Gogga Sakkies (Bug Bags)

My boyfriend has been driving me UP. A. WALL. Chasing mozzies at night, banging on the ceiling trying to kill them and leaving the nauseating bloody corpses clinging to our walls.

It was time for me to take action!

Personally I do not feel comfortable killing anything. Yeah, I do sometimes either by accident or out of frustration but in general I am convinced that we are not allowed to take the life from another living being without their permission. For that matter I am vegetarian.

So I decided to make Bug Bags for our cupboards. Somehow the mozzies have grown fond of Elford’s mess in his section of the cupboard and no matter how many times I tell him to tidy it up, he just ignores my please and carries on just dumping his clothes wherever there is space. The other day I stuck my hand in there and a SWARM of mozzies came rushing out! They really do love my boyfriend, don’t they? And when the tackle him he ends up with huge red lovebites. They’re such a romantic bunch, my boyfriend and his mozzies!

Here’s what I used:

-    I gathered some insect repelling herbs gathered from around our garden. Remember to say thank you to the Elementals and Fey for gifting you with these herbs:

1.    Pennyroyal: Mentha Pulegium
2.    Kaki bos: tagetes minuta
3.    English lavender: Lavandula angustifolia (foliage only since mine refuses to flower)
4.    French Lavender: L. stoechas
5.    Wild Garlic: Tulbachia violancea
6.    Rosemary: Rosmarinus officinalis 'Tuscan Blue'
 
-    Any natural cloth such as cotton as well as scissors to cut it to size if necessary. I cut up an old white tablecloth that was stained beyond repair. Pictured here is the cloth, scissors as well as some needles and yarn. Don't know WHAT I was thinking. Reelly!

-    Rubber bands

-    Mixing bowl (a BIG salad bowl should do the trick, depending on how much herbs you manage to gather).

Here’s what I did:
-    Once you have all your herbs, grab your scissors or garden shears and snip the leaves into smaller bits. Do this into the mixing bowl.

-    Mix everything thoroughly.

-    Cut the material into approximately 20cm X 20cm pieces. As you can see, I was not contending for good marks or anything; I was just snipping happily and merrilly along giving no thought to any straight lines. THIS IS NOT A SCIENCE, PEOPLE!

-    Being only a systematic person whenever I choose to, I started slacking here: I would cut a piece of material, fill it with the mix, tie it up and move onto the next piece. You may wish to finish cutting the material, fill ALL the pieces at once then tie them off with a rubber band... it really does not matter how you do it.

-    Somewhere inbetween I got hungry so I had some tea and rusks. You should too!

-    At one stage I tried to roll the ‘erbs and weeds into big, mother bongs and tied them up thusly:

But I didn’t like it because it packed the ‘erbs too tightly and you really want to allow for airspace so that the aromas can filter through the bag.



Now, if this is too much effort you can always fallback to using organza gift bags. They are equally effective and much quicker to stuff with your herbs, and can even be given as part of a gift.

There you go! Now place each one in a strategic spot. I placed one in Elford’s cupboard, one in mine, one amongst the shoes, another on the open shelves where I stack our toiletries in the walk-in closet... anywhere and everywhere you see a mozzie, cockroach or fishmoth. You can even take a piece of string and tie it to the rack where you hang your clothes! 

So if you have any comments or suggestions, would like to share your experiences or have anything else to say, I would LOVE to hear from you.