Used medicinally, there are lots of ways that turmeric benefits your health. Turmeric is a commonly used spice that comes from the Curcuma (Curcuma longa L.) plant which is a member of the ginger family. Most people know turmeric as an ingredient in curry. But its more than just a spice, as you will see.
Continue readingLately I’ve been posting about my herbal infusions on my personal Facebook page and I’ve been getting a lot of questions. What is an herbal infusion? How do you make one and what are they for? I thought it would be easier to write an article than to respond to each person individually, so I hope this is helpful to everyone.
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As fall approaches you are likely doing a variety of garden chores from cleaning up spent plants to planning your fall vegetable garden. Don’t forget to re-plant some of your favorite herbs for an extra harvest before the snow flies.
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Comfrey has been used medicinally since as early as 400 B.C. Its name literally means to grow together or to heal. It is known by other names as well including knitbone, bruisewort and boneset. This herb has been proven valuable through the ages and continues to have value to us today. Continue reading
Organic gardening is becoming a popular movement even though it was common-place to our ancestors. Of course, our ancestors didn’t call it organic gardening; they called it feeding their family. With the advent of synthetic chemical pesticides, farmers and gardeners thought their worries were over as they doused their crops with toxic chemicals that not only killed all the insects, but as was later discovered, also contributed to a variety of health issues. Continue reading
Part of living self-sufficiently includes managing your health as much as possible. I’m not especially fond of going to the doctor if I can avoid it, so I try to use natural remedies as much as possible. My personal choices are herbs and essential oils in most cases. In my way of thinking, essential oils are an extension of herbalism. They are all plant medicine.
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Herbs are a good way to maintain health without dealing with some of the unpleasant side effects for various medications. I have used herbs for many years, though I don’t use them now as often as I used to. Guess I have been getting lazy.
One of my goals is to build a medicinal herb garden. It won’t likely be this year but it is on the to-do list. Fortunately, there are lots of medicinal herbs already growing all over this property. Most people call them weeds.
Here are a few of the “weeds” that grow on our homestead: Continue reading
Burdock is more than just a weed. It is a useful herb with a variety of uses. That’s a good thing since we have tons of it growing around the pastures. If you are not sure if what you have is burdock, Edible Wild Food has a great page to help you.
If you’ve ever walked through a field only to end up picking burs off yourself or your dog, you may think of this plant as an annoying weed. And you’d be right. It annoys the heck out of me when I have to clean burs off the goats and dogs.
But would you be surprised to learn that burdock is actually a useful herb? More than just natural Velcro, it offers several health benefits.
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