MrandMrsW In your comments you touched something i wanted to discuss for a long time.Use , storing and collecting herbs.In " what did you prep today "i do not see any postings.I like to hear what people use in personal life and works for them. Some of my favors:
Stomach acid-
Relief-half tea spoon baking soda in cup of water
Cure-DANDELION ROOT organic roasted tea-half a cup before meal and after meal for couple days than in the morning on empty stomach and before bed time.( put honey in it for good taste)
Cough
Throat irritation-tea spoon of honey
COUGH SIRUP -mix teaspoon of honey,lemon juice and whiskey (i prefer brandy)
Earache
few drops of warm chamomile tea in the ear.Repeat few times
Immune system bust
Teaspoon of honey and apple cider -morning and before bed time
or Cut four lemons and 12 cloves of garlic in 1/2 litre of water boil for 5 min. have a small drink in the morning and night.
Henry
Hi Henry
I had excellent success treating a long term cough with mullein. This is a herb worth looking up! It's very easy to identify although it has become much less common since all the spraying. I used it as a tea
That is a good subject, I too would be interested to hear what folks store that they use..
For myself, I will try and write out the ones I use the most on the top and work my way down to one's I only have a small amount of.
1) Stinging Nettles- I dry jar after jar of this for household use, I made nettle vingers, and drying pounds of it for critter health use- what doesn't nettles do.. its the be all, end all of the herb world for me.. I love this little book I got from england.. 101 uses for nettles..
2) Elderberries- Both flowers and berries- again used medically(immune booster), tea's, cooking and for wines/vinagers etc
2a) Horseradish- I use much more green leaf then I do for the root, I use the root but its the dried leaf that is used almost daily.
3) Chokeberry- Berries only- (cough syrup)
4) Plantain- I put up both the broud leaf and the narrow kind in large amounts- including seeds, use in salves, herbal tea's, and in vinagers etc
5) Cottonwood buds- Salve making- I gather these in that limited one to two week window but as each batch takes six to eight months to make and is used all year long, I am counting it regardless..
6) Burdock - leaves, and roots, used in a number of ways.. both medical and herbal, soap making, salve making etc
7)Mints of all kinds- Herbal, medical, tea's and cooking.
8) Daylily- I dig the roots in the spring, eat alot of fresh flowers and dry jarfuls as a mushroom replacement for use in wintertime cooking
http://livingmydreamlifeonthefarm.wordpress.com/2011/07/02/golden-needles-harvesting-has-started/
On a much smaller scale, I do all kinds of the typical herbs grown in a garden.. but the eight above are my main go to plants when it comes to being made into many different forms of healing from immune boosts to tummy ache to cough's to increasing milk production etc
The other thing to note on the ones above, they are all local, both produced on the farm directly but also available within walking distance for the same natural sources.
http://livingmydreamlifeonthefarm.wordpress.com/
l actually store very little since l rarely ever get sick but am starting to stock more for my girl and any others that may join us. What l do use :
garlic - boosts your immune system and acts as an antibiotic (l eat lots which is why lm never sick)
onions- kills bacteria and has many uses (onion syrup works like cough syrup and gets rid of colds) again l eat onions every day so illness doesnt get a hold of me 🙂
Those 2 alone can keep you very healthy
for more occasional use think about echinacea, calendula, aloe, goldenseal and honey works wonders
* for those who dont know - echinacea and calendula are both flowers in the daisy family (pink for echinacea and marigolds for calendula)
DvntMstr I agree about garlic and onion but what happen if the ones that want to join you wants to kiss you? ha
Henry (i had to say it)
l hear ya there lol but unfortunately it is the allicin in garlic thats medicinal - odorless garlic has it removed hence the medical value is lost
there are things that neutralize the smell and make you remain kissable like eating parsley at the same time 🙂
Rosemary is a classic digestive, nerve, and circulatory tonic. It is a good treatment for low energy, low blood pressure, and poor circulation. The herb improves memory and lifts the spirits. The tincture, tea, or even the fresh plant may be rubbed freely into areas of poor circulation. To discourage lice infestation, the essential oil or a strong tincture can be used for brushing the hair with hairbrush.