Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Amazingly Effective, Nontoxic Fly Repellant





Flies seem to be everywhere this time of year.  I was out at a local farm just yesterday and the flies were very noticeable and quite annoying as I went about my work.
Seeing all those flies reminded me of a simple, nontoxic and very effective fly repellant that I observed in action at one of my children’s field trips a couple of months ago.
The class was visiting a petting farm with a large open barn where donkeys, horses, goats and other livestock were available for the children to observe and interact with.
Despite so many animals in a small semi-enclosed area, there were no flies buzzing around!   Curious, I asked the owner about this and he pointed to plastic bags partially filled with water hanging over every stall.
He explained that a clear bag of water with a penny at the bottom would repel the flies very effectively.  He went on to explain that the “eye” of a fly is actually hundreds of eyes and the reflection of light on the bag of water keeps them away.
“Why the penny at the bottom of the bag?”, I asked.
Grandpa the farmer answered that he wasn’t exactly sure but the penny did seem to increase the effectiveness of the hanging bag of water alone.  He added that he didn’t know how many square feet of area each bag covered so he just put a bag over every animal stall to keep as many flies away as possible.
He also had put up a few bags over the picnic area and it was so nice to be able to eat lunch without flies swarming everywhere!
Try this fly repellant method for yourself!  If you do, please check back and let us know how it worked for you!   Please note that this only works for flies, not mosquitoes and other insects.

Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist.com

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