断続的に雨脚が強くなる１日でした。野菜や草花は梅雨の雨で生き生きすることでしょう。（しかし今日の雨はちと過ぎるでしょうが。）３日ほど前に刈り採って少し乾燥させておいたドクダミで自家製虫除け液を作ってみました。教えてくれた岡山県蒜山に住む友達はミントやローズマリーも入れておしゃれな虫除け液を作っていますが、うちにはドクダミしかなく３５度以上のホワイトリカーも田舎の酒屋にはジンやヴォッカは置いていなくて焼酎を使うというもっぱら田舎仕込みの虫除け液です。ドクダミは十薬（じゅうやく）とも言い効能薬効は驚くほど多く、例えば動脈効果、皮膚病、殺菌、解毒など様々。小学校の時は夏休み中に「ジュウヤクを採って２学期の始業式に学校に持っていく」という宿題があり、始業式の日は皆んなが持ち寄った乾燥させたドクダミが講堂に高く積み上げられていたのを思い出します。学校はこれを業者に売って収益にしていたのでしょう。虫除け液はドクダミの花を使って作るというのもネット情報にはありましたが私は葉だけ使いました。１ヶ月ぐらいで虫除け液になるとのこと。ミントやハッカを加えればスプレーした時に「爽やか感」がでるのでしょう。もう一つの瓶は調味料として使う塩麹です。敏満寺の渡辺糀店で買った糀と少々値の張る極楽塩を使っての自家製塩麹です。こちらは１週間ぐらいでまろやかな塩麹が出来るはずです。さて、結果は如何に…It was a rainy day and intermittently it got heavier. We have entered the rainy season and the rain makes vegetables and plants healthy although today's rain was a bit too heavy. Today I made a homemade insect repellent using houttuynia leaves which I picked three days ago from my backyard and dried. My friend who introduced me to her insect repellent from Hiruzen in Okayama prefecture, put mint and rosemary in it as well. I could get only houttuynia and purchase traditional Japanese distilled spirits instead of gin or vodka because liquor stores in my town don't have them. Houttuynia incredibly has a lot of efficacy and medicinal effects, for example it is good for arteriosclerosis, skin disease, sterilization, detoxification, and more. When I was a child my school gave us homework to collect houttuynia during the summer vacation and bring them to school at the beginning day of second semester. I remember a stacked dried houttuynia in the auditolliam which were all from children. School sold them to a pharmaceutical trader and got some money for our school. In order to make insect repellent, I used only leaves of houttuynia, although in the information it can be made from the flowers. I have to wait for about a month until it gets ready. If you add mint or Japanese peppermint, you probably feel refreshed. The other bottle is SHIO-KOJI (salt-marinated rice malt) which I mixed with rice malt from the local rice malt shop and good quality salt. This one will be ready after 7 to 10 days. These were my first challenges. Well, I am excited to see the result.
