Last year, several members of the Iowa State University Department of Entomology presented the results of a study on common catnip. Among their conclusions was the fact that an essential oil in catnip is 10 times more effective at repelling mosquitoes than potent chemicals such as DEET.
So instead of tiki torches, I could just plant a bunch of catnip in the back yard and rub some on us when we go out there. Though with the number of cats both outside and inside the house, I am wondering about how advisable it is to walk around smelling of fresh catnip.
I think I’ll plant some catnip this weekend. It should, at least, make for an interesting experiment. :P
UPDATE: Having done some more research on the catnip-as-mosquito-repellent, it turns out the thing in catnip that repells mosquitoes is also the thing in catnip that makes cats go crazy. I’m going to plant some anyway. Like I said, interesting experiment. Let’s see how well rubbing fresh catnip works to stop blood-sucker bites and whether or not it makes my cats go crazy!
My brother in San Francisco would buy super-duper organically grown catnip from a local pet store. The stuff would drive his cats wild. He would whisper “stoner kitty!” as he sprinkled the stuff on the carpet for them.
Myu is sort of “meh” about catnip. She rolls around for a minute and then toddles off for a nap. Ronin goes crazy for it. He can be in a deep sleep and hear me pick up the baggy of cat crack and comes running for his daily snort, which then leads to a good twenty minutes of him rolling around being WAY too cute. :D