Hello wise teachers! I wonder if any of you are familiar with biting midges and have experience with providing relief from their welts. We live in western mass on the peak of a mountain and they swarm this time of year for about a month. It’s pretty miserable to even be outside, despite the beautiful weather because of their bites, which cause these incredibly large swollen welts that are painful and itchy. They are worse than mosquito bites and causing golf ball or orange sized lumps on everyone in the household and I’m wondering if you have any suggestions, not necessarily for a repellent but for a topical first aid swelling/inflammation reducer ? I’ve been applying witch hazel and plantain which soothes but doesn’t make the lumps go down. I know we are further north than you all, and this is not about treating the person as a whole, but a symptom. Just curious if this is anything you have dealt with and had luck relieving. Thanks in advance.

ah black fly season, we also have it in NH, VT and Maine. Not everyone has the same reaction as your family. For some people the bites do not swell up so much. So one strategy is to reduce histamine response but this means starting a month before black fly season, so you inhibit histamine production and the mast cell degranulation that comes with allergies (in this case the saliva of the black flies). BTW prevention (not getting bitten and using effective repellents) always works the best. Topically a poultice of fresh Plantain, Chickweed and Gotu Kola (if you could get it), with a little EO of Lavender would help. Internally an antihistamine (OTC) or bromelain may also help it to resolve a bit quicker, but there is no magic bullet for these nasty, irritating, itchy bites that I have seen,

thank you so much for your reply, yes, im considering gardening in a bee suit! do you have any recommendations for effective repellents for them, my tick and mosquito repellent work great for ticks and mosquitoes but they are not phased by it

A bee suit is a good idea. I have used Cutter’s natural repellant with Geraniol or the one with Lemon Eucalyptus EO and they seems to work, as long as you replenish it regularly.