This worked for a while, but today while I was home sick, my 13 year old

gave Bee a piece of gum again during the sacrament meeting. The result was gum all over a brand new dress, my husbands pants, and a fairly new white church shirt. The total of which to replace all of these would have been close to $100 dollars. For some people, that isn’t much, but for us that is a lot of money. Sure, I bought those clothes on sale, and I didn’t pay nearly that much, BUT those sales are not going on right now, and not having those clothes available for use would definitely be felt.

So, I went online and looked for ways to get gum off of clothes. Gasoline, Goo Gone, nail polish remover, and lighter fluid were not things I keep on hand, and besides I hesitate to use them on clothes since they are highly toxic and could possibly destroy the clothes anyway. One suggestion was to heat apple cider vinegar and then dip the gum in it and use a toothbrush to brush it off. What the heck! It was worth a shot.

The results were FANTASTIC! I LOVE apple cider vinegar. Now I LOVE it even more!

To remove gum from clothes, heat the apple cider vinegar, dip the cloth with the gum on it into the hot vinegar, and then brush it gently with a toothbrush. The gum sticks to the toothbrush, which will be ruined afterward, so use an old toothbrush that you are going to toss out anyway.  Also, the gum loosens from the cloth and can be picked off, or you can pick off a bigger piece of gum and dab it on the other gum bits and they will stick to the gum in your hand and leave the fabric unscathed.

So, that is my derailed disaster of the day and I hope this story helps someone else avoid the unnecessary cost of replacing gummed up clothing.

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When I was in college, I found out that not everyone’s mothers thought that learning to cook was important – I taught a few roommates how to do some simple things – like read recipes, boil water to make pasta, make dinner rolls, and to bake cookies (a skill that no enterprising – and starving – college girl should be without!) But I appreciate the skills I learned as a child even more as a mom. After meeting people who didn’t even know how to boil water or follow simple instructions on a box of rice-a-roni (which I honestly had never even HEARD of until I was in college), I decided that ALL of my kids would learn to cook because there is nothing sadder than an adult college student struggling on a small budget, who can’t even take care of themselves in this most basic way.

So here it is! My list of ten tips to help you teach your kids how to cook:

1. Never shoo your children out of the kitchen. Instead, put them to work! Even small children can do something, even if you just give them a small piece of dough to play with. At 3, measure ingredients and let them put the measured ingredients into the mixing bowl. At 4 and 5, you can hand them a vegetable peeler. At 6, let them read the ingredients out of the recipe book and show them how to measure. You can set them up with a knife to chop vegetables (supervised of course) and at 7, let them measure out ingredients for you, or even try a simple recipe all by themselves. At 8, let them prepare a simple meal for the whole family without any help.  Not only have they learned an important skill, but they have realized that they can be an important member of the family, and they have earned confidence!
2. Provide your children with easy access to healthy recipes that are easy to follow, and that are in a format that is easy to use and can take a beating. You may be interested in my Healthy Kid’s Recipe Cards, which you can find online here
3. Hold a weekly family night or regular family activities so that you can provide additional opportunities for your children to make snacks or treats to showcase their newly learned skills.
4. Praise them when it is warranted. Do not overdo it by ignoring faults and flops though – good food is expensive and good instruction that includes correction when needed helps avoid unnecessary waste. I recommend a sandwich style praise and correction model. If the recipe turned out badly, praise them for what they did right (wow, you did this all by yourself?) and then provide gentle instructions (next time, call me in if you need help with measuring the salt.) Then another good thing (It looks like you baked these for just the right amount of time!)Your child will want to know what went wrong so that they can make it better the next time around.
5. Expect your boys to learn as well as your girls! Boys need these skills just as much as anyone now! You can’t make the mistake of assuming that your son’s wife will know how to cook or you may end up with grand kids who are part of the McD’s generation. Besides, it might be just the thing that will help him catch the girl of his dreams! My husband cooked for me on our first date. Children who learn to cook are less expensive to support through college, and will be healthier as well.
6. As your children get older, do not hesitate to give them more responsibilities. Alternate the responsibilities for making breakfasts, allow them to pack their own lunches for school, and assign them one night a week to make dinner for the family.
7. Always verbally thank the one responsible for the meal publicly around the dinner table. Point out the best parts of the meal and say exactly what you like about it. This is not the forum for corrections unless the child acknowledges something himself – like if a cake fell or if there was too much pepper in the gravy.  If they point it out themselves  in this setting, you can down play it for the moment (“yes, but the potatoes are perfect!”) and help them fix it later.
8. When your child is old enough, help them plan a month of menus and execute a shopping trip. This lets your child learn the logistics of planning a meal from start to finish, including what constitutes a balanced meal, what you have already on hand and which items they will need to buy, and how much those things actually cost.  A child should be able to plan one day’s meals at the age of 7 or 8, a week’s worth of menus at 9 or 10, and a month of menus at 11 or 12.
9. Don’t hold back on letting your child make a complicated recipe. I made bread on my own for the first time when I was not even 8 years old. You as the parent can trust your instincts about what your child is capable of at what age. Allow your child to challenge herself even if you are not sure if she can do it on her own. I was pleasantly surprised the first time my daughter made apple pie.
10. Avoid relying on boxed items or pre-made foods for teaching kids how to cook. Children can read and understand recipes and it is a good opportunity for kids to learn about measurements, how ingredients work in a recipe, and many other things that kids can’t learn by making ramen noodles or microwavable boxed macaroni and cheese. Children are capable of much more than we give them credit for, and besides, teaching from scratch allows your child to form good nutritional habits early on, which will allow them to have a healthier lifestyle and a better quality of life.

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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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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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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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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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The problem is that we have been so inundated with information from the media and what I call the ‘pop heath’ culture of America that it can be very confusing to try to eat healthy. For example, why is it that when you cut all of the salt and fat, and follow that elaborately crafted food pyramid, that all you want to do is go find something that is chock full of fat? The next thing you know, you find yourself coming out of the drive through with a super-sized double bacon cheeseburger and a giant chocolate malt with a huge pile of greasy fries, or sitting in the middle of a pile of chocolate wrappers, holding an empty giant-sized bag from Costco, thinking “Did I really eat all of those?” So the next day, you go on a rampage to get rid of all the junk food in your cupboards, and you replace them with all of those ‘healthy’ no fat, no sugar junk foods that you can find at your local heath food store. And then you find that you still manage to eat a whole bag all at once, and you feel all bloated and after a week you have gained at least 5 pounds. So you decide that you are really going to start being ‘good’ and you apply the stringent self discipline of a monk. After forgoing fat for a while, you may find that you itch all the time, and you start finding more of your hair in the brush, shower drain, laundry;  and your energy levels drop and you can’t seem to get enough sleep. You are yelling at your husband, your kids, your dog, AND inanimate objects, you’re having fits of road rage, and pulling even more of your hair out.

So then you try the no/low carb diet, and replace your ‘artery hardening’ butter with a margarine spread, start drinking low-fat skim milk instead of diet soda, and you lose the weight you gained eating diet snacks, but you find that you are having insatiable cravings for sugar.

The next step is to go to the doctor, because there really must be something seriously wrong with you. . . after all, the healthy diet just isn’t working and you are pretty sure they work for everyone else, because you saw the before and after pictures in Woman’s Day. He takes one look at your lab results and says, “You’re fine. Just get more exercise and lose some weight,” in a very condescending tone, (how hard can it really be?) and he looks at you like you are some kind of deranged hypochondriac wasting the time he could be spending with ‘real’ patients. You look at him and you are pretty sure he has never had a weight problem, or any other kind of real health problem in his life, so how can he possibly understand yours? And geez, they guy just gave you a breast exam, so you go home and ball your eyes out, and when your husband asks what the doctor said, you wail, “He said I was fine!”

Eventually you figure out that all of these popular health fads that you read about in Prevention or Woman’s Health don’t ever offer any real lasting diets that can offer you permanent solutions and that your doctor can’t and/or won’t do a single thing for you. They rarely know anything about nutrition other than what is in the food pyramid, and you already know everything about that because you learned about it every year throughout your entire public school career, starting with preschool, and then again in college health class.

So, do you give up? Or do you practice insanity by trying to do the same thing over and over and expect different results? Of course we all practice insanity . . . what else can we do?

There comes a point where we either accept that there is nothing we can do about it, and we endure our poor health (even though the doctor says we are perfectly fine) and we live life dragging our bodies from one day to the next, and we start taking medications for this that and the other because the doctor advised it, OR we do something different.

So, if there is nothing else that can be done, what can you do? WHAT IF THEY ARE ALL WRONG?

This is the question that you ask right before you experience paradigm shift.

You suddenly realize that all those diets you have read about that have nifty menus like 1 scrambled egg white, a half a piece of toast with a quarter teaspoon of buttery flavored canola spread, and 1/2 of a grapefruit for breakfast, with all of these new unfamiliar recipes, DO NOT WORK! (at least not for most people.) And they especially don’t work if you have a husband and kids. Unless you want to fix six meals a day instead of three.

Almost EVERYTHING that I thought I knew about healthy lifestyle was wrong, and I’ll tell you why. It is because all of the pop health propaganda is influenced either by big pharmaceutical companies or the food industry. These corporations only care about one thing, and that is NOT your health.

“So, what are you? Some kind of anti-capitalist conspiracy theorist now?” you may ask.

My answer to that is no, but that’s a whole other blog entry. Just think about this for a minute — and use some common sense. Big Pharma does not make any money if you are healthy, they only make money if you are sick. Food companies do not make money on natural, healthy foods, because they can’t sell them fast enough to prevent spoilage from cutting into their profits.

So, what can you do? Do you have to make drastic changes like becoming a raw vegan? My answer to that is also NO. In fact I don’t recommend that at all.

So what do I recommend? Well, take a seat because this is where it starts sounding really crazy. If you have just gotten off the merry go round, this is really going to twist your Twinkie. Stop eating margarine and  ‘heart healthy’ processed vegetable oils. Replace those with cold pressed extra virgin olive oil, organic coconut oil, butter, lard, and beef fat from healthy animals. Replace your white sandwich bread with organic stone ground whole wheat bread (watch for the fake brown bread with caramel coloring.)  Cut out processed foods, white flour, high fructose corn syrup, pasteurized milk products, and refined sugars. Stop buying cold breakfast cereal and start reading labels.

Now before you say “I thought that there weren’t going to be any drastic changes,” take a deep breath and read on.

One universal truth that our parents have taught us is that we are what we eat, and if you are going to be healthy, we need to eat healthy foods. Your grocery list will still look about the same as it did before, but you will change out your ingredients for higher quality ones. You MUST read labels. You have to switch from processed flour to whole grain flour. Buy another brand of peanut butter that doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils. Switch to whole grain pasta, buy fresh or frozen vegetables instead of canned ones. Buy fresh organic food whenever possible. Find out where your local farmers markets are – these are the best places to buy organic produce. Find a local dairy that sells fresh unprocessed raw milk.

“RAW MILK?! are you CRAZY?” You might say this, but remember that we have been lied to by the food industry. We have been taught to be afraid of wholesome natural foods. Be smart about it, sure. I mean don’t buy from a farm you have not visited in person and seen for yourself the condition and state of health that the cows are in. Ask the farmer what he feeds his animals. And, if you can’t handle the idea of raw dairy products, forgo dairy altogether. (Look for a future post to explain the benefits of raw milk and how to choose a good raw dairy.)

The best part about this is that for the most part, you can use your old recipes! You can have your comfort food, and maybe you won’t get skinny like Angelina Jolie, but you will start feeling better. Trust me, I’ve been there.

Upcoming Posts: Why Would Anyone Drink Raw Milk? and 5 Easy Changes for a Healthier Life

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So, I scooped them up, all mashed and broken and left them on the counter to cool. (We fed them to the chickens when I got home — I hope they don’t die . .)

When we got there, we were short on graham crackers for the little gingerbread village the kids were making.  So I went to the store to get more. And as I am waiting for someone to back out some hot guy in a red fire bird swoops in between me and the row of parked cars and steals my parking space!  It wasn’t even a packed parking lot. I mean there were plenty of available spaces, that one just happened to be opening up and was a little closer to the door, so I was like hey! maybe something will go my way this morning! (because it really was super cold outside) BUT NO! So I rolled down my window and yelled “Merry Christmas! I Hope it’s an emergency!” and he looked at me and said “It is!”

Well I didn’t buy that crap for a second! So when I went in the store and saw him there I walked right up to him and looked him in the eye and said “So, what’s the emergency?” He said something lame about getting a money order for his wife and I said, well there were lot’s of other open parking spaces. He looked uncomfortable and I just turned around and walked off. Maybe there was some kind of emergency that required a money order, sure, I can see that, but how much longer would it really have taken to park the next row over? It’s just that I was already quite obviously in position to take that spot. It’s like a plate of cookies sitting there, and I reach out to take one and he snatches it up off of the top of the pile just because he can. What a JERK! I thought of so many good things I could have said later of course — like “Thank you for reminding me what a great husband I have. I hope that money order keeps your wife happy, ’cause you don’t have much else to offer.”

So, I’m really fine with it. Maybe his wife is really horrible. Maybe I should feel sorry for the poor guy . . .

Did I mention that I had also toted along a casserole for the church Christmas dinner? I took it with me so I could bake it at my sister’s house and have it ready to drop off at the church by 4pm.

Again I am trying to round up my kids so I won’t be late dropping off the casserole. Again, I am invisible. I say get in the car, and they are out jumping on a snow covered trampoline 2 seconds later. Is what I am asking really that horrible? Because I am looking at the snow out there and that is not my idea of fun! By the time we are actually on the way, it is 3:45 and we are a good 45 minutes away. I drove fast and made it there only 15 minutes late. And someone had put their hand in the casserole. There was a big dent in one end where the foil had been completely mashed in.

“Who did this?”

“Not me!”

“Not me!”

“Not me!”

Three innocent pairs of eyes are staring at me.

“Come on, it was hot. There is no way you could do this and not notice!”

“Not me!”

“Not me!”

“Not me!”

blink, blink, blink.

So I pull out the guilt trip.

“An honest person would tell their mother if they did something like this.”

“Not me!”

“Not me!”

“Whaaaa ok, it was meeeeee!”

Now it’s my turn to feel bad for yelling. But I don’t. Not really. Ok, maybe a little . . .

I told the lady I handed it to to just stick the serving spoon in there and maybe no one would notice, and then I left. very quickly.

I took the kids home and had them change. We went to the church for dinner — No way I was going to try to cook after all that. And my casserole was already out on the serving table, and there was only one serving left.

I guess it wasn’t such a really bad day . . .

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