A Hartford woman makes insect repellent in her kitchen

HARTFORD – Flies don’t dig the spicy woods smell.

D’Arcy Ames, a stay-at-home mother and candlemaker, discovered that five years ago after moving to the deep woods and concocting a mixture to keep black flies off her son, Calvin. Soon enough, friends and family started asking for the all-natural bug spray she made in her kitchen. It finally felt like a good time to go public.

After almost 13 years selling candles and essential oils, Ames debuted the Maine Woods Black Fly Repellent two months ago. Flies don’t like the scent, a mix of lemon, cinnamon, rosemary and fir. But it turns out people do.

She’s sold about a dozen bottles a week at Bear Pond Variety in Turner, a better than expected reception, she said.

Ames, 32, is studying botany at the University of Southern Maine. She started out wanting something safe for pets and kids that also smelled good. She researched scientific papers, medieval recipes and Native American lore.

“I’m my own guinea pig all the time; so is Calvin,” she said. “The idea (behind the spray) is it confuses their radar, it throws them off.”

She said it’s effective against black flies, horse flies and deer flies. The spray, in cobalt blue bottles, retails for $10. She offers refills for $6 (you bring the bottle back; it’s to encourage recycling.)

Ames did a wholesale and retail business for years as The Portland Chandler, when she lived there. She changed her one-woman shop’s name to Bear Mountain Botanicals last year. She sells now to health food stores and places like McLaughlin Garden and the Maine State Museum. Her logo is a photo of Bear Mountain, visible from her road.

Nearly everything about her products is local, from the candle wax from three local beekeepers to the pine crates made in Turner that hold the candles. She hand paints her display boxes and affixes labels at her kitchen table.

Aside from the bug spray, she has other mixtures with names like Maine Evergreen, suggested for balance, and Maine Snow Day, with ylang-ylang to release tension and peppermint to refresh.

She makes about everything, sprays and candles, to order and takes customer requests. Sprays can be used for body, room or pets.

“I hope to have a couple of employees, that’s my goal, to be gainfully self-employed and employ a couple other women in the community,” Ames said.

She couldn’t estimate how much time she’s put into the business but says it’s lot. It’s a plus that she can do it at home and it keeps her close to her son. Calvin, about to enter kindergarten, “helps me put stickers on candles and he’s my smell tester because he’s very honest.”

Who: Bear Mountain Botanicals

What: Home-based business, makes all-natural scented sprays, beeswax candles

Contact: 224-8403, [email protected], (coming soon) bearmountainbotanicals.com