More natural healing

This winter has really taken its toll on us. We're all good at the moment, but it seems that we have a week of nothing and then one or other of us comes down with something new. I can't blame it on stress or being unhappy - we're all in a really good space and enjoying life.
I think this is a combo of several things:
~ First, we are being exposed to more than any other winter with the kids now at school (we're not actually getting any more sick than any of the other school families though, and not getting sick with the same thing even). It just seems more than it is, we've each only been sick with about two things each, but spread that out amongst four of us and not at the same time, it has felt constant!

~ Lack of Vitamin D! I really think this is one of the biggest changes. When we homeschooled I was able to get us out for regular sunshine at the middle of day during winter on sunny days - not possible at school! At school, lunchtime only starts at 1pm, past the best time to make Vitamin D during winter.

~ No vitamins or supplements. For some reason I had fallen off the wagon with supplementing this year (and one less meal to include a wider range of veges and nutrients ie. school lunches mainly comprise of a simple sandwich along with fruit and popcorn, not the cooked up meal that I was used to making them). I've now started them on vitamins again (a kids multi as well as a fish oil with added Bs and iodine), so we'll see how we go as we head into Spring.

Both kids have had an ear infection this year. Ear infections are not something that they generally suffer from, and usually the ear pain doesn't last longer than a few hours when I get onto it right away (usually a combination of either colloidal silver, garlic oil, vitamin C, and homeopathics). Last time though, Danielle had had some strange viral thing that led to a ear infection that became a bit prolonged and required antibiotics (our doctor doesn't usually prescribe them as a standard treatment). Saturday night she said her other ear was aching (4 weeks since the last one), and I got onto it right away. I came across a timely post on Watching Kereru's blog and tried out her onion wrap when Danielle went to bed (I used a woollen sock of Simon's, one of my cotton knit headbands, and Simon's head wrap he uses when he rides to hold it all together). No lingering pain in the morning (I removed the wrap after about 30mins), although there was a small amount later on towards bedtime (so I repeated it).

I have also been suffering from a lingering cough, which started after my flu and then I got a second cough a few weeks later (my cough had progressed to many uses of my asthma inhaler, which usually only gets used a few times a year normally!). Over the weekend I chanced upon some reading on fenugreek that reminded me of the benefits, so started right away drinking 2-3 cups of tea a day (I had a jar of the seeds in my herbal cupboard). Some of  Fenugreek's benefits are that it relieves congestion, reduces inflammation and helps fight infection. It also has expectorant properties that are good for helping with sinus and lung congestion, and loosens and removes excess mucous. Sounds good to me! It's pretty tasty too. Just a warning though ... if like me your body needs a bit of a detox, then this will also produce sweat (and all over the skin in fact) that smells very fenugreeky/curryish - this only last 3-4 days though. Oh, and I haven't used my inhaler since!

Wah! Who heals the healer?

Yeah, I know, mums get sick and we just need to carry on - and I guess over the past 8yrs I've been very fortunate on that front. But after the 4 days that have just gone past, I really was left thinking, "who looks after me?" Now, that sounds more pity-party and poor-me than actually what I mean. I thought, it's all very well that *I'm* learning about the natural healing properties of herbs, and know what I need to do for the rest of my family, but it doesn't really factor in looking after me.

I got to thinking that when the kids are sick I cuddle, snuggle, find herbal teas for them, offer soothing honeys, provide nourishing food and drink, and generally "nurse" them through an illness. But the person offering all of this often misses out on reciprocal treatment.

So after being down with the flu (not really fair after being laid low with Strep throat only 6wks ago), and not being able to help myself much, I think I need to write up a little healing manual for my family to refer to for times just like this...

Yesterday we were blessed with a lovely blue sky and warm, healing sunshine. So the kids and I spent a good amount of time out there around lunchtime soaking up the sunrays and producing a good dose of vitamin D, which we have probably all been starting to run thin on with the shorter days, and lower angled sun.

Hopefully we've had a headstart and will have a fairly bug-free winter now?

Learning about Ayurveda

I have a friend who was showing me her books on Ayurveda earlier in the week. We did the quiz in the book and I came out strongly Pitta/Kapha. Since I know nothing about the Ayurveda philosophy (aside from having heard about it at various times over the years), I decided to get a stack of books from the library a few days back.

One thing that stood out to me is that my "type" really needs to cut back on onions, garlic and hot spices. What is interesting to me about this, is that we eat a variety of these most nights and I was keen to see if cooking appropriate recipes for my type (and incidentally, Simon is the same dual-type as me) would make me feel different. And since I'm all for finding some new recipes, I look forward to finding some new recipes. Of course, as per my usual, I will need to wait till shopping day to buy particular ingredients I need (shopping day is today).

Has anyone followed an Ayurvedic diet at any stage, and how did you find it?

A home blessing...a few wee violets...and a lovely bit of sunshine

Now that the virus that Nathan had seems to have left the house (fingers crossed the rest of us have avoided it), it felt right to give our home a bit of a clean and charge it up with a bit of healing energy.

The house has been feeling grimey, furry, cobwebby and generally dirty. I think the murky weird weather has contributed (it has been quite mild and warmish, but just so damp feeling), as well as our woodburner being in use most days. So I decided to get back into a bit of a modified Flylady routine (just the zones, I don't do the daily things she suggests). I have done her programme off and on over the last 7yrs and found it really good when I've been in the groove of it, but easily fall off the wagon.

At the first sign of sunshine (although very windy and pretty cold), I opened the door to air out any lingering dampness  (the windows have started to get condensation in the mornings). The washing was hung out and the dishes all done (still dishwasherless...still zen about it...). While out hanging up the washing, which is positioned in my herb/cottage garden, I gathered up a lovely little handful of sweet violet flowers that I noticed have just started to peek through to join the heartsease violets.

(A few days back I really got a headstart on the deep cleaning - I was doing a bit of phone catch up with my mum and a friend and spent over the 3hrs (!) on the phone, but managed to simultaneously wash the windows, tidy up the bedrooms and living areas, dusted, did the dishes, hung out washing (then got it in again as it started to rain), swept away cobwebs, and scrubbed the kitchen floor around the skirting!)

I then got down to mopping the floors since they were freshly vacuumed. I don't think I have ever bought floor disinfectant and usually just use hot water with a big splash of white vinegar in it (and to be honest, I'm a really hopeless floor mopper and it gets done *really* infrequently). But, it felt like as good a time as any, so I put a splash of Thieves Oil (and a little milk to emulsify the oil so it dispersed into the water rather than settling on top as a glob of oil) into my hot water. I discovered Thieves Oil a few years ago. No idea if it works, but it seems a nice little thing to do.

The story (one version of many) goes that back during one of the plagues throughout history, and there were dying and dead people lying in the streets or in their homes, that a group of thieves would go around and rob the bodies of their possessions. There was wonder how these thieves didn't also die from the disease. The story goes that they rubbed a certain group of herbs over their bodies to ward off illness. The blend used, which contain anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties, are Rosemary, Eucalyptus, Lemon, Clove, and Cinnamon.

So anyway, it is a lovely aromatic blend. I sometimes use it when I clean the bathroom (I add it to my baking soda bottle), or add a few drops to floor mopping water, and I even like to set a dish of water on my woodburner at night time and drop a few drops into the water to gently infuse the room with its fragrance  (and reputedly sanitise the air).

The recipe I use (and only make up a small amount at a time, so use a 1/2 tsp for my part measure):

3 parts clove oil

3 parts lemon oil

3 parts cinnamon oil

1 part eucalyptus oil

1 part rosemary oil

So, wishing my home and inhabitants good health and good cheer, I was done!

Winter herbal medicine chest

I've been thinking about making up some remedies to have on hand as winter moves closer, and lurgies start to move through the community.

The garden seems to be having a good little burst of energy at the moment; it must be the mild weather and plenty of rain. I've been trawling through my books and course work to see what I can prepare ahead of time. I suffer a mild asthma during seasonal changes (such as right now, autumn). I rarely need to use an inhaler and it passes eventually, but I want to experiment a little and see if I can find some herbal remedies to stop the cough I tend to get as the first sign, which then can make me a little tight in the chest and breathless.

I went to the organic shop on Friday and found some lovely big garlic bulbs. I saved the outer large cloves for planting in the garden this weekend (this will be the first planting), and the inner cloves I used for my garlic honey along with my leftover cloves from last year's harvest that are really too fiddley for cooking with.
On Saturday, the kids and I set to work making a few of these up and discussed where the herbs are found in our garden (they're getting pretty good at knowing the herbs and their uses too).

A basketful of chickweed, plantain, comfrey, and sweet violet leaves.

Sage honey...good for coughs, fevers, colds and flu.

Garlic honey for soothing sore throats and good for the immune system. Has the same uses as sage honey (coughs, fevers, colds and flu)... Good for asthma symptoms. A teaspoon mixed with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar into a glass or water or juice would be a good choice too.

Sage, thyme, lemon rind, lemon juice, honey drunk as a hot lemonade (the sage honey would be useful for adding straight in here). Great for colds, sore throats, and fevers. I love this one, and it's one of the first comforting, soothing things I do.

Violet leaf infusion soothes lungs: good for coughs and asthma (gathered fresh violet leaves for drying to make infusions).

Plantain/comfrey/chickweed salve: wound healer, skin conditions, eczema. My mum asked for something that could help with itchy patches of skin she gets, so I thought I'd have a go at making a salve. It came out perfectly! I started by making a maceration the herbs (infusing in olive oil by setting them to slow cook in the crockpot for a few hours). I then bottled up the remaining oil (strained out the herbs) to use in future salves (it will last 6-12mths). to the melted wax/maceration mixture I added some calendula tincture I made late last year and some lavender essential oil.

The jar of galic cloves are awaiting some runny honey.

Herbal teas: Yesterday I had a fevering, tired boy with no idea what was going on (aside from a one off vomit early in the morning and a headache). I started him off with a drink of hot ginger syrup with some vitamin C powder for the nausea. Then out came my Naturally Healthy Babies and Children by Aviva Romm book. I made him up a tea using fresh herbs and weeds from the garden to help with allowing the fever do its job, restoring health, relaxing and soothing the stomach. He chose one with lemon balm, and I added to it some violet and yarrow leaves.



Other standard first aid kit items I keep on hand are: 20% Active Manuka honey, Colloidal Silver, lemons, garlic, apple cider vinegar, and vitamin C powder.





Special outdoor spaces...my little herb haven

I spotted a few cheery, bright spots out in the herb garden a few days back. They sure are appreciated as the weather cools (and the days look dreary) and as some of the plants are starting to look spindly and tired.

Strangely, the heratsease violets aren't really visible unless the photo is expanded.

Calendulas, Heartsease, and red stalks of the Ruby Chard/Silverbeet.

Thought I'd do an update photo of the herb garden to see how it progresses through the seasons.

Left

Middle

Right

So, alongside all the herbs/weeds that I've bought seedlings for, or propagated cuttings (rose geranium, other geranium, rosemary, evening primrose) or entire bits of plants uprooted and replanted (red clover, forget-me-nots, feverfew), I'm also cultivating some wild weeds that have made their own way there. I have patches of plantain, chickweed, nettle, heartsease, sweet violet, kawakawa, and dandelion.

I'm now loving how the calendulas and borages have popped up all over the place too to fill the gaps. I only need to do minimal weeding these days. Any gaps get vegetables planted in them like silverbeet, spinach, lettuces, and peas (and tomatoes in summer). The garden is also perfectly situated to catch all the autumn leaves dropping off the trees that hang over the fence that add a nice mulch layer for winter.

Happenings from the past week and idle chat...

Hanging out time:
~ We've just completed 2 wks of school holidays. Our first! We had a lovely low-key holidays - mostly hanging out at home together, playing board games on rainy days in front of the fire, catching up with friends, stargazing on clear nights, a trip to the art and culture museum, a bit of crafting, and catching up with our unschooling friends (Danielle declared to them that she is a School Kid AND a Homeschooled Kid - she wants to claim both labels still lol).

Blokus - a game for adults as well as children, where once you know the
rules and figure out how to make strategic moves, age is not an advantage.

~ Apple Magic: Find the secret inside.

~ Nathan pondered whether Kapiti Island (just off our coastline) is taller than the Eiffel Tower - so we did a bit of googling and found out that Kapiti Island is 197m taller.

Garden:
~ Minimal garden happenings this week - my seedlings are coming along well (when I remember to water them and take them out/or air out the greenhouse so they don't overheat). Chicken coop got a clean out and poop added to one of the garden beds in preparation for my seedlings when they are a bit older.

~ Continuing to harvest enough silverbeet to bulk out and add to most meals. Feijoas appear to be coming to an end - but we've gorged ourselves every day and haven't had any excess (aside from sharing with friends we visit).

~ Chickens are off the lay for winter it seems.

~ Simon's built a bike shed. The kids bikes used to live up on our covered porch by the front door - but now that the table and chairs are there, the bikes have just been shunted around. Since this photo was taken he's added a wooden post up the side and top to protect us from the the sharp edges. He's left the bottom section open so it doesn't get too damp in there. It's a long shed and the open end will mean that it should be mostly sheltered from any rain driving in in that direction. And that's my poor very under-used bike in there too.



Around the home stuff:

~ Ick, tax pack has arrived to complete. And homeschooling paperwork to claim a bit of "payment" for the part term when we were still homeschooling. I won't go on too much about the parking fine when we met up with a friend elsewhere and forgot to check for limited-time parking signs! Oops.

Herbal Healing:

~ A friend had a nasty cat-bite on her hand. After being tended to by the doctor and medicated up, I also suggested the chickweed poultice for the swelling. After 2hrs of having the poultice on she said she noticed the swelling down and could move her fingers more than she could before. The wounds also oozed a little as Susun Weed said would likely happen.

~ I had my third chickweed success in as many weeks - Danielle got 3 huge mozzie bites on her ankle over the weekend that really swelled up the whole area and itched like crazy. After returning from being away for the night, I popped a handful of chickweed on and wrapped it up for a few hours. Voila! Upon removing it 2hrs later, we discovered the swelling had completely disappeared. 

~ And another chickweed story. I really seem to be attracting these! Nathan came home from school with a sprained ankle yesterday - painful and quite swollen. So at bedtime (for some reason it still seems to take a while for my brain to click in that I could be using something herbal instead of doing nothing), off I trotted to gather some chickweed and a bit of plantain, which also has anti-inflammatory properties. I crushed and broke it up and strapped it on as before. The swelling was downa  bit and will repeat it again. Love that stuff. I reckon I've well and truly learnt a good deal about chickweed now.



We've dubbed the white cloth (old nappy cut up into squares) and one of Simon's
stretchy sweat straps from inside his bike helmet as the chickweed wraps. 



What I've been up to over the past week...

Lighting fires: I've rediscovered the upside-down fire. I first heard about these last winter and had great success with them. You basically build the fire the opposite of what we typically think. So, instead of building a teepee style fire with paper on the bottom, then kindling, then a few larger chunks directed up into a point, you layer your items the opposite. Start with large pieces of wood layered across the bottom of the fire (tightely nestled together all paralell). Then lay a few sheets of newspaper flat across that (or torn into strips). Then layer some kindling across. Then more paper. The instructions suggest using firestarters at this point. I don't use fire starters though, and have found if I put my kindling on top lightly layers with scrunched up paper it works just as well.

The idea is that the fire starts at the top and drops hot embers down in the lower layers that then proceed to light up (providing you can keep the top on fire long enough which is why I suppose they suggest firestarters). The real benefit kicks in when the bottom layer catches fire. It seems to burn nice and long and hot and actually takes much longer for it to burn through, so you are not having to keep an eye on your fire when you first light it. It will go for a few hours before you need to top it up.

Here's a pretty good link on how to do it (aside from all the manly man talk).

Garden: My lupin seeds have all sprouted (I hope they don't look too enticing to the chickens).

Laundry: We've had a few wet days and it's meant that the drying racks need to come out. I really try and avoid putting the racks up in the house during winter to avoid adding moisture to our home. But, sometimes it just can't be avoided (as it is I only do one load of washing evey 2 days).

Walking to school: We've managed to walk to school, on average, 4 days a week. It takes us about 15mins with me walking at a fast pace, and the kids on their scooters. It's great exercise for me since it's my only exercise aside from gardening. I really hope to keep that up when the weather takes a turn, but we'll see. As it is, I only use about a 1/3 a tank of petrol a fortnight (and that's in my itty bitty little car).

Technology: I have finally stepped (just a baby step) into the 2000s as far as technology goes. My mum got me a basic iPod for my birthday. I'm not really one to listen to music all the time, nor one to race out and get the newest and latest in technology. I much prefer the sounds of nature around me when I'm out gardening, and my own headspace when at home. I do like music, just don't seem to crave it as others do, but I have been really wanting to listen to quite a few podcasts over the years and finally, now I can! It never appealed to me to sit at the computer and listen to them since I'm not really into needlework crafts that require me to sit, so I never really had the opportunity before. I have several Susun Weed discussions on CD that I want to listen to, and have now found that she does podcasts too. So, I can now do that while doing housework, or even on my walk home from school on my own. Oh, and I have loaded all my music CDs onto it as well, for a bit of light relief between interviews. :)

DVD watching: The kids went to stay at my parents on Saturday night and Simon and I went out for a meal for my birthday. We grabbed some DVDs on the way home, to settle for a night in front of the fire, with the rain pattering down outside.

Oops, heartburn hit me. So, out came the fennel seeds for a cup of soothing tea.

Herbal healing - Chickweed



Not a great picture - the chickweed in my garden is only starting to come through after a
hot, dry summer. I actually had trouble finding some to take a photo.

 I had the opportunity to use chickweed a few nights ago.

Simon came off his mountain bike a few days ago and gave his knee a good whack (no external abrasions). All was well, if just a bit sore from the bang, but two days later his joint was sore, flaming red, and hot. It was obvious there was inflammation, but I was also a bit concerned there could be some sort of internal infection brewing. First up he drew around the red area (it was about 15cm long and 7-8cm wide just to the lower side of the knee), just so we could keep an eye on it. I then thought to pull out my herbal books to see if a poultice could help (it was 11pm Friday afterall, so really just a wait and see anyhow since he was otherwise fine). Susun Weed suggested a chickweed poultice as being particularly useful for sore, painful, "hot", and inflamed joints (the saponins in the chickweed has the ability to open cells and draw out infection).

So, off out to the garden we went and gathered up a large handful of chickweed (I had weeded around a patch just a few days before so knew right where to go). We laid it over the red area (just lightly crushed in my hand, and it was already wet from the rain), wrapped a cotton cloth over it and secured it on with a piece of strapping and safety pin. Susun suggests that 10mins to 3hrs is all that is required. Simon went off to bed and I said he could remove it if he woke later on (which happened to be about 2hrs later). In the morning we had a look and there wasn't a trace of redness and the swelling had gone down.

I guess it's entirely possible that this would have been the outcome without the poultice, but it was good to know that it didn't "fail" either.

Chickweed has many uses including treating inflammatory skin conditions (hives, eczema, itchiness, abrasions and wounds, boils, burns), colds and flus (dissolves and expectorates thickened membranes), stomach ulcers, inflammed bowels, sore eyes (conjunctivitis).

Edible: It can also be added to salads (the tender young bits are best), made into pesto, added to green smoothies or in place of spinach in a hot dish. It's packed with nutrients - sure makes sense to use a "weed" that seems to grow freely in most gardens without effort!

Special spaces - my herb room

I have a tiny space set aside for dealing with my herbs. I needed somewhere dry, airy, and without direct sunlight to lay out or hang my herbs to dry. I found the perfect little space in a corner of the laundry. I managed to squish an old oak set of drawers that came from my Nana into a gap beside the washing machine (the drawers themselves actually hold all my sewing bits and pieces such as threads, buttons, pin cushion, and other odd bits and pieces). I put up a wee shelf with hooks and can use the windowsill for added storage.

Right across from it I cleared a shelf in my linen cupboard for further storage. It's a great space as it opens directly from my kitchen, with its useful benches and other utensils easily at hand.



 Shelf space for glass jars, dried herbs (this photo was taken before summer, and that shelf is now full of jars of dried herbs that I gathered), vodka for tinctures, paper bags for storing herbs that aren't good in jars, and a muslin cloth that I use when foraging or for laying my herbs on to dry (and also useful for straining when I made Cleavers Lemonade). Check out the cute detailed wooden boxes that came from an old Singer sewing machine table.

Cleavers Lemonade

I have been meaning to make this for a while. I had read it over at Johanna's Wild Concoctions and decided to give it a go.

So we gathered plenty from our rather abundant patches growing around the outer edges of our backyard.

Got together all the required ingredients (I used the blender method and then strained it through a muslin cloth (spent its previous life briefly as one of Danielle's blankies until she found a preferred one that is now a grey rag!). This is now my herbal cloth that I have taken out with me to gently bundle together foraged herbs and thought it would be good for straining too (it dyed a deep green from the cleavers juice, so I then had to add more juice to dye the rest - just in case it doesn't wash out lol).

And the final result was very nice! The kids had a small glass each as well.

Spring ills

Well, it seems we made it through winter unscathed (removing yourself from a social life kinda does that!), but now that Nathan's all back on form with a strong immune system we've been out and about for the past couple of months and with it recieved a few viruses and coughs and colds. Danielle's down with a nasty cough and cold at the moment (and Nathan's brewing one) and while I was able to get Nathan to take my "rocket fuel" when he was sick a month ago, she's not having a bar of it (understandable really). So last night I made up a Garlic Honey. I have this need to get garlic into the kids whenever possible (I cook with garlic and onion everyday) and during these times I really want to get a more concentrated boost in as an antiviral and antibacterial so these things don't develop too far or linger on for too long (and in Nathan's case I don't want his immune system to go into overdrive again and cause his nephrotic syndrome to relapse).

I filled a small jar with whole garlic cloves and covered it with runny honey. Poked it around to get the air bubbles out, capped it and will let the garlic infuse into the honey. This one can be used from 12hrs after making it but will last for a long time once it's made (the garlic should eventually break down). Can be taken off a teaspoon (which is what they did this morning) or can be made into hot lemon and honey drinks.

Medicinal teas

I've been trying out different types of medicinal teas.

This morning was a combination of mint and lemon balm - I picked a large handful of fresh herbs (a mix of both), popped them in the diffuser of my small teapot and let brew for 5mins. Nathan really enjoyed a small cup, Danielle not so much.

Mint teas are good if you need to relax, help with digestive problems (think after-dinner mints) and relieve headaches. Lemon balm (also a member of the mint family) has similar benefits in calming as well as aiding in digestion.

This evening I moved onto a sage tea (pictured above). A large handful of fresh sage leaves chopped up and popped into the diffuser and brewed for 5mins. A little honey can be added if needed, but when using fresh leaves it is not likely to be bitter (however is using dried herbs they can be).

Sage is good for aiding digestion, soothing sore throats, colds and flus, eases nasal congestion, help with sore gums to name a few.

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!).

Honey the Healer

A few months ago, honey finally made its way into my home first aid kit. I'd heard of its healing benefits for quite a while, but had never really looked into it too seriously.

Here in New Zealand we have Manuka honey which is known as a top quality medical-grade honey that has antibacterial, antiviral, antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties.

Manuka honey comes in different grades (rated on how Active it is) and it is kind of tricky knowing that what you think you are buying is the real-deal, but I have been fortunate to find one that does a good job. It's not cheap, but then a little goes a long way. Lower than 10% Activity is good for general health use, but higher than 10% (I have 15-20%) is the one to use for wounds, bacterial and viral conditions. This is the first aid one to get and save it for when it's really required.

Already in the few months that I've owned my little pot of it I've had several uses for it.

I've used it to speed up the healing process of wounds that had the potential for turning nasty (Danielle received a deep stab-wound from some broken glass in a local playground that slid in sideways into her knee). First up the honey drew our the build up of fluid and blood deep down in the wound that had blown up, yet was trapped. This was an almost immediate reaction where the ooze (sorry about the goopy word) was drawn from the wound. The honey then kept the wound soft, clean and stopped it from drying out (which is when scarring and tearing occur - so covered wound care is the best rather than letting it dry out to heal). It helped the dead skin remove easily and for the new skin to regenerate underneath. I applied the honey to the wound twice a day over about 3 days until the wound had completely sealed over without scabbing.

I have used it when Nathan had a sore throat, and after one drink with lemon juice the sore throat was gone.

I have used it on myself recently when I had sore, dry, skin on my face. For some reason my eyelids, forehead and cheeks had gone particularly dry and felt almost sunburnt and had done for several months. I decided to wash my face using the honey and after 2 uses (I used it only at night-time before bed) my skin was back to feeling soft and no longer dry, flakey or sore. To use, I wet my face, applied about 1/4 teaspoon of honey (you need ensure that the teaspoon is clean and dry so as to not ruin the honey), rubbed around and it surprisingly disperses easily and not in the least sticky. I then rinsed it off lightly using only water and no rubbing (I wanted to retain some of the honey as a moisturiser over night) and patted dry.

Lovin' that honey!

My Green Pharmacy

I've been rearranging my pantry so I now have a medicinal shelf (includes 20% active Manuka honey, apple cider vinegar, coconut oil as well as herbs and spices for medicinal as well as culinary purposes). I've also been cleaning up old jars and sourcing paper bags to pop dried herb flowers and leaves into as I collect them over the coming months (or ones that I have bought if I'm not likely to find them myself).

The kids and I harvested some young dandelion leaves from our backyard last week - it was good to finally find some real ones after having only been finding the *imposters* in recent times.

The Real Dandelion
The leaves are smooth and soft and not shiny (pale green)
The leaves stand upright off the ground
The flowers are borne on a single pale green stem that is hollow with a milky sap

The Imposter
The leaves are hairy/spikey and glossy
The leaves are dark green and lie flat on the ground in a rosette
The flower stems are borne on tall, branching stalks with many flowers in a candalabra

It was also good to get in touch again with the little patches of wild weeds growing around my yard for when I need them.

As part of my course I've been doing a few little experiments (currently drinking fenugreek tea 3 times a day for 3 days - and ewwww, I'm getting the curry-fragranced perspiration the books talk of in the name of detoxing). It's quite pleasant to drink providing the seeds haven't been brewed for too long (5-10 mins is optimal).

I tidied up my aloe vera plants and repotted some of the little baby plants that have popped up (I now have 8 plants growing). I also found a large, wide leafed, spikey aloe vera in a pot in my garden that I got from my nana's house last year (didn't realise it was aloe vera at the time as it is a different variety to the others I have in the house). Nathan's been using it on his grazes and bug bites.

Chicken health

I went down to let the girls out this morning and noticed that Mouse had a bit of a cough or sneeze. I recalled when we first picked the girls up from the breeder that she mentioned supplementing them with vinegar, garlic and olive leaf tea for health and snuffles. I have just been trying to google this but do you know how difficult it is to get a good hit without getting a recipe (even if I replace the word chicken with poultry)! LOL.

So, I'm none the wiser, but have gone ahead anyway and made up some olive leaf tea (we have a tree in our garden that I cursed ourselves for cutting down just prior to getting the chickens, but it's cut off truck has sprung back to life) by boiling up some chopped up leaves for 10mins, added a large splash of apple cider vinegar and a chopped up garlic clove. Well, those things are all good immune boosters in humans, so I'm hoping there are some benefits for the chickens too. I then added a generous amount of the liquid to their laying mash (which I had to buy since the supermarket was out of pellets) and filled their water feeder up with the rest. They chomped into it right away, so must be tasty if nothing else! So I will keep an eye on her and see how we go.

If anyone has any natural health links or knowledge to pass on to me I would be grateful.

Herbs

My friend Sandra wrote a post on herb seeds she'd recently purchased. I also bought a bunch myself a few weeks back, and Sandra was interested in knowing what I'd decided to go with. I have developed a keen interest in growing herbs for culinary as well as medicinal purposes, so have been borrowing books from the library and deciding which ones to purchase for myself.

My herb sprial is slowly becoming filled in (has chives, oregano, sage, Italian parsley and thyme) as I gather cuttings from friends houses (so far evening primrose, but will also get some comfrey next time to put down by my compost heap) and while out and about walking (I've found fennel and mint). When I planted out my insect habitat a month or two back I included a few herbs in that - clary sage, lavenders, winter savory, chamomile, marjoram, geranium and lovage.

Others I have around my property (that I know what they are) - aloe vera, cleavers, chickweed, dandelion and red clover.

After going through the books, I just decided to buy a whole bunch of commonly used herbs and thought I'd just give it a go when Spring arrives...not all will be ones I need, but nice to have on hand. Some are very useful insect repellents, others are not for ingesting and some are quite stinky so will not all be planted in my herb garden area.

Marshmallow
Peppermint
Rue
Tarragon
Valerian
Wormwood
Borage
Catnip
Angelica
Hyssop
German Chamomile
Feverfew
Echinacea

The "Real" Dandelion

I have a friend who is right into "weeds for medicinal purposes" (and I'm talking about the legal type here!) and it's great when she comes over to point out what's what. It's not something I've ever really been interested in, but I find the more I hang out in my garden, the more I am interested in what is naturally growing in my garden environment. Weeds are such a telling sign for what type of soil you have and I now see them as a beneficial addition to a garden (for the most part!). I was reading a book which was very much into a natural organic garden where the author would leave all self seeded plants exactly where they were because they were there for a reason - and rightly so. She also had a section on weeds and talked a bit of dandelion plants. That was a bit of a learning experience. What I had always thought were dandelions are in fact not - and are actually known as "false dandelions" LOL. BUT, today while down in the garden as the kids played in the mud that had accumulated around the base of the bath/trough I spotted a Real Dandelion.

The differences...

The Real Deal
The leaves are smooth and soft and not shiny
The leaves stand upright off the ground
The flowers are borne on a single pale green stem

The Imposter
The leaves are hairy and glossy
The leaves are dark green and lie flat on the ground in a rosette
The flower stems are borne on tall, branching stalks with many flowers in a candalabra

Dandelions are a useful addition to salads and contain iron, silicon, magnesium, sodium and calcium, high in vitamin A, B1, B2, C and small traces of a few others. So, off to munch on my dandelion plant and soak up the goodness...

Can we do some juicing mum?

Nathan *loves* when we decide to juice some fruit and vegetables (and Danielle's quickly catching onto the fun with her "juice, juice!"). Often we will do it if there is a lot of left overs at the end of the week before our new delivery box arrives. But today, it was delivery day and it seemed a nice way to fill an hour (taking into account preparing the fruit/veg, juicing, drinking, cleaning the juicer and taking away the leftovers).

The other time I will often do juicing is when the kids are sick and I want to keep their bodies from using energy to break down high protein foods unnecessarily and instead skip regular food and go for fresh fruit and veg - and for us, the easiest and tastiest (not to mention an enjoyable activity) way to get those is through juicing.

I wish I hadn't left my camera in the car, I saw one of those memorable moments when they were both drinking their beetroot juice and had a bright red ring around their mouths.

These were the two combinations we made today using what we had available:

Beetroot Blast

1 small carrot
2 small apples
1 small beetroot
200ml water

Pear Pleasure

2 oranges
1 apple
1 pear
1 teaspoon honey