bothersome, a relief when they are gone in cold weather, but then it gets too cold to go about naked. Only a short time in spring and fall when it's cooled enough to put the bugs to bed and we get warm enough days to enjoy the weather without them.
And then there are herbs and natural treatments to cure all the ailments that the bugs bring on, generally faster and cleaner with much less side effects than the chemical treatments. Charcoal and clay (finer the texture the better, bentonite is best) are two good drawing compounds that will pull poison out of bites rapidly, English plantain and broad leaf plantain are weeds that have greater poison drawing effect than charcoal, they need to be pulverized and the pulp laid on for a poultice. They will even draw out the poison of a brown recluse spider. Bruised cabbage leaves have plenty of effect as well. Then there are some powerful herbs which taken internally will kill the bugs that cause illness without harming the good bacteria, like wormwood, (sweet annie) which grow near us, chaparral or creosote bush in the southwest. The essence of black walnut is excellent for killing bag germs. Almost anywhere there will be something that works well.
