Home remedies

[Lynger]

You could, or you could add more of which ever herbs you thought were most appropriate. Lots of commercial blends like that are probably 50% mint for flavor, with 8 or 10% of the other ingredients... mostly because taste is important to the average consumer.
[/quote]

Thanks- I kind of mixed it up with approximately all equal parts - and yes...it did indeed tase like crap - but it also worked.

[Jonathan_Byron]

Thanks- I kind of mixed it up with approximately all equal parts - and yes...it did indeed tase like crap - but it also worked.

That's the thing ... too many people are governed by their taste buds.  People fall into a sweet rut, or a high-salt rut, or whatever, and they don't really accept products that are not sweet, or salty, or whatever they think they need.

[Deb]

My son is eight now, and he is pretty used to the "medicine" I frequently have him drink. His standard response to each herbal brew I give him is, "Did you put in the honey?" Cracks me up. Such a good kid. So I made some elderberry syrup, from the few berries that were left after our last goat "hit." Fence goats in? Nope. Fence them OUT! But, still, they managed to get the trees. Sigh. I'm a recovering alcoholic, and so I haven't come up with a good tincture base yet. Thus, the syrup/cordial. Last dose I gave my son for a cold with some fever, and later some congestion, was first boneset initially, which if you've ever tasted that particular brew, you'll understand my son's initial reluctance! I was low on honey, so I put a dollup of elderberry cordial in the tea. Shazam! Son loved it, and since the elderberry is good for flu and cold, helped as well. Later I used horehound and marshmallow for the congestion, and I just bribed the little guy with a spoonful of cordial. Now I understand the phrase, "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down!"

[Meg]

Deb

I have experimented this year with kombucha vinegar for making elderberry extract.  (I have also made elderberry vodka - but the kombucha vinegar is a much cheaper alternative.)

Kombucha is a sweet fermented tea drink, which if left fermenting longer becomes kombucha vinegar.  I accidently left a batch too long and it was undrinkable - so I bottled it anyway and thought I'd come up with a use for it sometime (even if only for cleaning the sink!). 

So later I noticed on the internet that someone was selling elderberry extracted in kombucha and "that's it" I've killed 2 birds with one stone - a use for the vinegar and a cheaper means of extracting the elderberries!

Just one note  - don't add more sugar when you add the berries as it will ferment again in the bottles and ..... well it is rather fizzy! Ask me how I know this! I leave the lids just slightly loose now.  It makes a great drink with honey and hot water.

I also used k. vinegar to make a herb vinegar with rosemary, lavendar, sage, thyme and garlic.  It makes a somewhat stronger flavoured "cure" and also mixes well with oil for a salad dressing.

If you want to know more about making kombucha try here:
http://www.seedsofhealth.co.uk/fermenting/kombucha.shtml

Happy fermenting!

[Deb]

Deb

I have experimented this year with kombucha vinegar for making elderberry extract.  (I have also made elderberry vodka - but the kombucha vinegar is a much cheaper alternative.)

Kombucha is a sweet fermented tea drink, which if left fermenting longer becomes kombucha vinegar.  I accidently left a batch too long and it was undrinkable - so I bottled it anyway and thought I'd come up with a use for it sometime (even if only for cleaning the sink!). 

Thank you, Meg! I'll check kombucha vinegar out. That might be the answer to the tincture problem.

P.S. After years of trying every product available to clean hard water stains out of the toilet, vinegar was finally the answer. Pour a dollup in, let sit for 10 minutes, and scrub once. Amazing stuff, vinegar. All kinds of uses for it. . . .

[Broil]

Thanks- I kind of mixed it up with approximately all equal parts - and yes...it did indeed tase like crap - but it also worked.

That's the thing ... too many people are governed by their taste buds.  People fall into a sweet rut, or a high-salt rut, or whatever, and they don't really accept products that are not sweet, or salty, or whatever they think they need.

Yeah, but why suffer if you don't have to?  I just made up a big mug of double-strength tea for this cold I'm getting ..... it tasted crappy plain, so I put some Splenda in it.  It still works.  Not everything made by the hands of man is necessarily toxic.

[jock]

Earthclinic. More home remedies than you can shake a stick at.

http://www.earthclinic.com/

[Capella]

Okay, field tested personally by yours truly:

Honey contains a natural antibiotic and is a good remedy agains colds, sore throat and other bacterial infections. It only works if the honey is not heated over body temperature, though, so make sure to get cold processed honey and just eat a spoonful of it, don't put it in your tea or hot milk or anything like that. (Hot milk with honey is a great thing to help you sleep when you are sick and run a light fever, though)

A tea from stinging nettles helps with all kinds of kidney and bladder problems, since it is diuretic.

If you are lucky enough to live where it grows: Aloe Vera juice is almost a miracle drug to help shallow wounds and skin irritations heal. Just cut off a leave and dip a bit of the sap that appears on the wound. You can wrap the leave in cling wrap and put it in the fridge afterwards, it will stay fresh for a few days, just cut away a small slice to get fresh sap.

When you have wounds that absolutely don't heal, especially on the lower extremities of older patients, try applying some sugar to it. I know this sounds dumb, but in some cases it really helps and fast.

Chamomille is good against inflammations of all kinds.

Anisseed, fennel and caraway are a good remedy for a gassy stomach.   

Valerian, hop and lavender are natural relaxants which will help you calm down and sleep easier.


Has anyone of you ever tried to make a tea from willow bark? I know the substance contained in there is salicylic acid, which is closely related to Aspirin. Actually I learned in chemistry class in school that Aspirin breaks down to salicylic acid and another component (which I forgot) in the stomach and that it is the part which is responsible for reducing pain and fever. But I have never tried to get it from willow bark myself. What parts of the bark do you use? How much do you need? Do you prepare a tea or a cold infusion? I would really love to learn more about that, since I am prone to headaches and would love to have a working painkiller for post-crash times.

[zeyang]

Okay, field tested personally by yours truly:

Honey contains a natural antibiotic and is a good remedy agains colds, sore throat and other bacterial infections. It only works if the honey is not heated over body temperature, though, so make sure to get cold processed honey and just eat a spoonful of it, don't put it in your tea or hot milk or anything like that. (Hot milk with honey is a great thing to help you sleep when you are sick and run a light fever, though)

Im a organic hobby beekeeper. What you should do get is the honey which has been pressed out of the frames with a fruit presser machine. then you also get the pollen together with the honey. The young bees gets strong and healthy by eating pollen, so do we :-)



zeyang

[Eclipse]

Okay so I tried the raw garlic. Cut up one clove and ate it.

I was sick for 2 days. Really sick to my stomach. I had hiccups for almost 24 hours despite Prilosec and pepto bismal.

So, any thoughts on how I can lessen the impact or am I just too sensitive to garlic?

Gerd runs in our family and my father is pre-cancerous from all the acid damage. So maybe garlic isn't for me???

But if I make salsa or something and mince a clove into it, I'm fine.  So weird.

E

[overtherainbow]

Don't forget honey smeared on dressings and and then placed on wounds.

Here's an article with amazing info on using honey and table sugar as dressings for wounds and burns:

The Sweet Art of Healing

http://www.naturalnews.com/026812_sugar_antibiotic_honey.html

Article gives protocol for dressing a wound with sugar.  =Totally= worth printing out!  It's in my bag of tricks.

[Broil]

Okay so I tried the raw garlic. Cut up one clove and ate it.

I was sick for 2 days. Really sick to my stomach. I had hiccups for almost 24 hours despite Prilosec and pepto bismal.

So, any thoughts on how I can lessen the impact or am I just too sensitive to garlic?

Gerd runs in our family and my father is pre-cancerous from all the acid damage. So maybe garlic isn't for me???

But if I make salsa or something and mince a clove into it, I'm fine.  So weird.

E

I forget what you're taking it for, but like I said on the other thread garlic is probably not worth suffering side effects like that.  In my opinion garlic and onions are very much over-hyped, they don't do half of what's claimed for them.  They can relieve lung congestion briefly and can keep undesirable people away, but you can thin out mucus in the lungs better with other herbs or the OTC guaifenesin.l

[tubenosedfruitbat]

Anyone have any herbal remedies for eczema? I've had it since I was a child. Seems to be food-related, and not just food, but chemical-crap-in-food-related. When I leave the US it goes away, when I return it comes back! Gah, it's a pain. I use an ointment, but it's a cortisone thing. Been using that for  jeez, 20+ years or so. Would LOVE to get off it. Any suggestions would be very welcome!

I would like to echo the recommendations of garlic and elderberry. I've had chicken stock with fresh mashed garlic in it that killed an oncoming cold dead, and I do an elderberry tincture that's super easy: bottle of vodka, about 3-4 cups elderberries, let it sit in the fridge for 10 days or so, shaking 2x/day, then throw out the elderberries at the end of the 10 days. Tastes like shit, but it works, it's easy, and I presume it will last forever.

Added: Oops, sorry, just saw the eczema thread! What happens when your're at work and trying to "multitask"....