Fire ants are in my trees. When I work in my garden, I occasionally get stung by a fire ant. The bite gets sore and itchy and it swells up quite a bit.

I’ve been using hydrocortisone but it doesn’t seem to help very much. I heard that Vick’s Vaporub works to alleviate the discomfort but I haven’t gotten around to buying it yet.

I follow the Instagram account for OK Farms and saw that Ala posted a picture of clove hydrosol, a product that she makes from farm-grown cloves that is an anti inflammatory substance and works on fire ant bites.

I’m going to try it. It’s $21 for a pretty 3 oz glass bottle. According to the label, it’s uses are as an antiseptic, pain reliever, anti-inflammatory, insect repellent, mood enhancer, and aphrodisiac. Isn’t that a great combination of uses for this one good-smelling spray? All that’s missing for me is a muscle building/fat reducing/memory boosting effect. Who knows? It just might help with that too. Just spray it on the affected area and don’t rub it in. Just let it air dry on your skin. Living Hilo Style.