To anyone that lulzed about me not wanting to be directly in contact with animals well the local newspaper reported (source: coming from my neighbor actually) that a mountain lion was in their backyard and my old neighbor is just really old and doesn't care or has bawls of steel and took a photo of the mountain lion....

yeah... 19.5 foot walls now.

lol

Keeping insects at a distance:

My sister went to Cuba some years ago and there it is very moist
and warm all year round, so naturally it's infested with Musquitos.

To keep Mosquitos and other insecst away, the people there used to burn
big bundles of tobacco leafs; The nicotine rich smoke is a fine
insecticide. Keeps them away. Smells nice too.

Keeping predatorious mamals at a distance:
Never had to deal with mountaincats or bears before, but I imagine
keeping out curious bears or mountaincats could be quite challenging.

Growing crops and keeping livestock will defenitely attract such predators.
Wolves and foxes will probably be around there too then.

Building an elevated plateau and building your house, garden & livestock pens
on top of it could keep predators at bay. Especially if you'd dig a moat around
the high plateau.