Vitamins vs.Whole foods

I have never taken vitamins.Well,I guess I did once in my first pregnancy.....I did for a little while because that was/is just the thing to do.In pregnancy,you take prenatal vitamins.Everyone does.I haven't taken any "vitamins" since then.I have heard that with the way the world is now,(pollution,depleted soils etc.) that we *can't* get enough vitamins out of the food we eat.I don't believe it.:) I believe that we *do* have to be extremely careful in our food choices.Grow/raise what we can,buy local and be very careful when we buy food from a store.In other words,Wal-Mart is out lol. HERBS are a great source for vitamins and minerals too! I believe that the further that you get away from God's original product,the worse off you are.

Raw milk  It is FULL of amazing  vitamins,minerals,good fats,protein etc.

Eggs  from free ranged chickens.ANOTHER absolutely amazing food that is just loaded with nutrition,*especially* the yolks.Funny that two of the most nutritious foods (raw milk and eggs) are considered *unsafe* and *unhealthy* by the "professionals".

Smoothies.......I use HM yogurt,frozen fruit,vanilla and kale.OJ concentrate is great for making smoothies good without added sugar.I don't use it much though as it is still a sugar.

Apple cider vinegar......A tsp or two a few times a day in water.

Bee pollen I hate the taste of bee pollen so I recently put it into capsules for my dh and I.

Spirulina I have recently started trying to get this into our diet but it really gags me.Capsules are real messy to do.I can stomach it in my smoothie but I sure like my smoothie better without it.Sooooo the other day I thought that I would just mix it with some water and down it THEN drink my GOOD smoothie.NO way could I do it....It was so disgusting lol.I think I will just have to do put it in my smoothies.

Herb tea...I have mentioned this before many times I know:).If you have never read it before,go read my blog post about Nettle and then do a little research on it.Amazing stuff.There are so many wonderful tonic herbs that are safe to take daily.Get educated and have fun making your own tea mixes.

So anyhow,those are our vitamins! :)

The home remedies I reach for first......

I love herbs.I have since I was a teen.I love growing them,gathering them,buying them and making my own teas,tinctures,salves,syrups etc.It is SO fun and satisfying.There are so many different herbs that I love and use but I thought I would post about the very first things that I reach for in almost every illness.

Cayenne/Ginger/Honey-Cayenne and Ginger both STIMULATE the body into high gear which is what you want to do when you are fighting of *anything*.You want your body working at it's best.Cayenne is great for big people.At any sign of *anythig*, pop a couple of cayenne capsules, get into a hot shower or bath and stay in as long as you can.Do that a few times a day.Ginger is a more mild stimulant but is wonderful! It is great for children and adults.A very easy way to give your children ginger is to mix it with honey.Give them a 1/4 to a 1/2 tsp mixed with honey several times a day.Ginger is also wonderful for stomach bugs.If you take enough and keep on it it can truly keep you from getting sick when everyone else is sick around you.It will make you feel hot!!I put it in the bath too.It will really heat you up! When my children are fighting something,one of the first things I do is get them into a hot bath with a stimulant.It really gets the body working well.

Garlic-I can't imagine life without garlic.Both for flavor and medicinal value.Garlic is one of the best natural antibiotics.There are many ways to take it but fresh is best.Chewing it or crushing it is supposed to be the best way to take it,Chewing up a garlic clove is really not as bad as you might think.Just have a glass of water ready.:) You can crush it,chop it,mix it with honey,put it on toast or you can even make a tea out of it.Raw is best but there are still lots of benefits in cooked garlic.My young children are not fond of chewing garlic so I chop it fine and mix it with honey.:) A couple of cloves,several times a day for adults.Less for little ones.Garlic is just fantastic for *everything*.

Echinacea - Another wonderful antibiotic! I love to grow my own echinacea and make tincture.I give a tsp or so of echinacea tincture several times a day.I will put my children on it for a coupe of weeks now and then during flu season just to give their body a boost.

Elderberry-I add fresh elderberry to my tinctures and dried elderberries to my teas.I also make elderberry syrup.They are just FULL of good stuff! They are supposed to be an excellent flu fighter!

HERB TEAS-Yarrow,Catnip,Peppermint,Chamomile and Nettle are a few of the herbs that I reach for first.It would be SUCH a hard decision but I think if I had to choose 5 leafy herbs,they would be the 5 I chose.I don't want to go into a bunch of detail about what each herb is good for as that is not what this post is about.(You can research/Google them and find TONS of info about all of the details.The Bulk Herb Store also has really good information.) BUT,hot herbal tea is wonderful for the immune system.I love to serve it to my children every morning.We go through a gallon some mornings!Yarrow is a powerhouse herb.It is very STRONG and BITTER. I don't usually use it unless I am really worried about an illness or am very serious about fighting something off.It is fantastic stuff though.Nettle (I have a blog post here about Nettle under "herbs") is a wonderful tonic herb FULL of vitamins and minerals.Peppermint is a stimulant, a decongestant,antiseptic (plus lots more!) and also makes yucky herbs taste good! :) Catnip is just a wonderful children's herb overall.Chamomile is delicious,soothing and settles the stomach.I make these herbs seperately or mix them sometimes.

Anyhow,I give my children ALL of the above stuff at the same stuff....:) Other than an occasional tylenol and one child that had antibiotics for Lymes,my children have *never* had ANY other medicine.(That I can remember)Oh,I did buy cough syrup once, years ago ,but only used it a couple of times.I use herbs for *everything*.They WORK!!!

Garlic

My garlic patch this year.......Garlic is one of the best natural antibiotics there is.I should have about 100 heads of garlic at the end of this year if it does good.I am excited as I have never grown it before.....I don't know WHY because we love garlic!

Making an herbal tincture or vinegar.....

I thought I would write about this today as this is one of the things I am going to do today!

For tincture:

For a basic tincture you will need......

A glass jar (canning jars are the best)
The herb/herbs you want to tincture
Vodka/glycerine/rum/brandy

You can use dried herbs but fresh are the best!

If you are using fresh herbs....Chop the herbs coarsely and pack them into the jar....Don't pack them in SOLID but do pack slightly.....Fill the jar with your choice of alcohol (not rubbing alcohol of course!!!),label and let sit in a dark place for atleast 6 weeks.....Strain,bottle,label and use.Tinctures last for years..... If you are doing dried herbs...Fill your jar about 1/3 full of dried herb and then pour 1 cup of boiling water over them.Make sure they are all moist.....Wait a few minutes and then add your alcohol or "menstrum" (The correct term for the liquid you use to tincture your herbs....)

Making tincture is extremely easy and can save you alot of money! Tinctures are expensive to buy and the quality of most that you *can* buy wouldn't compare to the quality of fresh,homeade tinctures!

You can really have fun with homeade tinctures! Make up your own combinations....You can even add fruits! I love experimenting with different herbs/fruits and see how good I can get the tincture to taste. They can be really good.....You can also add sweetener to the finished tincture to make it taste better....Mollasses,maple syrup,honey etc......Glycerine makes a really good,naturally sweet tasting tincture but *supposively* it doesn't extract as much from the herb as alcohol.You can use flavored alcohol too but the stronger the alcohol,the more good stuff you will extract from the herbs so the flavored/sweetened alcohols aren't *as* good....

Today I am making CHICKWEED tincture AND Vinegar.....

FOR VINEGAR......

Make herbal vinegars the same way you would tinctures except use applecider vinegar (I use the good RAW stuff) for your menstrum and you only need to let it sit for 2 weeks.You can let it go longer if you want! Don't cover it with a canning jar lid though....It can rust fast and the lid is SO hard to get off! A baggy with a rubberband tied around it works great. Herbal vinegars are excellent for you.Raw apple cider vinegar is mineral rich and wonderful for you by itself but when you soak herbs in it the calcium from the herb readily dissolves into the vinegar and you then have an extremely mineral rich product!They can taste great too....Later on this summer when my garlic is ready to harvest I plan on making a garlic/sage/thyme vinegar.I think that would be delicious!

Read an excellent article HERE about herbal vinegars! I do not endorse this herbalists views on spiritualality at ALL.....She is very "earthy" and believes in the herbs having fairies/spirits etc.etc. and has many more wrong beliefs but she has alot of good things to say about health....

Nettle

Latin name - Urtica dioica

Common names- Stinging Nettle,Common Nettle

Medicinal actions-diuretic,astringent,tonic,styptic,rubifacient,alterative,nutritive,
hemostatic

USES- ( This information comes from my well stocked library of wonderful herbal/health books.)

*Increases fertility in men and women
*Eases leg cramps and other muscle spasms
*Diminishes pain during and after birth dues to its high calcium content
*Prevents hemorrhage after birth.Nettle is an excellent source of vitamin K and increases hemoglobin,both of which decrease the likelihood of postpartum hemorrhage
*Reduces hemorrhoids
*Increases the richness and the quantity of breastmilk.
*Stops external bleeding
*Excellent hair tonic
*Blood purifier....This makes it an excellent remedy for all kinds of skin problems (including eczema and acne)Since the cause of skin problems is often internal we must use blood cleansing herbs to treat them.
*Wonderful for the kidneys/bladder (including kidney stones)
*Headaches
* Helps prevent illness of every kind

MY personal experiences with Nettle......

Nettle is a wonderful,nourishing herb! It contains almost all of the minerals and vitamins needed for good health, especially vitamin A,D,C and K.Calcium,potassium,phosphorus,iron, and sulpher are abundant in Nettle.It is a very good tasting tea.Everyone in my family loves it except for me! It is one herb that I particulary do NOT like the taste of.I think I am the weird one though because I have heard from several sources that it is one of the best tasting herbal teas.It is readily available for gathering by nearly everyone as it grows just about everywhere!
This is the first herb I would recommend for any kidney/bladder problems and one of the first herbs I reach for when feeling run down.It is such a wonderful tonic!I send my husband a big mug of herbal tea everyday to work and it is often Nettle.
Nettle is my very healthy/good looking:) midwife's tea of choice.She drinks it daily and believes it to be a very big part of her good health.She has seen wonderful things happen with Nettle and anemic people.
As stated above, it is a great herb for maintaining health.Keeping healthy should be our goal.Herbs will help us heal ourselves when we are sick but the *best* route to go is to KEEP healthy.Nettle tea is a perfect for this!

Preparations and dosages:

Tea is the only way I have ever used Nettle.With nourishing/tonic herbs teas are the best way to get all the vitamins/minerals the herb has to offer. You can NOT overdose on Nettle tea! To make a good strong tea take a quart jar and put a nice size handfull of dried herb.(If using fresh,use two handfulls.) Fill the jar with boiling water,cover and steep for atleast 20 minutes.I like to let it steep until it is completely cool and then just reheat it if we want it warm.The long steeping time draws alot more nutrition from the herb.I like to get my tea steeping before I go to bed and then it is ready in the morning to strain and drink!

* BE CAREFUL* when pouring boiling water into glass jars.I have been making teas for years and love making it this way but occasionally a jar does bust.I have only had it happen a few times but it has happened.

* If you do not enjoy the taste of Nettle tea (like me!) add some mint.Mint is wonderful for disguising bad tasting herbs.

In my medicine chest....Garlic herb honey

Not drugs :) Herbs..... I *love* herbs.I love health.I am very much into healthy,wholesome living....

Garlic/herbal honey......

I made this yesterday for colds/sore throats and *who knows what else*.Honey alone is a wonderful medicine but add garlic and herbs and you have a powerful antibacterial/antivirus syrup that tastes great and is excellent for you!I also like this syrup because it is an easy way for children to take garlic.

Put 2 cups of honey,a handful each of sage and basil....and 5 heads of garlic in the blender.Blend it until it is pureed and then put in a quart jar to let it sit for a couple of weeks.(In the sunshine if possible) After atleast 2 weeks strain it and then bottle it!A wonderful thing to have on hand!

Calendula

Calendula.....
Latin name:Calendula officinalis

Common names: Pot Marigold

Medicinal actions: anti inflammatory,anti-spasmodic,astringent,vulnerary,anti-microbial,anti-fungal,lymphatic,emmenagogue,diaphoretic

Uses:Calendula is one of the best herbs for treating any kind of skin problem.Inflamation,infectionphysical injury,bleeding,bruising or strains Calendula is excellent.*Insect bites*Hemorrhoids*Skin diseases,Eczema,Psoriasis,fungal conditions(ringworm,athletes foot)*Sunburn/Burns*Ulcerations*Varicose Veins*Measles*Cancer*disorders of the liver*expels wormsJust to name a few......:)

My personal experience with Calendula.....I have *mostly* used Calendula externally and it seems to work really great! I just started a batch of Calendula ointment a few days ago. It is *one* of my favorite herbs for ointments.I also love to add Comfrey and Yarrow.They are great for skin conditions too.Calendula is a *safe* herb.You can drink it freely.I have heard that it loses alot of it's nutritional value when dried.I don't know if that is true or not but I freeze mine just incase.It is SO easy to grow! I start alot of seeds every spring.It is beautiful and it reseeds itself readily.It doesn't smell the greatest.....Sort of skunky like a regular marigold in my opinion.Then on the other hand it has sort of a good smell....:)

To make an ointment:Harvest herbs after the dew is off.You do not want moisture on your herbs as it will cause mold to grow in your ointment.Do not wash the herbs!Chop coarsley and pack into whatever size jar you are going to use.I like to pack my jar fairly tight.Cover with oil.(I use olive oil) Use a spatula and stick it down in the jar a few times to try and get as many air pockets out as you can.Top off the jar again with oil if necessary.The oil should come completely to the top of the jar.No air space.Let sit for 2-6 weeks.I like to do 6 if possible.Check your jar once in a while and top off with oil if necessary.(Usually it isn't) Make sure you have it sitting on a towel or something as it may seep.After you have let it sit as long as desired then it is time to strain the oil.Pour contents of jar into a cheesecloth and squeeze,squeeze,squeeze ! :) Let the strained oil sit undisturbed for several hours or overnight to allow water droplets to settle to the bottom of the jar.Pour the oil into another jar(after letting it sit), leaving water droplets behind!Now to make the ointment...For every ounce of oil you have you will need approx a TB of beeswax.You can buy little beeswax pebbles (which are really easy to use!),you can use a chunk of beeswax and grate it(isn't to hard),or you can raise bees and harvest your own beeswax AND propolis (like I am attempting to do!).Either way is fine! :) Heat the oil/wax *just* until the wax is melted,stirring constantly.Pour into containers! If you find that you want your ointment to be not so hard you can reheat it and add a little more oil(just plain olive oil is fine) or if it is to soft you can reheat and add more wax. It is fun to add Essential oils too.They add(depending on which kind you use) anti-bacterial/virus/fungal properties to the ointment and also smell wonderful! Tea tree/lemon/clove/lavender/calendula are a few kinds that work great in ointments!Have fun! I *love* to make ointments!

Herbs......

Psalms 104:14 ".....and herb for the service of man...."
Along with a wife and mothers many duties, taking care of her family's health is one of them.Herbs were created by God for people and are perfect for food and medicine.Be educated! Study healthy living/herbs so that you can feel confidant taking care of your loved ones when they are ill.It is risky business,going to the doctor these days(child abuse suspision and all manner of germs) and anyhow, most doctor visits are unnecessary.Most people are ignorant (in the true sense of the word) about their health and need a "professional" to tell them what is the matter with them AND what to do about it! This is a dangerous situation to be in as most doctors dont know a thing about health,only how to cover up symptoms with drugs.Illness is a warning sign from the body that something is wrong! The situation needs fixed not covered up! After years of blocking out the body's red flags that something is out of harmony what is going to eventually happen? Cancer,heart disease,diabetes,etc. etc. etc.I am starting a series of posts about my favorite herbs.....:)