Interesting Home Remedies

The more I read about home remedies, herbal remedies, simple kitchen medicines, the more impressed I am by all the "old wives" who came up with this stuff. I've been trying them out all winter, and I've been very pleased with the results, i.e., they worked, they're effective. These remedies are inexpensive, use easy to come by items (for the most part), and can by done by anyone.

In the upcoming depression, when I am sure the Powers That Be will leave us all high and dry, except when they're desperately trying to get us to do silly, stupid, and dangerous things (like vaccinations and flu shots), we will have to learn to rely on simple and cheap methods of taking care of ourselves. We are learning more and more about nutrition and how the body works to heal itself. These simple treatments work with the body, not against it. That's a big selling point as far as I'm concerned.

Here are some of the treatments I've tried that worked for me. As the saying goes, your mileage may vary. Not every remedy will work for every person. So take what makes sense to you, try it out. Try not to be negative if it doesn't work--simply move on to something else.

For Colds and Flu

Slice up garlic and place the slices on the bottoms of your feet (not an easy thing to accomplish, btw). What I did was place some plastic wrap on the floor, put the garlic slices on the plastic wrap, put my foot down on top of the slices and wrapped the plastic around my foot. I left this on overnight and discarded the garlic in the morning. And yes, I felt much better the next day. Not completely healed, but much better.

Vicks VapoRub also worked and felt very calming and soothing. Felt better the next day and the skin on my feet was very soft.

Here's another one for cold/flu/respitory problems:

Cold Wet Socks Therapy

What's that you say? Cold, wet socks? For what?

This is the first time I've heard of it. I was reading around the herbal blogs (and there are a lot of excellent ones--for another post) and found this fascinating idea. I found it at Herbalist Liza Zahn's website. If you have a stubborn cold or flu, you put on a pair of cold, wet cotton socks. Over them you put on warm, dry wool socks and then hop into bed. When you wake in the morning, your body will have had to overcome the coldness and wetness by working overtime...

I'm not explaining it well. Read about it at Liza's page. It makes perfect sense to me, and it is using your body's own power to heal, which I like.

I'm not about to snafu myself again by saying I don't get colds or flu. Next time one jumps me though, I will try the cold, wet sock therapy.

Post-Nasal Drip/Sinus Infection

OK, I did do this one, and boy did it work! And kept working! It got rid of the problem completely for at least a week. Then the infection started in again, but a repeat of the treatment kicked its ass again. Here's my earlier post about it.

I put a dropper full of Hydrogen Peroxide in a 2 oz medicine bottle (the eye-dropper kind you get herb tinctures in), then added a pinch of sea salt, a pinch of baking soda and a pinch of powdered cayenne pepper. I put 2 droppers full into one nostril, then bent over and rolled my head around, trying to get the stuff to all areas of my sinuses. Ditto with the other nostril. By this time my eyes were watering and my nasal passages were exploding... I can't say it was fun. I did 2 more droppers full to each nostril, repeatedly blowing my nose (gently) throughout. I had to keep blowing my nose for about a half and hour. And yes, it stung. It was weird.

But it worked. The infection disappeared.

I could have gone to my doctor, paid about $75 for the doctor's visit, got a prescription for antibiotics maybe or maybe for some other drugs, paid more money for those, and after two weeks still have been miserable and miserably out-of-pocket, with the added disaster of having to rebuild my immune system and all the good bacteria in my system.

There's a website called the Skeptic Detective, which nicely points out logical fallacies and demands double-blind scientific studies for home remedies. It makes for interesting reading, but let's face it. Doing large double-blind studies for something that can't be patented (like garlic) and thus profited by just isn't going to happen. No one could or would spend the money to do those kinds of studies. The Skeptic Detective also pooh poohs anecdotal evidence, or demands "scientific" evidence. However, as one commentor says: she tried it, it worked, and that's all the evidence she requires. Or, one can always say "it's the placebo effect" and that may be true too. In which case, hurrah for the placebo effect. Our minds, our thoughts, have a big effect on the body (which is why the placebo effect works). We might as well use it for our benefit.

In my case, I'll try something even if I doubt it could possibly work. I've done that before and been pleasantly surprised when it did work. It is always good to question, and a dose of skepticism is not a bad thing at all.

However, in my opinion, allopathic medicine and so-called "objective science" is failing so abjectly when it comes to helping with chronic diseases, or the biases are so obviously towards pharmaceutical "medicines" that it makes me question their treatments. Giving patients poison for cancer isn't helpful. We've had years of chemotherapy and radiation now and it is ineffective for one, and it drastically harms the patient. Why? Why is it still used? Follow the money trail and you will find out why.

Ach, that's a whole other realm of discussion and posting. Suffice it to say that I think there is a lot of good in simple home remedies, most remedies are cheap, using simple things you already have in your kitchen, and they're easy to do for yourself.

I have always used home remedies, I think most people do. We don't always tell other people for fear of being called names, made fun of, put down as idiots. Well, I go by "prove all things." If it works for me, it works. I might like to know how and why it works, but if I don't, I'm still fine with it.

Anyway, these are a few that have worked for me. In my view, it's definitely worth looking into, researching a bit, finding what might work for you and your particular problem, and taking action. Be in charge of your own health care. That's progress, by damn.
HM

The One Best Thing to Do for Your Health

The One Best Thing to Do for Your Health? Easy. Kill your television set. Put it outdoors and shoot it (if local law permits...). Turn it OFF.

This is something that I imagine most readers of this blog will not do. TV is simply too deeply ingrained in the culture.

If I could do one thing that would radically CHANGE American culture, nearly overnight, I would unplug every television set in the nation. Yep. Make them all non-functioning. And believe it or not, that would do the trick. "Waking up the sheeple" would be easy then, because they would be far closer to a real state of being awake than they ever were before, with all their typical unconsciousness due to the power of the Tube.

What does television watching have to do with your health? Oh, everything, sez me. For one, if you watch TV regularly, you have lost your ability to concentrate, to focus, to think in any kind of sustained manner. Why? Because images change every few seconds on the screen, first one angle, then another shot from another angle. I don't have the jargon to explain this technically, nor do I wish to. It's obvious. At least to me, since I don't watch television.

Caveat: yes, we have a tv set. We watch movies on it. That's bad enough, though it we only watch once or twice a week, if that. We got our TV turned off six years ago and neither of us have regretted it.

I don't think ADHD is a genetic problem. It's an environmental problem. Kids did not have ADHD when I was a kid. They might have been bored and jittery/fidgetty in school, but they could use sustained attention readily enough if called to the task. However, years and years of heavy TV watching has taken its toll on people's ability to function mentally.

My husband and I do not have the levels of stress that we see in other people. I think it is because we are not constantly exposed to the fear-mongering of the TV news, nor are we exposed to the hours of commercials telling us how rotten and awful and unlikeable and unsexy we are since we don't have this or that product. (We are, however, perfectly capable of being rotten and awful, etc., without any help from MultinationalCorpUSA.com. :)

To provide some evidence for my claims, I will direct you to an article posted a while back at LewRockwell.com called The Plug-In Drug. It is written by a guy who is a professional in the television business, but who got rid of his home set when his son came along. According to Tokyo Mike, television is a drug. I agree. A very addictive drug.

And I will share the article below. I found it at truthseeker.co.uk on the web and kept it to remind me why TV is so deadly.

Read these two articles and see then what you think about TV. Yes, the damn thing IS killing you. Slowly, but surely. And like it or not, you are brainwashed and your IQs diminished. Turn it OFF. You'll be smarter and happier. And, come the doom/crash, you won't have withdrawal symptoms to worry about. Get them over with in advance. :) And check out the last line of the article--now, that's a kick in the head, ain't it?

HM

(If you're wondering why you're reading this on a blog that purports to be about foraging wild food and herbs and such, well, me too. But hell, it is JANUARY and foraging is not a big activity this time of year. )

Television: The Hidden Picture
Rixon Stewart

The old line about British television being the best in the world is a debateable one. What is beyond dispute though is the fact that Britons are a nation of TV addicts and with the advent of cable and satellite TV that trend is likely to continue. Whether or not that is a good thing is another matter entirely. For its influence could literally be described as deadening, as a growing amount of scientific evidence would seem to indicate. But don’t expect to hear that from the mainstream media, particularly television; there is simply too much at stake here, politically and economically, for what follows to become more widely known.

According to Daniel Reid, writing in the Tao of Health Sex and Longevity, the rays from a TV flicker erratically, causing uneven and irregular stimulation of the retina. “This choppy stimulus is transferred directly into the brain via the optic nerve, which in turn irritates the hypothalamus. In scientific experiments conducted in the US but ignored by both the government and the television industry, rats exposed to colour TV for six hours a day became hyperactive and extremely aggressive for about a week. Thereafter they suddenly became totally lethargic and stopped breeding entirely.” In effect their endocrine systems had been ‘burnt out;’ equally significant was the fact that during the experiment the TV screens were kept covered in thick black paper so that only the invisible rays came through. Thus the damage was done, not by the visible rays, but by the invisible radiation.

These findings were echoed by Dr H.D. Youmans of the U.S. Bureau of Radiological Health, quoted by Associated Press in 1970: “We found rays escaping from the vacuum tubes to be harder and of higher average energy than we expected. They penetrated the first few inches of the body as deeply as 100-kilowatt diagnostic X-rays. You get a uniform dose to the eyes, testes and bone marrow.”

The same year Dr Robert Elder, director of the BRH, testified before Congress that even very minute doses of radiation, which fall below the legal limit cause damage and that the damage is cumulative.

In fact the evidence is beginning to mount to the point where it can no longer be ignored, unless you happen to watch a lot of TV, in which case you may not have noticed the results of a study by Sally Ward. One of Britain’s leading authority’s on children’s speech development, she completed a ten year study which showed that the background noise in the average two year olds day can delay his or her acquisition of a language by up to a year. Almost invariably the background noise came from television.

Amongst other things she found that:

· Children learn to speak from their parents and parents don’t play or talk enough with their children when the TV is on.

· Background noise from TV or radio, confuses infants. In response they learn to ignore all noise and then they ignore speech.

· Children of two years or older should not be exposed to more than two hours of TV a day.

· Children of one year old or younger should not be exposed to television at all.

Sally Ward is currently preparing to focus on television and the way it affects our attention. In particular she will be looking at Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). “. . . a lot of people think it’s chemical,” she says, but in her view . . . “it’s very peculiar that at the onset of children’s television it got a lot more prevalent, and at the onset of children’s video’s it got a lot more prevalent.”

Her concern is being reiterated in America where child psychologist John Rosemond has stirred some controversy by suggesting that ADHD is environmentally created; a suggestion that is completely at odds with the pharmaceutical industry, which maintains that the disorder is genetically inherited and makes considerable profit as a result.

“Ritalin may work, temporarily,” says Rosemond, “But pharmaceutical intervention won’t change behavioural and motivational problems.” And these he blames on television – “the endlessly changing images, flickering like the attention spans of ADHD children.”

Interestingly, Rosemond began questioning the role of TV after his own son began displaying symptoms of ADHD. In response he got rid of his television and within six weeks the boy’s behaviour was transformed. Today he is a commercial airline pilot, a job which requires some concentration.

Still, there may well be a place for television in modern society: in our prisons. No seriously. At a time when its budget is being cut by over 15% you may ask why the prisons service is spending an estimated £5 million on television sets for a third of its inmates? Why? Well, according to David Roddan, general secretary of the prison governors association: “It’s the best control mechanism you can think of.”

Extracts from The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity, Simon & Schuster and GET A LIFE! David Burke and Jean Lotus (Bloomsbury ISBN 0-7475-3689-9)
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Last updated 12/09/2006
From: http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=67

Herbal Infusions

I've been making herbal infusions nearly daily. I have a lot of dried herbs and wild plants and so I've been using them to make herbal tea. There's a slight difference between a basic herbal tea and an infusion and that is the infusion steeps quite a bit longer.

It works like this, very simple. Put about a cup of dried herb into a quart jar. Add boiling water. Let it steep overnight or at least a number of hours. Strain.

And that's it. You have your vitamin/mineral tasty drink and the medicinal properties of the herb will have infused into the tea.

The last batch I made was catnip/lemon balm. That made a really nice relaxing tasty tea. It made me a bit sleepy so it was ideal for night-time drinking. I usually put my mason jars into the fridge once they've been steeped and strained. Then you can either drink it cold as I do or heat it up on the stove.

The batch I made yesterday is a nettle-sassafrass blend. I'm drinking some of the nettle infusion now, but I made a second quart with nettles and sassafrass because I want to ferment it and get the extra benefit of the lactic fermentation: numerous enzymes and anticarcinogenic substances. I've posted about this before here. This is a very easy thing to do, really all you need is the dried herbs. And some whey, if you want to ferment your infusions. I made the nettle-sassy blend according to the directions given by Kiva Rose in the post I linked. Once the nettles were strained and the sassafrass root removed from the infusion, I added some honey and a cup of whey. (Kiva Rose also describes how to get your own whey in that post.) I added about 4 chunks of ginger to the brew as well. It is fermenting now and will be ready in a few days.

I have never been a soda drinker--since I don't have a sweet tooth I find Cokes and everything of that nature to be way too sweet. The diet varieties are even worse, tasting chemically on top of the almost sickly-sweet. I do understand that most Americans love their pop and have a hard time giving it up. I sympathize because there are things I hate giving up too. But if you want to strengthen your health, enhance your health, perhaps fizzy fermented herbal infusions would offer you something tasty to drink that will benefit you rather than harm you.

The flavors you get would of course vary by the herb/root/seed concoction you start with, as would the medicinal properties. I like horsetail tea very much--it's mild and full of silica, which helps absorbtion of calcium and other minerals. Nettles make a delicious infusion with a very greeny sort of flavor--you can almost taste the vitamin/mineral inherent in it.

Here are some herb combinations I'll be trying in the next few days and weeks:

Pine/rosehip: pine for the vitamin C and rosehips for flavor (also high in Vit. C)
Mullein/mint: mullein is very soothing to the respitory system, which is always nice in cold weather, mint for the flavor
Horsetail/lemon balm: horsetail for the silica, lemon balm as a calming, flavorful addition
Skullcap/catnip/mint for a sleepy time brew
Juniper berries/mint: just to see what that flavor is all about
Nettles and just about anything else: yummy and very good for you.
Sumac berries/mint: I have a few sumac berry heads I both dried and froze. They made a great lemonade then and probably will make a nice lemony tasting tea.

Nettle infusions have been traditionally given to worn-down or convalescing patients, due to its high mineral content. Mints have made flavorful teas for eons. Really, any dried herb you have can be used.

This coming spring and summer, gather what wild herbs and plants you have fully identified. If you don't use them right away, then dry them and use them to make a winter's full of good, tasty, health-enhancing drinks.
HM

Medicine Cabinet Herb Garden

This year, I want to plant some herbs in a little garden outside the lodge here where we live. Last season, the Gruff Lord wanted a "food storage garden" instead of the traditional "salad" garden. We ended up with a bit of both because I insisted on tomatoes, cayennes, beets, onions, rutabegas, potatoes and some herbs. The rest of the garden was dry beans and corn. All to the good. We got pounds of excellent beans and, although the corn didn't turn out too well, we did get seed corn from it anyway.

But downstairs I want some herbs that I know we will want for our simple (but effective!) medicines. This is, after all, how our grandmothers and great-great grandmothers got medicines to treat their families. It will no doubt ease my mind to know that right outside my door I'll have a lot of simple remedies for the normal aches and pains of human existence. And some of these herbs are being proven at potent remedies for what ails us. Red clover for cancer, for instance. And that, and many other terrific herbs grow wild, also right outside the door.

Here's the list of herbs I want in the "medicine cabinet" garden:

Catnip--for the cats, natch, but also because it makes a tasty tea to put one to sleep.
Chamomile: multiple uses, nice tea
Echinacea: great immune booster
Hyssop: so I can learn this plant
Lavender: intoxicating scent, many uses
Lemon Balm: incredible tea, very calming and soothing on raw nerves, something I expect to see a lot of in future
Lobelia: antispasmodic
St John’s Wort: antidepressant, makes a useful oil or salve
Skullcap: a nervine, good for sleeping draughts
California poppy: relaxing, need to learn more
Calendula: pretty flowers, makes a great salve for skin
Stevia: we need a sweetener that is off-grid, so to speak
Wormwood: for worms, natch.
Yarrow: for wounds and a salve for aches and pains

And probably more than that. But that's a good medicine cabinet start. I don't know if I'll get them all started this year, but I will get the garden patch started. I want to try a lasagne layer patch and maybe another raised bed. I'll start small, because I'm the main horsepower in our food garden, and that will require lots of work I know.

Here's a few listings for medicinal herb seeds, if you're interested in putting in your own medicine cabinet herb gardens.

Horizon Herbs

A HUGE variety of herbs, the normal ones you see all the time, both culinary and medicinal, and a host of others, many of which I've never heard of. Sometimes you only get a tiny amount of seeds for a large price, so read the descriptions of individual herbs carefully. There's a host of germination and cultivation info as well as some discussion of medicinal properties as well. A very useful site. I haven't ordered from them before, so I know nothing about them as a company. But...the selection of medicinal herb seeds at both Mountain Rose Herbs and Botanical.com are Horizon Herb seeds.

Mountain Rose Herbs

As I mentioned above, their selection comes from Horizon Herbs. But there's a medicine cabinet selection already set up, called the Lifeline Medicinals. If you want to start an herb garden, this collection of seeds might be just right for you:

This handsome, and conveniently packaged set of seeds is a great foundation primer for those wishing to start a medicinal herb garden. Each packet of seeds is certified organic through OTCO. Each kit contains 1 packet of each: Astragulus (50 seeds), Holy Basil (100 seeds), Burdock (100 seeds), Calendula (100 seeds), German Chamomile (500 seeds), Echinacea purpurea (200 seeds), Elecampane (100 seeds), Evening primrose (200 seeds), Flax (200 seeds), Lemon Balm (200 seeds), Marshmallow (100 seeds), Motherwort (200 seeds), Nettles (400 seeds), Cayenne pepper (100 seeds), Sage (100 seeds), Valerian (100 seeds), Wood Betony (100 seeds), Yarrow (200 seeds). $24.95.

I have ordered from Mountain Rose before and they are a good company. Shipping was expensive, but hell, all shipping is expensive these days.

Garden Medicinals

A selection of 147 herbs and wild plant seeds. I ordered from them last year. Some of the seeds didn't germinate, but that wouldn't stop me ordering again.

Seeds of Change

A nice selection of medicinal herb seeds this year as well as a lot of great culinary herbs. I've been salivating over their gorgeously-photographed catalog that I got in the mail. We've ordered from these folks for years. I like their mission and their style. Good seeds too. Pricey.

Don't you love it? Dead of winter, and these seed companies KNOWS that gardeners have the jones for their gardens, so they send us gorgeous catalogs in January when we have nothing better to do than gaze at all those mouth-watering photos of veggies and herbs. Oh my. :) I don't blame them a bit and I love the catalogs.
HM

Increasing Nutritional Value of Food: Lactic Fermentation

One of the simple techniques you can use to increase the nutritional value of your food is lactic fermentation. I've posted about this before, here and here. I thought what I would do here is provide a couple of brief introductions, one from Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning (reviewed here), and another from Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions. Their descriptions of the process and the "how-to's" are simple and elegant. While there is naturally some repetition in the two descriptions, they have slightly different takes and provide a few different details that make it worth reading both.

I think you'll be convinced to try this age-old artisianal craft for preserving some of your harvest this coming year.

Preserving Food by Lactic Fermentation

Preserving vegetables for months, using neither heat, cold, nor preservatives, yet retaining the original freshness and nutritional value of these vegetables--this is the "miracle" of lactic fermentation.

The process is so easy and effective that we wonder why it has nearly disappeared from use. Still used for making sauerkraut, and for turnips in a few farms in Alsace and in Franche-Comte, lactic fermentation was the primary method for preserving vegetables before heat sterilization was discovered. Let's recall how it is done.

The vegetables are grated or cut up, seasoned with a bit of salt (or a mild brine) and herbs, and left to soak in their own juice. (Salt is a key: A good rule of thumb is about 1 1/2 percent salt by weight of vegetables, which generally translates into 2-3 tablespoons of salt per quart.)

Lactic microbial organisms--similar to those that curdle milk--develop spontaneously and convert the natural sugars of the vegetable into lactic acid. This environment rapidly acidifies, to the point that it becomes impossible for bacteria responsible for food spoilage to muliply. Vegetables preserved this way will keep in a cool place, such as a cellar, for many months.

This process is remarkable in its simplicity, effectiveness, and beneficial effects on nutritional value and digestibility. For most people who discover them, lacto-fermented vegetables become part of their daily diet and provide year-round access to ready-to-eat raw vegetables. Due to their acidity, however, they should not be eaten in large quantities; they should complement rather than replace cooked and raw vegetables. We prefer to eat lacto-fermented vegetables uncooked, to retain their enzyme and vitamin contrent, although certain ones, such as sauerkraut, can also be cooked. Once cooked, larger quantities of these foods can be eaten, since cooking reduces their acidity (however, cooking will also destroy some of the nutrients).

One other cautionary note: Don't use tap water in these recipes if it is chlorinated, because chlorine inhibits lactic fermentation. Also, the stones should be noncalcerous, that is, not comprised of limestone, calcium carbonate, or calcium.

For further information about lactic fermentation, see Beatrice Trum Hunter, Fermented Foods and Beverages (Keats Publishing, 1973).

*CAUTION: The USDA and the FDA recommend that all fermented foods should also be canned in a hot water bath to protect against botulism. However, traditional lacto-fermentation methods such as those described here seem to effectively prevent botulism by creating a sufficiently acidic environment. There is good reason to think these recipes are safe without canning. Readers should of course use their best judgment.

And from Nourishing Traditions:

Fermented Vegetables & Fruits

It may seem strange to us that, in earlier times, people knew how to preserve vegetables for long periods without the use of freezers or canning machines. This was done through the process of lacto-fermentation. Lactic acid is a natural preservative that inhibits putrefying bacteria. Starches and sugars in vegetables and fruits are converted into lactic acid by the many species of lactic-acid-producing bacteria. These lactobacilli are ubiquitous, present on the surface of all living things and especially numerous on leaves and roots of plants growing in or near the ground. Man needs only to learn the techniques for controlling and encouraging their proliferation to put them to his own use, just as how he learned to put certain yeast to use in converting the sugars in grape juice to alcohol in wine.

The ancient Greeks understood that important chemical changes took place during this type of fermentation. Their name for this change was "alchemy." Like the fermentation of dairy products, preservation of vegetables and fruits by the process of lacto-fermentation has numerous advantages beyond those of simple preservation. The proliferation of lactobacilli in fermented vegetables enhances their digestibility and increases vitamin levels. These beneficial organisms produce numerous helpful enzymes as well as antibiotic and anticarcinogenic substances. Their main by-product, lactic acid, not only keeps vegetables and fruits in a state of perfect preservation by also promotes the growth of health flora throughout the intestine. Other alchemical by-products include hydrogen peroxide and small amounts of benzoic acid.

A partial list of lacto-fermented vegetables from around the would is sufficient to prove the universality of this practice. In Europe the principle lacto-fermented food is sauerkraut. Described in Roman texts, it was prized for both its delicious taste as well as its medicinal properties. Cucumbers, beets and turnips are also traditional foods for lacto-fermentation. Less well known are ancient recipes for pickled herbs, sorrel leaves and grape leaves. In Russia and Poland one finds pickled green tomatoes, peppers and lettuces. Lacto-fermented foods form part of Asian cuisines as well. The peoples of Japan, China and Korea make pickled preparations of cabbage, turnip, eggplant, cucumber, onion, squash and carrot. Korean kimchi, for example, is a lacto-fermented condiment of cabbage with other vegetables and seasonings that is eaten on a daily basis and no Japanese meal is complete without a portion of pickled vegetables. American tradition includs many types of relishes--corn relish, cucumber relish, watermelon rind--all of which were no doubt originally lacto-fermented products. The pickling of fruit is less well known, but, nevertheless, found in many traditional cultures. The Japanese prize pickled umeboshi plums, and the peoples of India traditionally fermented fruit with spices to make chutneys.

Lacto-fermented condiments are easy to make. Fruits and vegetables are first washed and cup up, mixed with salt and herbs or spices and then pounded briefly to release juices. They are then pressed into an air tight container. Salt inhibits putrefying bacteria for several days until enough lactic acid is produced to preserve the vegetables for many months. The amount of salt can be reduced or even eliminated if whey is added to the pickling solution. Rich in lactic acid and lactic-acid-producing bacteria, whey acts as an inoculant, reducing the time needed for sufficient lactic acid to be produced to ensure preservation. During the first few days of fermentation, the vegetables are kept at room temperature; afterwards, they must be placed in a cool, dark place for long-term preservation.

It is important to use the best quality organic vegetables, sea salt and filtered or pure water for lacto-fermentation. Lactobacilli need plenty of nutrients to do their work; and, if the vegetables are deficient, the process of fermentation will not proceed. Likewise if your salt or water contains impurities, the quality of the final product will be jeopardized.

Finally, here's the recipe I use to make fermented red onions, which I eat nearly every day with whatever else I'm having for lunch. They're delicious and to me, irresistable. I crave them if they're not around...

Fermented Red Onions

2 red onions, chopped
1 tablespoon sea salt
4 tablespoons whey
filtered water to cover

Chop up the red onions, pack them tightly into a quart jar. Add sea salt and whey. Cover onions up to within one inch of the top of the jar with the water. Put the lid on the jar. Leave at room temperature for 4 days (depending on your room temp). You may find some white froth at the top of the jar, but just spoon that off. After the 4 days or so (smell them to see if the onions smell tangy), put them in the fridge and enjoy!

HM

What to Do for Sinitus and Post-Nasal Drip

Arrrrrghhhhh. For the past few days, I've had a nasty post-nasal drip going on. Slimy snot dripping down my throat. YUCK. I absolutely detest this condition. What I have been stupidly doing about it is ignoring it and just sucking on sugar free cough drops. They help the tickle in my throat, or rather, they make it so I don't feel the tickle in my throat so I can ignore the fact that I have a problem. See? Stupid.

Yesterday was particularly bad. I had so much mucus in my stomach (from the snot dripping down my throat) that I kept having to puke. Which I also hate. This is my body's intelligent way of telling me to FIX THE DAMN PROBLEM and quit ignoring it. I like that about the human body--it wants the root cause fixed, not the damn symptoms that we all spend gazillions of dollars allievating, or did before we all became broke. Big Pharma would rather you just keep treating your symptoms, because they'll make a LOT more money off of you when your body can't cope with the crap anymore and starts giving out and getting a really terrible disease.

To hell with that. Today I snorted salt-water up my nose to rinse out my sinuses. That helps some and has cleared it up a bit. I also gargled with it. I checked Dr. Duke's The Green Pharmacy, and he said these things: eat raw garlic, or add lots of garlic and onions to a basic vegetable soup, goldenseal, echinacea, eucalyptus (put a few drops in steaming water to inhale), oregano tea, ginko, horseradish (a straight spoonful if you're brave), shoving mint leaves up your nose for a bit, and eating pineapple. I have nearly all of those and I'll be using them over the next day or so. Then I checked Heinerman's Encyclopedia of Healing Herbs & Spices, and he mentions horseradish and a walnut leaf tea.

I want to kill the infection that is causing this, though, so I also checked Earth Clinic. There's pages and pages of what to do for sinitus, post-nasal drip, sinus infection. Here's the one I think I'm going to try next:

[[YEA] Penny from Fresno writes: "Clean out a medicine bottle with an eye dropper. Put one eye dropper of 3% hydrogen peroxide, one pinch salt, one pinch baking soda, and purified water. Shake well. More hydrogen peroxide can be added if a little discomfort is not felt (some is normal). Next, get down on knees putting head on floor and put a little in each nostril and keep in there awhile, making faces to move it around, move head, etc. to move it around. This has stopped a severe sinus infection I had dead in its tracks AT ONCE. I learned it online by a man who does a much more severe version of this, so you can make it stronger at will, but start weak like I mention. Just a normal medicine bottle. Never put the straight peroxide into the nose! It must be very diluted, so one eye dropper per bottle. It should sting just a little bit. Some say a TEEEEEENNY bit of cayenne in the formula works wonders too."

[YEA] Dani from Savannah, GA writes: "I have had a sore throat due to my sinus congestion/drainage for 4 days now. I assume it is due to allergies. I never had this problem until a few years ago, and it happens several times a year. I always end up at the doctor with a sinus infection and bronchitis. I'm tired of taking antibiotics, so I found this website and thought I'd give it a try. I tried 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1 tsp hydrogen peroxide mixed in about a cup of warm water. I layed on the couch and used a bulb syringe to squirt up my nose. I won't lie-when it flushed my sinuses and ran down my throat it did burn. Immediately after, I could breathe from both nostrils. It took a few minutes to quit burning, but it works. My nose began draining lots of mucus that was trapped in my sinuses. I gargled with milk and that soothed it. I also did the gargle recommended on this site for a sore throat-10 oz warm water and 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper and drank a shot of it also. This also immediately soothed my sore throat. I'm really amazed and relieved after days of feeling terrible. This really works and I'm very grateful to everyone who posted these remedies !"

I know the herbs will help kill the infection, ditto the garlic, but if I still have this crap tomorrow, I'm going to try this cure, mainly because I think it will work for me. If the salt nasal irrigation worked, as it did a bit for me today, then maybe the added baking soda and hydrogen peroxide will kick it up a notch. With home remedies, it is good to remember that one size does not fit all. It's best to try things and see if they work. If they do, great! Hey, they're cheap! And you're starving the beast of big pharma. If not, try something else. Our bodies are remarkably similar, and remarkably different as well.

Sorry about the disgusting aspects of this post. But what the hell. You're all grownups, and if you are a kid, you know all about snot, right? :)
Onwards,
HM

Cayenne does stop bleeding!

I sharpened my kitchen knives the other day. Usually after I do that, I'll cut myself on the now sharp as hell knife. And sure enough, I was cutting up potatoes for mashed potatoes tonight and cut my finger a tiny bit. No big deal, but then I remembered a post I did on cayenne pepper a while ago...

And immediately put some powdered cayenne into the cut. I thought it might sting like hell, but it didn't. Didn't hurt at all. And it did stop the bleeding!

I'm not sure I'd use it on a gushing cut femoral artery, but on any other cut or gash I certainly would. So now you know--cayenne will stop bleeding within a few minutes or less. Yipppeeee!
HM