Flu: Home-made Helps

From the kitchen, I can hear Violet "teaching" Levi and Lillie.

For someone who says she doesn't like school,
it is funny that she wants to play it with them.
It makes me feel just a wee bit of pride hearing her repeat things she's heard during school this week,
especially since I didn't realize she was listening quite so well.

She does a great job, too.

Every home-schooling mother should have a Violet in their home.
:)

From the other room, I can hear snoring

with an occasional cough.

 My hard-working farmer has succumbed to the sickness going around:

cough, chills, aches and headaches,

that nasty feeling in the sinuses running down into the chest.

It is pitiful to see him.
He rarely gets sick and I don't think I've ever seen him this bad.

I decided I'd better make up some natural medicines to help him.

The birds got to the elderberries this past season.

I saw they were just about ripe,

and then in just a day's neglect,

nearly 5/6 of the berries were gone.

Still, I managed to save about a cup's worth.

I cut the whole head off the elderberry bush,

stuff them into a plastic bag,

and then freeze them until I will need them.

 Once the need arises, I remove the whole thing from the freezer

and rub the berries off of the stems.

I try to pick as much of the stems off as possible,

and then pour them (one cups worth) into a pan with 2 cups of water,

5  or so whole cloves, 1 heaping Tbs. of  crushed fresh ginger, a stick or two of cinnamon.

The pan is set on a lower setting until it comes to a boil,

and is left to simmer for 45 minutes.

I set this batch on the woodstove,
and, oh, the aroma of the cloves and cinnamon made the house
a festive mixture of sweetness!

 Once the time is up,

the cooked berry juice is poured through a strainer,

and a cup of raw honey is added and stirred in.

This tasty brew is super high in vitamin C.

It has been shown in studies

that taking elderberry (cooked into a syrup as such

or even using the dried flowers in a tea),

helps to prevent the flu and even cut the effects of it down considerably.

A Tbs. or two is helpful, 

or even a bit in a small cup.

Another great sickness preventor and healer of the cough

is garlic.

I find it rather hard to ingest raw, so I love to buy pickled garlic.

 This variety is super potent because it is mixed with hot peppers,

but it is amazing how it loosens the frustrating phlegm in the throat.

(I usually eat a small piece of bread after eating about 5 cloves of this garlic,

just because it helps it not be too hard on my stomach.)

Elderberry syrup can be purchased at health food stores 

and online if you don't want to go through making your own "medicine".

The dried herbs can also be purchased

and used in tea.

 I make a tea with the elder flowers

as well as mullein leaf

which is supposed to help loosen phlegm.

Vitamins are a beneficial help to everyday living,

but these are some extra measures that can be taken to protect health.

I'm hoping my farmer is feeling a bit better soon.

It's never fun to see a man sick,

especially when it falls on a weekend.

You can purchase dried elderberries to use to make this syrup
from Mountain Rose Herbs
or from Bulk Herb Store
or your local health food store.

(If you cannot find elderberries,
I also use this product and find it very helpful).

 Amazon.com/Dr-Dunner-Sambu-Guard-6-Ounce/dp/B0017OAKUS

*(Please realize that I am NOT a doctor and I only share this information
as something that I find helpful for my family; some herbs need to be taken with caution,
such as garlic, because of the contradiction they can cause with other medications).*



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Sneaking a Powerhouse into my Hamburgers: Can You Guess It?

My husband told me it was cruel of me to talk about that hamburger
the way I did in my last post.

It was the end of the day at work for him
and he hadn't had much of a lunch.

I'll have to make him some hamburgers this week to make it up to him.

Do you have any special tricks when you make hamburgers?

My hamburgers are a mix of my Russian Grandmother's meat patty recipe
and my own endeavor to sneak healthy ingredients into anything that will disguise it well.

(Healthy doesn't have to taste healthy,

if a mom/wife can help it.)

So here we go:
I usually use 2 lbs of our own ground beef
(this was from one of our grass-fed steer).

I add an egg or two,

depending on if the refrigerator is laying well or not.

This is where I take a side-step for health.

I've come to the awareness that there is a lot of junk in store bought bread:

cardboard has more nutrition than white bread.

My people are not too fond of wheat bread.

I think they'd rather just not eat bread at all.

So to ad some "bread crumbs" without bread,

I have switched to adding about 3 heaping Tbs. or so of ground flax seed

per 1 lb. of beef.

Flax seeds are one of those powerhouse foods.

Some of the things flax is good for:

  1. anti-inflammatory benefits in conditions such as asthma, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, migraine   headaches, and osteoporosis.

  2. protection of bone health

   (if one is unable to get the needed Omega-3 from the necessary fish consumption,

    flax seed and walnuts are great at helping to fill in the gaps). 

  3. protection against heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

   (In the colon, omega-3 fats help protect colon cells from cancer-causing toxins and free radicals, leading to

    a reduced risk for colon cancer.)

  4.  prevention and control of high blood pressure.

  5. providing comparable cholesterol-lowering benefits to statin drugs.

  6. lowering blood pressure in men with high cholesterol.

  7. providing beneficial fiber

  8. putting the brakes on prostate cancer growth

  9. fending off dry eyes.

10. working as a special protection for women's health:

      -protective against breast cancer while maintaining levels of hormones needed to protect bone maintenance.

      -helps restore hormonal balance regarding ovulation and menopause.  (Now who doesn't want that?!)

source: The World's Healthiest Foods

So you can see why I try to sneak it in where I can.


Some chopped onion gets added to the meat,

(add to desired liking or to desired tolerance to the resulting breath;

I added about 1/4 cup to 2 lbs. of beef).

Next I add the desired spices from my spice shelf:

1 Tbs. of parsley ,

about 2 Tbs. of kelp,

(I know; that isn't a spice, is it?

But the nutritional benefits make it another secret ingredient).

1 tsp. of salt,

and a dash of lemon pepper.

(Any pepper will do, of course;

I just like the hint of lemon).

The last time I made this recipe,

I made it into meatballs and sauce for our pasta,

but I use this recipe for my hamburgers, too.

Yum!
(with a silent, healthy twist!)

 *Practical Tip: ground flax seed is more digestible, and can be mixed in drinks or sprinkled on food such as yogurt, cereal or salads.

  Ground flax seed should be stored in the refrigerator or freezer to maintain freshness and to keep it from going rancid.  In seed form, it keeps longer.)
  It is recommended that 2 Tbs. a day is a good amount to take for  nutrition.  Pregnant women should avoid eating more than that in a day:
"Several animal studies (involving rats and mice) have raised questions about the safety of high-dose flaxseeds during pregnancy - not for the pregnant females, but for their offspring. "High-dose" in these animal experiments has meant flax intake as 10% of the total diet, or about 4 tablespoons of flaxseed for every 2,000 calories. Although it is impossible to generalize from animal studies to humans, we recommend that women who are pregnant (or considering pregnancy) consult with their healthcare providers if they are consuming or planning to consume flaxseeds in these high amounts." 
source: The World's Healthiest Foods

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Atthepicketfence.com: Inspiration-friday 
Gnowfglins.com: Simple-lives-thursday 

Wordless Wednesday@ 5 Minutes for Mom
Living Well Wednesday @ Women Living Well
Real Food Wednesday @ Kelly the Kitchen Cop
We Are That Family
The Thrifty Home

Raising Homemakers: Homemaking-link-up

Thegirlcreative.com 

skiptomylou.org: Made-by-Monday 

Theprairiehomestead.com 

themodestmomblog.com 

 

What to Do to Keep Away the Flu.

What do you do for the flu?

I  used the term "hate" a little too quickly in my regards to sheep

in my previous post.

I don't really hate sheep.

I just felt a little vehemently toward them while in the middle of painting them.

I do hate the flu though.

There's nothing to like about that.

When my husband got a flu-type sickness last week,

(which he has never had before that I know of:

he just never gets sick),

I was worried I'd have three little flu's going on

and myself to have to take care of them;
that being if I didn't get sick as well.

I didn't want the flu spreading.

So, here's what I do to try to keep the flu away:

 I mix up a concoction of ginger ale and elderberry juice.

Elderberry has been shown to cut the flu down immensely.
We grow elderberry shrubs,
but the crop from them the past two years has not been very good.
Here is some excellent information on why elderberries are so good
for the flu:
>click here: thepracticalherbalist.com<

I found the elderberry juice drinks at a discount store a while back.

They taste pretty good.

But when they run out,

we'll go back to these:

 I picked up these at the health store.

They don't taste as good.

But they work, so we take them.

 I also take some vitamins and supplements:

 These are all helpful sickness crushers.
The kids have their more tasty chewable versions.
I'm careful about my selection of them as well:
why they would put food coloring in something that is supposed to be healthy
as well as in medicines boggles my mind.



 Liquid intake is a constant to prevent/abate sickness.

This tea is like medicinal gold.

 I had a friend visit over Thanksgiving weekend,

and she had a sniffle and was looking rather pale toward the end of the day.

She told me she was starting to feel a bit sick,

so I cooked up some of this tea with honey.

You know it's good tea when you

recognize and can pronounce all the ingredients.

Within a half hour after drinking this,

along with a Tablespoon of Elderberry,

she raved at how well she felt.

She looked much better too.

The tea does not taste like raspberry tarts,

but when you know what it's doing,

you drink it down.

It tastes to me like the way the health food store smells:

healthy.

 This silver is my newest friend.

I have used it only in the last week to prevent the flu,

but I could tell a difference after my first dose.

It has no taste.

It's supposed to be the strongest form of natural antibiotic

one can take.

It's a sickness killer.
To read further about the great reasons to use silver
click on the link.

>1cure4cancer.com<

The book "Nourishing Traditions" has become my source of pleasure reading.

I never dreamed there would be a day when I'd chose a healthy cook book

as my fun reading.

I find all kinds of information in it that makes me want to revamp my whole life.

But baby steps it must be,

it seems.

Here's a baby step I just tried from this book.

Can you guess what it is?

It is "ginger ale",
but, it tasted kind of salty to me.
I think it must be for helping to beef up one's electrolytes
lost during sickness.
(It almost had a Gatorade taste to it.)

Perhaps if I want to make something a bit more tasty,
I could try the Ginger Ale recipe from

>here: foodnetwork.com<

Do you have any helpful advice for chasing away the flu blues?

(The information shared is my opinion; I am not a doctor.

I apply Bandaids pretty well, though).

Linking up to:

gnowfglins.com: Simple-lives-Thursday
Frugallysustainable.com
Stuff-and-nonsense: Fridays Unfolded  
Commonground: Vintage Inspiration Friday
At the Picket Fence - Inspiration Friday
Tatertots and Jello - Weekend Wrap Up Party
  Freckled Laundry

Flesh Wound, Fungus Fighter

What a title, huh?

Well, happy Friday to you anyhow!

(WARNING: if you do not like to see small wounds

or barefeet,

you may wish to skip this post.)

If you knew you were going to be stranded on a deserted island

and were given one choice of medicine to take with you,

what would it be:

Aspiring, Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Tums?

(Wait a minute, does this mean I am getting old

if I'm thinking about what medicine I would take if stranded on

a deserted island?)

 My medicine of choice would be a plant:

my good friend garlic.

I have found garlic to be indispensable in my life.

Not only does it ad flavor to food,

it is a natural anti-biotic.

I've already said how I found it amazing for ear aches,

but it's also great for wounds.

When I recently had a tooth worked on,

it gave me a lot of pain for a couple of weeks.

I was afraid a root canal was going to be prescribed,

so a couple times a day, I cut a small piece of garlic and

rested it against the gum line.

After the initial shock of it's powerful, raw taste,

the garlic would penetrate through the skin

bringing relief from pain while I knew it was also healing.

I never needed a root canal on that tooth,

and it healed well.

 This little cut on my finger doesn't look like much,

but had something about it that concerned me.

It seemed to be getting worse rather than better.

Hand wounds are forced to deal with more abuse

especially when cooking raw meats,

scrubbing apples that have lied on the ground where wild animals have eaten

and defecated,

feeding and dealing with animals in the barn,

and caring for little people who don't seem to understand 

either the meaning of dirty or gross.

My finger became swollen,

the cut was oozing,

and the pain seemed to be going up my arm

even though I'd applied salves to it as well as peroxide and alcohol. 

My husband suggested garlic,

and I wondered why I hadn't thought of it myself.

Sometimes he's smarter than I am.

(Okay, well, often, but let's not get into that here.)

(This picture was taken after a full day of garlic treatment,

and it's already looking much better).

(Also, please excuse the paint on my nails. It just won't come of:

I'm afraid I'm a very bad hand model).

I applied the garlic like this:

 I cut a slice off like this.

 The garlic slice is then centered on the bandaid.

The bandaid is wrapped tightly so that the garlic is securely in place.

It looks a little strange,

but this held on for the day.

I can always tell when garlic is eating infection

because it does not hurt the skin at all.

When it starts to hurt, it should be removed

because it will burn the skin.  That's why care should be taken

when using garlic on children.

I have used it on my daughter,

but only for a minute or so

and I just reapply a few times a day.

I am not a doctor,

so this is just a discussion of what I find effective for myself.

I know that garlic can have altering affects if used with certain medications,

so you will need to look into using it for yourself.

It has altering affects because it is powerful.

As for my hand wound,

I have worn the garlic in bandaid for two days:

the first day, through the night.

The second, I took it off at night.

I will probably do one more treatment through today.

For my final word, I want to mention toenail fungus.

After I had babies and while nursing,

my body seemed to be low in it's resistance.

I felt like I had no idea what was going on.

Hormones are great that way.

I developed toenail fungus in two of my toes.

(Did I just admit this to the whole world?

What a pleasant confession).

When my baby was eating food so that my milk was not her primary source,

I applied garlic treatments to my toes.

An even more effective approach is to soak the foot in hot water

and then apply.  This softening seems to make the toe

absorb more of the garlic's power.

Be forewarned however:

when I tried this method, it killed the skin around the toe

as well as the fungus.

Also, I minced the garlic and applied for this treatment.

It takes several treatments to get rid of it,

possibly weeks depending on how bad it is,

but it worked for me.

How I manage to get spots of paint even on my toes, however,

is a difficulty I cannot explain.

There are countless articles about garlic on the web.

>Here is just one I found.<

Just type in Garlic Health to find lots more.

Again, I am not a doctor and cannot be specific with your own needs;

this is all just one woman's discussion

of finding a natural way to health.

When the Spider Bit my Hand

This is the mulch pile that,

as my Farmer said,

 

 "Needs to get used; 

the grass beneath it is dead!"

 This is the flower bed

where mulch was in need...

 to blanket the enlarged garden

and squelch out the weed.

This is the glove for my gardening work:

the garden and mulch pile,

I no longer could shirk.

This is the place where the spider's web was

unbeknownst to myself

he took up house in his fuzz.

This month old scar is what's left

from stinging pangs:

thinking mulch stuck my wrist

when I saw twas not, but his fangs.

Here grows the plantain that was picked and minced

then placed with a hot tea bag while in pain I winced.

This is the mailbox where the ER bill will come;...

but the plantain had removed the poison,

swelling gone,

problem done.

So if you are a'gardening and you come upon a fiend,

 remember good friend Plantain,

he's the best Dr. for your need.

Linking up to these great parties:

The Solution to Missing Heads.

 Do you know how many times I get out of bed

or walk up to the bedroom to put clothes away,

and I find this lying around?

 Why is it I just can't bring myself to throw this thing away?

When Lillie finds it,

she always brings it to me saying,
"Help."

"Oh, poor Teddy Girl Bear lost her head again.

Let me see her,"

I respond.

 She's just too sweet;

so I'll spare her the trouble of getting herself into Lillie's cumbersome hands

or under Levi's tromping feet,

and I'll set her where she is safe:...

on Violet's "special fragiles" shelf.

Sweet Teddy Girl Bear reminds me of life's problems sometimes.

My father-in-law spent a few days in the hospital for his heart last week.

He has a recurring problem with his heart beating too fast

at unpredictable times.

It's unnerving,

for him and for all of us who love him.

I wish there was something we could do to make him feel more comfortable.

But there isn't;

except to pray.

My uncle died on Tuesday evening.

He fell and banged his head pretty badly and he was in a coma.

I do not know him very well;

he lived on the other side of the country.

But his son and daughter are my age,

and I feel for my cousins.

And he's my mom's oldest of four brothers,

so I feel for her and her siblings' loss.

There is nothing I can do for them;

(outside of the normal courtesies)

except pray.

My mom went to the doctor Tuesday

and found out the moles they took off her face were cancerous

again.

She had some taken off her face a few years ago,

and they were also the beginnings of cancer.

She has had to face cancer 3 times in my lifetime.

These moles on her face and leg, the beginnings of ovarian cancer, 

and an incident when I was a child.

When I was 9 years old,

she had a pregnancy that terminated without her knowledge that it had died.

The baby turned to a cancerous mass.

It is unusual, called a molar pregnancy.

It stems from the man's side,

and my father is Russian, where it is more common.

I was so sad that I was not going to have a little sibling,

but it was even harder watching mom go through chemo treatments,

lose her hair,

feel sick,

and in a child's worrisome way,

fret that she might die.

It was scary to go through as a child.

I suppose in a way,

that is what made us all much more interested in healthy living

and that put us on a continuous path of learning in it.

When you see someone go through that,

it makes it that much more real to you.

That's why I have a hard time when I inform somebody

that something is bad or carcinogenic,

and they shrug it off with

"Well, we're all going to die of something"
or
"Everything causes cancer."

When you've been through watching somebody deal with cancer
this answer seems so...
apathetic.

Anyhow, yes, it is scary,

a little.

Anytime the Doctor says,

"We need to talk to you,"

it is a little scary.

But when there is nothing more that I can do,

I feel rather like I do with sweet Girl Teddy Bear.

I do what I can,

but then I put her up where she is safe.

I have to do the same with people,

when there is nothing I can do.

I have to pray and put them up in God's hands,

trusting Him to carry my burden

and to help me and those involved through whatever it is that

He wants to do.

It's so much easier when it's up there.

There is no more bending down to find the pieces,

wonder how it got this way yet again,

wonder why I need to deal with it.

 It is safe.

I am so thankful for that safety.

 And it looks considerably prettier up there in that perspective, too.

"Casting all your care upon Him;

for He careth for you."

 I Peter 5:7

If you could say a prayer for my mom;

The only appointment open for her procedure was not until June.

We are praying somebody else will cancel their appointment

so that she can then go in and get this done as soon as possible.

Thank you!

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