A while ago I bought some flaxseed from the Amish bulk store, 8 oz for $.50. An excellent price for a useful product. I had read about some neat uses for flaxseed in my copy of Heinerman's Encycloopedia of Healing Herbs and Spices. Wasn't long ago that I recommended that readers of this blog buy the book--it's that good and useful. The information I read in Heinerman's was what convinced me to buy some flaxseed, and I'm glad I did.
Here's a few bits from the book on uses for Flaxseed:
Remarkably Effective Laxative
According to Dr. Hans Fluck, a Swiss professor of pharmacology, 2 tsp. of flaxseed put into half a cup of hot water and allowed to swell for up to 4 hours and the mucilage and seeds swallowed together will produce a swelling bulk within the intestines which will provide a substantial bowel movement a few hours later.
Best Hand Lotion Around
An Oregon woman who suffered from dried, chapped hands for years had tried just about every kind of hand lotion on the market, but with no success. Then she stumbled onto flaxseed and now makes her own lotion, which she finds incredibly effective.
Her recipe calls first for whole or cracked flaxseed, about 3 round tbsp. to be soaked in 2 cups lukewarm water overnight. The next morning, the mixture is boild and strained to remove as much of the mucilage jell as possible; then the seeds are thrown away. A pint of apple cider vinegar is then added to the jell, along with 5 tbsp of glycern (purchased from any drugstore). The mixture is heated again to boiling and immediately removed from heat. Take an eggbeater and beat the mixture for a minute or so to keep the glycern from separating. Bottle. Dampen hands with solution morning and evening, thoroughly rubbing the skin and letting the air dry them. You will experience a greaseless silky feeling on your hands.
Eye Problem Corrected
The following was obtained from Violet Boyce of Logan, Utah. "I had a unique experience with flaxseed when I was a young girl. While on the train I got a cinder in my eye. I was unable to dislodge it and was suffering rather acutely. When I reached home my aunt put a single flaxseed under the lid. Sure enough the gooey sides collected the particle and it could be brushed out."
I made the hand lotion this morning, after soaking the flaxseed overnight. And it works--it left my hands feeling silky and soft. For the price of the flaxseed, glycerin and cider vinegar--none of which are expensive at all, I got a great hand lotion that works. I don't have chapped hands, but the skin is often pretty dry, especially in the winter. I added some drops of lavender essential oil so the wouldn't smell like vinegar and a couple of vitamin E drops as a preservative to the essential recipe.
Heinerman's book is full of interesting tidbits like that, usually cheap, useful and effective. I like that!
HM
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Survival Health Tips
My friend Charli sent me this in an email. Thank you, Charli! Looks like it was posted at Millennium Ark, Stan Deyo's page back in October. I post it here so it will get further reading--in my view, it is excellent advice and I thank "Sandy" who wrote it! (Plus I still have the dratted cold--remind me never to say that I never get colds, OK?--and I'm not frisky enough for posting these days....)
HM
Survival Health Tips
October 24, 2008Sandy, health care worker
I would like to add some incredibly important survival items (from long experience) to your growing collection of reader contributions, things one seldom sees mentioned. Let's remember Russia survived its economic collapse well largely because its citizens had never lost the art of doing for themselves.
This first may be one of the most important things you ever hear: As a health care worker, I can attest that as many lives are saved in the hospital by "supportive care" as by antibiotics and other "professional" measures. ERs are packed with people who have forgotten how to do simple supportive care at home. So, here it is: BE SURE YOUR HOME HAS AT LEAST ONE ENEMA KIT. Not the little pre-packaged one-shot deals, but the old hot water bottle with a hose setup. Do NOT be squeamish about this. Get it, and learn how to use it properly. When your loved one has the flu, or pneumonia, is unconscious, cannot hold anything down, a simple warm-water enema will be absorbed as readily as IV fluids, which rank among probably the top five hospital-care life savers.
Other "supportive measures" include steam inhalation (especially with pine needles or eucalyptus oil added to the water -- home nebulization), and "pulmonary toilet" (a hospital staple, look it up), which includes encouraging coughing (often a GOOD thing) and gently pounding the back of a person leaning far over a bed with cupped hands or small bowls to loosen mucus in the lungs. Strong broths made from boiled meats and vegetables including onions, garlic, parsley, carrots, cabbage, etc. are very good strengthening tonics.
Urinary tract infections (one of the primary causes of systemic infection and death, especially in the elderly) can be VERY effectively treated at home by boiling any combination you have on hand of onions, potatoes, parsley, dandelion leaves, barley, parsnips or cabbage. No salt or other seasoning. Mash and discard the vegetables, strain and drink. By the gallon, if possible. Cranberry juice is a good preventive acidifier, but very irritating to inflamed tissues once an infection has taken hold. Caffeine has an irritating crystalline structure eliminated by half-lives, so cut out coffee and soda. Teas are OK. Best of all roast and crush dandelion root: Nourishing and very nice coffee substitute. (Please note I am providing this information only for emergency home treatment and NOT advising anyone to avoid professional medical care.)
Avoid panic: Learn to do a simple medical assessment. EMTs and ER personnel check vital signs first. Four things: Blood pressure, pulse, respiration and temperature. Get a blood pressure cuff and a good thermometer. Whether a person (or animal) has been knocked unconscious, has a seizure, heart attack, possible stroke or any other frightening event, if their vital signs are stable, death is not imminent and you have time to think and act. The next step (for humans) is usually a mental assessment: Read up on the Internet about how to do a mini mental status exam. Call the Red Cross (today!) and learn CPR. It's not rocket science -- do it! My knowledge of initial assessments has helped me avoid panic with family members and animals more times than I can count. Remember that most health events that are frightening to the inexperienced are not actually critical.
Here is another HUGE item: Get your teeth in shape as much as you can afford to, RIGHT NOW. Get the checkup, do whatever work is needed and you can possibly afford or your health care currently covers. Not tomorrow: NOW. If you need any incentive, remember that where medical equipment or insurance coverage is scarce, anesthesia is the first thing to go.
When medical care is scarce or unavailable, AVOID ILLNESS OR INJURY AT ALL COSTS.
Treat every wound proactively with hot soap-and-water scrubbing, hot soapy or salty soaks and some kind of protective barrier.
Always remember doctors and medical care do not heal the body, they only give it the breaks it needs to heal itself. Doctors and hospitals seldom if ever provide the all-important nutrition that fuels that healing, so in many ways if you provide adequate supportive care and nutrition, patients may actually be better off at home. Especially if you also provide the intangibles -- prayer, love, attention and positive reinforcement -- those are probably the more important factors of all.
Be sure you can keep yourself and your home clean with minimal water and no electricity. Or if your vacuum cleaner breaks, or vacuum cleaner bags become scarce, etc. Especially if asthma is a concern and/or you have animals. Invest 10 or 20 bucks in one of those "as seen on TV" rubber-fingered push brooms; they are great on carpets. And/or any of those other non-electric, non-battery-powered push-broom-like things.Get a bunch of spray bottles for quick cleanups and hand washing. A CLEAN, NEW pump-sprayer intended for spraying things on the lawn or garden, for low-water showers. A couple of big metal tubs you can use to wash clothes in with boiling water (or, who knows, for a soap-making business some day?). All of these are useful to have in any case. Remember boiling water cleans and disinfects clothes, dishes, etc., as well as soap. Actually, it's a good idea to have an array of big bowls, buckets and tubs. Metal whenever possible. Scavenging and making do requires a lot of collecting, carrying, storing and boiling. Don't forget clothesline and pins, although things dry just as well on the ground, bushes, fences, etc.
Purchased vitamins are great, but we are surrounded by rich natural sources. Vitamin C is free to all even in winter in the form of pine and hemlock needle tea, which tastes great and is a good source of vitamin C (poison hemlock is a "weed"-like plant completely different from the hemlock tree -- learn the difference!). Rose hips -- the round "fruits" of wild and cultivated roses -- persist on the plant all winter. Chew or grind for tea. Flavor varies widely, most not tasty, but a super source of vitamin C. Sumac "berries" are also abundant and persist all winter. Again, poison sumac is a vine with white berries, but sumac trees have those odd conical, furry-looking red clusters, which make a fantastic ruby-red lemonade-like tea, also rich in vitamin C. Dandelion and lamb's quarter are vitamin powerhouses. Humans need vitamin C every day and A at least every other day. These last two are loaded with both.
Crank flashlights are the bomb! They are getting cheaper and better, too. I bought two five years ago, they paid for themselves instantly and are still working like crazy. I also bought a crank radio five years ago, and I haven't bought batteries since.We Americans need to relearn everything our grandmothers knew. The Internet is a Godsend for that. Read and stock up on everything you can think of. Start a library of books like Jethro Kloss' "Back to Eden" (fabulous herbal encyclopedia). Think of it as an adventure, because it is. And read the Deyos' Millennium Ark daily, because Stan and Holly definitely Get It.
-- A Millennium Ark Reader and Friend
http://standeyo.com/NEWS/08_Health/081024.survival.health.tips.html
HM
Survival Health Tips
October 24, 2008Sandy, health care worker
I would like to add some incredibly important survival items (from long experience) to your growing collection of reader contributions, things one seldom sees mentioned. Let's remember Russia survived its economic collapse well largely because its citizens had never lost the art of doing for themselves.
This first may be one of the most important things you ever hear: As a health care worker, I can attest that as many lives are saved in the hospital by "supportive care" as by antibiotics and other "professional" measures. ERs are packed with people who have forgotten how to do simple supportive care at home. So, here it is: BE SURE YOUR HOME HAS AT LEAST ONE ENEMA KIT. Not the little pre-packaged one-shot deals, but the old hot water bottle with a hose setup. Do NOT be squeamish about this. Get it, and learn how to use it properly. When your loved one has the flu, or pneumonia, is unconscious, cannot hold anything down, a simple warm-water enema will be absorbed as readily as IV fluids, which rank among probably the top five hospital-care life savers.
Other "supportive measures" include steam inhalation (especially with pine needles or eucalyptus oil added to the water -- home nebulization), and "pulmonary toilet" (a hospital staple, look it up), which includes encouraging coughing (often a GOOD thing) and gently pounding the back of a person leaning far over a bed with cupped hands or small bowls to loosen mucus in the lungs. Strong broths made from boiled meats and vegetables including onions, garlic, parsley, carrots, cabbage, etc. are very good strengthening tonics.
Urinary tract infections (one of the primary causes of systemic infection and death, especially in the elderly) can be VERY effectively treated at home by boiling any combination you have on hand of onions, potatoes, parsley, dandelion leaves, barley, parsnips or cabbage. No salt or other seasoning. Mash and discard the vegetables, strain and drink. By the gallon, if possible. Cranberry juice is a good preventive acidifier, but very irritating to inflamed tissues once an infection has taken hold. Caffeine has an irritating crystalline structure eliminated by half-lives, so cut out coffee and soda. Teas are OK. Best of all roast and crush dandelion root: Nourishing and very nice coffee substitute. (Please note I am providing this information only for emergency home treatment and NOT advising anyone to avoid professional medical care.)
Avoid panic: Learn to do a simple medical assessment. EMTs and ER personnel check vital signs first. Four things: Blood pressure, pulse, respiration and temperature. Get a blood pressure cuff and a good thermometer. Whether a person (or animal) has been knocked unconscious, has a seizure, heart attack, possible stroke or any other frightening event, if their vital signs are stable, death is not imminent and you have time to think and act. The next step (for humans) is usually a mental assessment: Read up on the Internet about how to do a mini mental status exam. Call the Red Cross (today!) and learn CPR. It's not rocket science -- do it! My knowledge of initial assessments has helped me avoid panic with family members and animals more times than I can count. Remember that most health events that are frightening to the inexperienced are not actually critical.
Here is another HUGE item: Get your teeth in shape as much as you can afford to, RIGHT NOW. Get the checkup, do whatever work is needed and you can possibly afford or your health care currently covers. Not tomorrow: NOW. If you need any incentive, remember that where medical equipment or insurance coverage is scarce, anesthesia is the first thing to go.
When medical care is scarce or unavailable, AVOID ILLNESS OR INJURY AT ALL COSTS.
Treat every wound proactively with hot soap-and-water scrubbing, hot soapy or salty soaks and some kind of protective barrier.
Always remember doctors and medical care do not heal the body, they only give it the breaks it needs to heal itself. Doctors and hospitals seldom if ever provide the all-important nutrition that fuels that healing, so in many ways if you provide adequate supportive care and nutrition, patients may actually be better off at home. Especially if you also provide the intangibles -- prayer, love, attention and positive reinforcement -- those are probably the more important factors of all.
Be sure you can keep yourself and your home clean with minimal water and no electricity. Or if your vacuum cleaner breaks, or vacuum cleaner bags become scarce, etc. Especially if asthma is a concern and/or you have animals. Invest 10 or 20 bucks in one of those "as seen on TV" rubber-fingered push brooms; they are great on carpets. And/or any of those other non-electric, non-battery-powered push-broom-like things.Get a bunch of spray bottles for quick cleanups and hand washing. A CLEAN, NEW pump-sprayer intended for spraying things on the lawn or garden, for low-water showers. A couple of big metal tubs you can use to wash clothes in with boiling water (or, who knows, for a soap-making business some day?). All of these are useful to have in any case. Remember boiling water cleans and disinfects clothes, dishes, etc., as well as soap. Actually, it's a good idea to have an array of big bowls, buckets and tubs. Metal whenever possible. Scavenging and making do requires a lot of collecting, carrying, storing and boiling. Don't forget clothesline and pins, although things dry just as well on the ground, bushes, fences, etc.
Purchased vitamins are great, but we are surrounded by rich natural sources. Vitamin C is free to all even in winter in the form of pine and hemlock needle tea, which tastes great and is a good source of vitamin C (poison hemlock is a "weed"-like plant completely different from the hemlock tree -- learn the difference!). Rose hips -- the round "fruits" of wild and cultivated roses -- persist on the plant all winter. Chew or grind for tea. Flavor varies widely, most not tasty, but a super source of vitamin C. Sumac "berries" are also abundant and persist all winter. Again, poison sumac is a vine with white berries, but sumac trees have those odd conical, furry-looking red clusters, which make a fantastic ruby-red lemonade-like tea, also rich in vitamin C. Dandelion and lamb's quarter are vitamin powerhouses. Humans need vitamin C every day and A at least every other day. These last two are loaded with both.
Crank flashlights are the bomb! They are getting cheaper and better, too. I bought two five years ago, they paid for themselves instantly and are still working like crazy. I also bought a crank radio five years ago, and I haven't bought batteries since.We Americans need to relearn everything our grandmothers knew. The Internet is a Godsend for that. Read and stock up on everything you can think of. Start a library of books like Jethro Kloss' "Back to Eden" (fabulous herbal encyclopedia). Think of it as an adventure, because it is. And read the Deyos' Millennium Ark daily, because Stan and Holly definitely Get It.
-- A Millennium Ark Reader and Friend
http://standeyo.com/NEWS/08_Health/081024.survival.health.tips.html
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Pasta di Sardini, or The Sardine Caper
Canned sardines are a very healthy food. They're loaded with omega 3 fatty acids, vitamins B12, B3 and D, selenium, phosphorus, and calcium. If they're not in your stored food items, they probably should be. They are canned in water, olive or soybean oil, tomato sauce, chili sauce or mustard sauce. You can get fancy canned sardines (aged, boneless, skinless) or you can get them cheap at the dollar store. We buy the cheap kind and store lots of them. But the only way I knew of eating them was plain with crackers. Or maybe in some kind of dip.
I wanted to make them into a full dinner, though. While there are probably lots of recipes available on the web, I had been thinking of a sardine noodle dish, ever since RiverWalker posted a blog about sardines. Here's the recipe I concocted:
Pasta di Sardini
1 lb fettucini noodles, cooked
2 7.5 oz tins sardines (in oil)
frozen spinach (use whatever greens you have on hand: lambquarters, canned turnip greens)
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp capers (rinsed) (optional)
1 tbsp pine nuts (optional)
herbs: parsley, thyme, oregano, lemon pepper, red pepper flakes
parmesean cheese
Cook the noodles according to directions. Saute the onion and garlic in butter til they're translucent. Add the thawed spinach, capers, pine nuts, herbs and sardines. Cook over medium heat, breaking up the sardines as you cook. After 6-8 minutes or so, add the noodles. Turn down the heat and cover, letting the noodles soak up the flavors. Serve as you would spaghetti with parmesean cheese on top. YUM.
This is an easy, tasty dish. Both Fred and Michael liked it--and Michael didn't think he would. I loved it, and I especially loved having a good recipe for using these delicious little fish.
There's lots of ways to vary this recipe: used sardines canned in tomato or chili sauce, and add tomatoes rather than the greens. Other vegetables could be used as well. Make it hot and spicy or mellow and creamy. The capers and pine nuts are optional--I had capers on hand but not pine nuts. The capers added a certain briny depth to the dish, and the pine nuts would add a bit of crunch, I think. Enjoy!
HM
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Simple Things and Doing for Others
In this season of dark and cold, it is good to be grateful for small and simple things. Sunlight, for instance. It is Christmas day, and the sunlight is glorious. We've had a week of grey, cold, rain and ice, and today's warmth and sun is very welcome. The cats are out lazing in the sun in that particularly feline manner of theirs. You can register their vibrations of contentedness even if they're not purring. It is their way of appreciating simple things.
We learned a few days ago that another member of our community had had a mini-stroke. Lillian is about 76 or so, and a real scrapper, but this has taken the wind from her sails. I've been taking her hot soups and groceries--just some oatmeal and canned goods. Some bread and bananas. And spending time with her, sharing the comfort of having friends around.
Then, on the way to Fred's, I stop to feed his cats, who never moved from their den under his old trailer. He's now moved into the farmhouse at Misty, where there are also a zillion cats. David also lives there and he feeds that multitude. But Fred's cats need fed too, and so I stop on my way there and give them their kibble. They are grateful and respond with purrs and windings-around my legs.
On to Fred's where I either make him dinner or heat up what I've brought with me. Other ladies here also take him food, so he's doing OK. Fred occasionally buys lotto tickets. He says if he wins the lotto bigtime, he'll build the valley an old folks home. It's a great idea--we've worked out a plan for the building. It would have a central communal kitchen/dining/living area and the folks would have individual rooms around the circumference. A wagonwheel arrangement in other words. And there'd be people like me who could help with the cooking/cleaning/entertaining and caring for health needs. That's a dream for now, but something to work towards.
Doing for others has great benefits. It gets me out of my typical winter doldrums/blues. Seasonal affective disorder gets us all to greater or lesser degrees. Humans need sunlight and fresh air, and life becomes greyer when we don't have access to them in winter. But you can get yourself out of depressive thoughts and moods by paying attention to other people and their needs.
I've been battling a nasty cold the past week. The past two nights it really got to me and I was exhausted. Couldn't sleep very well because of coughing and stuffy nose. I'm letting the symptoms have their way. It's best if I don't fight it, but merely rest a lot and feed my system lightly but with good nutrition--lots of liquids, garlic, cayenne and rest.
Well, that's it. Be grateful for simple, little things. Be grateful for other people and pay attention to them. Not very awe-inspiring commentary here. That's what having a cold does to you. Energy-stealing things...
Only two more months and I can get back to some serious foraging!
HM
We learned a few days ago that another member of our community had had a mini-stroke. Lillian is about 76 or so, and a real scrapper, but this has taken the wind from her sails. I've been taking her hot soups and groceries--just some oatmeal and canned goods. Some bread and bananas. And spending time with her, sharing the comfort of having friends around.
Then, on the way to Fred's, I stop to feed his cats, who never moved from their den under his old trailer. He's now moved into the farmhouse at Misty, where there are also a zillion cats. David also lives there and he feeds that multitude. But Fred's cats need fed too, and so I stop on my way there and give them their kibble. They are grateful and respond with purrs and windings-around my legs.
On to Fred's where I either make him dinner or heat up what I've brought with me. Other ladies here also take him food, so he's doing OK. Fred occasionally buys lotto tickets. He says if he wins the lotto bigtime, he'll build the valley an old folks home. It's a great idea--we've worked out a plan for the building. It would have a central communal kitchen/dining/living area and the folks would have individual rooms around the circumference. A wagonwheel arrangement in other words. And there'd be people like me who could help with the cooking/cleaning/entertaining and caring for health needs. That's a dream for now, but something to work towards.
Doing for others has great benefits. It gets me out of my typical winter doldrums/blues. Seasonal affective disorder gets us all to greater or lesser degrees. Humans need sunlight and fresh air, and life becomes greyer when we don't have access to them in winter. But you can get yourself out of depressive thoughts and moods by paying attention to other people and their needs.
I've been battling a nasty cold the past week. The past two nights it really got to me and I was exhausted. Couldn't sleep very well because of coughing and stuffy nose. I'm letting the symptoms have their way. It's best if I don't fight it, but merely rest a lot and feed my system lightly but with good nutrition--lots of liquids, garlic, cayenne and rest.
Well, that's it. Be grateful for simple, little things. Be grateful for other people and pay attention to them. Not very awe-inspiring commentary here. That's what having a cold does to you. Energy-stealing things...
Only two more months and I can get back to some serious foraging!
HM
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Simple Home Medicines are Effective
I thought I'd let you all know how some ongoing projects are working out.
The Yellow Dock tincture:
The first is, I'd made a tincture of yellow dock root for a good friend of ours who has non-symptomatic hepatitis C. He's had it for years; doesn't have any of the symptoms, but it is there. I gave him the tincture about a month and a half ago. He recently emailed and mentioned this:
"I had a health evaluation done at work recently. Tell Patty that my Liver Enzyme levels have never been lower. Not once in all the years I've been getting them checked out. Not that they've been sky high, but they were all down in the middle of the normal range. Must be something to those drops. Tell her my Liver and I say, Thanks!"
Three cheers for yellow dock tincture for liver problems, then. And I'm happy that our friend's health is better.
The Horsetail tea:
If you follow the blog, you'll know that an 81 year old friend of ours, Fred, fell and broke his elbow a while back. The orthopedic doc casted his arm and we've been making do ever since. I'd brought over some horsetail chopped up fine and some comfrey leaves to make teas for him and he's been drinking a cup or two a day of each. Last time we went to the doc, his elbow has started healing. There wasn't much to show yet on the X ray, but I'm sure we'll see more improvement when we go back for more Xrays on the 2nd of January.
The Garlic/Weird Mole:
In early November, I'd read a book on garlic as Nature's Super Healer. One of the extracts I shared from the book was on using a slice of garlic on funny moles and melanomas. A few days after writing about it, we started using a slice of garlic on a weird mole of Michael's. When I first looked at it, it was gray and hairy/fuzzy and ugly/weird looking. That was November 6. We've been putting a fresh slice of garlic on the mole every couple of days.
We put another slice of garlic on it today. And today the mole has almost disappeared. It's much smaller--like I said, nearly disappeared. It is now tiny, tan and very pale. I expect it will disappear in another few weeks.
Was this mole a melanoma? I don't think so. It hadn't changed colors or grown larger or any of the other signs that might tell of that deadly skin cancer. It was just a weird thing on his skin. But the garlic is definitely making it go away! We'll have to keep checking on it to make sure that it stays away, of course.
The reason I'm posting about this is that these simple, easy things can be effective and useful. None of this stuff costs much, if anything. Yellow dock, horsetail and comfrey all grow here in the valley. We didn't plant garlic this year (dammit), but we easily could have and it too would grow here. For that matter, there's wild garlic all over the place and if I couldn't get commercial garlic, I'd certainly use wild. It'd probably be better.
This is a very good thing, as dark times draw near. Useful wild plants grow all around us, even in cities, and we can use them to our benefit. It is the medicine God intended for us, after all, and to my mind, much better than pharmaceutical synthetics. Get to know an herbalist or forager near you, or better yet, get to know herbs and wild plants yourself. Then you will always have medicine at hand.
None of these things work as fast as pharmaceutical synthetics, of course, but that's probably a good thing. It takes time to develop problems and imbalances in our physical systems, and we need time to resolve those problems as well.
Needless to say, I'm not saying that horsetail and comfrey tea is "healing" Fred's elbow. Fred's body is healing his elbow. But the horsetail and comfrey are supplying some of what his body needs to do just that. Same with the yellow dock tincture for our other friend, and the garlic for Michael's mole.
Good luck to all in resolving your physical problems as well.
HM
The Yellow Dock tincture:
The first is, I'd made a tincture of yellow dock root for a good friend of ours who has non-symptomatic hepatitis C. He's had it for years; doesn't have any of the symptoms, but it is there. I gave him the tincture about a month and a half ago. He recently emailed and mentioned this:
"I had a health evaluation done at work recently. Tell Patty that my Liver Enzyme levels have never been lower. Not once in all the years I've been getting them checked out. Not that they've been sky high, but they were all down in the middle of the normal range. Must be something to those drops. Tell her my Liver and I say, Thanks!"
Three cheers for yellow dock tincture for liver problems, then. And I'm happy that our friend's health is better.
The Horsetail tea:
If you follow the blog, you'll know that an 81 year old friend of ours, Fred, fell and broke his elbow a while back. The orthopedic doc casted his arm and we've been making do ever since. I'd brought over some horsetail chopped up fine and some comfrey leaves to make teas for him and he's been drinking a cup or two a day of each. Last time we went to the doc, his elbow has started healing. There wasn't much to show yet on the X ray, but I'm sure we'll see more improvement when we go back for more Xrays on the 2nd of January.
The Garlic/Weird Mole:
In early November, I'd read a book on garlic as Nature's Super Healer. One of the extracts I shared from the book was on using a slice of garlic on funny moles and melanomas. A few days after writing about it, we started using a slice of garlic on a weird mole of Michael's. When I first looked at it, it was gray and hairy/fuzzy and ugly/weird looking. That was November 6. We've been putting a fresh slice of garlic on the mole every couple of days.
We put another slice of garlic on it today. And today the mole has almost disappeared. It's much smaller--like I said, nearly disappeared. It is now tiny, tan and very pale. I expect it will disappear in another few weeks.
Was this mole a melanoma? I don't think so. It hadn't changed colors or grown larger or any of the other signs that might tell of that deadly skin cancer. It was just a weird thing on his skin. But the garlic is definitely making it go away! We'll have to keep checking on it to make sure that it stays away, of course.
The reason I'm posting about this is that these simple, easy things can be effective and useful. None of this stuff costs much, if anything. Yellow dock, horsetail and comfrey all grow here in the valley. We didn't plant garlic this year (dammit), but we easily could have and it too would grow here. For that matter, there's wild garlic all over the place and if I couldn't get commercial garlic, I'd certainly use wild. It'd probably be better.
This is a very good thing, as dark times draw near. Useful wild plants grow all around us, even in cities, and we can use them to our benefit. It is the medicine God intended for us, after all, and to my mind, much better than pharmaceutical synthetics. Get to know an herbalist or forager near you, or better yet, get to know herbs and wild plants yourself. Then you will always have medicine at hand.
None of these things work as fast as pharmaceutical synthetics, of course, but that's probably a good thing. It takes time to develop problems and imbalances in our physical systems, and we need time to resolve those problems as well.
Needless to say, I'm not saying that horsetail and comfrey tea is "healing" Fred's elbow. Fred's body is healing his elbow. But the horsetail and comfrey are supplying some of what his body needs to do just that. Same with the yellow dock tincture for our other friend, and the garlic for Michael's mole.
Good luck to all in resolving your physical problems as well.
HM
Monday, December 22, 2008
Something REALLY Useful--for the Ladies
Wow. Oh wow oh wow oh wow. Although I have trained myself diligently to NOT want things, I'm afraid I would love one of these. Oh yes I would.
I was reading along in a Countryside & Small Stock Journal, a very cool homesteading magazine, and an ad caught my eye. There's an attractive woman wearing overalls holding this lavender plastic thing in her hands. Yes, it's the pStyle.
The text to the add reads:
I was reading along in a Countryside & Small Stock Journal, a very cool homesteading magazine, and an ad caught my eye. There's an attractive woman wearing overalls holding this lavender plastic thing in her hands. Yes, it's the pStyle.
The text to the add reads:
- Pee standing up while fully clothed
- Eliminates the need for t.p.
- Reuseable & simple to clean
- Comes in six fun colors
"Such a wonderful product. It worked with zero leaks the first time. I ordered them for my friends, each of my sisters, and my aunt. It's going to replace diamonds as a girl's best friend!"--Anne
What busy outdoors woman hasn't wanted to pee standing up and fully clothed? How many times in the garden did I have to head for the bushes to do the ol' squat and piss? I don't bother counting, tell you that. This thing sounds like a GREAT product.
The website given says thepstyle.com, but for once, google didn't come through for me. However I did find a place called Krista's Cups, and she sells both the pStyle and Diva Cups (a menstrual cup). The pStyle is $12, a case for it is $14 or you can order pStyle and case for $22 or 2 pStyles for $20. There's also a list of retailers in certain states. (There's even a pix of a woman using it, standing up and fully clothed!)
These days we're poor. So rather than buying something, I think I'll just make one. I'll cut up a plastic water bottle probably and see if I can get the shape of the pStyle. My bet is that would work, maybe not quite as nicely, or certainly not in purple or pink, but it would function as needed. I've often thought of making a funnel kind of thing, but really squatting and pissing isn't a big deal. Yet. As I age or my knees get all achy, it may become a problem. Soooooo..... off to the "Make It Do" labs to see what I can come up with.
Onwards, HM
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Spicy Tomato Tea, from Earth Clinic
Our winter festivities have begun. Last night we had a big, fancy communal dinner, which was really lovely. But my throat had started to feel pretty sore and my voice was scratchy, nose runny, eyes watery. Oh oh. I HATE getting sick during these five days or so where we all get together a lot to have fun in various ways.
I started my usual "have a cold" therapy: garlic, goldenseal and echinacea, vitamin C in huge doses, lots of liquids, and all that. Chicken broth, hot baths, lots of rest...
But I also zipped over to Earth Clinic to see what they had listed for "cures" for colds. I had read of this one before, and have used it and recommended it to people, but I hadn't read all the various responses that people have sent in from around the world. First I'll give you the classic recipe, first sent in back in 2003, and then my recipe.
*****************
Spicy Tomato Tea
It works fast (in most cases) and tastes great! These ingredients are well-known serious herbals for their medicinal properties... Used together they do wonders for sinus/ear infections, colds, coughing and sore throat. We've even found it to kill flu germs and strep throat (with no antibiotics).
TOMATO TEA RECIPE
2 cups V8 Juice
2-3 cloves Garlic crushed (use more if you can)
2 T Lemon Juice
Hot Sauce (the more the better, so as much as you can handle)
Mix and heat in a pan or in the microwave. Sip slowly and re-warm as needed to get the full effects of the fumes. Let it sit in the back of your throat to bathe it. Suck the fumes through your sinuses and also down into your lungs. Its all natural and healthy, so drink as much of it as you want or need until you are SURE the infection is gone. This is past the time when you "feel better."
This appears to be the best recipe, but from the comments, people often don't have the right ingredients. Don't let that hold you back. Use whatever you have available. Below are some substitutes that may not work as well or as fast, but will still help. I've listed them by their likely effectiveness:
Substitutes:
V8 Juice - tomato juice, vegetable juice, canned or fresh tomatoes crushed, tomato soup (if really desperate, try another kind of fruit juice, vegetable soup or even chicken soup . you're aiming for high Vit C content)
Garlic - garlic in olive oil, dehydrated garlic, garlic salt (aiming for the strong anti-bacterial/fungal effects)
Lemon Juice - Fresh lemons, bottled juice, limes, lime juice, oranges, frozen lemonade
Hot Sauce - ANY kind of hot sauce works, fresh hot peppers, cayenne pepper, dried pepper flakes (if really desperate, try horseradish, black pepper or even mustard . you're aiming for the highly anti-bacterial/fungal properties of capricin which is found in hot peppers, and its effectiveness at clearing out the sinuses.)
My Spicy Tomato Tea Recipe
2 cups tomato juice
8 cloves garlic minced (I love garlic anyway and always use it in illness)
1/2 tsp cayenne powder
1 tsp horseradish
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp lemon juice (I used the bottled lemon juice from concentrate as I didn't have lemons)
1 tsp tumeric (anti-inflammatory)
herbs: oregano, parsley, celery salt and seed for flavor
Heat it all up on the stove, ladle it into cup and sip the stuff. My nose has already cleared and I'm feeling better--all in a half an hour. Not bad!
I've gotten myself used to cayenne pepper a bit more. I'm taking the cayenne tincture daily--it's hot but now bearable and I like the effect of it. It opens my nasal passages and makes me feel warm all over.
A Fun Shakespeare Show
I'll share this with you just for fun. I found a neat compilation of phrases and one-liners from Shakespeare's plays and sonnets on the web. You can read it here. If you click on the phrase, it will tell you where the original came from, and where in Shakespeare it is found. I thought we could do an interesting audience participation thing with the phrases.
I printed out the list and got some friends to help me provide some dinner entertainment last night. While everyone was noshing away at the fabulous feast, we put on our Shakespeare hats, jester's hats with the bells on the tips, and we read the lines to the folks. It is really amazing how many of these phrases originated in Shakespeare--"dead as a doornail," "give the devil his due," "pure as the driven snow," etc. If we thought the line familiar enough, we'd read the first part of the line, and wait for the audience to provide the rest. We had a blast! The folks really got into it. If you're ever called upon to provide entertainment for a group, this one is fun!
HM
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