Wintery weather, natural flu remedies and general rambling

Cold wet weather has hit again.

Fortunately my little seedlings are all snuggled beneath straw (and the beans behind a frost cloth) and so far surviving.

I have acquired some comfrey seedlings so am wanting to get those planted out.

I weeded my herb garden last weekend and spotted another dozen or so calendula seedlings that had self-seeded from a single plant last year. Looking forward to those lovely flowers.

I have started to use a plantain vinegar tincture I made up about 3wks ago. Nathan attracts insects that bite and seems to be allergic to them (and unfortunately it was likely that insect bites were the trigger to his nephrotic syndrome last summer so I'm waiting with baited breath - and thinking that if I can calm the immune response immediately then he may not relapse - anything's worth a try to stay away from the high-dose steroids for another round).

(this was the freshly made mixture - the resulting tincture was a blue-black colour)

Have been enjoying collecting wild weeds from around the garden to add to salads - a coleslaw the other night included dandelion, chickweed and sweet violet leaves.

I made a rather ummm, hot and spicy flu remedy about a month ago that has been used recently. And yes, both the kids actually drank it (I mixed it into cranberry juice).

Into approx 500ml of apple cider vinegar, blend about 33 cloves of garlic.

Add about 4 tablespoons of honey and 1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper.
It only takes a few seconds of blending (a stickwhizz is good!)
Adults take 3 tablespoons a day in water and children about half that amount.
This mixture is designed so that 1 tablespoon of the vinegar has at least one whole clove of garlic in it.
The mixture will keep in the fridge for around a year. It can be filtered as you need to use it (I use my stainless steel tea strainer to catch the garlic in).

The cayenne is a good general tonic and good for breaking up and preventing congestion and improves circulation.

Garlic has so many health benefits but specific to flu's it is a an antiviral (halts the replication of the virus) and an antibacterial. (I include plenty of garlic in our diet every day). I reckon we don't generally catch anything because people don't want to come near us lol.

This is just one part of my arsenal for dealing with illness - but it's proving to be a goody so far with kicking things in the butt (just don't attempt to drink it on an empty stomach!).