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Even refined sugar is better than all of those nasty things, but then when you get into the research, you can see that sugar does a lot of damage to our bodies by causing tooth decay, insulin resistance, yeast overgrowth, and weight gain among other things. So we start looking for alternatives so we don’t have to feel bad about treating ourselves (and our kids) to treats every so often. I think that anything – even if it was once natural- if it is over processed,  and even though it may be better than fake sugar, is still something you want to avoid. Things that fall into this category are refined sugar, most brown sugar (which is often just white sugar with molasses added back into it), high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), and sadly the onetime favorite of many health conscious individuals, agave nectar. I am also very skeptical of Xylitol for this very same reason. Even refined white sugar is still better than HFCS, because the processing that HFCS goes through causes molecular level changes that have turned out to be REALLY bad. (Think cocaine, and then think crack cocaine – This may be an extreme example, but the basic idea is there)

So what sweeteners are ok, or even good for you in small amounts? My take on this is that if God didn’t want us to have sweets, there would not be dates, bananas, honey, maple syrup, or many of the other good sweet things we have that are naturally sweet with no monkeying around. Of course, we need to use sweeteners in moderation, and you can overdo any good thing. So when it comes to sweeteners, the more natural and the less processed the better.  Here are 7 good alternatives to processed sugar:

1. Raw Honey: My first choice is all natural raw honey, straight from the hive, maybe run through a strainer, but that’s it. (make sure that the bees have not been fed sugar water – that changes the whole composition of the honey and that is a whole ‘nother story!)
2. Maple Syrup or Maple Sugar: My next choice would be natural maple syrup, or maple sugar, which is dehydrated maple syrup. These are much less likely to cause your blood sugar to fluctuate – that is the major problem with sugar and that is what leads to insulin resistance.
3. Raw Cane Sugars: Other good sweeteners are made from raw cane sugar, which is basically dehydrated cane juice, like mascavo, rapadura, turbinado, and sucanat. These can be coarse, medium, or even ground finely into a confectioners sugar, but still has the natural brown color to it, with a lot of vitamins and minerals that are typically removed during processing.Make sure that you get organically grown, otherwise any benefits of vitamins and minerals in the sugar will be outweighed by negative factors, such as pesticide residue.
4. Blackstrap Molasses: Molasses is another better alternative to sugar – it is the stuff removed from the sugar during processing. You would want to get good quality, again, the less processed the better.
5. Date Sugar: There is also date sugar, which I have never tried, but I have heard that it is very good and easy to use as a substitute for sugar in baking. But it is really expensive – nearly $50 for an 11oz package! Ouch!
6. Coconut Palm Sugar: Like cane sugars, organic coconut palm sugar is also very easily used in baking, and is comparable in price. It is more expensive compared to honey, but can be substituted 1:1 like cane sugar. It is not nearly as expensive as date sugar though. You can get an 8oz package for between $6 and $10, depending on the brand. Coconut palm sugar is a darker brown sugar and tastes more like brown sugar than cane sugar. There are questions for some people as to the sustainability in the production of coconut palm sugar, for example they say that carelessly harvested palm sugar can damage the coconut trees from which it is harvested – if all the flowers are removed, no coconuts will be produced, and then no new trees can grow, resulting in fewer and fewer coconut trees, and therefore fewer coconut products like coconut oil, etc. Traditional harvesting methods of palm sugar ARE sustainable, and actually improve the yield of coconuts, and is more friendly to the environment than cane sugar production because it requires no artificial irrigation. There are other types of palm sugars other than coconut palm sugar, but I do not know enough about those to comment on them – see comments for more info on other types of palm sugars
7. Stevia Leaf Powder: Then there is stevia. This is also 100% natural and doesn’t cause your blood sugar levels to fluctuate, and a little goes a loooooong way. It is up to 30 or more times sweeter than sugar, and can be used in recipes instead of sugar in very small amounts with the same sweetness. However, I don’t like the flavor of it, as it can leave a bitter aftertaste, and darn it, one of the only good reason to eat sweets is for a treat, so don’t use it if you don’t like the taste – it defeats the purpose!

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Unfortunately, since it is Saturday, our dentist is not open, and she will have to wait . . . but I really doubt there is anything that they can do anyway. If the tooth had been alive, I think they can fix it, but with a dead tooth? I’m not so sure. But for now, the tooth is in a Ziploc bag with some ice in the refrigerator.  Just in case . . .

After cleaning up the blood and giving her a piece of ice to suck on, her take on the whole thing? When asked if she wanted the tooth fairy to bring her money,  she said “No way, I want candy!”

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When I got home, the first batch had gelled into a very soft yogurt that held form when first scooped up, but then collapsed into a really runny yogurt, more like kefir. The second one was much more firm and was beginning to separate from the whey. Glad that there was an extra half teaspoon, I used the pure starter and mixed it in to a quart of raw milk that I had mixed in about 1 cup of cream, and set it on the counter again. This batch set up very nicely after 24 hours and had a really nice thick mild flavored yogurt. Yum! I used the 3rd 1/2 tsp to make another pure starter (done right by heating the milk first) and put it in the refrigerator to be used in the next batch – I will make another pint of yogurt by heating the milk and then I can use 2 Tbsp in each quart of raw milk without having to heat it again until I want to make another batch of pure starter. This is done to preserve the integrity of the villi culture, because bacteria from the raw milk can change the culture and yield unpredictable results.

The Greek yogurt was a bit different – it requires very low heat. I started out right this time, warming the milk to 180° this time (as per instructions) and then cooled it to 110° before adding the culture.  With only 1/2 cup of milk, much of the liquid evaporated out. I used my food dehydrator and I am wondering if it may have been a little to warm. I put the starter into a Ziploc baggie and put it in the refrigerator. I think I will bring in the cooler and use the hot water method instead.

To be continued! . . .

For those of us who prefer not to foist our personal responsibility for our food choices off onto health professionals, taking care of the stomach complaints caused by food borne illness is really very simple. The good news is that there are several ways to naturally fight food borne illness, and if caught early, natural remedies can stop a stomach bug in a fraction of the time that antibiotics can. I have had food poisoning from eggs and the remedy that worked for me was simply a mixture of black walnut and olive leaf tinctures, one full dropper of each in a small glass of orange juice; all combined was less than the $30 copay that I would have paid had I gone to the doctor. Both of these herbs have strong parasite killing properties, and I have found them to be effective for stomach flu as well. I gave some to my neighbor once as she was getting ready to walk out her door to take her daughter to the emergency room, and less than an hour later, her toddler was running around as if she had never been sick.

I have read before, that in most cases what we call the stomach flu is actually caused by eating contaminated food. If this is true, then people actually get sick from food a lot more often than they realize. One of the great things about herbs is that often there is more than one way to kill a flu. I recently put the question out to the fans of my raw milk page on facebook. Even though none of these people had ever been sick from raw milk, they have encountered food borne illness from fast food or other packaged factory foods. Here are some of the remedies they have successfully used:

• Grapefruit Seed Extract as a nutri-biotic with lots of Vitamin D3 and garlic to boost the immune system
• Oregano oil (best taken in capsules)
• Colloidal silver or nano silver – 2 to 3 Tbsp every 15 minutes until stomach upset is gone
• Activated Charcoal capsules
• Fresh garlic with cayenne
• Where there is diarrhea also take slippery elm capsules

Any of these remedies should be followed by probiotics, like kefir or yogurt, to restore the intestinal flora and for fastest results, should be taken at the fist sign of stomach upset. It is common for these strains of bacteria to be highly resistant to antibiotics, and if food poisoning symptoms are ignored and you wait until they get really bad as many people do, they can become very serious, even leading to kidney failure or other long lasting health problems, especially in small children, people with compromised immune systems, or with the elderly.

With the food industry and its track record, it is best to be prepared because chances are someone in your family will end up sick with a food borne illness, no matter what you eat.

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1. Comfrey – Comfrey is a cell proliferator and speeds healing. It is very easy to grow, just get a start from someone and plant it in a well watered spot in your garden in full sun. Soon you will see its large broad green leaves start to come up. These leaves are slightly fuzzy and stick together, making them good to use as a wrap. Pick leaves directly from your plant to add to infused oils, and other herbal remedies.
2. Garlic – Garlic is one of natures strongest antiseptics. It is very easy to grow, in fact once it takes root, it is nearly impossible to get rid of it, so choose your location carefully!
3. Cayenne – Cayenne is very easy to grow, and one thing that you may notice after planting is that unwanted wasps will not bother you anymore! Cayenne is good for the circulatory system, and can even stop a heart attack!
4. Echinacea – Echinacea is beautiful, it has lovely purple cone flowers. Once you plant it will come back year after year, and the seeds will spread. You will want to wait until you have a large patch of it before you harvest the root, but tinctures made from echinacea can detox your system if you receive a poisonous bite, and it is a great immune system support.
5. Lavender – Lavender is a wonderful calming herb, it is beautiful with all of its tiny purple flowers, and it smells divine! It enhances the properties of other herbs, and has strong anti-fungal properties. Lavender grows as a bush, and can get quite large and unruly if you don’t trim it back, so be sure to plant it in a part of your garden where it can spread out, or it may smother your other herbs!
6. Calendula – Calendula flower petals have wonderful healing properties and can be infused in oils to be added to ointments, lip balm, and ear oil. These pretty yellow flowers will add a splash of color to your garden, and the petals can even be added to salads.
7. Aloe Vera - Aloe Vera can be grown in a pot in your kitchen window sill, and is perfect to have on hand in case of burns, sunburn, bruises, and bug bites.
8. Peppermint – peppermint and other mints are aggressive and spread very quickly, so they are best kept in a pot or in a section of the garden that you don’t mind having them take over. Once rooted, like garlic, they are impossible to get rid of. Peppermint is wonderful for belly aches, gas, heartburn, and makes an energizing herbal tea.
9. Chamomile - Chamomile is a calming herb, great in a relaxing herbal tea to help on sleepless nights. Chamomile can also be used in an infused oil or added to an ointment or salve as an analgesic to soothe rashes and minor scrapes and burns.
10. St. Johns Wort - Tinctures made from St. Johns wort are effective pain relievers for burns, shingles, arthritis, and bruises. It is also has antidepressant qualities, and can be used in herbal teas, tinctures and infused oils.
11. Arnica- Arnica is essential for bruises and swelling. An oil infused with arnica flowers, immediately applied to an injury  will prevent bruising.  Great when you have an accident prone child!
12. Lobelia- Lobelia and cayenne tinctures used along with CPR can help revive a person who has stopped breathing. It can also help with smoking cessation, or for someone who is in shock, to slow a racing heartbeat, or to help with circulation or blood pressure problems.

I could list many other easy to grow herbs for your medicinal garden, but this is a good start. These essential herbs will help you treat many common health issues at home.

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It’s like night and day – once helpless, dependent, and full of worries and fears; now empowered and confident. It is such a comforting feeling to know that for most family illnesses and health emergencies, I have the tools and know-how to take care of them myself! No waiting on a doctor over the weekend or dealing with a screaming child for an hour or more in an emergency room or doctors office waiting room full of sick people. If you have not yet educated yourself on simple herbal remedies for basic family health care, I strongly encourage you to do so – it is one of the best things I have ever done!

To make a family herbal first aid kit, the first thing that you will want to do is take inventory of your family’s health. Are you in basically good health, or do you catch every bug that goes around? What are your most common illnesses? Do you have an extremely clumsy kid? (Zee is very clumsy, and I have gotten calls from the school twice this year about bruises, one of which DCFS sent a social worker to investigate my husband and me at our home!) There are a few things that every family with small children should be prepared for – here is a basic list of some of the most common things that people go to the doctor for that can easily be treated at home:

• ear infections
• colds
• stomach flu
• pink eye
• parasites
• headlice
• staph infections
• yeast infections
• warts
• strep throat
• chicken pox

And a few basics, usually treated with over the counter medicines:

• indigestion
• diarrhea
• bug bites
• sunburn
• cuts
• scrapes
• bruises

All of these can be treated at home naturally without commercially prepared medicines, and would all but completely remove any need for a doctors visit, with the exception of real medical emergencies like broken bones or other traumatic injuries.

The ideal would be to have a small travel size kit with just the basics for the car, and a larger one that is kept in a safe place at home in a container like a large fishing tackle box with plenty of room for ace bandages, and supplies like a capsulator and a mortar and pestle, etc.

The following is a fairly comprehensive list of things that would be good to keep on hand and their uses (chose the items that are most relevant to your family. You can also add other items that you feel your family needs – if you feel the list is missing something important, please leave a comment!):

Tinctures – Note: If you dislike the alcohol used in tinctures, you can reduce its presence somewhat by placing the drops in a half cup of hot, boiled water and allowing it to sit for 15 minutes, or you can look for glycerites (glycerine based extracts).

Arnica:
Apply immediately after an injury and continue every couple hours for the first day. Can be combined with a few drops of Hypericum.
Use on sore and cramped muscles, or for strained or sprained muscles or tendons, or bumps and bruises.

• Decreases pain
• Prevents swelling and bruising

Cayenne:

• Use five to ten drops diluted in two ounces of water to help with frostbite and hypothermia
• Put a couple of drops under the tongue to revives someone who is in shock or trauma. Cayenne taken this way has also been known to stop heart attacks.
• Put directly on wound externally to coagulate blood and stop the bleeding

Valerian:

• 30 to 60 drops
  • Relieves intestinal and menstrual cramps
  • Relives headaches and general aches or pains
  • Brings sleep to an exhausted person
• ½ to 1 teaspoon up to 3 times daily relives anxiety

Echinacea:

The dosage ranges from 30 to 60 drops, the higher ranges used for fevers and acute situations. Echinacea stimulates the immune system and can be used with fevers, poisoning, or any type of internal infection.

• Add 1 dropperful of echinacea extract to 1?2 cup of water as an antiseptic wash.
• Use as an antibiotic and antibacterial
• Use for poisonous insect and snake bites
  • 60 drops every 15 minutes until symptoms subside.
• Use as a preventative and supportive herb for the flu or common cold
• For toothaches, it can be massaged into the surrounding gums and teeth.

Elderberry:

• Take 1 dropperful four times a day until symptoms subside.
  • Stops or Prevents cold or flu
  • Speeds up recovery from cold or flu

Grindelia:

Can be applied externally to cool and soothe hot, irritated skin rashes or sunburn, and itchy bites:

• For exposure to poison oak/ivy/sumac, immediately wash the affected area
• thoroughly with soap and cool water, or sponge with alcohol to remove the oily resin.
• If a rash occurs, spray with grindelia extract several times a day.
  • Relieves poison ivy

Taken internally:

• Expels mucus obstruction in the bronchioles
• May be useful for some types of asthma and respiratory congestion

1:1:1 Milk thistle, burdock, & kelp combination:

• Take before and after dental x-rays and after taking Tylenol or Advil.
  • Leaches heavy metals and radiation toxicity from the thyroid, blood, and liver.

Quassia:

• Take three to five droppersful every six hours.
• To treat suspected bad water, add 30 drops to each quart of water.
  • Use as an antimicrobial
  • Used for bacterial diarrhea, dysentery, and giardia

Usnea:

• Take three to five droppersful every six hours.
• To treat suspected bad water, add 30 drops to each quart of water.
  • Has antibiotic properties
  • Use for colds, flu, bronchitis, urinary tract infections, & sore throat
  • Useful for some fungal infections

Syrup of Ipecac:

• Apply immediately after an injury and continue every couple hours for the first day.
  • Promotes vomiting
  • Decreases pain
  • Prevents swelling and bruising

5 Flower Rescue Remedy:

• Apply immediately after an injury and continue every couple hours for the first day.
  • Use for emotional trauma for all ages
  • Decreases pain
  • Prevents swelling and bruising

Meadowsweet:

• Use a couple of drops directly under the tongue.
  • Use as a fast acting, anti-inflammatory
  • Pain relief

Hypericum (St. John’s Wort):

• Used externally or internally. Hypericum has pain-soothing, anti-inflammatory, and tissue healing properties.
  • On burns
  • Puncture wounds
  • Sores
  • Boils
  • On insect and animal bites
  • Use specifically on wounds with sharp, shooting pains, and puncture wounds.
  • Useful for bruises
  • Neuralgias
  • Muscle strains
  • Spasms
  • Muscle aches.
  • Add a few drops in water for a pain-relieving mouthwash for gums that are sore from flossing or dental work

Urtica Urens:

• • Apply topically to burns or hives. Can be used with Hypericum for painful burns. For
• chemical burns flush with water immediately for 20 minutes before treating.
• o Rapid pain relief
• o Prevents vesicles, inflammation, and scarring in 1st and 2nd degree burns
• o Promotes tissue healing
• o Can be applied to old burns to bring about more complete healing
• o Soothes hives

Calendula:

• • Apply topically to cuts or scrapes
• o Aids healing
• Eleuthero Standardized Extract:
• • Use a couple of drops directly under the tongue.
• o Prevents Jet Lag (used by Soviet cosmonauts to help them adjust to space
• travel)

Witch Hazel Extract:

• Excellent base for diluting essential oils or for a variety of simple, topical herbal firstaid  remedies. Do not take it internally.
  • Use as a mild astringent, antiseptic and anti-inflammatory
  • Useful for insect bites and skin irritations.
  • Apply to gauze and place over blister to dry it up

Bug Bite and Itch Relief Combination – Apply Tincture combination directly to the skin. Note: Juice from the plantain is mildly effective and it grows throughout this region (just crumple or chew the leaves and rub onto the skin). This combination provides relief from insect bites and general itching:

• Witch hazel
• Plantain
• Grindelia
• Comfrey
• Lavendar Oil (enhances any tincture combination)
• St. John’s Wort

Powdered Herbs
Slippery elm capsules:

• Take Capsules or mix into juice
  • Used for food poisoning
  • Decrease toxic absorption
  • Soothe mucous membranes
  • Settles an upset stomach

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale):
The root can be dried and made into a powder that has strong anti-cancer properties.

• Cures Some Cancers
  • Dig root, shake off excess soil, DO NOT WASH! Chop it into little pieces and dry it at no more than 100° until it is brittle. Grind into powder and take ½ tsp 2 – 3 times a day in juice.
• Eat leaves in salad or use as a diuretic

Ginger root capsules:

• Take two capsules
  • Use for motion sickness or morning sickness
  • Take for nausea caused by flu or bad food
  • Use to relieve gas
  • For nausea, take 1 to 2 capsules of dried ginger every 15 minutes
  • To prevent motion sickness, take 6 to 8 capsules of powdered ginger about 45 minutes before departing
  • To calm a queasy stomach, chew on a piece of crystallized ginger.

Elderberry capsules:

• Take capsules.
  • Stops or Prevents cold or flu
  • Speeds up recovery from cold or flu

4:1 Marshmallow-peppermint oil capsules:

• Take capsules.
  • Reduces intestinal cramping

Blackberry and Strawberry Root and Leaf:

• Take capsules
  • Reduces internal hemorrhaging.

Cayenne:

• Open and apply externally
  • Stops bleeding
  • Warms cold feet (sprinkle inside your boots)

Cinnamon:

• Take ¼ tsp 3 times daily
  • Regulates blood pressure

Goldenseal Powder:

• Sprinkle onto cuts or wounds as antimicrobial or to stop bleeding. Do not takegoldenseal internally during pregnancy
  • A powerful antimicrobial
  • Warms cold feet (sprinkle inside your boots)
  • For diarrhea caused by infectious microorganisms, take 1 capsule of goldenseal three times daily for up to two weeks

Comfrey:
Alternative styptics: comfrey and yarrow. Comfrey is perhaps the finest internal antihemorrhage
there is.

Goldenseal:

• Use Sparingly
  • Use as an antimicrobial, antibacterial

Myrrh:

• Use Sparingly
  • Use as an antimicrobial, antibacterial

Bentonite Clay or Charcoal Tablets:

• Take 1 teaspoon in water, 3-4 times per day. Drink a lot of water. Helpful herbs include blackberry root or leaf (root is preferred for its greater astringency: simmer root for 20-40 minutes or steep leaf for tea for 10-30 minutes). Similarly, use wild strawberry root or leaf. Cooked white rice works wonders at reducing diarrhea.
  • To relieve diarrhea
• Of charcoal, take 4 every hours, of bentonite clay, take 1 teaspoon in water, 3-4 times per day, drink a lot of water.
  • To assist with detoxification, in case of poisoning.

Chamomile (Matricaria recutita) Tea Bags:

• Taken Internally 3 cups a day:
  • Mild sedative
  • Relives anxiety
  • Antispasmodic
  • Anti-inflammatory
  • Antibacterial
  • Promotes relaxation
  • Relieves indigestion
• Applied externally
  • Soothes skin irritations

Laxative Tea Bags: Senna combined with cinnamon, fennel, licorice and ginger.
Peppermint Tea Bags: Soothes upset stomach & clears sinuses.

Essential Oils

Peppermint Oil

• Rub a little on the temples
  • can help you stay awake
• Take a few drops mixed in water
  • Settles an upset stomach

Tea Tree Oil

• Use sparingly. For sensitive skin, dilute with equal parts olive oil.
  • Use for fungal infections
  • Good for infected pus-filled wounds or burns
  • Apply to cold sores and herpes lesions.
  • Use for earaches

Oregano Oil

• Use sparingly. Dilute with olive oil.
  • Use for fungal infections
  • Use to get rid of cold sores
  • Used as a disinfectant or antimicrobial

Peppermint Oil

• If you have sensitive skin, dilute with olive oil before applying. Taken internally, peppermint may aggravate heartburn.
  • Clears sinuses
• Curbs itching from insect bites.
  • Soothes an upset stomach
  • To relieve headaches, massage 2 drops of diluted peppermint essential oil onto temples, forehead and neck. Keep away from eyes

Eucalyptus Oil

• Dilute with oil or witch hazel extract before applying to skin; do not take internally.
  • A potent antibiotic and antiviral
• Add a few drops to recently boiled water to use as a steam inhalation.
  • Use for treating colds, flus and sinus infections
• Soak in a hot bath with 5 drops of eucalyptus essential oil.
  • Use to relieve pain from strains or sprains

Lavender Oil – lavender enhances properties of other essential oils

• For most people, lavender essential oil can be applied directly to the skin. Do not take more than 1 to 2 drops internally.
  • Soothes wounds and burns
  • Has anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties
• Add 10 drops to a bath or on a cloth to inhale.
  • Relieves anxiety, insomnia, & headaches
  • Use as a sedative
  • Relives sunburn

Clove Oil

• Dilute with olive oil before applying to skin.
  • Use as an antiseptic for cuts
  • Soothes toothaches

Thyme Oil

• Take two drops in 4 ounces of water.
  • Use as mouthwash
  • Use as toothache
  • Relieves sore throats
• Apply externally for:
  • Crabs
  • Lice
  • External parasites
• Add two drops to recently boiled water & inhale the steam for:
  • Colds
  • Flu
  • Bronchitis

Salves
Emollients — marshmallow, slippery elm, plantain, comfrey, and mullein
Antimicrobials — echinacea, goldenseal, yerba mansa, Oregon grape, osha, propolis, myrrh gum, garlic, calendula, chamomile, chaparral, gentian, and usnea
Astringents — horsetail, bistort, geranium, rose, alum, yarrow, witch hazel, yellow dock, and St. John’s wort.
Note: A combination of one herb from each category is a good disinfectant for anaerobic bacteria and is soothing to epithelial cells. The mixture will also cut down on bleeding and slow the scarring process. It will speed up the healing time and can be used anywhere a salve is needed to coat and protect.
Antimicrobial healing salve: A comfrey based salve, including herbs such as plantain, St. John’s wort, calendula and Echinacea; essential oils such as lavender and rosemary strengthen the effects.

• Soothes
• Accelerates healing
• Disinfects
• Use for any breaks in the skin and for burns
• Do not use initially on puncture wounds, use an antiseptic such as Echinacea tincture instead

Liniment for Aches & Pains: Arnica, witch hazel and St. John’s Wort tinctures in combination with essential oils of camphor, eucalyptus, rosemary and clove bud. Note: some people are sensitive to arnica: STOP using if adverse symptoms result. Do not use arnica on broken skin.

• Stops swelling
• Prevents bruising
• Relieves aches and pains

Liniment for Poison Oak/Ivy/Sumac: Jewelweed (impatiens) specifically neutralizes the Rhus toxin and works well. Use fresh or tinctured, but jewelweed can be hard to find. Other remedies include grindelia, combined with echinacea, calendula and white oak bark.

• Stops swelling
• Prevents bruising
• Relieves aches and pains

Bruise Relief Liniment: (For wounds where the skin is unbroken), Use a combination of tinctures, including Tienchi ginseng, hyssop, myrrh gum, prickly ash bark, cayenne, calendula, comfrey and arnica. Helichrysum italicum essential oil, applied externally also works very well and is non-irritating. Do not use these remedies on the eyes or mucous membranes and wash thoroughly after use.

Fresh Herbs
Garlic:

• Use as antibacterial
  • Too many uses to name ?

Aloe Vera:

• Apply directly to burns. Add 5 drops of Lavender oil for each tablespoon of Aloe Vera
  • Soothes the inflammation of sunburn and common kitchen scalds and burns
  • Cools and heals
• Can be used internally as a purgative, but be careful, too much will cause hemorrhoids

German Chamomile (Matricaria recutita):

• Break up a few heads, squeeze them and put them in a cup of water. Give the mixture to a child with an eyedropper
  • Used as a relaxing tea
  • Provides instant relief for colic pain in newborn babies
• Used as a hair rinse to highlight the blonde strands in fair hair

Calendula Petals:

• Make a soothing emollient by infusing petals in olive oil; leave in a sunny spot for a couple of weeks before using directly on the affected skin.
  • Use for diaper rash, eczema or other skin problems

Calendula Succus: Succus is the Juice from aerial parts of the plant preserved in small amount of alcohol. Can be used externally on either open or closed wounds that are tender, red, swollen and tending toward the formation of pus .

• Use It to clean wounds
• Stops bleeding
• Promotes tissue healing
• Used for inflamed skin conditions like lacerations and burns (including sunburns) and other skin irritations such as diaper rash or eczema.
  • Place the Calendula succus onto the pad of a bandage and place over the wound. Keep the wound covered with a bandage and Calendula until new skin forms. If the wound is very painful add Hypericum tincture for pain relief.
• When used early on in the wound healing process Calendula can also prevent the formation of scar tissue.
• Used to treat bug bites and stings.

Infusions
Ear Oil: Dilute a combination of tea tree, garlic, oregano, & lavender oil in olive oil and
infuse in ¼ cup of dried mullein flower petals.

• Add a few drops directly into the affected ear. Use whenever an ear infection is suspected for pain relief and to reduce complications. Do not use if the ear drum is perforated.
  • Soothes earache and heals infection
  • Use to clean excess earwax out of ears

St. Johns Wort: infuse dried herb in olive oil.

• Rub directly onto skin.
  • Soothes sunburn
  • Use for minor burns

Arnica: infuse dried flowers in olive oil.

• Rub directly onto skin.
  • Soothes and prevents bruising
  • Reduces swelling
  • Relieves pain

Poultices
Grated Potato or Mud:

• Put directly onto the wound. Keep it in place with a gauze wrapping
  • Draws out insect venom and sooth inflammation.

Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris):

• Pulverize leaves in a mortar and pestle. Put this mash directly onto the wound. Keep it in place with a gauze wrapping
  • Used to heal bruises and wounds.

Comfrey (Symphytum officinale):

• Cover the wound with muslin and lay the comfrey on top. (never allow it to come in direct contact with the skin.) You can use the leaf, but there is more healing power in the root.
  • Good for healing ulcers

Compresses
Keep squares of gauze or cheesecloth on hand to make compresses. Use comfrey, witch hazel, or arnica for sprains; St. John’s Wort for deep cuts, and comfrey or witch hazel for burns.

Sprays
Insect Repellent: Use essential oils (lavender, citronella, eucalyptus, cedarwood, lemon grass, and pennyroyal) suspended in a base of water and alcohol. Note: eating sugar and sweets increases your attractiveness to many insects! Caution: Although pennyroyal essential oil is widely used for insect repellants, It can be toxic even in moderate doses and should not be used by pregnant women. It is powerful and can effect people and pets in the vicinity of the user.

• Apply liberally and frequently (as often as every two hours)

Other
Honey:

• Useful as base for ointment due to preservative and antiseptic properties
• Add to hot ginger tea to soothe sore throats

Beeswax:

• good for adding to infused oils and essential oils to make salves and ointments.

Vodka:

• use vodka or 100% grain alcohol for the purpose of making tinctures or as a disinfectant.

Sore Throat Remedy:

Use Sage (Salvia officinalis) and Thyme (Thyme vulgaris or T. serpyllum). Chop them up into a stainless steel saucepan, just cover with water and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain out the herbs and add half as much honey as there is water to sweeten and preserve the mixture. Pour into a dark jar and keep in the fridge for up to two months. Use the syrup as a gargle for a sore throat or coughs and colds.

Hardware

• Capsulator
• Mortar and pestle
• Band Aids
• Bandages
• Ace bandages
• ½ inch surgical tape
• A small pair of scissors
• A single edged razor blade
• Tweezers
• Cold pack (cools on impact)
• 1 and 2 inch Ace bandages
• Moleskin
• An instant read thermometer
• A bar of soap
• A bandana
• An eye cup (or shot glass)
• A flashlight
• Colloidal Silver
• Safety Pins
• Needles
• Paper Cups
• Baking Soda
• Cotton balls
• Q-tips
• First Aid Guide
• Hot Water Bottle
• Matches
• Tongue Depressors
• Ear Scope
• SAM Splint
• Space Blankets
• Salt
• Paper & Pencil
• Gel Capsules
• A birth kit
• A suture kit
• A stethoscope
• A blood pressure kit
• A blood glucose monitor
• An inhaler (in the case of a life threatening asthma attack)
• A spring loaded epipen (in the case of extreme, life threatening allergic reactions)

For camping, backpacking trips, or for the car, pare things down to:

• Arnica gel
• Echinacea tincture
• Peppermint and chamomile tea bags
• Crystallized ginger
• Insect repellent
• A tin of herbal salve
• A bottle of lavender oil
• An assortment of bandages and moleskin.

Dosages for Children: Dosages for children are not provided in most herbals. To determine the correct dose you need to consider the size of the child, the ailment, the power of the herb you intend to use, and the adult dosage. Clark’s Rule for determining dosages divides the weight of the child by 150 to give the approximate fraction of the adult dose. Dosage for a 40 lb. child: 40 /150 = .26 or approx. 1/4 the adult dose.

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The pros of having a rooster:

Some of the pros for having a rooster in your flock are:

• You need one if you want to get new chicks every year.

If you want a truly sustainable flock, you have to have at least one.  A good rule of thumb for the rooster to hen ratio is that for fertile eggs, you need at least one rooster for every 20 hens.  Most backyard flocks are small, since city regulations often limit the number to as little as 6 chickens.

• Roosters will protect your flock from predators.

This may be true out in the country where your chickens have more room to roam, however in the city where your chickens are probably more confined to a small area in your yard, this isn’t so much the case, especially if they are in an enclosed coop at night.

• Fertile eggs are more nutritious and Fertile eggs taste better than infertile eggs.

This is highly debatable, and I have yet to see any conclusive evidence that either of these claims are true.

• Hens lay more eggs when there is a rooster around.

My dad always said that having roosters helped the hens lay more frequently, but I haven’t really noticed a difference without. My hens still lay nearly 1 egg per day in the laying season.

The cons of having a rooster:

• They are aggressive

The degree of aggressiveness depends on the breed, so if you have small children, you would want to consider not having a rooster, or at least having a more docile breed of rooster, but even the more ‘docile’ breeds are more aggressive in the spring and summer because it is breeding season, and even ‘docile’ breeds like the Rhode Island Reds can be very aggressive. The rooster that inspired the  name of my blog was a Rhode Island Red.

For a list of chicken breeds and characteristics, click here to see Henderson’s Handy-Dandy Chicken Chart

• They crow

supposedly larger breeds crow less often than the smaller bantam breeds, with a lower pitched crow, but they are also louder. This is a problem if your city has a noise ordinance. You could silence them by having their voice box cut, but to me, that is animal cruelty.

• They eat as much as hens, but don’t lay eggs.

I think that it is ideal to have a rooster, but in the city where your neighbors are apt to complain about the noise, the best use for a rooster is mean rooster soup.

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Meatloaf:

2 – 3 Lbs of lean Hamburger
1 medium Onion, chopped
2 Eggs
1 c dry Whole wheat Bread Crumbs
1/2 c cooked Wild/Brown Rice
1 small can Tomato Sauce
1 can Tomato Paste
3 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
Salt, Pepper, Garlic

Sauté onion in butter until translucent. Mix into raw hamburger with eggs, rice, tomato sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce. Mix well, and then stir in bread crumbs. Form meat mixture into the shape of a heart on a large foil covered cookie sheet top with tomato paste mixed with the remaining Worcestershire sauce. Bake for 45 min to an hour at 375° or until done in the Middle. Serve with steamed veggies of your choice and roasted garlic mashed potatoes below.

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes:

Scrub and cube 4 or 5 large red potatoes. Do not peel. Put potatoes into a 2 quart saucepan and add several peeled cloves of garlic. Add 2 to 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Cover and cook until potatoes and garlic are soft, about 10 to 15 minutes. Drain water and add 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 tsp of sea salt, and 1/2 cup butter. Beat until smooth and creamy. Add a little milk or heavy cream if needed for consistency.  Fold in 1/2 cup of grated cheese (optional).

And to round it out, try these yummy garlic cheese biscuits: To your favorite drop biscuit recipe, mix in grated cheese and garlic powder. My kids can’t get enough of these

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Mind you, she did kick and scream during the stitching process, but only after my 12-year-old shouted “What are you doing? Are you sewing up her head?!” After which the first stitch that I was just getting ready to tie off was yanked out because that is when she started the kicking. And the screaming. Good grief! So I had to start all over again.

The most screaming was done by the kids who were not actually being stitched up. My 15-year-old daughter yelled at me and then stomped off to her room and refused to speak to me until the next morning. I think her exact words were “If she needs stitches, why aren’t you taking her to the emergency room?! I’m never touching that needle again! (I used one of her beading needles, because they are really sharp)

Ok, her question may seem logical to most people, but in my defense, a trip to the emergency room would have meant trying to keep all that bleeding at bay in the van on the way to the doctor’s office. Then holding her still and keeping the bleeding at bay while waiting in the waiting room for an hour so that a doctor could then come and put a couple of stitches in her head. I had the tools, I had the know how, and best of all, I did it all in less than 5 minutes right in my own living room. Without the extended drama. I mean we had some drama, but it was really more of a mini matinee and not a 5 act play.

I know that scalps are not like the most sensitive part of the body. I remember in my old punk rock days seeing punks with mohawks bopping around with safety pins in their scalps in the mosh pit. Granted they were probably drunk when they put them there, but considering the fact that Bee didn’t even know her scalp was being pierced until my son shouted it out for the whole world to hear, I don’t think it hurt her much. Maybe next time I’ll use orajel first – I think I still have some left from the good ol’ teething days . . .

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